??VVIP Area.


    "He can use miasma!? What the actual f*CK!?"


    Jin was so bewildered by Rio''s use of miasma that he ended up using swear words and even forgot about the other SS-rankers.


    But no one stopped him from swearing; after all, others were just as shocked as he was.


    Gradba nced at Ashtel and asked,


    "Uh, isn''t the younger generation of the human race too crazy this time? That little guy even copied the abilities of a demon. Only someone insane would dare attempt that..."


    Hearing those words, Ashtel shook his head.


    "I think he has some way to nullify the effects of miasma... Even for me, this is the first time I have seen a human use miasma so effectively... There are no records of people doing that before in the long annals of history..."


    "This little guy is unique..."


    If someone other than Demons tries to use miasma, they end up getting corrupted and demonized.


    However, Rio was clearly fit and fine, and he used miasma as a technique rather than an independent power.


    He''s influencing the elements in his surroundings to condense using his own mana.


    Although it sounds quite easy, only a fearless guy like Rio could attempt to do such a thing.


    Others are hesitant to incorporate miasma-type attacks into their techniques for fear of corruption.


    Rio, however, is unique; he possesses ''true immunity'', meaning that even if you immerse him in the ''sea of endless miasma'' for years, he will remain unaffected.


    So he doesn''t need to worry about getting corrupted, so he can use miasma-type attacks without any worries.


    Only his enemies will suffer, not him.


    Those types of attacks would have severely injured Link if he hadn''t had ''Dao Rhythm'' to resist the effects of miasma.


    When others fight with demons, they usually wear specially made armor that gives them resistance to miasma, or they can cover their bodies with mana to counter the miasma.


    Additionally, you can forcefully expel miasma from your body by concentrating your mana in the affected area.


    However, all of these methods are less effective than using abilities that involve the world''s ws''.


    If you use ''Dao Rhythm'', ''Sword Intent'', etc. to expel the miasma, it would be much more effective.


    And if you need absolute immunity from miasma, then you would need skills like Rio''s ''True Immunity'' or Lia''s ''Conqueror of Darkness'', etc.


    Obviously, these skills are rare and not everyone has them, but that''s where the healerse into y.


    In a battle against demons, healers are an absolute necessity.


    They can give you buffs and increase your resistance; if you get affected by miasma, ''purification-type healing magic'' is very effective to counter it.


    That''s also the reason why the demons always prefer targeting the healers first, even they know that getting rid of the healers is the key to victory.


    ...


    Stadium Ground.


    *Boom!* *Bam!*


    Link and Rio attacked each other endlessly; their attacking and counterattacking speeds were so fast that even the cameras were having difficulty capturing their movements properly.


    The only thing visible was the repeated collision of a sword and a fist.


    In just three seconds, the two of them had attacked each other nearly a thousand times.


    While fighting, theyid waste to the whole battle field, and broken debris was flying in the air like crazy, making it even more difficult to see their moves.


    In the span of ten seconds, Rio destroyed Link''s dragon field five times, and Link continued to deploy them again and again to keep up with Rio''s speed. Both of them refused to let the other party get even a little bit of an advantage.


    Whenever Rio attempted to attack Link after destroying the dragon field, Link would enhance his body with Dao Rhythm, canceling out the attack, and then deploy the dragon field again.


    Rio would then have to use sword intent and miasma to destroy the dragon field again.


    This process of repeatedly countering each othersted for five minutes straight.


    Even the SS-rank barrier got some small cracks in it after getting hit by Link and Rio''s various attacks.


    ''Sword Intent'', ''Dao Rhythm'', ''Space Type Attacks'', and ''Miasma Type'' attacks were all being used again and again; some of them missed, some of themnded, and some of them struck the SS-rank barrier, causing cracks in it.


    Although the SS-rank barrier can heal itself easily, making cracks in it while still at rank A is an insane feat.


    People were watching with shocked looks on their faces as Link and Rio fought each other endlessly.


    Rio raised the sword above his shoulder.


    [Sword Intent!]


    [Elemental Sword Art: Time Type: elerated Hundred Hours!]


    The ''time type'' technique elerated Rio''s sword strike, causing him to hit Link 100 times in a millisecond.


    Those attacks created air pressure that cracked the ground, sending debris flying in all directions.


    But Link was unfazed; although he only has one hand now, he''s not defenseless.


