990 Dare?!
Masako was from the Heaven kitsune clan, the ancestor of which was at the same level as Kukan in his life. Their abilities were very similar to Clara’s Energy Flow constitution, one of the top ten God level constitutions. However, it was obviously on a much smaller scale.
Simply put, they had tempered versions of Clara’s ability, with increased affinity for Conventional Path energies and the ability to read the flow of energy within their opponent’s body. This made them very good Magic wielders, so it was no surprise.
Despite the beauty and elegance of it all, there was nothing pretty about the ferocity of her attacks.
Masako took vanguard, allowing Aki Void and Gin Jikan to flank her. Clearly, they were very much used to fighting together.
Her delicate hand swiveled and whipped, arcing elegantly through the air, drawing pattern after pattern with blinding speeds.
In an instant, several arrays appeared before morphing into individual, snake-like whips.
Coiling snakes, half a foot in diameter blasted toward Dyon from all angles, threatening to pound him into nothing but minced meat.
Gin’s tails emitted a silvery light just as Aki’s emitted a black fog. The lights spun in unison, finding their way to Masako’s arrays and melding together.
At that moment, the transparent snakes no longer moved simply, instead gaining a profound edge. They sped up and slowed down without warning, even jumping through space and appearing elsewhere at times. The kitsune triplet pair hadn’t held anything back, instead choosing to attack with everything they had.
The geniuses who had yet to make a move watched in shock. They were very aware how powerful the combination of these three were, what they didn’t expect was that they would attack with full force so soon. Usually, when facing an enemy you had never fought before, some probing would be in order… This proved one thing: This masked man was dangerous!
Dyon faced the coming onslaught with a calm expression, his Perception working in overdrive a he took in every one of their movements. And then, he flicked both of his sleeves, allowing hundreds of silver plaques to appear in the air, bobbing around him gently.
Aurora flames erupted around him, supported by his runic veins for added control.
“This will be the first debt collection for your kitsune clan.” Dyon’s eyes sharpened.
The geniuses blinked, ‘Those are array plates!’
Dyon’s finger lightly flicked, causing one of the hundreds of floating silver plaques to shatter. In that moment, a brilliant array appeared from it, unleashing a fierce attack.
BOOM!
A translucent snake shattered into nothingness.
The attack was so precise and well timed that Masako almost stopped her charge forward. How was it possible for anyone to time something so perfectly? That was impossible!
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By the time Masako was within range, her nearly dozen translucent snakes had fallen to a mere three, causing her to shake with anger.
Magic worked differently than array alchemy did. Every creation was linked to her own energies, and controlled as such. That was why Dyon created inanimate objects, while she was capable of creating life-like snakes for attack.
Of course, Dyon was capable of imitating living things by changing the form of arrays, but it wasn’t to the same level as Magic wielders. They would always lack a certain candidness and naturality. This was also why amplifiers used by magic wielders, like the oak branch in Masako’s hand, had to have life essence characteristics.
Masako had already paled considerably by the time she was a few meters from Dyon. “Die!”
A blade of energy appeared from the edge of her amplifier, coated with the silver and black energies of Aki and Gin.
The three remaining snakes bit toward Dyon’s legs, head and back, pincering him in from all sides.
Dyon hand reached out to the side, causing a silver plaque to fly toward him at blinding speeds before shattering on his palm.
Another brilliant array appeared just as Masako’s blade nearly slashed Dyon in half. But, before it could, Dyon disappeared!
‘Teleportation array!’ The geniuses were stunned. Could arrays really be used in battle like this? They had never seen anyone fight like this. If this was possible, who the hell dared to say that soul cultivators were weak?!
Dyon appeared behind Masako, his back facing her. Even while training his eyes on the still charging Aki and Gin, his fingers flicked again.
Four brilliant arrays appeared, spinning in the ferociously before beaming outward.
In a moment, the three remaining snaked were sniped, causing Masako to cough up a vat of blood just as the fourth spear flew toward her back.
Aki’s eyes burned with rage, but this rage was nothing compared to what Dyon was feeling.
“Coward! Hiding behind arrays, fight like a man!” Gin roared.
The geniuses to the side looked at Gin weirdly. Wasn’t he the “man” who just allowed a delicate beauty to take vanguard? The “man” that attacked three on one? The “man” attacking a genius while he was resonating? Was he really complaining about the mortality of it all right now?
BOOM!
Masako’s delicate scream called out as she was sent flying.
Her arms bent at an awkward angle as she rolled along the ground like nothing more than a rag doll, before falling unconscious. Despite her energy manipulating abilities being top notch, and being a beast, her body was still too fragile.
It had to be said that these weren’t normal arrays. Whereas a regular weapon’s hell array took Dyon less than a split second to draw, Clara meticulously drew these particular versions over the course of hours, even days. Each had the power of a single full-strength attack from an 10th stage Saint, and although this couldn’t be said to be overwhelmingly powerful, when used as cleverly as Dyon used them, they were deadly.
Plus, Masako herself was still a 9th stage saint. She wasn’t so powerful that she could ignore an attack from an expert a single layer beneath her. The only reason she took vanguard for the three of them was because she had the best control over energy, and as such could more easily implement Gin’s time will and Aki’s void will.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” The fatso, Chanzui, muttered to himself. “He has such strong control even while resonating, he definitely has a split mind’s technique!”
The geniuses shuddered. If this was true, what was the use in attacking him?
Usually, soul cultivators had powerful minds, and the best ones were capable of doing multiple task at once without losing a single step. It was just that the geniuses who could do so were far too rare!
It had to be said that the reason attacking during resonance was the most optimal, usually, was because the process was almost like looking in two different directions at once. But, if this genius could do exactly that, then there was no advantage for them either way!
Dyon’s fingers flicked again.
“You dare?!” Aki roared. But, it was too late. A spear filled with power rushed for Masako’s unconscious body, slamming into her delicate throat.
Those watching were stunned. Was it really supposed to be so easy to kill a Queen level character? The Kings in the crowd shivered. Would they die so easily against him as well?
What they didn’t know was that Dyon’s Presence had completely frozen Masako. He couldn’t allow the level of his Presence to leak, or else it would reveal too many clues about his identity. Masako wasn’t unconscious at all, nor did she freeze because of her snakes dying. No. She died because she tried to attack a true God!
It had to be said the Masako had a Presence protecting treasure as well. In fact, her wand made it so that she had two. However, protective treasures had their limits. A genius like Masako would only have a treasure capable of protecting against a lower King. This was already enough to ignore the Presence of all members of the younger generation. Only geniuses like Aki who were the beacon of a generation would be provided with protective treasures capable of protecting against Emperors.
Dyon simply outsmarted them. He had focused his Presence to a small area, making him seem much more powerful that he really was. But, this was exactly the effect he wanted.