857 Zeras' True Might
The entire arena shook with violent energy, as the two powerful attacks landed directly onto Zeras at the same time. An explosion of astral energy, spatial energy, and death energy surged out in all directions, filling most of the arena with its power before eventually fading away.
Watching intently from the stands, John leaned forward with bated breath, waiting to see the outcome of such a combined attack landing directly onto Zeras. It had been perfectly executed by Lilian, and her ability to use her spatial powers to redirect attacks surprised even John himself, as he had never seen or heard of such an ability. Clearly such a battle art was only usable by one as skilled in the spatial Dao as his master.
While John waited to see what the outcome was, Lilian was not of the same opinion. She sped forward and swung her scythe down towards Zeras’ last known location, unleashing another powerful scythe image towards him.
A guttural roar boomed out from within the explosion, louder and more powerful than the remnant explosion itself. The roar blasted away the explosive cloud of energy, and unleashed a shockwave that boomed outwards in all directions.
The shockwave blasted against Lilian, who braced herself as she was knocked backwards some distance. While she was not injured from the attack, it had interrupted her follow up attack. She hovered in the air above the arena, staring down at Zeras’, whose figure was now revealed for all to see.
His body still glowed brightly, like the shimmering of stars, from his astral armor, although cracks had appeared in the armor. Trickles of blood seeped out of the cracks, revealing he had taken some damage from the last attack. However, the extent of the damage was unknown, as the armor shrouded the condition of his body.
The cracks quickly healed, reforming the armor anew. Zeras’ gaze, now frustrated and even angered slightly instead of calm and amused, stared up towards Lilian hovering above him.
“Congratulations sister,” Zeras said, his voice cold and unamused. “This is the first time in half a century that someone has managed to land such an attack on me, an attack that made me feel pain. Since you’ve grown to this level, then I should treat you with the respect of a proper opponent. You’ve earned that much at least.”
Lilian remained silent as she inspected Zeras’ condition, but wasn’t able to gather much information either. However, she could feel his aura and fighting spirit, both of which had grown since the attack landed. Clearly her attack from before had not impacted his combat prowess to any measurable degree.
After praising Lilian, Zeras’ aura skyrocketed once more, and his body began to glow even brighter than before. His body suddenly started to grow, becoming taller, wider, and more muscular. In less than a second, his body exploded to over twenty feet in height, covered from head to toe with powerful astral energy.
It was as if an astral giant had appeared in the arena, one of incomparable power. The heat and energy radiating off his body skyrocketed as well, making it almost impossible to approach him. It was as if he had become a star.
The odd-looking weapon in his hand also grew in size, matching his new form. A flash of light appeared, and another weapon materialized in his other hand. It was a long, curved saber, seemingly made entirely of astral energy. It was fifteen feet long, and glowed brightly. John couldn’t help but draw a deep breath as he saw this form.
Zeras’ power had skyrocketed in this form, and he was now a completely different person. Even Lilian studied Zeras with a wary gaze, as his new power was something that heeded caution.
“Let’s see how long you can last,” Zeras said, his voice now sounding different. It was deeper yet more ethereal, as if someone was speaking from the other side of a void.
With no further hesitation, he dashed forward. Despite his hulking figure, his speed was even faster than before.
“What?” John couldn’t help but exclaim as Zeras appeared before Lilian in a flash, as if he had been a beam of light. Zeras’ hulking figure dwarfed Lilian, who was even smaller than the weapon’s in his hand.
The astral blade cleaved down on her without pause. The power of the blade seemed to make space around it tremble, which was something only John had himself had seen done in the Heaven Tribulation Realm.
Not phased by the sudden attack, Lilian slashed her scythe out towards the stellar blade, unleashing another powerful scythe image. The hastily made scythe image slashed up onto the blade and then exploded, resisting for only a second before being overwhelmed by the stellar blade.
The blade exploded down on her location, like a falling star.
Boom!
The arena trembled, and astral energy exploded outwards as the stellar blade slammed onto the arena’s surface. Zeras’ gaze snapped to the side, locking onto Lilian who had suddenly appeared several miles away, like a ghost once again stepping out of another dimension.
“I already told you, little sister, that even space must respect the power of the stars!” Zeras boomed, flashing towards her location once more. He appeared before her almost immediately again, and unleashed another attack on her location. At the same time, a new astral aura, different yet just as powerful, emanated from Zeras, enveloping both him and Lilian.
Lilian’s body shifted and faded away as she stepped into space to avoid the attack. Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized something was wrong. Her spatial teleportation was taking too long, as if it was being affected by something; by Zeras’ astral aura. It was clearly making it harder for her to use her spatial powers, which was all the time he needed to land an attack.
Lilian’s power spiked as she unleashed another scythe attack, more powerful than the ones she had unleashed previously. Her pitch-black scythe image slammed into the stellar blade, and resisted it for a time before exploding again. The stellar blade slammed down, with Lilian barely dodging the attack in time, as she was unable to teleport away.
Boom!
The explosion of astral energy crashed into the spatial tempest around her, and then her body. She shot backwards like a bullet, flying through the air for dozens of miles before managing to collect and steady herself in the air once more.
As she did so, she noticed Zeras’ pointing towards her with his bizarre weapon from their previous location; an astral beam already unleashed. The beam was almost upon her.
The flat-headed skeletal beast appeared before her just in time, blocking the attack which exploded against its head. More cracks formed on the flat skull as it stood its ground as best it could to block the attack, which gave Lilian enough time to dodge.
The skeletal beast was flung into the distance, and the beam crashed past Lilian and onto the arena wall in the distance.
Boom!
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She slashed her scythe out with her full power, which slammed against the stellar blade that dwarfed her body. Another calamitous explosion blasted outwards, and a figure shot out of the explosion like a meteor.
Blood trailed behind Lilian’s figure, which tumbled violently through the air.