Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 654: Overpowering

Adrenaline and fear coursed through Zac’s body as he saw the spatial tear in front of Adcarkas widen. It wasn’t because of the ability itself, but rather what he saw through the rip in space. It was his sister surrounded by multiple monitors. The tear was somehow completely bypassing the golden alloy to allow the Dominator to strike straight at Kenzie.

In fact, the reason that Adcarkas seemed to be struggling so hard to open the tear might actually not be due to the Anointed’s efforts, but rather the isolating properties of the alloy itself. It was also possible the alloy lost its isolating properties the moment Kenzie started fiddling with it. There was no time or point to start analyzing the situation though, and Zac unhesitantly unleashed [Hatchetman’s Rage], and the surge of power perfectly blended with his true fury as he shot forward.

“Hmph,” Adcarkas snorted as he glanced in Zac’s direction.

The Dominator punched out toward him and the swing generated a small sphere that almost looked like a black hole. Zac didn’t recognize the skill or what threat it posed, but he didn’t care. A fractal blade had already appeared on [Verun’s Bite], and two clouds were released in quick succession. The spatial ball greedily swallowed the energies Zac released with [Rapturous Divide] for a second before it detonated, decimating everything in its path with a wave of spatial tears aimed straight at Zac.

Zac grit his teeth and pushed straight into the storm, and bleeding gashes appeared all over his body as he forced his way through the chaos. Thankfully the path was suddenly clear as the divide between heaven and hell was formed in the chaos, creating a path for Zac to pass through. Adcarkas stood on the other side, clearly surprised that Zac had managed to cut through his manmade spatial storm so quickly.

The Dominator’s arm had already reached into the tear. Kenzie desperately tried to keep him at bay, but her elemental attacks were completely unable to deter him, which was no surprise. No matter how skilled her control of her Dao was, it couldn’t compete with pure power. A terrifying pressure suddenly burst out from Zac as the halo of [Conformation of Supremacy] reappeared behind his back. He roared in rage as he swung his axe in a wide horizontal arc, and space itself buckled inward as the weight of the Eternal Shield was added to the swing.

Adcarkas moved his free palm as a swirling vortex appeared to block, but just as the two forces clashed a third one appeared as a huge wooden hand appeared out of nowhere. Zac still hadn’t figured out exactly how Void’s Disciple was avoiding attacks by his spatial shifting, but he couldn’t hold back right now. Besides, with one of the Dominator’s hands inside a spatial tear and the other one blocking [Conformation of Supremacy], this was the best opportunity to try to end things since the beginning of the fight.

“Ogras!” Zac roared as well, and a storm of Dao-infused spears rose from the ground, almost completely swallowing the Zhix.

Another beam of pure darkness hit the Zhix from behind, and Zac added the final ingredient of his plan; he flooded the area with a Dao Field empowered by [Spiritual Void]. There was no way that Adcarkas’ spatial shift was infallible. Dao restrained Dao, and if Ogras could wound Adcarkas, then this maxed-out Dao Field would hopefully be able to interfere with his ability to avoid getting hit.

The hand slammed down toward the ground with earthshattering force. Adcarkas’ reaction time was shocking though, and his body grew just like during the end toward the last battle. Zac inwardly swore in disappointment upon realizing his skills seemed to have been passed along as well. He had hoped that some things would get lost when swapping body, but he had already used three of his old skills so it didn’t look hopeful.

The Zhix instantly ripped out his arm from the spatial tear, dragging a huge chunk of ice with him. It was Kenzie’s attempt to lock his arm in place, but it had unfortunately failed. Still, the hand had appeared just a meter above the Dominator’s head, and it was immediately barreling down on him. A black hand slammed upward as Adcarkas roared, forcing [Nature’s Punishment] to stop in its tracks.

A tremendous shockwave from the clash pushed Zac away, and it was powerful enough to break a few of the closest pillars clean off. Zac glanced up at the Dimensional Seed with fear, but he breathed in relief when he saw that the shield still held even after losing some of its Dao Source.

More surprisingly it looked like Adcarkas got absolutely infuriated upon seeing the spears break off and fall onto the ground.

“You fool!” he roared as his aura exploded even further.

