With a grim face, he bared his teeth and sneered: "I never thought someone would dare to pick a fight with me. You've got a death wish?!"
"You executed so many nobles, hasn't it become a burden for you too?"
The knight said somberly: "I know your capabilities, I noticed during the Summit War, that bringing an army across the sea would mean annihilation by you. So I came alone to find you."
Sage paused, then looked carefully, "You are..."
"The Young Lion, William."
William gripped the hilt tightly, stared directly at Sage, "I'm here to duel you. If you win, you'll secure victory. If you lose, I'll throw your corpse into the sea."
"Good, good, that's excellent!"
Sage laughed aggressively in anger: "I don't know whether to praise your intelligence or your courage. Very good, it also saves me the trouble, by beating you to death, I've already won half of the fight!"
William said no more, instead he raised his great sword, pointed it at Sage, and slashed down fiercely, creating a vertical white electric strike.
Sage moved his steps forward, not dodging, directly charging ahead, as black fire ignited on his fist, he smashed hard into that strike.
Bam!!
In a section of the forest, Urouge swung a diamond-shaped pencil, smashing it around forcefully, knocking away a dozen soldiers.
At his side, batches of people had already fallen one after another. Urouge carried the pencil on his shoulder, looked around, there was almost no one left resisting.
Except for that guy up ahead, who was clashing with Lily.
It was a red-haired man with short-cut hair in leather armor, hefty in build with a playful face, twirling two curved swords like the wind and after clashing with Lily once, he didn't continue, instead leapt towards Moriah on the other side, slicing down fiercely with his blades.
"Shadow Warrior."
Swish!
The twin blades cut down, only to slice through a splatter of ink, Moriah's body and shadow swapped places, dodging the slash.
"Shadow Horn Spear."
As the shadow formed into Moriah's body, his hands rose, and ink dots scattered around gathered, rising from the ground, transforming into a long spear with a gecko-like front, stabbing straight at the leather-armored warrior.
The leather-armored warrior hadn't landed yet when the Shadow Spear shot out. He slashed downward with his twin blades, sparks flying as the blades clashed with the Shadow Horn Spear, using the force to spin aside like a whirling pinball, evading the attack.
"Hey hehehe, it'll take some time. Another strong opponent."
Moriah reached out and grabbed, shadows of the fainted soldiers gathered like ropes in his hand, he did not need scissors, drawing the other hand forth to slice the shadows away.
Under the sunlight, soldiers who lost their shadows turned to ashes.
As these bodies died, the shadows in his grasp also vanished.
The power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit works this way, after plundering a shadow you can use it, but the premise is the body must be alive, once dead, the shadow is also eliminated.
And these soldiers did not possess firm will or skilled in Haki, in a dazed state, Moriah found plundering shadows effortlessly.
"Who stays behind."
Lily glanced at the nimble warrior, scanning her subordinates.
Urouge kept his strange smile, said solemnly: "The monk can handle him."
"Count me in."
Hawkins walked over, saying calmly.
"Then it's up to you." Lily didn't speak much further and led her people to the next target.
In half a day's time, they took down another band, the second they encountered, but this team included a tricky one.
"Leaving so soon?"
The warrior shrugged his shoulders, "That's not good, with everyone killed, going back I'll be punished, might as well become a bandit somewhere. Hmm... I won't starve as a bandit, because my luck is always good."
'Destiny Warrior' Sipher.
"Why not become a pirate then."
Hawkins stood between Lily's group and Sipher, took out Tarot Cards and began shuffling, extending several stalks of rice straw from the thigh, sticking cards onto them one by one.
"Our Disaster Pirates welcome any strong individual."
"If destiny leads me to make such a choice, it's not impossible. But destiny is quite unpredictable right now. What if I win? Then destiny guides me to continue as a warrior of the Kingdom. If I find you disagreeable and return to being a mountain bandit, it just means destiny leads me back to my old trade."
"Return..."
Urouge chuckled eerily, "So that's how it is; you were a mountain bandit before? Your fighting style is rather rugged, certainly not like that of a soldier."
A person's battle style, aside from their strong personal flair, cannot escape their origins.
Soldiers have a soldier's combat style, emphasizing order and stability, while Pirates have a Pirate's combat style, characterized by chaos and variability.
"Yes, I used to be a mountain bandit. The old King defeated me. Following destiny's guidance, I became a warrior of the Kingdom," Sipher said.
"Your probability of defeat is 99%."
Hawkins placed the last Tarot Card and looked up at Sipher, "Following destiny's guidance? Destiny tells you you've already failed. Will you surrender now?"
"Hehehe..."
Sipher's posture slightly bent, his previously light voice turned solemn, "My destiny hasn't told me I'm defeated."
Hawkins nodded, "Hmm, if you were to surrender easily, you would have done so earlier..."
"Infiltrating Enlightenment!"
Urouge charged forward with large strides, starting to make a stroke like the 'heaven' character with his diamond-shaped pencil as he assaulted Sipher.
Clang!
Sipher raised his dual blades. The blade edges sparked against the pencil column. His body moved as gracefully as a butterfly, utilizing the force from the blade clash on the pencil column to constantly maneuver and dodge the pencil's attacks. When Urouge finished the final stroke, Sipher's dual blades positioned to the side, leaping up aided by the force, swiftly slashing diagonally upward, aiming for Urouge's neck.
"Exorcism and Righteousness!"
Urouge didn't dodge, his arms bulging with veins as he fiercely slammed the pencil column down.
Bang!
The pencil column smashed a deep indentation into the ground. At that moment, Sipher twirled in mid-air, spinning several times before landing. He retreated a few steps, teasingly saying:
"Oh dear... What great strength! Nearly crushed to death, but my luck is good, destiny was guiding my dodge."
Urouge glanced at him, touched his neck where there was now a small cut.
In that instant, Sipher's blade had grazed past...
"Rice Straw Hand-Prepared Blade!"
From the side, Hawkins' long sword transformed into Rice Straw Whip, splitting into five directions as it attacked Sipher.
"Ah... does straw really have any power?"
Sipher chuckled, his dual blades moving not particularly quickly, yet every strike hit the straw precisely, emitting a crisp ding as it deflected a strand of Rice Straw Whip, rapidly advancing, and immediately slashing apart each incoming straw whip.
His relaxed demeanor was not merely luck and destiny...
This guy has immensely strong combat experience!
"Dual Blade Martial Arts."
Not allowing Hawkins any time to react, Sipher's eyes shimmered with red points, smiling casually as he smoothly evaded the straw whip's attack, soon positioning dual curved blades at his neck, cutting in with a swish.
Sipher flicked his dual blades, sighed, "Looks like the guidance of my destiny is stronger."
Swish!
At that instant, a sound came from behind him. Sipher's pupils contracted, spiraling around, his blades transformed into rotating edges. They deflected the Rice Straw Whip which paused only briefly before continuing its attack, slicing open Hawkins' body, before spinning back.
Around him, among the hundreds of soldiers who hadn't had their shadows plundered and were stunned by Supreme King, one person's head flew up, three bodies split apart, all bearing marks of slashing.
As for the golden-haired guy who should have been shattered into segments, his body was unharmed, his head remained intact, his body should have been divided into portions but was untouched. Only at the positions of slashing, white smoke escaped with four straw dolls identical to those soldiers' corpses.
"Killing me four times..."
Hawkins glanced at the fallen straw dolls, nodded, looked intently at the others lying down, activating his ability to replenish the substitute dolls, then turned to Sipher.
"You're quite formidable, but today's destiny dictates that you're fated to lose."