The mont Michael's hand dropped, ti seed to slow.
I felt my mana surge through my body like lightning, every nerve ending crackling with energy. The familiar warmth of the Body of the Everfla cultivation flowing through my enhanced physique with my muscles responding with precision.
The NZT formula had sharpened my awareness to a razor's edge, letting process the massive arena, the thousands of spectators, and most importantly, every micro-expression and movents on Vali's in the space of a heartbeat.
The arena around us faded into background noise—the crowd, the politics, the gods—all of it disappeared until there was just and Vali.
My inventory flickered through my consciousness as I summoned a simple blade from my inventory. Nothing too fancy, as unfortunately I still haven't made the asauchi I had been planning to create a few months ago as I was sidetracked by other projects.
I launched myself forward, my boots cracking the reinforced stone beneath as blue-white mana wreathed around my blade like living fla as I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat.
Vali t my charge head-on, those distinctive white wings spreading wide behind him. The collision when his fist and my sword t sent shockwaves rippling through the arena, rattling the magical barriers that contained us.
"You've grown strong."
Vali said, genuine approval flickering in his tone.
I didn't waste breath on a response. Instead, I pressed my advantage, chaining together a series of sword strikes that would have bisected a devil easily.
But Vali wasn't a normal devil.
He twisted away from my strikes with fluid grace, blue energy scattering as his wings helped him pivot mid-air. Those weren't just for show—the Divine Dividing wings could reach light-speed flight, and in combat they functioned as additional limbs, each wing-strike carrying enough force to level buildings. His counter-attack ca faster than most people could blink—a devastating punch aid at my ribs.
"Divide."
I managed to get my sword up in ti, angling the flat of the blade to deflect rather than block. The impact still sent sliding backward across the arena floor, my boots leaving trenches in the stone.
At the sa ti I felt a drain in my reserves.
Divine Dividing.
One of the Longinus.
Every ten seconds, he'd halve whatever strength I was showing. It was the core ability that made Vali so dangerous to fight, a power that could drain even gods dry given enough ti.
"Not bad," I admitted, rolling my shoulders. "But I'm just getting started."
Vali's lips curved into that arrogant smirk I rembered from our training sessions. "Show ."
This ti, I didn't hold back on the mana. Blue-white energy exploded around in a violent aura, crackling across my skin as I reinforced my whole body with mana. The mana core went into overdrive as I channeled massive amounts of Mana through my whole body.
The ground beneath my feet spider-webbed from the pressure alone. The Body of the Everfla cultivation had turned my body into a perfect conduit for mana, letting channel amounts that would have burned out a normal person's nervous system.
While the Divine Diving might have reduced my Mana in half. The presence of the mana core in my body has rendered that moot as it generates back what was lost in a matter of monts. Still it doesn't account that my physical strength has also got cut in half.
But this was still only a fraction of what I could do. I didn't just sit idly while I waited for my items to manifest. All of my manifestations were all made to plan to increase my strength to account for the ti while waiting for the rest of my plans to finish.
But even this much was enough to make several gods in the audience sit up and take notice.
Good.
Then I moved.
One mont I was across the arena, the next I was right in front of Vali, sword already mid-swing. He barely managed to bring his arms up to block, white light flaring around him as he reinforced his defense.
The impact of my mana-charged blade against his guard created a sound like thunder. The shockwave that followed blew dust and debris in every direction, forcing several of the weaker spectators to shield their eyes.
"Finally," Vali said, and I caught the excitent bleeding into his voice.
He pushed back against my blade, white energy spiraling around him like a hurricane. His wings spread wider, and suddenly he was airborne, gaining altitude with powerful beats that stirred up dust devils below.
I grinned and followed him up, mana propelling skyward like a rocket. We clashed again in mid-air, the collision creating another massive shockwave that echoed off the arena walls.
What followed was a dance of destruction that pushed both of us to our limits—or at least, the limits we were willing to show.
Vali's speed was incredible—faster than anyone I'd ever fought.
But I'd gotten much stronger since our last sparring session. The Body of the Everfla had rebuilt from the ground up, every cell optimized for combat. My reflexes, enhanced by both cultivation and chemistry, let track movents that would have been blurs to normal vision.
My sword work had evolved too. The enhanced cognition let calculate trajectories in real-ti, predict openings before they appeared. Each strike was part of a larger pattern, designed to control the flow of combat rather than just deal damage. I wasn't just fighting Vali—I was conducting an orchestra of violence, and he was dancing to my tune whether he realized it or not.
The Arcanum Grimoire floated at the edge of my consciousness, ready to provide spell formulas if needed.
"You've improved," Vali admitted as we separated, both of us floating about twenty feet apart. Sweat beaded his forehead, but his eyes burned with the joy of a true challenge.
"So have you," I replied, adjusting my grip on my sword. "But we're both still holding back, aren't we?"
His grin widened. "Of course. Where's the fun in ending this too quickly?"
We ca together again in a clash that made the previous exchanges look like warm-ups. Vali's fists moved so fast they seed to multiply, each strike carrying enough force to level a building. I t him blow for blow, my mana-enhanced reflexes letting keep pace with his assault.