    [Dragon Arts: Leg Type: Destructive Dragon Kick!]


    All of Rio''s sword attacksnded on Link and created wounds on his body, but he ignored them, and his kick hit Rio''s left shoulder.


    He had used his kick attack in sync with the ''Spatial Bypass'', which means Rio''s was hit on the shoulder and his bones broke in an instant.


    The two of them traded an injury for another; neither of them was backing down at all.


    At this point, both of them are severely injured, but they are still fighting like crazy.


    [Elemental Sword Art: Miasma Type: Thousand Miasmic Thrusts!]


    Rio''s thrust attacks oddly resembled Lia''s thrust technique; he had copied her technique, and he was using it in sync with Miasma now.


    Which means the lethality of that attack was increased by a hundred times when in Rio''s hands.


    But Link wasn''t going to be outdone.


    [Link Style Martial Arts: Absolute Deflection!]


    Link concentrated his ''Dao Rhythm'' on his hand, and his hand slithered in the air in a rhythmic manner, easily deflecting most of those thrust attacks.


    That was clearly a copy of Rio''s ''handling'' skill.


    But since Link has only recently created this ''Link style martial art'', he wasn''t able to deflect all of the thousand thrust attacks, and quite a few still hit him.


    He gritted his teeth and jumped back a bit to use ''Dao Rhythm'' to expel the miasma from his body.


    Link had seen all of Rio''s battles beforeing to this one, and he was fully prepared to defeat Rio today.


    However, he was unaware that Rio was also capable of using Miasma and time-type techniques, which is why he hasn''t been able to defeat Rio up to this point.


    Just after Link had made the distance to expel Miasma, Rio also jumped back to take a breather.


    He nced at the timer.


    [Time left: 15 min, 43 sec.]


    Nearly 45 minutes have passed since Rio and Link started fighting; they have been going at each other like crazy.


    Rio has many broken bones and damaged internal organs; by now, his ''HP'' is decreasing extremely fast.


    Link isn''t doing much better either; he''s nearly out of mana, as he''s been using ''Dao Rhythm'' continuously to counter Rio''s thousands upon thousands of attacks.


    In the past 45 minutes, Link has countered nearly 20 thousand attacks from Rio, and yet he got hit by many of them.


    His whole body is covered in cuts, and after being affected by miasma so many times, he has started to feel weak, and his head is spinning like crazy.


    …


    Link got rid of the miasma and stared at Rio with his blurry eyes.


    ''I don''t have much mana left; once I am out of mana, my ''Dao Rhythm'' will be extremely weak, and I won''t be able to counter Rio''s attacks… This is getting difficult…''


    Legendary skills such as sword intent and dao rhythm have no ranks; their power depends on the user''s mastery.


    You can use a legendary skill without the need for mana, but without the support of mana, the effects of the skill would be much weaker.


    If it were someone else, Link wouldn''t have needed to worry about running out of mana, as he could have used his ''Dao Rhythm'' even without mana.


    But Rio is different.


    His mastery over ''Sword Intent'' is much better than Link''s.


    Once Link runs out of mana, Rio''s ''Sword Intent'' will easily dominate his ''Dao Rhythm'', and he will be at a big disadvantage.


    That''s why Link wanted to finish things before he ran out of mana.


    He gritted his teeth and took his stance. He stomped the ground and tightened his muscles.


    ''It''s now or never… I must win this match; I promised Riya that I would be the champion; I must not break it…''


    When Rio noticed Link''s serious look, he knew that a big attack wasing, and he also took his stance.


    A solemn look appeared on his face that was hidden under the shadow robe, and he ced his sword beside his waist.


    ''To take that ''hidden chance'', I must win this match; I can''t afford to lose today…''


    Rio would have already admitted defeat by now if not for the fact that he really needed to win this tournament to steal Fade''s chance.


    Rio, being a professional thief, never backs down when ites to stealing the protagonist''s chances.


    Link and Rio stared into each other''s eyes and used their powers at the exact same time, as if they were in sync with each other.


    [Sword Intent: Overload!]


    [Dao Rhythm: Overload!]


    …


    …


    Author''s Notes.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! D*mn! Rio and Link are really going at each other with full force; no one is backing down at all…


    Question of the day.


    Who do you think will win?


    1. Link (I kind of feel that Link is the author''s favorite character…)


    2. Rio (As a professional thief, Rio will definitely win this at all costs…)


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.