Chapter 25 - Carrier vs Carrier (1)

"Yu Yin… are you my enemy?"

A drop of sweat rolled down Yu Yin's cheek. A wrong answer here would finish with a fight, and although Yu Yin wasn't 100% against the idea, it wouldn't be a pleasant outcome.

"I wouldn't say I'm your enemy, but rather a competitor for resources. I'll just pick up the spirit stones here and be on my way!" Yu Yin said whilst eyeing Vakhtang carefully.

"And besides," He continued. " It seems like you have already obtained what you have come for."

Yu Yin glanced at the Windwing Wyrm as he said this. It was just an educated guess that the guardian beast was the Crimson Cross' main objective, but from what Yu Yin overheard from Vakhtang's conversation with Seeker, Vakhtang didn't seem too interested in the Spirit Stones.

"While you are correct, I'm afraid there still remains a conflict of interest." Vakhtang said regretfully.

"For one, a man at only the 1st stage of the [Rousing Soul] realm like you doesn't have any right to be a competitor of the Crimson Cross."

"Those Spirit Stones may not be a huge sum for our organisation, but it would be unwise of us not to claim free capital would it not?"

Yu Yin let out a sigh after Vakhtang had finished speaking. He couldn't help but respect the man. Yu Yin didn't know how Vakhtang had managed to determine his cultivation, but nevertheless, he had been willing to talk to him even whilst thinking that he was undoubtedly in the position of power.

Yu Yin also noticed that Vakhtang's way of thinking was extremely similar to his. In a way, Vakhtang seemed like a gentlemanly version of Yu Yin.

In the end a fight seemed unavoidable. Yu Yin prepared himself mentally, creating a battle plan in his mind. His bloodforce and soul energy circulated around his body, ready to be expended at any time. As respectable as Vakhtang might be, that douchebag was NOT going to take Yu Yin's treasure. Yu Yin had had more than enough of other people touching his stuff throughout the past few weeks, and he was quite frankly sick of it.

Vakhtang noticed Yu Yin's determination and drew his crimson Katana.

"Yu Yin of the Yu Family, I shall only say this once…STAND DOWN!"

Vakhtang released his Soul power at full capacity, unleashing a huge pressure on his surroundings. Yu Yin was half tempted to change his mind and flee upon seeing his display of power, but he stood firm. Vakhtang currently thought that Yu Yin was merely a normal cultivator who had just begun his journey, which meant that he was being grossly underestimated.

‘To win this battle cleanly without wasting too much time and energy, it would be best to make this battle with an instant finish, or at least cripple him somewhat and then finish him off.’ Yu Yin concluded. ‘This peasant’s about to learn his place!’

Without waiting for Vakhtang to make a move, Yu Yin used his secret weapon with no hesitation.

“[Aspect Acceleration: Efficiency]!!!”

Aspect acceleration was something that only Yu Yin could use. While the other Yu Family males in the crystal corps focused on increasing their total bloodforce and trying to reach the next level of their bloodline magic, Yu Yin spent his time learning how to control his bloodforce to perfection until he learned this ability. The idea was to concentrate his bloodforce into enhancing only a certain aspect of an object, instead of the entire object in general. The efficiency aspect that Yu Yin had used this time affected how efficiently an object used its energy.

Having finished his self-casting of his bloodline magic, Yu Yin blasted forward moving at twice the speed with half the effort, and he wasn’t holding back with the effort part either. Yu Yin had used 20% of his bloodforce for this manoeuvre, and he had concentrated the effects into a duration of 2 seconds. Therefore, Yu Yin was now moving at 5 times his maximum speed.

Within a blink of an eye, Yu Yin was in front of Vakhtang. Yu Yin couldn’t see his face, but he was sure that Vakhtang’s eyes were widening in shock right now. Without waiting for him to react, Yu Yin struck his right hand forward in a palm strike, hitting Vakhtang’s chest. Right when Yu Yin’s palm made contact is when Yu Yin unleashed his second secret weapon.

“[Deceleration]!!”