The Zhix had already dispelled the force of [Conformation of Supremacy] so he pushed his second hand up as well to deal with the hand of [Nature’s Punishment], an absolute storm of pure spatial chaos erupted the next moment, and Zac instantly realized he wouldn’t be able to withstand the force for long even when infusing the attack with Fragment of the Bodhi.

But the fire of fury in his chest had still not abated after seeing the Zhix targeting his sister, and he instantly pushed through spatial tears around Adcarkas, ignoring the second set of cuts that sprouted across his body. He emerged through the turbulence like an angry bull and he instantly resummoned [Conformation of Supremacy] while dispelling [Nature’s Punishment] half a second before it would break by itself.

Adcarkas tried to move his hands down again to block, but Zac’s attack summoned by the Void and empowered by a towering fury was too quick, and his strike slammed straight into Adcarkas’ chest. It first looked like the Dominator tried to phase out of reality to avoid the strike, but the area was suffused with too many high-grade concepts.

Instead, he could only hastily activate a skill to block, but Zac’s momentum was far beyond what he could impede. [Verun’s Bite] crashed straight through a wall of condensed space, and cracking sounds echoed out as Adcarkas was flung over a hundred meters away. It worked! Zac wanted to roar in triumph at finally harming this monster, but he didn’t even get a chance to celebrate before the situation turned for the worse.

It first looked like Adcarkas would slam into yet another of the pillar, hopefully getting hurt even further from the impact. But a space gate suddenly appeared right in his trajectory, swallowing the Dominator whole. A sudden scream of danger made Zac hurriedly turn around, but he was too slow.

Another gate had appeared right behind him, and a red-eyed Void’s Disciple had already launched a strike. A world-ending punch hit Zac right back, and the impact caused the air itself to crack. Zac felt like his organs had been crushed and he spat out a mouthful of blood as he was flung away. He didn’t have the means of Void’s Disciple, but he did manage to stop his flight with the help of his chains just before slamming into one of the five squads.

The Anointed quickly backed away while maintaining the array, and Zac could only push away the pain while shooting forward again. There was not much else the Anointed could do to help except than staying out of the way. The original plan had been for them to stall one of the Dominators for long enough to Zac and Ogras to kill the other, at which point Zac would deal with the second one as well.

Now they could only do what they could to support Zac from a distance since there was no point in them throwing away their lives.

The initial attempt at finishing off the Dominator had failed, but Zac refused to give up. At least they had managed to wound him, and Zac didn’t believe that the spatial energies seeping out from the Dimensional Seed could help him heal as well. They should be able to whittle him down in this manner.

But Zac soon found himself under a relentless storm of strikes as Void’s Disciple visage had turned into a mask of fury. Strikes with enough force to shatter mountains were launched in a relentless flurry, and they still incorporated the esoteric and unpredictable methods of space.

Zac kept [Conformation of Supremacy] constantly active as he tried to give as good as he got, but his body was already a bloody mess after pushing through two spatial storms. Ogras tried to help as best as he could, but another galaxy had appeared, trapping Zac in a death cage where he gradually lost the initiative.

A fist suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and Zac saw white for an instant as it landed straight on the side of his head. The punch was powerful enough to almost made it look like Zac was teleported as he slammed into the ground, and even the sturdy golden alloy gained a small dent from the impact. Anyone else at Zac’s level would probably be killed then and there.

Zac’s vision swam but he still swung his axe in a ruthless upward trajectory aimed to cripple the Dominators legs, all while trying to figure out his next step. He simply wasn’t a match in close quarters against Void’s Disciple any longer. His attributes had clearly increased as much as Zac’s own, and he had found a method to incorporate his Dao into his combat technique.

Furthermore, it seemed he was drawing combat strength from the Dimensional Seed itself.

Zac couldn’t take the [Rageroot Oak Seed] either since he had already activated [Hatchetman’s Rage], and changing to his undead side was impossible since Adcarkas was solely focusing on him. Destroying a few of those pillars had well and truly pissed off the Dominator, though Zac couldn’t figure out why.

