CHAPTER 686: DUELS; VS. KING JULIUS (I)

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"He’s gone completely viral now." Steven sighed as he watched Dawnbringer win another match without breaking a sweat.

He looked at the fading battlefield around him and briefly sensed the presence of many people spectating the match just now. Some of them most likely recorded the match and were already thinking of making all manner of videos about him to gain attention and followers.

Only arena enthusiasts like him truly enjoyed that battle. It may have been one-sided, but it’s always a delight seeing a true master displaying their skills, no matter how basic they are.

Steven is a blooming fan of Dawnbringer now. Of course, his favorite is still Giant Axe Andrew, but it’d be a lie if he said that he wasn’t enjoying spectating Dawnbringer’s matches, because he certainly does. Very much, even.

"He’s just on another level, man," Steven muttered softly, loud enough for his roommate to hear. "Like, how much faith must one have in their craft to pursue it to a level beyond perfection? He’s making an embarrassment of many sword masters out there."

"That might be the case, but that’s also a lesson for them," his roommate replied; evidently, this one also watched Dawnbringer’s match. "Many sword masters pursued higher forms of sword arts in vain, neglecting their basics. He might be embarrassing them through this display, but if that’s enough to rattle them, it proves their incompetency."

"Wow, that’s cold." Steven shivered at the indifferent declaration of his roommate.

"It’s the truth." His roommate shrugged. "Swordsmen aren’t to be coddled. The moment they pick up the sword, they make their choice."

Steven just smiled at this. His roommate wasn’t wrong, exactly. But hopefully, these kinds of comments remained within the privacy of rooms like this. Otherwise, if any swordsmen out there heard him, a fight would definitely ensue, and that’s not something he or the management would like to see.

Not that his roommate will necessarily lose; it’s just unnecessary drama that nobody really wants to deal with.

An alert then pinged on Steven’s interface, and he’s aware enough to know that the same notice also appeared on his roommate’s. The notice told them that Dawnbringer was going for another match and was asking them if they wanted to spectate.

Like that’s even a question...

Without even needing to discuss it, both of them accepted the spectating invitation and soon found themselves being transported to the next venue of the match.

The battlefield generated for this match was outer space. The combatants are fighting in the endless expanse of space, surrounded by nothing but desolate floating rocks of all shapes and sizes.

Like before, Steven sensed hundreds of other spectators jumping into this match. Their presence was only noticeable enough to know that they’re there but not to the point where they’d start affecting others’ watching experience. Even the presence of his roommate disappeared as soon as they got here.

Shortly after, the combatants appeared. Steven saw Dawnbringer first.

Nothing has changed from his appearance. He still wore the same clothes he had during the previous match. He still looked as fresh as a daisy, as if he didn’t just come out from an intense match about a minute or so ago.

As for his enemy...

"Oh, damn! He’s fighting him? Whew, this is bound to be exciting!" Steven muttered as he locked in to the match.

Standing at the opposite side of Dawnbringer was a guy with the codename of ’King Julius,’ and he’s as regal as his codename is, but in a tribal way.

King Julius was a tall and bulky man wearing a tribal outfit made from fur, leather, and feathers of strange beasts. He wore a distinct yellow bone-tooth necklace, which looked like it’d pierce him if he tripped or lowered his chin even slightly.

The dude’s arms were massive and extremely muscular, and so were his legs. His head was tiny but had sharp lines that could seemingly cut the fingers of anybody who’d trace them. He’s wearing headgear made from a tiger’s head and leather that still has its eyes and ears.

An intense and intimidating aura radiated out of him even as he stood there doing nothing. And unlike Dawnbringer’s previous opponents, King Julius was unarmed.

Steven, as a private investigator, knew the real identity and background of King Julius. The ’King’ in his codename wasn’t there for flair. King Julius was, indeed, a king in real life.

He’s one of the very select group of people who are completely uninterested in making up an online persona. King Julius finds it incredibly tedious and worthless; that’s why he couldn’t be bothered to make one. So, he just went in here as he is, no pretenses, no lies, just the real him. And if that somehow offends somebody, then they can take it up with him if, and only if, they have the ability.

Steven saw the excitement in King Julius’ body language. It’s visible in how his fists clenched and his fierce aura flared uncontrollably as he stood opposing Dawnbringer.

"Right, this was a challenge, not a random queue," Steven reminded himself.

Because of Dawnbringer’s overnight fame, it’s understandable that many people who saw the video will start challenging him to a duel. Whether it’s because they want to ride his coattails to fame or because they truly want to test their mettle against his is entirely up to them.

’King Julius falls to the latter, no doubts about it. He’s always been a straightfoward fella, after all.’ Steven thought to himself.

And to prove his thoughts right, as soon as the countdown was over, King Julius wasted no time and immediately charged at Dawnbringer with his claws stretched out.

He’s like a pouncing tiger wanting to sink his fangs into the neck of his prey. There was no hesitation, no probing, no warnings or alerts, just straight-up action, immediately.

Boom!

Their fight instantly became explosive. King Julius’ claws clashed with Dawnbringer’s steel, emitting bright sparks in their struggle. The vacuum of space trembled from their clash; even the nearby asteroids were thrown out of their orbit because of it.

It’s rare to see bare flesh contesting with pure steel in terms of durability, yet it’s happening here.

King Julius was a person born with innate divine strength, one that he took advantage of and unearthed through the entirety of his life and career evolution. So it’s not surprising to see him using his bare flesh to fight. This has always been his style.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like a wild beast, King Julius repeatedly pounced on Dawnbringer with increasing force and animosity. The impact of their clash was so strong that more and more asteroids were being affected by their fight.

Still, even with this, Dawnbringer remained standing at the same spot. King Julius, with all of the strength he’d shown so far and his animosity, failed to push him even an inch back.

Dawnbringer kept swatting him away with his sword like an annoying fly, sending him back as fast as he arrived. And like a moth to the flames, King Julius kept coming back, fiercer than before.

King Julius’s fighting style was feral and undisciplined. He was reckless; he showed no hesitation in his every move but also no care for his well-being.

It’s his absurdly strong physique that’s allowing him to be this reckless. Cedric has already wounded him before; it just wasn’t obvious because King Julius’ wounds healed in an instant.

Steven stayed locked in to the match. He had even already forgotten to eat his popcorn due to how intense and breathtaking it was.

Each time King Julius charged, Steven felt scared for Dawnbringer because the former’s momentum was like a shooting star slamming into a lone person. Yet despite this, Dawnbringer remained steadfast and unmoved.

He parried King Julius’ momentum, dissipating it for his surroundings to endure in his stead in an effortless manner. It doesn’t matter how much speed King Julius picked up; even if he were to travel atFTL speed, Dawnbringer would still parry and swat him away the same way.

It took about arounds like this before King Julius finally understood that this isn’t working.

He already knew that no matter how much momentum he carried, it would be useless against this foe because he had mastered the art of parrying with a sword. Dawnbringer would just scatter the impact to the surroundings instead, not feeling burdened by any of it, not a single injury, even.

But this doesn’t mean that he’s surrendering. Hell, far from it! How could he surrender when he just met a perfect match after so long?

Finding someone who could endure all of his animosity without breaking was rarer than finding a needle in a haystack. He wouldn’t let this chance go, not when he finally found one after searching for so long only to be met with nothing.

And so, King Julius let go.

He’s really not holding back this time. He already confirmed that this Dawnbringer won’t easily break, unlike others. So now, it’s time for him to truly have fun.