Another 10% of Yu Yin’s bloodforce flowed through his palm into Vakhtang’s body, making the masked man glow with a murky white aura. Whilst Vakhtang was struggling to perform a counterattack under the effects of [Deceleration], Yu Yin’s left hand wasn’t idling around. As soon as Yu Yin’s attack had made contact, Yu Yin unleashed his soul power in the only way he knew how. His huge white crescent blade was conjured in his free hand, and the blade’s beautiful emerald patterns sparkled as Yu Yin swung the blade towards the surprised Vakhtang.

The blade smashed against Vakhtang’s already wounded side, cutting into his flesh. The wound didn’t cut too deep, but the force of the strike sent Vakhtang flying into one of the dragon sculptures which crumbled upon the impact. Yu Yin didn’t let Vaktang rest after having seized the initiative. When Vakhtang landed in the ground in a bloody heap, Yu Yin used the second second of his buff to leap towards Vakhtang a second time. Yu Yin wasn’t planning to kill Vakhtang, instead opting to disable him long enough to grab the spirit stones and escape. After all there was no need to go too far.

Yu Yin’s blade was raised ready to bring Vakhtang down for good as he closed the distance. Within almost no time at all Yu Yin was in front of Vakhtang again as he unleashed the finishing blow. That is… the would-be finishing blow.

"[Aura Blast]!"

A sphere of blood-coloured soul power struck Yu Yin's gut at point blank range, throwing him away from Vakhtang. He coughed up a mouthful of blood having taken a direct hit, but he managed to land on his feet 5 meters away from Vakhtang. Yu Yin looked to find his opponent on his feet. The wound on his side was now bleeding profusely and he seemed off balance, but the murky white light from Yu Yin's [Deceleration] was no longer present. Yu Yin narrowed his eyes.

'I set the duration of that [Deceleration] to 30 seconds. Why is it no longer in effect?'

Yu Yin had no time to ponder the situation as Vakhtang had readied another attack as soon as he had stood up.

"[Cross of Crimson]!"

Vakhtang conjured a giant crimson red cross with his hands which shot towards Yu Yin. Yu Yin quickly calculated his options as he examined the fast-approaching projectile. The effects of his [Aspect Acceleration] had already expired and a normal [Acceleration] wouldn't allow him to dodge in time unless he was willing to part with a needlessly large chunk of bloodforce. Yu Yin would just cast another [Aspect Acceleration] if it weren't for the technique's fatal weakness: it's cast time. Concentrating bloodforce into a single aspect took time to do. Most often it required at least 2 seconds, but that wasn't time that Yu Yin had right now.

Left with the only option of blocking, Yu Yin raised his blade horizontally to meet the approaching cross with the side of his blade. However, when the cross arrived the heavy blow that Yu Yin expected never arrived. Instead, the crimson-coloured cross wrapped around the white crescent blade upon impact.

"What?!..."

At the same time, a similar cross wrapped around the blade conjured in his soul abode. Suddenly, the soul power that formed Yu Yin's blade felt foreign to him and the blade became heavy. Yu Yin tried to dispel the blade, but his soul power rebelled, no longer obeying him.

Not giving Yu Yin time to understand what had happened, Vakhtang unleashed a third attack.

"[Bloody Crescent Moon]!"

Vakhtang's katana began glowing a bloody crimson as he sent a flying slash towards Yu Yin. He panicked upon seeing the flying slash, recognising that this attack was much more powerful than the [Aura Blast] from before. Yu Yin absolutely could not take a direct hit this time.

Not caring for the waste of bloodforce, Yu Yin quickly used up another 10% of his bloodforce to rapidly self-cast another [Acceleration]. Without hesitation he dropped his white blade and leaped to the side, however his speed wasn't quite enough to perfectly dodge the attack. The very edge of the flying slash sliced into Yu Yin's shoulder as it passed, cutting lightly into his flesh.

"$#@/!"

Yu Yin cursed loudly when the pain hit him. Quickly examining his shoulder showed that the cut hadn't reached the bone, but it still hurt like a bitch.

'I swear, if this guy doesn't pay my medical expenses as compensation…'

Yu Yin glared at Vakhtang who was now slowly approaching him again.

