Chapter 169: Tactical Retreat

[Kingdom of Avalon]

With his sword clashing against his opponent Sycthe, Akito was then suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer power of the Sycthe upon making contact with his sword

If he can put a description towards his feeling to Asmodeus Sycthe then all he can say was that the latter's swing was too heavy even for him who honed his swordmanship to an imaginable degree

He who could be said haven't mastered his own swordmaship yet and still has some flaws towards his way of the sword, despite being strong already, the latter on the other hand could be regarded as on a whole another level of weapon mastery

If Akito could grade himself in the ranking of swordmanship then he must be somewhere around the ranking of Provost, a high rank of swordsmanship which is served for an elite member of the army or high ranking office with above average skill, after all he still got some flaws towards his technique and he still haven't completed on enacting all of his family's sword form

On the other hand with Asmodeus mastery on his Sycthe and further strengthened by the power and energy of the Aquasphere which is rumored to be one of the 4 strongest artifact of this world, he could be ranked among the Superhuman category of swordmanship, wherein the swordsman rank is achieved that is considered inhuman or above the highest possible standard of any logical swordsmanship

With such disparity of strength and mastery, Akito couldn't help but grit his teeth to endure the sickening pressure if the area and move forward

Without much thought, he immediately redirected the force of the scythe's swing towards the skies as he raised up his sword and prepared to attack once more

"Tomura's Second offensive sword form Takai kinchō (High Strung)"

With a quick slash Akito then slashed across Asmodeus chest causing a huge wound to open up on the latter's body and causing the latter to spew out blood, but despite being in despair over such a situation, Asmodeus on the ither hand suddenly smiled in delight as his injury suddenly healed in a blink of an eye and damage accumulated towards his spear

With a smirk on his face Asmodues then quickly pulled down his Sycthe towards the ground as he plans to deliver a counter attack in that instant wherein Akito was still in the lag effect of his own strike

Seeing the blade of the sycthe slowly nearing his body by each passing milliseconds, Akito then quickly forced every nerve and fiber tendon muscles on his arms to move to an impossible and inhumane upwards motion despite the lag effect of his previous attack and immediately form a defensive stance to block such an attack

With veins popping out of his skin and towards the edges of his eyes, Akito then fully gritted his teeth as heused another form of his swordmanship in quick succession

"Tomura's Second defensive sword form Bunkatsu katto (Splitting Cut)"

In that few instances Akito had successfully block the sudden counter attack of Asmodeus causing the latter to be shock and awed at his sudden quick defensive counter, as he smiled wickedly and tried to attempt a quick follow-up counter

But before he could even do so, Akito was already one step ahead of him by a hair's breath as he was the first one to enact a quick follow-up counter to his neck, seemingly telling Asmodeus that he wasn't done yet

"Tomura's Third offensive sword form Ken no Nami (Sword Wave)"

In that moment, Asmodues suddenly felt danger from his human instincts as he subconsciously used a quick teleportation magic to distance himself away from Akito's strike and causing it to miss

But despite successfully getting away, Asmodeus was shocked and confused on why his body suddenly reacted subconsciously despite him not wanting to dodge the strike

"What... what just happened? Did I actually distance myself? That can't be!!! I'm not afraid of getting a wound or getting slashed to death due to my sycthe ability to instantly heal me and direct all damages done to me to my weapon... I have no reason to dodge at all... so why?"

As he was still confused over the fact that his body subconsciously dodged Akito's strike, the latter swordsman himself then quickly closed in the gap between them with a few steps as he deliver another attack aiming for his head

"Tomura's First offensive sword form Wansutoraiku (One strike)"

With such strike at close quarters, Asmodeus human instincts suddenly kicks in as he subconsciously dodged the attack once more with a quick back leap, causing the strike again to miss its target

In that moment Asmodeus suddenly got a revelation for himself

"Again! Why? Is it my human instincts? Did my very own instincts made me move my body subconsciously? I see... it was my instincts all the time, so long as I can't get rid of my human instincts to survive, I would never be truly strong without fearing anything, I need to get rid of it"

After coming to that conclusion, Asmodeus put alf his focus on the battle once more as he dashed forward and produced multiple clones of himself using shadow magic

Upon seeing the clones popping out of nowhere and completely overwhelming Akito through sheer numbers, the person himself then quietly inhaled a mouthful of breath as he calmed his nerves and charge done more with another sword form of his

"Tomura's Second Tactical  Sword Form Sakura no odori (Dance of the cherry blossom)"

Charging in the midst of Clones, Akito then held himself off as he strikes down the fake version of Asmodeus and tried his best to quickly locate the real body itself, but as more and more clones he destroyed, he couldn't help but feel a foreboding thought of his opponent slipping away through the use of this distraction

With such thought in mind which somehow created an opening to Akito's stance, Asmodeus himself the real body itself, then slipped through Akito's blindspot as he swung up his scythe across his back

But before he could fully hit his target, a single black feather suddenly appeared before him as it suddenly blinded him in the darkness of abyss itself

"Tomura's First Tactical Sword form Megakuramu kuroi karasu (Blinding Black Crow)"

With a sudden blind towards his unsuspecting opponent, Akito then quickly turned around to face Asmodues as he boldly declared

"Dont think about catching me off guard that easily!!!"