Thanks to the acute intuition granted by his spirit pillar, his fast thinking by the soul pillar, and unparalleled body control by the body pillar.
Bian blocked the Duke's sword with the Scornful Bane and at the same time, removed his body from the line of sight of the black blade.
It was a weird movement he had never done before, and he wasn't even sure why, until the red flash appeared.
[Beast Soul Scornful Bane Destroyed.]
The berserk mutant beast soul, which had endured even clashes against Gemstone geno cores, was destroyed in a single clash.
Bian exerted force to his feet and forcefully retreated from the duke.
The duke also looked shocked by what had just happened. They both kept their distance from each other and observed.
Slowly, half of the castle slipped off and collapsed, clouding the hall in dust.
Seizing the opportunity while the duke couldn't see, Bian charged in and summoned the Hefty Black Spear.
Duke Thorne retreated at the same time, but Bian was even faster.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Metal struck against metal tens of times in an instant. Every time, Bian tried his best to avoid the line of sight of the sword.
Fortunately, the power didn't activate again, leaving Bian slightly confused as to why the duke didn't use that dreadful ability again.
'No, it's not that he doesn't want to use it; he can't use it! There's some sort of gimmick at play.'
Bian observed the duke closely. He took in every part of his full-body armor and soon discovered another geno core on him.
A four-leaf clover.
'It has something to do with that geno core.'
Bian drew back the spear and struck forward even faster, aiming for the four-leaf clover.
CLANG!
His strike was deflected by Duke Thorne, forcing Bian to admit that the Duke was very skilled with the sword.
Still, from their confrontation, he had been suppressed by Bian. It was only a matter of time before he was killed.
"Do you need an invitation to join, or should I just blow up your spirit stone?"
Duke Thorne yelled at Earl Ankou, who had been watching passively from the side.
She let out a soft sigh and suddenly jumped forward, her feet not touching the ground. It was like she flew towards him.
Bian blocked her scythe with the Hefty Black Spear, leading the falling attack to deflect the Duke's thrusting sword.
Then he planted a kick on her abdomen, sending both her and the Duke spiraling back.
He summoned the Burning Black Spear, holding it in his left hand, while the Hefty would remain in his right.
'Their teamwork is absolute garbage. It might actually make it easier to beat them.'
"Watch how you're attacking, you idiot! Don't get in my way!"
Duke Thorne flanked Bian from the right and Earl Ankou from the left.
Bian stood on his toes, avoiding the Duke's strike and countering the Earl's.
'That scythe feels dangerous, but that's only if it can make contact. For some reason, this female spirit isn't fighting seriously at all. She isn't condescending, but rather, doesn't care about winning or losing.'
Thanks to the half-hearted attacks from Earl Ankou, Bian wasn't as pressured as he was supposed to be.
His spear had already punctured the armor of the duke several times, and victory seemed to be at hand.
Then those alarm bells rang out in his head again.
'That attack, it's coming!'
At the same time, the scythe of the Earl swept at him from below.
He had to block the Duke's attack with his weapon to trigger that red flash while avoiding it.
But Earl Ankou's tricky attack would prevent him from doing so unscathed. Still, Bian would rather take his chances with the Gemstone scythe than that black blade.
Clang!
[Gold Geno Core Hefty Black Spear Destroyed]
Bang!
As Bian blocked the Edge of Ruin, another red flash appeared, and everything in its path was neatly cut.
At the same time, the scythe struck his ribs, not completely going through his armor but leaving a very deep cut.
A slight buzz assaulted his mind, but it faded soon after, almost like an illusion.
Bian used the slight opening after the two simultaneous attacks to gain some distance.
'The duke can still use that red flash attack, but there seems to be some sort of condition.'
Bian summoned the last Hefty Black Spear and decided against fighting both of these adversaries at once.
He had to deal with the duke first, or else that attack could truly slice through his armor and kill him in one hit.
Pah!
Duke Thorne slapped Earl Ankou.
"Did you use the mental attack of the scythe on him at all? How can a creature with a silver geno core still be moving after dealing with mental attacks from a Gemstone geno core!"
The duke definitely felt that Earl Ankou wasn't doing her best. If not that Bian had dodged his special attack twice, he would have killed her straight away.
