Qin Siyang charged straight at Yamamoto Taro.
It looked like he was taking the initiative to attack, but in truth, it was a cautious probe.
Even though his goal was to kill Yamamoto Taro, just by listening to his tone, it seemed that like Yamamoto Jiro, he too was an old veteran who had taken a large amount of sequence potions, a Sequence Level Five.
Qin Siyang didn't know how much of a change in strength would come after activating [Path of the Believer].
Naturally, he couldn't let his guard down.
Yet Yamamoto Taro simply stood there quietly, his face showing a lewd, sinister smile.
As if mocking Qin Siyang for overestimating himself.
Qin Siyang rushed up to Yamamoto Taro, his left foot digging in as he twisted forward, his arm swinging out straight in a sweeping hook, smashing a punch toward Yamamoto Taro's face.
But just as the wind of the fist was about to hit Yamamoto Taro, his figure suddenly vanished.
Before Qin Siyang had time to react, a fierce wind rose behind him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Qin Siyang caught sight of a silver flash.
Behind the silver light was a smug face.
"Shine!!"
Swish!
The silver light slashed down.
But, no crimson spray burst before his eyes.
He had only struck a fading afterimage.
Qin Siyang suddenly disappeared from in front of Yamamoto Taro.
"Nani?"
Yamamoto Taro hurriedly turned his head.
He saw Qin Siyang standing behind him to the side, a ferocious grin on his face, both arms swinging a Fangtian Halberd, carving out a crescent moon, striking straight toward Yamamoto Taro's face.
BANG!
The crescent blade of the Fangtian Halberd slashed across Yamamoto Taro's visage.
The short, stocky Yamamoto Taro instantly flew into the air like a sandbag knocked away.
But in mid-air, Yamamoto Taro flipped back once, then landed in a steady squat.
After activating [Banquet Domain], Qin Siyang steadied himself, glared at Yamamoto Taro, and spat, "Just a little bit more."
At that moment of certain death, Yamamoto Taro, unable to dodge, had actually lowered his helmet's visor, blocking Qin Siyang's halberd strike.
The gouge across the visor was deep, yet it had not warped, much less cracked, proving that this armor was absolutely not inferior in grade to the Tier 4 Fangtian Halberd.
This surprise strike had failed, and defeating Yamamoto Taro would now be troublesome.
Yamamoto Taro was equally shocked.
There was actually such a terrifying gouge on his visor.
'Impossible!'
'This is tier 4 armor! And armor that has reached tier 4 purely by virtue of hardness!'
'Even if Qin Siyang held a tier 4 weapon, it shouldn't be possible to leave such a deep cut in a single strike.'
Never mind that Qin Siyang had only just become Sequence Level Five, even he himself, a Sequence Level Five [Ancient Gladiator] for more than two years, did not possess such frightening power.
'How did he do it?'
'Could it be that he is a strength-type sequence?'
'No! He isn't!'
When their employer sent him and his brother to kill Qin Siyang, he clearly told them: Qin Siyang was absolutely not an ordinary strength-type sequence user.
Besides, like himself, he could teleport.
No strength-type sequence user could possibly have such a powerful mobility skill.
Yamamoto Taro's brows furrowed tightly.
'What sequence is he, really?'
He could actually teleport like him.
He himself could teleport because this was his own gladiatorial arena.
'Why can Qin Siyang also teleport?'
'Could it be…'
"Qin Siyang, your sequence ability, is it to copy other people's skills?"
Qin Siyang gave a cold snort, no answer, dragging the Fangtian Halberd as he charged once again at Yamamoto Taro.
Yamamoto Taro teleported again, appearing to Qin Siyang's side. Qin Siyang activated [Banquet Domain] again, flashing to Yamamoto Taro's back.
The two of them flickered like phantoms, constantly vanishing and reappearing in the arena.
For twenty to thirty seconds straight, not a single effective blow landed.
Both kept aiming for each other's backs, like a deadly game of hide-and-seek.
But they both knew. If either one was even a hair slower, he would suffer the other's full-powered strike.
Though Qin Siyang had not yet been hit at all, his heart was growing heavier.
He couldn't drag this out any longer.
Because [Banquet Domain] only lasted for one minute.
And the time was almost up.
He had to land one more effective strike before [Banquet Domain] vanished.
Immediately, Qin Siyang continuously activated [Banquet Domain], on the one hand preventing Yamamoto Taro from locking onto his form, on the other circling behind him in a zig-zag approach, then once again swung out the Fangtian Halberd.
The halberd carved a sharp arc through the air, crashing down toward Yamamoto Taro's face.
Yamamoto Taro's figure vanished again, appearing behind Qin Siyang, and at the same time slashed down with the katana in his hand.
At this moment, Qin Siyang seemed to have anticipated it.
His body leaned backward, toes twisting, legs kicking as he spun, swinging the Fangtian Halberd toward Yamamoto Taro again.
But Yamamoto Taro didn't take Qin Siyang's attack seriously at all.
He didn't even put his full force into the katana, holding back thirty percent.
He warily swept his eyes around, thinking Qin Siyang would suddenly appear from some angle to attack him.
He was already prepared to teleport again.
If Qin Siyang didn't dodge, the katana would slice him clean in two.
The katana was only two steps away from Qin Siyang's head, while the tip of the Fangtian Halberd was still three or four steps away from Yamamoto Taro's visor.
But Yamamoto Taro was holding back his strength, while Qin Siyang was striking with full force.
And with the added power of [Violence], in just an instant, the two weapons met point-to-point.
The silver-white katana filled Qin Siyang's eyes, while the Fangtian Halberd's cold gleam lit up Yamamoto Taro's visor.
BANG!
Almost simultaneously, both weapons struck the opponent.
Yamamoto Taro's katana cleaved down onto Qin Siyang's skull.
And Qin Siyang's Fangtian Halberd once again pierced into Yamamoto Taro's visor.
Shhh!
Yamamoto Taro felt his helmet quake violently.
The gouge on the visor became a cross.
And Qin Siyang was still standing there firmly.
Yamamoto Taro's face showed shock, not understanding why Qin Siyang hadn't dodged that blow.
'A desperate gamble? Seeking death?'
But just as Yamamoto Taro thought Qin Siyang was about to be cleaved in two, his descending hands suddenly stopped.
And something even more shocking happened.
The katana had cut off several strands of Qin Siyang's hair, but stopped at his scalp.
Looking closely, it had only left a deep bloody line on Qin Siyang's head.
"How is this possible? How is your head harder than a Tier 3 katana?"
Blood trickled down his cheek, flowing over Qin Siyang's cold, grim face.
He had just swallowed the remains of the Corrosive Black Centipede and activated [Devouring].
Only this time, he hadn't used the Corrosive Black Centipede's mist skill, but instead copied its hardened carapace.
Shocked, Yamamoto Taro's figure vanished.
Qin Siyang teleported far away as well.
The two of them now stood at the far ends of the arena, staring across at each other from afar.
In their minds, both were thinking of ways to defeat the other.
They confronted each other for a long time, neither making a rash move.
Qin Siyang pretended to be relaxed, intending to wait until the ten-minute cooldown of [Banquet Domain] ended, then deal Yamamoto Taro a fatal blow.
But just then, Yamamoto Taro seemed to have made some crucial decision.
Because he threw away the katana in his hand.