Chapter 60 Let's fight it out
The explosion rocked the temple. Dust and debris filled the air as Divine stood with a satisfied smirk.
“Hmm, I wonder if I can absorb your bloodline from your dead body? Oh well, I will have to find out,” Divine said nonchalantly as he whistled and walked toward the place where Vandal had been blasted.
Bam!
A hardened fist shot out from the debris and slammed straight into Divine’s gut before he could block. The impact lifted him off the ground. More fists followed in a brutal barrage. An arched kick came next. Divine managed to block it, but the force still sent him flying into a vine-covered wall with a loud crash.
Vandal emerged from the aftermath, a thin line of blood on his lips. At the last moment, he had used a trick he never thought he would need again. His skin had taken on the tough shell of a tortoise, an ability he had absorbed long ago thanks to his left eye. Although the eye was now sealed, he had still managed to call upon it in that desperate instant.
“You think I am so easy to kill?” Vandal spoke, his voice low and dangerous. He was glad no one else was here to see this. He had decided to truly let loose on this bastard.
“I am going to maul you to death.”
Vandal was like a completely different person. His berserk core pumped his veins with raw violence. His resonance energy surged as his body entered a unique state. His muscular physique radiated dominance, and his skin now carried the hardened patterns of a tortoise shell.
He remembered this feeling clearly. This was how he felt when he had beaten Hutrar within an inch of his life in the arena. His blood sang with excitement, awakening the brutal fighting instincts that came with his bloodline. He stomped his foot on the ground, sending a light shockwave outward in the shape of a leaf.
A page turned in the special book in his mind, and with that new page, fresh energy rushed out from his soul, empowering his body.
Nephilim Arts of Destruction: Tempo Compass.
Smoke rose from his body from the heat of the explosion he had endured. He charged forward like a bullet, heading straight for Divine, who had just pulled himself out of the wall.
“That’s it. I expected nothing less from you. I will enjoy this!” Divine shouted as he ran head-on toward him. His entire body was coated in a mix of flame echo, water echo, and ruin echo. His hair stood on end as the two clashed, creating terrible whirlwinds from their exchanges.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two of them battled fiercely. Fists and kicks turned into afterimages. Punches and leg whips flew everywhere. Resonance energy attacks mixed together as oppressive ripples spread like fireworks.
The ground formed mini craters from their heavy landings.
Vandal’s resonance energy kept rising and condensing with every clash. Then, a soft pop echoed inside his body as his aura suddenly surged.
“Did this guy just break through to stage 7 resonance mid-fight?” Divine muttered in disbelief, even as he continued defending himself. He had never heard of anyone advancing through battle alone.
“Your bloodline is truly something…” Divine muttered as he defended himself from the energetic barrage of attacks raining down on him.
Vandal’s laughter echoed like a madman as he unleashed a relentless storm of punches. Each hardened fist slammed into Divine’s layered resonance shroud with thunderous force, forcing the deceiver backward step by step.
Divine suddenly threw a wide, powerful arched punch.
Vandal moved to block, only to realize too late it was a feint. The Sky Blade whistled forward in a deadly arc. At the last second, Vandal twisted his body at an unnatural angle, the blade slicing past his shoulder. In the same breath, he countered with a barrage of leaf-shaped force shockwaves that smashed into Divine’s chest like cannon fire, launching him straight into the ceiling with a deafening boom.
“Hahahahahahahaha! Die! Die! Die!” Vandal put one leg forward and leapt toward the roof like a laughing bullet of pandemonium. He threw several vacuum punches, smashing the roof apart and blasting Divine outside.
They continued their brutal exchange, devastating the entire temple and causing its collapse. Soon, Divine began feeling the backlash from using two forbidden techniques in quick succession: the hand sacrifice ritual and the Soul Sacrifice ritual.
“My head… I feel nauseous. I seem to have pushed myself too hard today.” Divine staggered backward, holding his head in pain. Veins bulged in the middle of his forehead and across his entire body as he tried not to keel over.
Suddenly, Pakkun appeared.
His jaw dropped at the reckless destruction.
“What this?! Temple of god destroyed?!” Pakkun’s eyes bulged in disbelief.
“You two wreck temple of god! I tell king! He execute you for crime!”
His presence gave Divine the opening he needed. Divine used one palm to drain some of Vandal’s resonance energy while the other launched a vicious fire echo attack. Vandal had to step in to block it.
Fire embers splattered all over Vandal’s hardened skin. In his heart, he was glad he had the opportunity to obtain this ability and finally test it out. However, in the heat of the fiery combustion, Divine used that brief moment to escape.
“This isn’t over……” Divine said, leaving behind a fading message that lingered even as his presence disappeared from the scene.
Pakkun had covered his face and rolled over on the ground, lying still and thinking himself dead.
When he realized he did not feel any pain, he opened his beady eyes and saw Vandal standing in front of him. A frown sat on Vandal’s face as he tried to find his foe but could not see him anywhere.
“He escaped,” Vandal muttered, scanning the area. “I can’t see any traces of him. I’m tempted to use my eye, but I’ve already used it too much today.”
He ultimately decided against it, wary of straining the seal any further.