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Cedric's sword flashed with heat as he sliced through the horde of shadows assaulting him.

The sheer sharpness of his sword would've sufficed if the battlefield wasn't so biased to his opponent. With the environment being this dark, Cranium Carver had no fear of running out of shadows to manipulate; that's why Cedric had to burn his creations to prevent them from regenerating endlessly.

Facing a horde of shadow constructs could've been incredibly troublesome to anybody. Although they were merely puppets, they are controlled with incredible mastery and finesse. That, coupled with them being shadows that could turn into any form, added more unexpected and sinister lethality to them. It would be very easy to overwhelm those who are caught unprepared by this horde.

But Cedric was no stranger to hordes. He's been raised and trained to handle waves upon waves of enemies with barely any rest in between. He's used to facing hundreds of thousands of enemies at once. A few hundred was a light snack to him at this point.

From the depths of the shadows, Cranium Carver watched as his opponent easily handled what others would find overwhelming. For a moment there, he was stuck watching in awe as the enemy handled his horde with ruthless and elegant efficiency.

The enemy showed no signs of panic or exhaustion, no wasted movements, no signs of overcompensating for anything, nothing. Just pure efficiency with minimal effort. And he did it all only using nothing but heat control and the basic sword art.

This made him somewhat understand what Faceless Blade, and all previous opponents of Dawnbringer, felt while facing him. They're up against a real sword master, a very skilled one at that.

But this wasn't enough to make him surrender this match.

Just like Faceless Blade, Cranium Carver saw this as a chance, an opportunity to truly measure his limits.

The randomized queue of the ranking match made it hard for people like him to find worthy opponents. Ones that could truly push their skill to the limit and see where they can improve, which was the whole point of why they're here in the first place. That's why many send out challenge duels instead.

Cranium Carver already noticed that he's yet to force the enemy a step backwards. Right from the start, he remained standing in that same position. Not advancing and not retreating either.

It wasn't a display of arrogance, merely a sign that Cranium Carver just wasn't capable of moving him.

'Well, that's got to change,' he mused inwardly, accepting the challenge fully.

A sense of thrill ran through his spine. His nerves lit up in excitement and anticipation. Finally, an opponent that could truly take on everything he has. It's time to see where his limits are.

And so, a sharp whistle was emitted from his body.

Shadows trembled around him, and Cranium Carver's body melded with them, disappearing from everybody's senses.

After his disappearance, the shadows seemed to have gained spirit and intelligence. They began moving with purpose and intent.

A chill emerged from the surroundings. The fog got thicker, making the shapes hidden within it transform into something more terrifying; whether they're merely illusions or not is something that remains to be seen.

Within this environment, anyone's sense of direction was messed with. The creeping fog made it hard to see anything around. It's also capable of making them see visions of monsters that weren't there previously. The sense of being watched from a distance could be felt by anybody who's unlucky enough to be trapped within this place.

Yet, all of these changes did nothing to Cedric. It didn't scare him or even make him wary. He had eyes that could see the absolute truth of this world. Illusions, visions, fallacies, etc. None of them worked on him.

He could even clearly see Cranium Carver's position and follow his movements clearly as if he were walking at a brisk pace. He could also predict what his opponent would do even before it happened, so what's there to be scared of?

Cranium Carver attempted to force Cedric to move from his initial position by manipulating his own shadow against him. But to his surprise, he found out that Cedric's shadow was off-limits to him for some reason.

Forget about controlling it; it doesn't even respond to his control, like, at all. Additionally, he had no idea that by doing this, he was essentially telling Cedric where he was in real time. He's lucky that Cedric didn't want to do anything to him just yet, or else this match could've ended right away.

With this failure, he decided to use another method. He intensified his reach and amplified the shadows around Cedric. Then, he formed a pool of darkness beneath Cedric, attempting to swallow him whole into the shadow realm.

This didn't work. Cedric didn't even need to move to prevent this from happening. He just released a tiny sliver of his sword intent, and that was enough for the darkness around him to coil in fear of his sharpness.

Even the hidden assassin from a distance flinched upon sensing his sword intent. But he didn't let that slow him down. He wasn't even concerned about his failure.

Without wasting that pool of darkness, Cranium Carver used them, kneading them into shapes of weapons attempting to pierce Cedric in all directions. Some of the shapes even mimicked the appearance of their sovereign to add more layers of deception.

Again, this was useless.

Cedric's sword flew out of his hand, turning into a streak of light that sliced through the shadows with blistering speed. They were cut down even faster than they're formed. Additionally, the flying sword left a trail of flames in its wake, burning the remains of the shadow, making it impossible for them to regenerate again, and driving them back.

In a blink of an eye, the spontaneous plan he created was foiled before they could truly show their capabilities. It happened so fast that the assassin only saw flashes of light, then the sword returning obediently to Cedric's hand.

A bitter smile appeared on Cranium Carver's face. But he hasn't given up yet.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then, he decided to let go of his remaining inhibitions and unleashed true chaos and terror upon his opponent.

Cranium Carver's killing intent manifested and fused with the shadows, shrouding them with a sanguine light. The dull white eyes of his shadow constructs turned crimson after being infused with his killing intent, and they all promptly went berserk.

The entire rainforest seemingly went crazy after this. The shadows screamed in bold murder. Even the trees came to life and began marching towards Cedric with the intent to kill.

This entire battlefield turned hostile against him, and it was clear that they would do everything in their power to make sure that he won't get out of this place alive.

Somewhere in between all of this, Cranium Carver hid, biding his time and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. He's like a lurking viper waiting for his prey to make one slight mistake, and when he sees it, he will definitely sink his fangs into his neck, injecting him with pure venom that will destroy him from the inside.

It was then that he suddenly saw a smile appearing on Dawnbringer's face.

That was then followed by a sharp whistling sound that pierced through the foreboding silence of the rainforest.

Its hostility was met by an equally domineering declaration. One that came from a true sword master.

Cedric raised his sword, gripped it just slightly tighter this time, and swung it horizontally with a slightly stronger force than before.

There was a brief flash of steel, then...silence.

No flair, no special effects, no dramatic scenes or visions, just a pure display of skill and prowess.

With a single swing of his sword, Cedric sliced through everything that's hostile to him except his enemy.

His swing didn't leave any scar or trace. It was invisible, but it definitely happened. The shadows went silent, reverting to their original form. Even the shapes dissipated to nothingness. The forest that had previously turned hostile also returned to its original form.

Cedric didn't swing his sword to destroy the battlefield. Sure, that could've been a way out, but not the one he preferred.

Instead, he swung his sword to neutralize Cranium Carver's influence over that battlefield. He 'killed' Cranium Carver's technique and control over the environment with that swing. So much so that he wouldn't be able to do that again.

That's the kind of skill shown in here, a level of pure sword mastery where the sword only cuts what its user wanted to cut and nothing else. It was a realm that many sword masters chased and dreamed of, only to pursue in vain due to their inability to even see it.

Cranium Carver was forced out of his hiding spot. His heart was fiercely thumping in his chest. Even though that sword swing didn't kill him, he felt it all the way to his soul.

And it made him realize just how much of a gap there was between him and this man.

"That was fun, but I'm off to another match. Just watch the replays and see the parts that you can improve upon. Bye."

That's all he heard from Cedric before a flash of steel claimed him.