...

The battle between these two Kings of «Nemesis Online» was making the audience too excited to the point that they couldn't help but stand on their feet. Especially because of the crazy stunts that these two were doing.

Every time Sairen was close to hitting Roger with his swords, the latter would either dodge it with a backward hop or do some crazy aerial maneuvers in the air. Sometimes, he was also using his guns to block some of the sword slashes that he couldn't dodge.On the other hand, the former would always be doing some short movements to easily dodge the other magic bullets in a close distance.

Aside from that, both of them were also now using some of their skills in this close quarter combat, which made their audiences even more crazy.

Swoosh!

Sairen threw a horizontal slash on his front with his right-hand sword that was covered with jade-color mana.

Roger knew that it was too late to dodge the incoming slash by jumping backwards. So, he immediately enfolded his guns with his mana before using their barrels to black the blade of the incoming sword.

Clang!

When his guns came in contact with the sword, Roger quickly adjusted the angle of the gun barrels before raising his arms a little. Due to that, the trajectory of the sword suddenly changed and went over his head.

After that, he quickly did a quick spin to reduce the force that his body sustained from the impact before pointing both of his guns at Sairen a second later. And without further ado, he immediately pulled the triggers and shot at his opponent.

Bang! Bang!

The magic bullets flew straight towards Siaren's abdomen. And since it was unprotected due to his previous actions, his abdomen was pretty much unprotected.

Given that the bullets were fired in an almost pointblank distance, dodging them was going to be pretty impossible even for Sairen.

Realizing this, Sairen gritted his teeth and chose to gamble. After bracing himself, he immediately twisted his waist a little as while throwing a sword slash with his left-hand sword.

Roger was taken aback at Sairen's decisiveness. He didn't expect that this guy was going to choose to take a hit in exchange of landing a hit of his own. Due to this, Roger had a split-second too late to react at the incoming slash – which also led to him unable to dodge this sudden attack.

All he could do for now was to use special combat technique to strengthen his body, bracing himself for the incoming sword slash.

Puchi!

Both of the contenders finally landed a clean hit on their opponents. Fortunately, they did some precautions to avoid sustaining some fatal damages; with the little twist of his waits, Sairen avoided getting hit by his fatal spots. While the mana protection that Roger had used was able to drastically reduce the damage that he had taken from that slash.

After getting and landing a hit on their opponents, both Sairen and Roger simultaneously made their next moves.

Roger immediately jumped backwards trying to get some distance between him and his opponent.

But Sairen would naturally not going to let that happen. He immediately charged forward and chased after Roger.

Bang! Bang!

Unfortunately, Roger seemed to be expecting that since he already fired a couple of magic bullets towards his opponent – which immediately greeted Sairen right after he charged forward.

Good thing that Sairen was fast enough to swing his swords to deflect them to the side. And before Roger could even get his ideal range of attacking, he immediately used one of his movement skills to catch up on his opponent.

Swoosh!

'Swordsman Skill: (Modified) Sword Rush'

Seeing the incoming opponent, Roger immediately kicked the ground beneath him right after his feet landed on it. And while he was in the air, he did a quick flip while pointing his guns downwards as he passed over Sairens head.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets rained down at Sairen as he was passing below Roger. But none of them managed to land on him because they were immediately blocked by a wall of Sword Qi before they could hit their target.

'Extra Skill: Sword Aura Guard'

Clang! Clang! Clang!

At the same time, Sairen immediately canceled his charge so that he could immediately turn his body around. He knew that Roger was still in the middle of falling back on the ground so this was going to be a great chance for him to counterattack.

But right after he turned around, he was immediately greeted by a muzzle of a rifle being pointed at his face. Further back of it, he saw Roger sitting in the air as he charged his gun with a bunch of mana.

'Gunslinger Skill (Tier 2): (Modified) One shot, One Kill'

Bang!

The recoiled of that shot was strong enough to send Roger backwards. And he immediately absorbed the force from it to do a quick flip in the air before landing steadily on the ground. He then immediately pointed his sniper rifle forward was once again, right after getting back on his feet.

