"Big guy, you go first. I'm afraid if I strike first, you won't even get the chance to make a move."
Shadow Fiend's two long blades had only been drawn half an inch when the edges rasped softly against their sheaths, a sound as fine as silk.
The blades were pitch-black throughout, thin as cicada wings, their edges gleaming with a translucent grayish-white sheen.
That was the realm-cleaving edge formed by spatial laws naturally clinging to the metal's surface.
Every slash cut through the very structure of space itself.
He gripped both blades before his chest, crouching slightly as the soles of his feet tapped the ground. His entire body was like a taut bowstring, ready to shoot forth at any moment.
Shi Poxiao stood where he was, his feet planted shoulder-width apart, his two thick arms hanging naturally at his sides.
He stood nearly three zhang tall, the muscles all over his body seeming to have been cast from black iron.
A dull gray layer of keratin covered the surface of his skin, dense with faint lines like drought-cracked earth.
He breathed heavily, and every rise and fall of his chest made his entire ribcage rumble like a bellows.
"Since you're being so courteous, then I won't stand on ceremony."
"Little guy, you said that first. I hope you won't regret it."
Shi Poxiao grinned, revealing a mouthful of rough, square teeth.
His thick legs suddenly exploded with force, and his whole body crushed forward like a moving mountain.
Every step he took on the Arena let out an incomparably muffled boom, like a giant hammer striking an anvil.
He charged before Shadow Fiend, then brought down his fan-sized right palm directly. The force of the palm strike pressed the surrounding space inward by half an inch.
Sensing the