Still I knew, Vali was holding back a lot. He was still playing gas, keeping his true power locked away. No Balance Breaker. No Scale Mail armor. Just enhanced base form.
Fair enough. I was doing the sa thing. The Kavacha and Kundala sat silent in my inventory.
Laevateinn waited there too, the world-ending blade that could burn through anything. But using that would be overkill. This wasn't a death match.
The chanical countdown echoed again. "Divide."
But I knew as ti passed I would only be at a disadvantage. That is how a cheat the Divine Dividing was. The guy was housing the soul of Albion—one of the Heavenly Dragons, twin to Ddraig, second only to Great Red and Ophis themselves. Divine Dividing wasn't just so Sacred Gear. It was a Longinus forged from a being that could crack planets.
I had to give ground, falling back as his relentless assault pushed toward the arena wall. Each blocked strike sent shockwaves through my arms, and I could feel the strain starting to build.
My enhanced mind ran rapid calculations. Dozens of alternative strategies flickered through my consciousness, each one analyzed and discarded in microseconds.
But giving ground didn't an losing control. I was already seventeen moves ahead, seeing exactly how this exchange would play out. Vali thought he was pressing an advantage, but he was actually walking into a trap.
As my back approached the wall, I suddenly reversed direction, using a burst of mana to launch myself not backward but forward and up, vaulting over his guard. My sword ca down in a blazing arc that would have split him in half if it connected.
Vali twisted away at the last second, white light flaring as he activated so kind of defensive technique. My blade scraped along his wing, drawing a thin line of silver blood.
First blood to .
"Now we're getting sowhere," he said, touching the cut with his fingers. When he looked at the blood, his expression shifted to sothing predatory. "My turn."
White light erupted around Vali like a second sun. His wings are now blazing with accumulated energy. The air itself seed to bend around him, heat waves rising from the stolen power coursing through his body.
When he moved, he left afterimages.
His fist punched through the space where my head had been a heartbeat before. I twisted away, but his wing caught across the chest, launching backward.
I found myself truly on the defensive for the first ti in the fight, my sword work becoming a desperate dance to keep his fists from connecting. Every blocked strike sent jarring impacts up my arms, and I could feel my mana reserves starting to dip from the constant enhancent.
Well, that was a lie. My mana reserves were still at roughly ninety-five percent. The Body of the Everfla had made my energy efficiency ridiculous, and the enhanced mana core could sustain this level of output for hours. But Vali didn't need to know that.
"Divide." That damn sound again.
But I wasn't panicking. If anything, I was excited. The enhanced cognition was cataloging every aspect of his fighting style, storing the data for future reference. The hyperintelligence that had been my first real upgrade was working overti, analyzing patterns, predicting escalations.
I let him press his advantage for another few seconds, learning the rhythm of his enhanced assault. Then, when he committed to a particularly powerful strike, I made my move.
Instead of blocking or dodging, I stepped into his attack, accepting a glancing blow to my shoulder in exchange for a clean shot at his center mass. The Body of the Everfla absorbed the impact like it was nothing, redistributing the force harmlessly through my enhanced musculature. My mana-charged fist connected with his stomach, and the explosion of energy that followed lit up the entire arena.
Vali went flying backward, his wings spreading wide to arrest his montum. He managed to stop himself just short of the arena wall, silver blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Risky," he said, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand.
"But it worked, didn't it?" I replied, ignoring the throbbing in my shoulder.
He laughed.
"It did. You've definitely gotten stronger, Leon."
"Strong enough to keep up with you?"
"We'll see." His wings folded against his back as he settled into a combat stance I'd never seen before. "Because I'm done playing gas."
The crowd had gone completely silent. Even the gods in their fancy boxes were leaning forward, sensing the shift in our battle's tempo.
The white light around him intensified, and I felt my danger sense screaming warnings.
"Balance Breaker."
White light exploded around Vali as his transformation completed. The Scale Mail armor of the White Dragon Emperor covered him from head to toe—pristine white plates edged with silver, blue jewels pulsing along strategic points. His wings had evolved beyond re energy constructs into sothing magnificent and terrible, each feather now a blade of concentrated draconic power.
But I wasn't impressed by the light show.
I responded by pulling deeper into my inventory as golden light erupted around like a second sun.
The Kavacha and Kundala manifested in blazing radiance—divine armor that had been gifted to heroes, forged by gods themselves. Plates of pure gold wrapped around my torso, arms, and legs, each piece inscribed with Sanskrit mantras that pulsed with inner fire.
But I wasn't done yet.
The Arcanum Grimoire pulsed at the edge of my consciousness, pages fluttering as it sensed the shift in my magical output.
I felt the spell taking shape, drawing on knowledge I'd gained, power I'd accumulated, understanding I'd earned through countless hours of training.
"Agni's Wrath," I whispered, extending my hand.
Fire erupted from my palm as sacred fire that burned with the essence of the sun itself coiled and twisted, shaping itself according to my will, forming into a spear of pure burning energy. The weapon stretched eight feet from tip to butt, its point sharp enough to pierce reality itself.
The spear didn't radiate heat. It was heat—concentrated solar fury given physical form. Where normal fire consud oxygen, this fla drew its power from deeper sources, from the very concept of purification and divine wrath.
"Bring it on, Vali."
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