Even if that skill execution was quite flashy and seemed to be perfectly executed, Roger still didn't dare to put his guard down. Especially since he didn't get the notification that he won this battle – which meant that Sairen somehow survived that supposedly a one-shot skill.

...

One the other end, the pupils on Sairen's eyes suddenly contracted the moment he saw the muzzle pointed at him. If this shot hit his head, he was definitely going to lose this match.

Fortunately, his rich battle experience helped him and immediately urged his body to move for as fast as it could.

He immediately leaned backwards, trying to move his head out of the direction where the muzzle was pointing at. And right after that he suddenly heard a gunshot, signifying that Roger already pulled the trigger of his gun. He then saw a flash of blue light that flew over his eyes.

After that, he immediately borrowed the momentum of his movements to do a quick backflip so that he could immediately get back on his feet as soon as possible.

Ta-ta!

And right after his feet landed on the ground, he bent his knees a little so that he could absorb the residual force of his previous actions. Then he suddenly kicked the ground and jumped forward, launching himself towards his opponent.

Seeing that, Roger immediately started firing a couple of magic bullets with his rifle, trying to keep Sairen at bay. At the same time, he was also continuously hopping backwards – which made this match back to square one.

********

Inside the VIP Spectator's room, Owen couldn't help but praise the two contenders fighting in the battle arena after seeing their movements. "Such a marvelous exchange! To think that both of them are able to escape their respective predicaments with such 'simple' moves? These guys are really good!"

Hearing that, Joyce nodded her head and spoke. "Their reaction speeds are quite fast and on point. It just, I am not sure yet if it has something to do with their talents."

"Nope! That is most likely due to their battle experiences," said Shin almost immediately, after hearing what she said. And when the other two heard him, they simultaneously turned their heads at him and were seemingly asking him to clarify it.

Shin didn't remove his eyes on the ongoing battle even if he felt their gazed. But he still gave his explanation. "Spotting the difference between a talent and battle experience may be a little difficult to do. But if you watch closely on their movements, you can immediately tell which one it is."

"Those two guys fighting over there were not just fighting based on their instincts. Unlike us, battle geniuses. Since while they are exchanging blows, there is a split-second delay on their movements – indicating that they are thinking for a moment."

He paused for a moment before explaining further. "For example, that exchange when both of them took hits from each other."

"During that exchange, both of them seemed to have a very brief moment to think before deciding to make that trade."

"If either one of me and Owen is in Sairen's position at that time, I am sure that we are going to get hit by those bullets without retaliating back. It was because our battle instincts are going to tell us to either block or dodge those bullets first in that exact moment."

Hearing that, Owen couldn't help but nod at what Shin had said. If he was shot in a distance as close as that, then he would surely be going to get hit even if his senses could feel the incoming bullets.

After a slight pause, he suddenly asked Shin. "Brother Swordsman, from what you have seen so far, who do you think is currently in the upper hand? From my perspective, they are evenly matched but I kept having a feeling that it is not the case."

Shin suddenly smiled the moment he heard that and said. "You are right about them being in equal terms currently, since the role of aggressor and defender are kept on switching sides."

He then gave Owen a quick sidelong glance before saying mysteriously. "As for that 'feeling' that you are getting. It is probably because of what they are actually doing in this match."

Hearing that, Owen couldn't help but knit his brows as he suddenly became confused. On the other hand, Joyce suddenly asked. "Are you perhaps implying that they are currently staging this match?"

The moment Shin heard that question, the corner of his mouth suddenly curved upwards. And even if the expression on his face was currently being covered by his mask, Owen and Joyce could still feel that he was currently grinning given the aura that they were getting from him.

Due to that, the two suddenly became even more confused because what Shin was currently saying seemed to be quite ironic to what he just said earlier regarding their battle experience. And why the heck these two rivals were going to stage this long-destined fight that would decide the real king of «Nemesis Online».

Sensing what they were currently feeling, Shin couldn't help but grin even further before saying. "Who knows?"

After that, he ignored the two and focused his attention back on the match while having an interested expression on his face. 'This is now becoming a little more interesting.'

...…