Chapter "387"
This was a strike without any flourish, without any complex fluctuations of energy.
Aside from the distance crossed by the True Spirit Archmage, it was nothing more than an ordinary advancing straight punch.
And yet, this punch effortlessly dispersed the lingering shockwaves of Genesis, reduced the Qianyuan Realm to ashes, and landed squarely upon the face of the divine creature.
Fist met face, and for an instant, even space-time seemed frozen.
The divine creature’s body ceased collapsing. On its massive face, the painful expression was replaced by a stupefied, almost serene stillness.
The ravenous energy-devouring cells, which had been struggling to detach from the main body but had yet to succeed, were all driven back into place. Those that had already separated and begun twisting into indescribable forms were struck into nothingness.
Even the turbulent aura swirling around the divine creature was calmed by this single punch.
The moment stretched long within perception, until the void within a hundred thousand kilometers collapsed, triggering the spatial sealing array laid by Randolph True Spirit. Forced to divert power to stabilize the void, the scene resumed.
From the point of impact on its face, the divine creature’s entire body shuddered violently. Bodily fluids sprayed outward. It looked like a boxer caught in slow motion being floored by a knockout punch—comically absurd.
To the naked eye, it even seemed to shrink by a size.“Plasmolysis…?” Adam muttered, his stray thought slipping out.
Several mages beside him gave him odd looks. Maggie remarked, “Though it can’t possibly be plasmolysis, it really does look the part.”
The divine creature’s roar ignored the laws of sound needing a medium, resonating across the Aether and into every ear. Its language was older and more obscure than that of the Qianyuan Realm—yet all understood its meaning:
“Pain!”
From its mouth, a blade of solidified vital energy shot forth. Kratos True Spirit pulled back his fist, crossed his hands, and tore the Heavenly Sword of Qi in two.
The divine creature’s body surged with healthy vitality. It forcibly expelled the rebellious devouring cells from its body. At that moment, its body became transparent, and Adam and the others could clearly see within it—countless Martial Cores, innumerable as stars, dark as the night sky, devouring all that approached. They were evenly distributed through every channel where energy could flow.
Suddenly, every Martial Core along the pathway of its left arm erupted with light. Kratos True Spirit knew it was preparing a major move. Instinct drove him to intervene.
But just then, Laura True Spirit’s voice reached his ear:
“Wait. Let’s see what it does. Also—go easy with your strikes. Those mutated devouring cells are important specimens. You’ve already obliterated too many with one punch.”
Kratos replied, “That strike carried eighty percent of my strength. A normal ninth-rank lifeform would be near death—but look at it. It doesn’t even seem wounded. Its vitality is outrageous. I’m sure it has some secret method to ignite its potential, and when that happens—”
Laura True Spirit cut in: “Wait and watch. Prometheus is still behind us.”
The Martial Cores within the divine creature released blinding radiance, then detonated. A torrent of pure, majestic vital energy burst forth.
This energy was of higher quality than the diseased aura, rapidly repairing its body and forming a pure black protective layer around it.
Seeing this, Laura True Spirit silently chanted, stirring the suppressed virus within the creature’s body into another riot. This time, under her control, the counterattack was orderly and precise. Then she said to Kratos:
“See its left arm? Those Martial Cores didn’t vanish after exploding—I suspect they’ve gained the trait of Immortality. Tear off its left arm.”
Kratos nodded. With one step he shattered the void, borrowing strength from the spatial sealing array’s counterforce. In an instant, he was before the divine creature, unleashing a storm of ferocious blows.
The two were similar in nature—their techniques were martial and battle skills, their bodies strong enough to crush energy itself, their vitality so resilient that unless their entire existence was annihilated in an instant, any injury left their strength undiminished.
There was no room for others to intervene. Thousands of warships stood ready, with energy and source power prepared for continuous super-dimensional bombardments. Yet there was no opening to act. These legions, mighty enough to sweep across infinite planes, could do nothing but serve as nodes for the two Thrones’ arrays—and spectators.
This was the perfect demonstration of the aesthetics of violence—pure power manifested.
Adam realized he had still underestimated the weight of the words True Spirit. The power displayed by these True Spirit Mages was leagues apart from even the closest eighth-rank mages. As Lord Croft had once said: if Super-Dimension was like opening a hole in the box, then for True Spirits, the very concept of the box had ceased to exist.
How else could mere physical attacks reach such heights? Every punch, every kick of theirs was stronger than the nuclear blast of a trillion Fireball spells.
If True Spirits were already this terrifying, then what of those super-void beings who had survived the Catastrophe of Epoch’s End—who could slay True Spirits with nothing more than the aura seeping from their slumber?
Where was the true limit of personal martial power?
Adam’s chip was on the verge of collapse. The torrent of data from their battle exceeded its capacity. Just as the overload alarm screamed, the battle shifted once more.
Katos True Spirit clashed fists with the divine creature. The black protective layer shattered, fragmenting into a storm of vital energy sweeping across all directions. Katos braved the storm, seized the creature’s left arm, and violently tore it free.
The divine creature screamed in agony. Its severed arm exploded in Katos’s hand—the energy becoming swords, the flesh transforming into warriors wielding them. They split the void with ease, lancing toward the True Spirit Mage at the speed of light.
Kratos stood his ground. Aetheric brilliance flowed across his body, making him seem like a god with billions of arms. With flawless precision, he intercepted every blade of energy, all while focusing on snatching Martial Cores from the storm.
The True Spirit Mage was wounded. Vast, mountain-sized, crimson crystalline droplets of his blood scattered outward, each one unnaturally gaining life and surging back at his foe.
Blow for blow.
Yet still, the True Spirit Mage had the upper hand. He even had the leisure to study the Martial Cores he caught. He discovered that even when exerting his full strength, he could not crush them.
“They truly possess the trait of Immortality. I estimate I’d need to double my output to destroy these Cores.” Kratos muttered, tossing the captured Cores behind him. The spatial sealing array automatically locked them away, then transferred them to the other two True Spirit Mages.