There was no choice; he had to take a gamble and use the crystal he got from the Gemlings. He had kept it for now since Void’s Disciple hadn’t taken out any items during the fight, but he would be wounded to the point that he would be unable to keep going if he didn’t turn things around. He only had less than twenty seconds remaining on [Hatchetman’s Rage] as well, so this was his last chance to turn things around before he entered a weakened state.

But just as Zac was about to take out the crystal from his Spatial Ring a massive drop of pure white light emerged from one of the cracks in the domed ceiling. The drop turned into a beam of light that shot straight toward them.

Anywhere the beam passed was drenched in lunar light. Its movement was shockingly quick, and it was upon them before Adcarkas had a chance to attempt finishing Zac off. A large claw appeared the next moment, and Zac’s eyes widened when he sensed the shocking might they contained. This was completely different compared to any of the werewolves he had fought until now. This single attack was definitely powerful enough to threaten Zac’s life.

There was no question about it; Cervantes had arrived.

Thankfully it looked like the werewolf leader wasn’t intending to pile onto Zac’s sufferings as the massive claw passed him right by, aiming for Adcarkas’ throat. The Dominator growled in annoyance as he sideswiped as his hand formed a small vortex. Palm and claw collided, and the force threw Zac away, giving him a breather.

Cervantes’ surprise attack was unfortunately not enough to take out the overwhelmingly powerful Dominator, but he didn’t seem reconciled with that fact as his body turned into a blur. Ten, fifty, hundreds of attacks were launched with a speed that would put both Ogras and Thea to shame. Not only that, the attacks actually contained enough force to almost match Zac’s own.

Zac quickly seized the opportunity to eat a healing pill before activating his Specialty Core. A wave of Miasma spread throughout his body as he pretended to struggle to get back on his feet while Cervantes and Adcarkas duked it out a few hundred meters away. It was an extremely odd scene, as their attacks kept swiping through each other’s bodies.

One shifted in and out of space while the other turned parts of his body into lunar light with pinpoint precision. It almost looked like two holograms were fighting. Still, the two actually clashed every now and then, causing massive shockwaves to spread out. Zac tried to remember the timing, as he guessed that was a clue to the limits of their defensive measures.

The two were locked in a stalemate for a few seconds, but they suddenly flashed away to create some distance.

“You barely managed to escape thanks to your kin sacrificing everything, yet you come back like a moth to the flames? Laughable,” Void’s Disciple snorted, causing Cervantes to emit a terrifying killing intent.

“Human, our tribes have our differences, but we cannot let this one leave this place alive. If we do, no one will survive for long on the outside,” the werewolf growled without taking his eyes off of Void’s Disciple.

Zac’s frowned as he looked at the wounds covering Cervantes’ body, and he immediately understood what had transpired without his notice. It looked like his own battle against the cultists wasn’t the only war that had taken place in this hidden realm. It turned out that the werewolves and Void’s Disciple had already clashed once, and Void’s Disciple had emerged victorious from the sounds of it.

That by itself was pretty troubling, considering that Zac didn’t feel confident at all in dealing with Cervantes without using his [Rageroot Oak Seed]. And that was just going by what he had seen so far. An old monster like Cervantes no doubt had a bunch of aces to use when his and his tribe members’ lives were on the line.

Yet they had died, while Adcarkas lived. It was even more proof of the terrifying power Void’s Disciple had gained in this hidden realm.

“Let’s work together,” Zac agreed with a voice full of death, as a storm of miasma started to swirl around him.

Zac didn’t delude himself that he could suddenly patch things up with the Lunar Tribe, but they shared a common enemy for now. As what happened after they dealt with Adcarkas, that was a problem for the future.

“You are hiding some peculiar methods,” Cervantes muttered, shifting his gaze from Adcarkas to Zac for the first time.

“Interesting, interesting,” Void’s Disciple laughed in turn.

Zac hated how he was forced to expose his undead like this, but there was nothing else to do. He had already exhausted his human side except for [Deforestation], and that skill was meant for large-scale battle. His odds of defeating Adcarkas were far greater in his undead form, especially if he could make use of Cervantes’ offensive power while he restrained the Zhix.

Besides, if both of them died before Zac left this place, then there would be no one to spread his secret.