...…

After a few more exchanges, Shin was now being suppressed by Faker too greatly. Every time he found a good chance to take advantage of, later would always be one step ahead of him. And even if he could catch his opponent with some strange setup that he made, Faker would always find a way to turn the tides.

With this, Shin found himself in the backfoot. But despite that being that case, he still stubbornly held his ground and persevered to continue exchanging blows with Faker since he knew that the more this battle lasted the more things he could learn from the latter, which could also mean improving himself further.

On the other hand, Faker was becoming more and more surprised at Shin. It was because of Shin's ability to hold his ground until now, but it was due to Shin being able to come up with a lot of strategies to try taking him down. And even if he was able to respond at those strategies accordingly, he was always being forced to reveal some of his hidden cards to resolve them.

Moreover, the more Faker fought Shin the more he felt strange during the fight. Shin's resemblance to someone he knew was starting to become more and more district from his perspective. And due to this, he couldn't help but recall some of his distant memories regarding that guy.

********

"What me big brother! I am going to become the first person in our family to achieve such an amazing feat!" say by a 10-year-old boy while looking at the sky.

Not far from this boy was a young man that seemed to be in his teenage years. He stared at the young boy for a moment before saying. "I told you, everyone is destined to walk on a single path since their birth. Being greedy and choosing to walk in multiple paths will only make you lose your way."

The young boy didn't reply immediately as he continued to stare at the sky for quite some time. Then he stretched his right hand up in the air with a grabbing motion while saying. "Swords are tools for killing so swordsmanship is the way of killing. And since Assassination is an art of killing, then you can say that two of them were somehow connected."

"And if they were connected, then combining them would surely be possible. Based on this we can say that despite being in two different paths, Swordsmanship and Assassination will surely meet each other along the way."

Then the young boy paused for a moment and lowered his right hand once again. "At the same time, Martial-Arts and Mentalism are in similar cases."

"Based on the historical records, these two disciplines are supposedly a single entity but their paths separate with each other as the time goes by."

"But since they are originally one, it is still possible for the two paths to meet for another and become one once again."

After saying those, the boy turned his head at the young man before saying. "Like I said, just you watch, big brother. I am going to accomplish what the others failed to do, and become the first person to wield everything in a single body without using any foul method," while also having a cheeky look on his face.

The young man couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly the moment he heard that. Then he walked towards the young boy before patting the kid's head while saying. "You are still too young to understand. You will eventually realize what you are saying that moment you grow up."

Hearing that, the young boy suddenly pursed his lips and refuted. "You talk as if you are a lot older than me. You are only separate by 3 years."

(Few years later) …

A 17-year-old young man was currently kneeling on the ground while embracing another young man who was slightly younger than him. The latter had a huge wound on the left side of his chest and from the look of it, he seemed to be about to take his last breath.

The 17-year-old boy had his head a little lowered with both of his eyes being closed as a bunch of tears kept flowing from them.

On the other hand, the young man lying on his arms was looking at the other young man with a pair of lonely eyes while wearing a bitter look on his face.

Then he raised his right with a great difficulty to touch the face of the young man embracing him before saying. "Don't blame… yourself… big brother. It is… not your fault… It is me… who is at wrong… since I got blinded by my… own greed… and… false philosophy."

The other young man continued to cry while trying to say a few words. "I am sorry."

The bitter smile that the lying man had suddenly became even bitter before he used his remaining strength to reply. "No… There is nothing… for you to say sorry for… I should be… the one that is apologizing… I should have… listen to your words… whenever… you are trying to… bring me back… on the right path."

The other guy opened his eyes as he tried to stop his tears from flowing and saying something. But before he managed to voice out his words, the young man lying in his embraces suddenly said. "I'm. sorry. Big. Brother."

Then he flashed a smile before his right hand fell lifelessly on the ground as the essence of life finally left his eyes.

Seeing that, the other guy couldn't stop his tears anymore and started crying very hardly while apologizing repeatedly.

********

Going back to the present time, the battle between Shin and Faker was starting to escalate into an even higher degree.

'I failed to save him from being blinded by his own talent and being drowned by its powers. But now, I wanted to save someone to prevent the same thing from happening,' was the thing that was running inside Faker's mind as he kept on battling Shin.

But as the battle progressed, Faker felt that something changed inside him. At first, he wanted to convince Shin that focusing on a single path was more than enough for him. So, he started suppressing Shin with an intention to get rid of one of his styles.

But as the battle progressed, he was the one being convinced instead of the other way around. Even if managed to force Shin to use his other style, this stubborn guy still refused to drop either of his styles as he kept on switching between the two styles during the battle.

Ironically, Shin seemed to get stronger and stronger as the battle progressed instead of being suppressed further. And Faker discovered it was not because of Shin being a Battle Genius, but it was due to him instead.

Because he was exposing Shin's flaw repeatedly and letting Shin respond to it intentionally, the latter was able to improve himself without relying much on his Battle Genius Talent. And seeing this, Fake couldn't help but recall his past self and asked himself.

– What if he supported his younger brother before? Or, what if he helped him achieve the supposedly impossible feat? –

Such questions started popping out from his head as he continued the battle against Shin. And the more they battle against each other the more Faker sees the future that he couldn't see before.

'Is this how it was supposed to be?' asked Faker to himself once again as he further observed Shin while exchanging blows with him.

A moment later, a bitter smile was suddenly formed with his lips as he muttered to himself. "In the end, it is still my fault."

Shin somehow heard those words and made him even more confused. And before he could even have the time to understand those words, an intense pressure was suddenly released from Faker's body.

Shin was unable to hold himself against that pressure as his body suddenly stopped moving. And a moment later, he found himself standing at the side of the training room, along with the others.

He had a stunned look on his face as he couldn't understand what had happened. But at the very least, he was sure about a single thing; he just lost the duel.

Even if he didn't know how the hell it happened, he was sure that he lost given the fact that he was now standing at the edge of the training room together with the others.

After that, Faker started walking at them. And when he arrived at them, he suddenly stopped in front of Shin and patted the latter's shoulder while saying. "That was a good fight."

Then he added after some hesitation. "And thanks."

The moment he was done saying those words, he started walking at the exit of the training room. And as he walked past the others, they couldn't help but felt a shiver that ran through their backs.

"This guy just got much stronger!"

"Did he achieve some sort of enlightenment earlier?"

"Did he suddenly get a breakthrough just now?"

"Regaining back his former self? Or, finding a new form of strength?"

These were the thoughts that were running through the heads of others as they watched Faker walk towards the exit.

And before Faker could even reach the door of the room, Shin finally recovered himself and asked. "Why?"

Such a short-worded question yet possessed a quite complicated meaning behind it. But Faker seemed to understand what he wanted to know since he suddenly stopped his tracks after hearing it.

Then he gave his reply while having his back at Shin and the others. "Because you resemble my younger brother too greatly."

Right after saying those words, Faker resumed walking out of the room without turning back. And when Lawless saw that, he suddenly shook his head while wearing a bitter look on his face. Then he bid his farewell to Shin and the other two before following Faker. Naturally, Ravier and Ember would follow after them, leaving the other three behind.

The trio of Shin, Arthur, and Leonard watched them leave the room before they looked at each other with shrugging shoulders. After that, they also left the room to do their own stuff.

...