'Mental attack?'
Bian's brain was the most evolved part of his body. Not only had it been strengthened by crystallizers, but he also had the Soul Pillar, also called the Mind Pillar, currently active.
The slight discomfort he felt from the attack of Earl Ankou vanished in an instant.
'If I deal with the duke, Earl Ankou will follow suit. I can't keep sacrificing weapons to him~ well actually I dont have any strong weapons left.'
Knowing he couldn't afford to lose another weapon, Bian summoned the gold beast soul of the Alabaster Tiger, the Target Mark.
A faintly visible green mark appeared and slowly drifted towards Earl Ankou.
Actually, the Target Mark was a risky geno core. Once it was summoned, it couldn't be unsummoned unless another Target Mark was used as a substitute.
This meant that if Bian failed to plant it on his opponent, he couldn't unsummon it and try again.
Luckily, the verbal abuse of the duke was enough to serve as a distraction, and the Target Mark was almost imperceptible. Even Bian couldn't detect its presence without the dongxuan sutra.
"I'm saying that my geno core specializes against souls. Mental attacks are just a side benefit, so you can't expect... never mind."
"So you can still talk back."
"Both of you shut up! I have somewhere to be, so just die for me!"
Finally having enough with their theatrics, Bian linked the Target Mark to the Hefty Black Spear and threw the latter at Earl Ankou.
At the same time, the piston of the Soul Pillar began beating even more wildly, lightnings of different hues tracing along the infinite expanse of the pillar.
In Bian's eyes, time seemed to slow down almost to a stop.
'I can't maintain this state for long.'
Bian then used Mental Point Targeting to scour through his recent clashes with the duke.
The first strike activated the red flash.
Then the duke and he clashed weapons exactly ninety-nine times before the hundredth strike activated the flash again.
'Every hundredth strike sends out a red flash.'
In an attosecond, Bian went through his memories and summarized the gimmick of his opponent's weapon.
Then time resumed as usual. The piston within the Soul Pillar slowed down considerably, but was still faster than its normal operating speeds.
'While Earl Ankou is preoccupied by the Hefty Spear, I'll finish off the duke!'
Just like Bian had been assaulted by the black spears of the Minotaur Cavalry, he now passed on the same treatment to the Earl.
The Hefty Black Spear flew around her like a fly, constantly sending out sparks when her scythe deflected it.
Without the Earl to distract him, Bian launched a full-powered assault on the duke using the Burning Black Spear.
A cacophony of metallic clangs rang out as the two clashed weapons tens of times.
'I'm not bad with a spear, but I lack a superb technique to overpower my opponent.'
Bian wasn't bad with his weapon, but neither was the duke. The more they clashed, the more openings the duke revealed, leading to him getting impaled in non-vital areas several times.
'How are this guy's attacks so heavy? My hands are already shaking!'
While Bian was steadily pressing his advantage, the duke was giving his all to avoid getting killed.
Every strike reverberated through his bones, making them quake and causing his grip to weaken.
Was this really a person with just a silver geno core? Impossible! He must have used some means to conceal the actual level of his geno core.
The duke refused to accept that he, who had a gold geno core, would be suppressed by a person with a silver geno core.
Bian, on the other hand, was quite disappointed with the duke.
With his current display, he most definitely finished off the prince in one strike, but that was dependent on his self geno core.
It was contradictory, really. A geno core was part of a person, and yet Bian found the duke to be nothing without his geno core.
Still, even he had to admit that with his sacred-blood armor and inner pillars, he might not survive the red flash from the sword.
It was a good thing his spirit pillar was in overdrive, allowing him to sense imminent danger before it arrived.
Then an idea struck.
Bian knew his spirit would warn him beforehand, but it wasn't normal for a person to try their life by only avoiding strikes which they knew would be fatal.
'I need to change my mindset to win this fight. No more blocking; I'll aim to kill the duke and only avoid those red flashes.'
Bian was at an advantage, but the duke held on to an insta-kill attack. The more time passed, the more likely the duke would slip up, be exhausted and die.
Likewise, if more time passed, Bian was giving the duke an opportunity to counterattack and turn the tables instantly.
"No more defense, it's time for a reckless, all-out assault!"