Super Gene Ⅱ: Evolution

Lin Shen neither defended nor dodged, but thrust his Light Sword towards Kristin as well, choosing a fight-to-the-death strategy.

This move startled everyone; no one had time to react before the two swords simultaneously pierced each other's bodies.

Almost at the same moment, Lin Shen's Light Sword penetrated Kristin's body, and Kristin's sword pierced Lin Shen's.

The carapaces on both of them seemed utterly useless, offering no protection whatsoever.

Because of their 'merge' and 'spin' effects, their Attributes were greatly weakened, with the hardness and Toughness of their carapaces reduced to about half of their original levels—completely unable to withstand the full might of their Life Bases.

Zuo Qinglong, who was sitting and watching the duel, suddenly stood up, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

Lin Miao was so frightened he nearly lost his soul, standing there in a daze.

"What the hell is this? Starting with a move that inflicts mutual damage, an all-or-nothing gambit? Do they really need to be this fierce, this desperate? Brother, this is a ranking battle, not a mission to throw away your life; was there really a need to start like this?"

Everyone was stunned silly; two top-tier Ascenders, initiating the combat so directly with the first strike, both perishing—what the hell was going on? No one had ever seen such a tactic.

While the audience was frozen in shock, Lin Shen and Kristin's movements didn't cease; they both pulled their swords out and continued stabbing into each other's bodies.

One sword... Two swords... Three swords...

The two of them were like desperados with bloodied eyes, completely disregarding their own lives, just madly piercing each other.

Their bodies were punctured with multiple bloody holes, yet they seemed not to feel the pain due to the adrenaline surge, entirely ignoring it.

Watching the two face each other, like two unskilled street thugs just stabbing away, it was as if backing down an inch, dodging a strike would mean displaying cowardice, deserving of contempt, and thereafter facing an existence with no face to mingle in society again.

Everyone was shocked; they had imagined many scenarios for a battle between two prime Ascenders but could never have envisioned such a scene.

This wasn't a duel between masters but a deadly gamble, a contest to see whose life was tougher.

However, within moments, both had inflicted several lethal wounds on each other, and no matter how tough their lives were, they couldn't withstand this kind of onslaught.

"What kind of deep hatred compels this? Must they play in such a manner that they will both end up with bitter regret?" Tian Congyun's eyes nearly bulged out as he watched.

"He won't die so easily," Emperor Tianshu snorted coldly.

Tian Congyun looked closely and indeed spotted the trick; the wounds on both of them were healing at a visible rate—the initial punctures were nearly invisible now, and even the scars on the carapaces were rapidly disappearing.

Soon, not only them, but many spectators also noticed the abnormality; despite being stabbed so many times by each other, neither of the fighters fell, there was no blood spraying, and the injuries on their bodies were healing suspiciously, previous wounds seemed to have vanished.

"Damn it, both of these guys have such powerful self-healing, they're using their lives to try and outsmart the other to death!"

"Haha, isn't this a coincidence? They both thought the same thing. I bet they're both confused now, wondering why so many stabs haven't brought the other person down yet."

"How come such a brutal battle somehow feels oddly comedic to me?"

"This self-healing ability is just too strong. Lin Shen's skill has been revealed—it's self-healing, and Kristin has the same ability."

"Lin Shen is such an oddball. While others enhance their combat power with skills, what kind of things is he playing at? War Song, Self-healing, Spatial Fist Power, his theme is 'weird,' always aiming to surprise."

Who has ever seen two experts fight like this? For a moment, they felt an extremely thrilling sensation; it was truly a case of blade on flesh, penetrating not just the flesh, but through the body.

The Super-Base Recast continuously repaired Lin Shen's wounded body and carapace, yet the speed of the repairs clearly couldn't keep up with the speed at which the opponent's blade pierced his body. A thought of retreat sprouted in his heart, "Has this guy gone mad? His self-healing abilities aren't stronger than mine, so why won't he retreat?"

Kristin didn't show any intention of retreating. Instead, he became more and more frenzied, his sword strokes getting faster, ceaselessly targeting different parts of Lin Shen's body as if trying to find a weakness for a lethal blow.

Clang!

Lin Shen could no longer endure and counterattacked with a backhand sword-strike, blocking Kristin's thrust.

But with that deflection, he immediately fell into a disadvantage; Kristin's sword attacks came like a violent meteor shower, crazily lunging at him.

Lin Shen opened and closed his folding fan, catching Kristin's blade between the gaps of the fan bones as it passed through, locking it in place with the "Fan Dance" lock technique.

With a twist of his hand holding the folding fan, Kristin's grip on the sword broke, and the hilt slipped out of his hand.

Just when Lin Shen thought he had the upper hand, Kristin's body followed the rotation of the sword hilt, spinning like a drill. His other hand grasped the hilt again, using the momentum of the spin to bring the sword into rotation again.

The closed folding fan was forcefully drilled open by the spinning sword artifact. Instead, it was Lin Shen who couldn't hold onto the Inheritance Fan, and it flew out of his hand.

"Open!" With a cold shout from Lin Shen, the folding fan in the air disassembled instantly, turning into countless light swords, interweaving across the sky as they lunged at Kristin.

Kristin held the sword hilt with both hands, slashing out stroke after stroke, each as fast as thunder and lightning, slashing left and chopping right, fending off the shower of light swords, with not a single one coming close to him.

Because his movements were so fast, he left afterimages, making it seem as if Kristin had become a being with three heads and six arms.

For a time, the onlookers were dazzled and utterly unable to keep up with the rhythm of the two fighters, wondering how the tangled mutual stabbing had turned into such a bizarre combat.

In the eyes of the crowd, although Lin Shen was the first to falter during their mutual stabbings, it now appeared that he had gained the upper hand.

Lin Shen fought only with his Life Base, not consuming his own strength, while Kristin's slashing seemed fierce but was actually depleting his own strength. Surely Kristin would be at a disadvantage.

Just as people were speculating how Kristin would break the stalemate, they suddenly saw Kristin, while slashing the myriad light swords, still had spare energy to unleash a sword stroke in Lin Shen's direction.

Lin Shen was already tens of meters away from him when Kristin executed the stroke, and from the blade flew a black crescent blade glow, instantly reaching in front of Lin Shen who was dozens of meters away.

"What the hell is that?" everyone gasped in shock.

Ascension Level fighters didn't have long-range attack capabilities, only a few who practiced strange and wondrous skills had the ability to harm from a distance.

There was a very famous sword technique called Sword Wind Blade, which could utilize a sword artifact to slice out wind blades that could harm enemies from afar.

But the secret technique of Sword Wind had long been lost with the fall of the Sword Wind Swordsman and no one had heard of anyone inheriting that technique.

Moreover, the force that Kristin unleashed was not Sword Wind, but something akin to sword radiance, which seemed only possible for those at the Nirvana Level.

Lin Shen had no time to think so much and directly executed a Surfing Triple Strike to meet Kristin's crescent blade glow.

Boom!

The Fist Power was split apart, and as the blade glow shattered the threefold Fist Power, it also lost its luster, dissipating into the void.