But he had to stop as he noticed Frank launching an attack from behind. Dylan ducked the moment Frank's twin dagger aimed for his neck!
Dylan also did low kick sweep which made Frank lose balance.
'How did he notice me?! I was in his complete blind spot?!' Frank thought he was stealthy enough to land that attack.
He even timed it in the moment that Dylan had turned his back. Yet, Dylan was able to dodge that attack. But how could he know that Dylan had developed a sixth sense that detects incoming lethal attacks from his years of fighting.
As Dylan finished the rotation, his right elbow were already flared while supported by his left hand for an inward elbow strike to Franks temple.
Despite putting Innate Energy to protect himself, Frank's head was blown back as blood started to spill. But a vertical backfist whipped from Dylan's inward elbow strike and slammed Frank on the ground.
The impact left Frank dazed, coughing blood as his daggers clattered against the stones.
Dylan's killing intent emanated as he aims to deliver the killing blow to Frank. Killing intent that was forged from hundreds, if not thousand kills from mortal combat whether it was gang fights, underground war or his time during the Dark Tournament.
Ronald panicked at the relentless, terrifying onslaught that Dylan had displayed before him. Wanting to break Dylan's rhythm before Frank was killed, he lunged forward, thrusting his longsword with maximum speed, "Soaring Cloud Sword Art, Second Move: Piercing Clouds!"
'A mistake!' Dylan was able to evade the thrust easily, recognizing the linear nature of the attack; he tilted his torso just enough for the glowing steel to pass harmlessly by his chest. The attack created a terrifying gust of wind that would have been lethal if it were to hit Dylan.
Due to Ronald's panicking attack, he was able to deliver a sharp right hook on Ronald's face. The punch caused a tooth to be flung as he coughed blood. Ronald once again used Mist Weaving Shadow to retreat.
But Dylan who had seen this move already, quickly punched the cloud clone as he once again repositioned himself with a sharp Mach cut-in, stepping inside Ronald's guard. Ronald wanted to deflect Dylan's attacks with his sword, hoping the sharp sword would keep him from a considerable distance.
However, the momentum of Dylan's burst of speed was so fast that his body glided slightly past Ronald's side in an instant, causing Ronald's thrust to hit nothing but empty air.
'Hm, I did too much that time. I guess for short distances it should be about seventy to eighty percent? Hm, I understand it now.' Dylan stopped his dash and took note of this. This was his first time with this body so he still needed to fine tune some biomechanics when fighting.
Ronald took advantage of this mistake to distance himself from Dylan and launch another Cloud-Sea Surge.
"Securing a safe distance from me, huh?" Dylan had no choice to retreat first and once again evade the attack with another right angle Mach cut-in.
Just as he was about to reposition himself, he suddenly felt a shift in weight around him. "Huh?"
"Soaring Cloud Blade Art, Fourth Move: Heavenly Mist Suppression!"
Edgar brought his heavy broad saber down with a violent, air-crushing chop. Heavy downward innate energy pressure erupted across the stone floor, creating a dense gravitational field designed to weigh down Dylan's legs and pin him in place.
'Gravitational pressure?' Dylan smirked inwardly, as blood sipped from his mouth. He could feel his bone's cracking from sudden change in pressure. But he eventually had to kneel due to the resulting pressure.
The slash was still not able to land accurately since Dylan's body had still momentum from his dash. Dylan angled his body in a way that he would not be gravely injured. It only resulted in a shallow vertical slash in Dylan's torso.
"I missed?! It could only slow him down and not hold him in place?!" Edgar was dumbfounded. He was this close to killing Dylan yet he was off by a few centimeters.
Instead of fighting the downward force, Dylan utilized Silat footwork, sinking his center of gravity even lower and letting the pressure compress his leg muscles like coil springs. The moment the heavy saber struck the earth, Dylan exploded upward as the pressure subsided!
Using a high-flying Taekwondo acrobatic 540-degree kick, Dylan spun mid-air, slipping cleanly through the pocket of compressed air. His right foot cut through the breeze like a scythe, catching Edgar square in the jaw before the man could finish his swing recovery.
*BANG!*
The impact tore through Edgar's defensive Innate Energy, sending three teeth flying alongside a spray of blood as Edgar reeled backward. Edgar had effectively lost consciousness at that point.
But it did not finish with just a tornado kick. Dylan took advantage of the leftover centrifugal force and forcibly twisted his body to do a 720 degree heel kick, accurately aimed at Edgar's unguarded jaw.
*Crack*
It was evident, Edgars jaw shattered and dislocated as it separated from his head and a large splash of blood exploded from Dylan's attack. Edgar was killed!
"You killed Edgar?!" Paul, who had been blown away by Dylan, had finally recovered and charged from his flank.
"Another one?"
Before Dylan's feet even touched the ground, Paul, his face twisted in rage as he spun his heavy axe by its handle like a rotor, building centrifugal force to sweep away Dylan.
"Soaring Cloud Axe Art, Third Move: Cyclone Surge!" He swung in an upward motion which created an upward surge off air from the ground.
Mid-air with no ground to push off, Dylan demonstrated the terrifying acrobatic mastery of his body control. Using his absurd core strength, Dylan aggressively tucked his limbs into a tight aerial roll which made him roll to the side while making his bow a smaller target.
Thanks to this, he was able to ride the very air currents generated by Paul's swing. However, Dylan's back had been scarred by the terrifying winds that grazed his back.
"What?!" Paul gasped, his eyes wide in disbelief as Dylan was landed behind his back.
