Regardless of what the others outside the arena were saying, Vasily, who had just obtained divine power, was quite excited at the moment.
He grinned, his mouth full of blood, and said sinisterly:
"Lin! Ran!!"
"YOUR! LIFE!!!!"
This word-by-word roar clearly indicated that Vasily was in a state of extreme rage.
Of course, this was also the strongest state berserkers could achieve.
Combined with his severe injuries, Vasily had definitely reached the peak of his life!
"Blood Demon Hell!"
At this moment, both of Vasily's ice and fire blades were filled with blood-red light.
The blood that had just spilled at his feet began to multiply, from one to two, two to four, and four to eight, spreading outwards.
In just a moment, a blood kingdom descended upon the arena, occupying all climbable areas.
Even under the cover of this boundless fresh blood, the gradually dimming sunlight was shrouded in an alluring red hue.
This significantly enhanced Vasily's weakest point—his perception.
Because the blood covered every corner, and he could communicate with it, as long as Lin Ran was on the stage, no matter where Lin Ran hid, he would be unable to escape his detection.
After setting up the field magic, Vasily did not delay for a moment and charged straight towards Lin Ran.
Dragging his dual blades behind him, he was almost a red meteor.
But alas...
Swish!
This time, his seemingly sure-fire assault missed once again.
Thud!
Due to the excessive force of his initial charge and Vasily's lack of any means to ignore inertia and change direction mid-course, he directly slammed into the edge of the arena's protective barrier.
Vasily's head rattled the entire barrier three times.
"What terrifying impact force!"
"This barrier is designed to withstand attacks from ninth-tier powerhouses, and he can still shake it this much!"
Seeing Vasily's ferocious performance, some contestants exclaimed.
"But Lin Ran's speed is truly incredible. Who knows where he's flashed off to this instant..."
"Huh?! What's going on!?"
"His figure can't be seen anywhere on the entire stage!"
Other contestants, who had been focusing their attention on Lin Ran, widened their eyes even further.
What was happening? Was it a magic trick of making someone disappear?
But no matter what, it shouldn't be possible to leave not even a trace or aura behind...
Vasily, having been fooled again and with his head against the ground, felt a sharp pain in his head.
Half of it was from the impact, and the other half was from anger.
Vasily never imagined that even after spreading blood all over the arena, he still couldn't track Lin Ran's whereabouts.
Could this guy have secretly cast an illusion on him, or had he already snuck out of the arena?
In fact, Vasily's guess was almost entirely correct.
Lin Ran had indeed cast an illusion on him and simultaneously fled out of the arena.
The illusion was to use Tsukuyomi to slowly occupy Vasily's consciousness with the created dreamscape, thus completing the subsequent soul-possession plan;
The hiding was achieved by using Kamui's spatial transference to insert his physical body into the Kamui dimension.
Now that Lin Ran's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan had been strengthened through countless cycles, its various abilities had soared dramatically.
The illusion erosion of Tsukuyomi could now form a domain-like effect, silently unfolding and targeting everyone within its radius.
Although this would result in a loss of power, it was precisely because of the reduced effectiveness that it became even harder to detect.
It was akin to changing from flame-grilled chicken wings to a frog boiled in warm water.
Of course, the flame-grilled chicken wings targeting a single individual still existed.
As for Kamui's spatial transference effect, its speed had increased to an immeasurable degree, thus enabling the countless bewildering effects that left Vasily and the audience stunned.
The only downside was that the vortex of Kamui that tore through space for offense could not yet achieve such swiftness.
But Lin Ran believed that as he continued to evolve, he would eventually be able to do so.
At this moment, Lin Ran, who had evaded Vasily's charge by hiding in the Kamui dimension, opened his eyes again and teleported himself out.
Soul Reaper Ghost Slash!
Another skill from the Cursed Sword was unleashed, accurately slashing into Vasily's back.
Crack!
Accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh, Lin Ran's sword tore open a wound on Vasily's back.
"Roar!"
With Vasily's original speed, he could have dodged laterally, but he didn't.
Dodging would only waste time; seizing every opportunity for a counterattack was the way to go!
"Blood Qi Blade!"
After receiving the Blood God's blessing, Vasily's offensive methods and energy system had undergone significant changes.
From the interplay of ice and fire, led by the pure and vast Divine Phoenix, he had shifted to an evil spirit filled with surging blood energy and overwhelming dark power.
This time, Lin Ran did not use Kamui's spatial transference to dodge again. Instead, he met the attack head-on, unflinchingly, with the Sword of Victory.
Radiant Prison Kill!
The surging holy light cannon and the blood energy permeated with demonic power collided, triggering a violent explosion.
Instantly, endless fragments of holy light, along with swirling blood energy, rose up and once again filled the entire arena.
"Haa!"
The moment the cannons canceled each other out, Vasily, his mind filled with bloodlust, leaped up again and swung his dual blades at Lin Ran.
Clang!
Lin Ran, however, did not combine his weapons as Vasily did. Instead, he confidently swung out his right hand and, with just the Sword of Victory, blocked both of Vasily's blades.
Even after completing the block, Lin Ran did not rely on retreating or leaning back to unload the force, remaining perfectly still.
"Truly disappointing... you brainless dog..."
"Such excellent spirit vessels, and you don't even activate them. Furthermore, your use of their containers is so crude."
"To actually cover their original spiritual energy with filthy blood energy is a complete waste of heavenly resources!"
"Listen! Listen! Your weapons are crying out!"
"If you could even unleash a tenth of the true power of these two weapons, today's battle wouldn't be so one-sided..."
"So just hand them over to me obediently!"
"In my hands, as a master blacksmith who understands spirit vessels best, they can finally unleash their inherent power."
Lin Ran said coldly.
The reason he said this was because, after obtaining the Twelve Divine Artifacts, Lin Ran's Gate of Babylon had also evolved considerably.
One of its prominent features was the ability to communicate with the spirit vessels of artifacts that possessed spiritual energy.
This was also due to the affinity of the Gate of Babylon.