"Why the angry face, Yu Yin of the Yu Family?" Vakhtang taunted. "A vicious surprise attack was met by a vicious surprise counter-attack. That seems only fair to me!"

As much as Yu Yin wanted to display arrogance and show his natural superiority in response to Vakhtang’s taunt, he wasn't in a position to do so. Perhaps after he had won this battle would be a good time. Although visibly Vakhtang was more injured by a lot, Yu Yin had lost his advantage. Vakhtang was clearly superior in raw power and had a lot more fighting experience. There was also the matter of Yu Yin's blade. After Yu Yin had thrown it aside, the blade had simply dropped to the ground instead of disappearing like normal, and he couldn't release the conjured blade within his soul abode either no matter how much he tried. He couldn't conjure another blade either as [Myriad Blades of the Endless Night] only allowed the conjuring of one blade per stage in the [Rousing Soul] realm.

Yu Yin was pondering the technique when he noticed it. The [Cross of Crimson] wrapped around his blade was emitting bloodforce fluctuations, which meant…

'[Cross of Crimson] is a bloodline magic. Wonderful! Absolutely Wonderful! Trust my luck to pick a fight with another Carrier as my first real opponent! What are the chances?!'

Yu Yin was sure that if Vakhtang was just a normal cultivator, he would have finished this battle with his surprise attack before. Instead, Vakhtang belonged to one of the rare bloodlines with carriers, with a bloodline magic that seemed to be able to somewhat seal the abilities of others.

'That was probably how he overcame the effects of [Deceleration] from before.' Yu Yin concluded. 'He sealed the bloodforce that I unleashed…'

Thus, Yu Yin found himself facing an opponent out of his league. His only method of unleashing his soul power was sealed, [Deceleration] was useless, and he only had 50% of his bloodforce left. The fatigue from the use of his bloodline magic was already beginning to sink in!

"Well, it's been a pleasure, but my time here is running short." Vakhtang lamented. "My mission here is already completed and as you can see, I have rather dire need of medical attention thanks to a certain somebody. Therefore, I'll be finishing this fight now. Don't take it personally, I simply have better things to do."

"[Bloody Crescent Moon]!"

Vakhtang waved his glowing crimson katana and unleashed another flying slash that flew towards Yu Yin like a hungry wolf. Yu Yin knew that things wouldn't end well if he kept dodging with hastily cast [Acceleration] buffs so he had come up with another plan.

"[Aspect Acceleration: Strength]!"

Yu Yin cast the bloodline magic he had prepared while Vakhtang was talking before reluctantly drawing the Silver Qilin Horns that were holstered at his waist and wielding them in an X shaped defensive formation. The strength aspect of an object affected how well the object held itself together. It was the toughness of the object per say.

The flying slash struck the Silver Qilin Horns heavily and pushed Yu Yin back 10 meters until he collided with the stone walls of the temple. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and grimaced. Although the indestructible Silver Qilin Horns had held up well under Vakhtang’s attack and were left without a scratch, the force of the attack had still struck Yu Yin and had still slightly injured him. Although the damage from the attack was somewhat minimal, Yu Yin’s organs would have been turned to mush without the effects of his [Aspect Acceleration].

"Those are some nice magical artefacts you have there, but that won't be enough to get out of this alive." Vakhtang said in a mocking voice.

"[Cross of Crimson]!"

Vakhtang advanced and unleashed his bloodline magic a second time. This time, two giant crimson X shaped crosses flew towards him. Yu Yin thought about dodging but quickly ruled out the possibility. Vakhtang would send him another flying slash as soon as he tried, and there would be no way to dodge a second time. At the same time, Yu Yin knew that it would all be over if those crosses hit him directly. Shedding tears in his heart, Yu Yin raised the Silver Qilin Horns a second time, prepared to sacrifice them in exchange for his life.

"Farewell my Darlings, I'll miss you…"

The crimson crosses flew across the battlefield and collided with the Silver Qilin Horns. However, instead of wrapping around the horns like the cross from before, cracks spread out on the crosses until they shattered like glass, disappearing completely.