Dylan didn't waste a millisecond even when his back was behind Paul. Without looking back, Dylan's left arm shot out, clamping around Paul's neck while his right hand held his clothes. He lifted Paul easily and slammed him face first to the ground with a shoulder throw.
*CRACK!*
"ARGH!" Paul screamed as entire ribcage cracked under the brutal, downward slam. He coughed up blood as the heavy axe slipped from his numbed fingers, crashing heavily onto the cobblestones.
Breathing felt laborious and painful due to some parts of his ribs digging into his muscles, Paul tried his best to beg for mercy, "P-please, s-spare me."
Without giving Paul a chance to recover nor replying to him, Dylan planted his foot on Paul's neck and pressed downwards which easily snapped since he could no longer guard using his Innate Energy.
*CRACK!*
"You don't deserve mercy." Dylan coldly said.
"PAUL!" Ronald rushed forward to aid his friend and performed another Cloud-Sea Surge.
Dylan rolled on the ground while grabbing Paul's corpse and executed Judo sacrifice throw, leveraging Paul's massive body as a flying projectile straight towards Paul! Paul's body collided with a sickening thud and then sliced by the Cloud-Sea Surge, tumbling into a heap of bloody limbs.
"N-no. Noooo!" Ronald screamed out in desperation as he just witnessed his friend's death and he played a role in the desecration of his corpse. He could only blankly stare at what remained of his friend.
"Ronald, get a hold of yourself!" Frank screamed as he continued dashing towards Dylan
A high-pitched screech tore through the forest clearing as Frank, despite his bleeding head and dazed state, flickered back into existence from the shadows. "Die, you monster! I don't believe we can't kill a cripple like you!!"
"Soaring Cloud Twin Dagger Art, Fourth Move: Cirrus Shadow Flurry!"
Frank's twin blades became a blinding whirlwind of close-range stabs and slashes, carving dozens of thin, needle-like rays of Innate Energy toward Dylan's vital points to interrupt his momentum.
Dylan first picked up Paul's heavy axe and then he threw it towards the incoming barrage of energy stabs and energy slashes. The heavy steel axe had been lacerated and punctured into hundreds of pieces! Even steel was cut like paper from the sheer force of Frank's attack
However, Dylan had already used that opportunity to once again to his high-speed diagonal dashes that allowed him to get close to Frank. It only took that small window of time for Dylan to appear in front of Frank.
"M-monster!!" Frank had frantically continued, executing Cirrus Shadow Flurry even in close distance.
Dylan dropped into a low Wing Chun trapping stance, his hands turning into an imperceptible blur. With master-class Jeet Kune Do intercepting concepts, his palms slurred and deflected the flat sides of the incoming daggers, guiding the lethal trajectories away from his throat.
'How is he doing this?!' Frank was flabbergasted. All his attacks are being accurately parried one after the other.
The only problem was that Dylan did not have any Innate Energy to protect himself with. At that close proximity, Dylan had various lacerations in his hands, arms and his body from the residual sharp energy.
The corresponding energy stabs and slashes were safely going past him every time he parries those attacks.
Inside the narrow gap between the blades, Dylan saw an opportunity to attack and did not hesitate to capitalize upon it. He ducked under a lethal cross-slash, entering Frank's innermost chest range.
"S-Sto-"Before Frank could finish his words, Dylan had already delivered the finishing blow.
Dosena: First Stance.
Combining a Kyokushin Karate palm heel to the solar plexus with an explosive Muay Thai upward knee strike, Dylan hit Frank at the exact instant his foot landed.
*BOOM!*
Frank's chest caved inward as the shockwave blew through his back, shattering his defensive Innate Energy like fragile glass. Frank's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he even left the ground, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
"F-Frank!" Ronald's voice trembled uncontrollably. Three cultivators completely dismantled by pure physical combat and martial mastery. Dead.
Desperation overrode his sanity and grief. Ronald channeled every drop of his remaining spiritual sense and sword-energy into his longsword, the steel glowing with an eerie, blinding light that vibrated the air around him.
"Soaring Cloud Sword Art, Final Move: Splitting the Cloudy Sky!"
Ronald leaped into the air, descending swiftly! A razor-sharp atmospheric slash shot forth, aimed to cleave Dylan in two! It was a large sword slash that carried all of Ronald's strength!
Yet, Dylan's eyes remained icy cold.
'It's not as terrifying as Alistair's attack. It honestly looks shabby and weak in comparison.' Dylan didn't retreat as he was able to estimate the speed at which it was coming towards him. He determined that his speed could outpace that singular attack.
He sprinted directly toward the the downward slash, executing a low-angle Wrestling shoot-in combined with an acrobatic forward handspring directly under the falling arc of energy.
*BOOM!*
The ultimate slash tore open a deep, smoking trench into the earth behind him, but Dylan had already emerged through the dust, rising behind Ronald as the sword wielder touched the ground.
Before Ronald could even turn his head, Dylan grabbed Ronald's sword arm with a vise-like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wrist control, twisting the joint outward while sliding his hips inward.
*CRACK!*
"ARGH!" Ronald shrieked as his elbow snapped backward. Before he could fall, Dylan shifted his weight, delivering a brutal Kyokushin ridge-hand chop directly to Ronald's throat, followed instantly by a devastating Boxing short hook to the temple.
The heavy, triple-impact strike sounded like thunder clapping around the forest.
Ronald's sword clattered onto the ground as his body went completely limp, dropping face-first into the dirt beside the corpses of his comrades.
"I won." Dylan stood tall in the middle of the quiet forest, the dust slowly settling around him.
All four assassins lay motionless on the ruptured ground, thoroughly crushed by the raw, terrifying art of Dosena.