"Kid, you know me."
Darius looked at the young man in front of him, his desire for battle flaring up again.
Actually, from Chen's recent actions—starting a fight at the drop of a hat, and his declaration that he would never tolerate cowardly acts—Darius believed Chen was a Noxian.
But he saw Chen's superb combat skills, his aura of fighting one against ten, and how he fought dozens of soldiers without falling behind, and all of them were seasoned veterans he had personally led!
Seeing the formidable combat power Chen displayed, the thought of having a match arose from his heart.
At this moment, Chen looked at Darius, his mind racing, and to make Darius believe he was a Noxian, he immediately concocted a flawless set of words.
Chen straightened his back, puffed out his chest, and said with full momentum:
"You are the current Noxus Hand; how could I not know? After all, I am the one who will become the next Noxus Hand!"
It was just like Naruto shouting, "I'm going to be the next Hokage!"
Darius instantly felt his blood boil, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards as he said delightedly:
"Good! With young people like you, Noxus's future will be even greater! I appreciate you, young man, bring out your weapon!"
When Darius saw Chen, it was like seeing his younger self. He had risen steadily through the military ranks from an unknown grunt, always prioritizing his mission, and had earned much respect through his ferocity, discipline, and unyielding attitude.
Now, he had achieved the highest honor for a Noxian warrior: the Noxus Hand!
He greatly admired young people with such spirit and excellent combat prowess.
"Huh?"
But Chen hadn't expected this. He was stunned. Why was he taking out his weapon?
Judging by Darius's tone, he already considered him a Noxian, so he shouldn't continue to attack him, right?
But Darius's Black Cleaver was already raised:
"Just the two of us, one-on-one, a man's battle!"
"I want to see if you are worthy of inheriting the title of Noxus Hand!"
The surrounding soldiers consciously retreated. Powder glanced at Chen, pulled off Chen's coat, put it on herself, then held her arms out horizontally. She raised her two small fists, then pressed them down:
"Go! Beat him up!"
"Ah?"
Chen was taken aback. He shouldn't have said those meaningless words, and was Powder really this devious?
Just then, Darius swung the Black Cleaver in his hand, bringing it down towards Chen's head.
Chen cursed inwardly:
"He's the Noxus Hand, and he still doesn't play fair!"
Chen raised his streetlamp to block, and a tremendous force came from the tiger's mouth of Chen's right hand. The pressure, like Mount Tai pressing down, made Chen's body sink. Chen, exerting all his strength, barely blocked Darius's normal attack!
Chen's body trembled slightly:
"How high is his attack power?"
He absolutely couldn't keep fighting head-on like this. Chen quickly grabbed his katana with his left hand, thrusting it forward, using a Sweeping Blade, and slashed towards Darius.
Darius, a seasoned veteran, remained unhurried, simply sidestepping to elegantly dodge Chen's Sweeping Blade.
"A targeted ability can miss?"
Chen realized this was the real world; abilities couldn't be exactly like in a game, and there was no such thing as a guaranteed hit for targeted abilities.
Moreover, Chen was now facing Darius, the strongest combatant relying purely on his physical body, without mutations, technology, or magic!
Of course, besides Garen, who could fight him to a draw, and Jax, who was fundamentally not human.
Missing was normal, but this also ignited Chen's fighting spirit. Darius was also known as the top lane quality inspector, and Chen considered himself a top laner. Now he wanted to see what level he had truly reached.
Chen's mind raced. He had a set of abilities similar to Darius, but he lacked the ultimate ability, Noxian Guillotine.
"If he hits me and triggers five stacks of Hemorrhage, I'm dead for sure."
Darius's axe swing just now had already made Chen feel his powerful attack, so there was no way he could tank Hemorrhage and a Noxian Guillotine!
So it still came down to two words:
"Kiting!"
Chen quickly pulled back, creating distance, preparing to wait for Counter Strike's cooldown to finish before going back in to fight him.
But Darius didn't want to give Chen a chance to breathe. He suddenly swung his right hand, still gripping the black cleaver, towards Chen.
Darius loosened his grip, and the black cleaver shot forward. At the same time, he bent his body forward, grabbed the very end of the black cleaver, and hooked it towards Chen, pulling Chen back!
"Apprehend, huh? I can do that too!"
Chen was pulled back by a powerful force. He couldn't let Darius follow up with Apprehend and Decimate. He suddenly swapped his katana for a battle-axe and, with a backhand, also performed an Apprehend.
He performed the same action as Darius: extending his axe, hooking it, and pulling Darius to a position almost face-to-face with him.
Darius was stunned. He absolutely hadn't expected Chen to be able to use the same move as him:
"Did he just imitate my move?"
Chen wasn't going to give Darius any chance to strike. The hook from Decimate counted as a knock-up.
Therefore, it could lead into an ultimate!
"Last Breath!"
While Darius was being pulled, Chen suddenly put the streetlamp back and drew his katana.
With lightning speed, the katana was raised upwards from below.
Darius twisted his body, trying to dodge the strike, but what he hadn't expected was that the blade carried the power of a gale!
The immense wind pressure squeezed Darius, preventing him from dodging the strike!
The strike, imbued with the power of the gale, slashed fiercely from bottom to top, knocking Darius into the air once more, keeping him airborne!
Chen focused intently, delivering two consecutive slashes, and finally, a downward strike from the sky directly struck Darius's chest, knocking him to the ground.
This strike ripped through his chest plate, and a trace of red blood slowly flowed from his chest. Clearly, the damage wasn't quite enough; it seemed Darius was even tankier than he had thought.
But at least the bleeding on Darius indicated that Chen had landed one stack of Hemorrhage first, and Last Breath also granted him fifty percent armor penetration. Chen believed he now had a slight advantage.
"Good, a worthy opponent!"
Darius suddenly roared and backhanded Chen across the face.
"?"
Chen didn't even see Darius's punch and was directly sent flying.
Chen crashed against the city wall, actually spitting out a mouthful of blood:
"That fast? Was he holding back before?"
Darius charged again, holding his black cleaver, but his speed was several times faster than before:
"Now I'm serious!"
Chen was shocked:
"Damn it!"