Within the deep red void of the Primordial Main Worlds, Ark ignored the damage he had just taken, sweeping off the blood from his mouth.

"Alexander, if my memory serves me right? What a ferocious man you are, I thought I was strong... but this is getting difficult, and I'm sure you know how to properly ascend now... So let's ramp it up a little, shall we?"

Not letting Alexander respond, Ark's aura began to rise, using more and more of his strength, this time pushing his Star Qi to the limits, using a whole thirty percent of his battle prowess. Waiting, he saw Alexander do the same, space rippling around the both of them.

Waving his Dao of Space as if an elegant dancer, Alexander's figure vanished.

Sensing the ripples from the very fabric of space in front, Ark immediately answered, clenching his right fist tightly, a bright red light shining from it, before striking in front to the now appearing Alexander.

'!!' Even with his reaction time, Alexander could not dodge in time, yet he did not panic, rapidly thinking about openings he could create.

Space screaming, Alexander was struck on his sternum, his gigantic body covered by rampaging Star Qi.

'?!'

As if noticing something wrong, Ark looked at his own body, quickly realizing he had not gained a free hit.

'When did he?'

His flesh already healed under a sizzling sound, Ark was surprised to have had his left ribs impaled by a gust of Star Qi.

His disbelief was soon swiped away however, as Alexander's [27 Heavenly Steps] created illusions of divinity, Alexander's blurring image forming all around.

Frowning, Ark had barely enough time to defend, crossing his forearms to his chest, blocking a powerful fist.

Already expecting his arms to break, he did not waste time, kicking Alexander's extended right arm with his left leg, his counter attack too fast for him to avoid.

Watching his right elbow bend the opposite way, Alexander raised a brow, tucking his left leg, before swiftly kicking at Ark's now exposed knee.

'?!' Surprised, Ark witnessed his left leg be torn off from his knee, flying into the distant void. But more so, he suddenly realized his unfortunate position, unable to move fast enough for Alexander's left palm strike.

"Guh!" With clenched teeth, Ark was struck on his face by Alexander's [Star Palm], not far enough to dodge the blue palm print that was formed.

Separating from each other, they stared at one another, their bodies sizzling for a brief instant, already brand new.

"This is getting nowhere!!" Roaring, Ark's battle prowess increased once more, this time using some Celestial Qi, further augmenting his thirty percent of battle prowess to a cosmic fifty percent!

Expecting the obvious, he was not surprised as Alexander did the same, playing along his game.

Their auras constantly fighting for supremacy with the fabric of the Universe, their Celestial Qi churned ever so peacefully, as if unaware of the damage it caused from its own existential power, their bodies blurred before vanishing completely.

Closing in, their gargantuan bodies clashed again, this time fighting with much more seriousness, not bothering themselves to stay in the same galaxy. Flying everywhere, two beams of light clashed again and again, explosions reverberating, shockwaves world erasing.

Face to face, Alexander struck with power using his [Celestial Palm], while Ark used his [Venerate Fist]. Their attacks an exchange, they were both sent flying a few lightyears away one instant, and reappearing next to each other the next.

Clearly however, was the damage they each sustained each exchange, their body parts flying everywhere, blood oozing out from every orifices, eyes crushed at each movement, bones broken for every move, meridians severed each circulation, World Cores shattered per every strike.

The background scenery changing drastically each minute, they kept wreaking havoc within the Universe, already having shattered millions of Tier-10 Worlds. Smiling from newfound entertainment, the duo kept destroying each others' bodies for years... decades... centuries...

Stopping in the middle of the red space, Ark was obviously the first to crank the difficulty up a notch, increasing his battle prowess to seventy-five percent, the void in misery. Following his surge in power was Alexander, not lagging behind.

"We've been fighting for almost half a million years! Let's fight another million, then go all out, what do you say?" His roaring excitement heard, Alexander nodded his head with a smile, as if unaffected by the gruesome battle of attrition he experienced for half a million years.

This time careful, they fought with their best, only restraining their raw abilities.

Crushing Alexander's skull was Ark's fist, shining a red and yellow light. But countering it, Alexander's headless body struck Ark's legs with his own, glowing a bright blue light, severing them both in the process.

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Their speed countless times higher, they kept exchanging blows at extreme speeds, so fast that even their regeneration could not keep up with them.

Smashing Alexander's recovering skull once more, Alexander used his advantage to aim at Ark's right shoulder, successfully severing it with his left leg, kicking his shoulder with much force.

'Shit!' Only now realizing in this lightning fast exchange that his legs would take too long to heal, it was too late. Only his left arm available to block two legs and two arms.

Struck by not only Alexander's [Dao Blast], but also his [Celestial Palm] along his skillful use of the [27 Heavenly Steps] to strike with his legs, Ark's body was sent flying, crashing onto a nearby remnant of world, his vessel fragmented.

Given a grace period of few moments, both Ark and Alexander recovered to peak condition, this time circulating their Celestial Qi with madness, all energies around them buzzing from excitement. A few seconds later, they both vanished, reappearing face to face, their palms colliding.

A gigantic shockwave splitting the Universe formed from the impact point, escaping from their palms' openings, just in between the two. This shockwave immediately grew, a ripple of power spanning an infinite distance, a powerful eruption of Celestial Qi fighting with the fabric of space, white dots forming all around.

"Guh!"

"Hmph!"

Snorting, they tried their best to resist the powerful shockwave's center, just in between their palms.

In futility. As they were both thrown away from each other, grunting from the damage.

Glancing all around, they caught the sight of white dots forming and retracting, only taking a second to fully recover.

'It's working!!' His eyes wide, Alexander shivered from anticipation.

Shaking the Heavens, both continued, unwilling to miss this opportunity, their drive boosted beyond recognition, finally a clear goal in sight.

Explosions deafening the Universe, they had already destroyed every world except for the three known Origin-Tier Worlds, surviving from the mind numbing shockwaves and direct impacts. The life on these worlds however, did not.

Except Alexander and Ark, the population within the Primordial Main Worlds' center had been completely erased, annihilated from existence. With only strong Overlords somehow recovering, the Heavens sadistic, as even with their immortality, the pain of dying over and over again did not seem to subside.

Now a million and a half years into the ferocious duel, Ark stopped, and so did Alexander.

"Sir Alexander, time has come..." His words fading into space, Ark's aura once again surged continuously, soon reaching his full battle prowess.

Staring at each other, the two ten million kilometers tall immortals, their strength at the absolute limits they could muster, blurred.

"Take this! [Dao Claw]!" Waving his left hand, its clawing form visible, a deep, dark red aura of desolation, hell, inferno and death erupted from it, swiftly aiming at Alexander's right arm.

Who in turn, used his [Dao Blast] at full power, using countless Daos, from the Dao of life, death, fire, ice, earth, light, darkness and a myriad more, forming the usual deep blue orb of goo between his fingertips.

Now in reach, Alexander snapped his fingers, tearing the goo filled to the brim of Daos, causing it to detonate in a heartbeat, blinding the world with its pure, divine white light.

In contrast, the menacing black and red aura of Ark's claw tore the white light apart, slicing Alexander's right arm in the process.

Frowning, Alexander took a few steps back.

'Tsk!' Knowing that his [Dao Blast] was ineffective even when using his entire knowledge of the Dao, surpassing its maximum strength countless folds, he was also aware that a martial art meant for low level fights could not help much in this situation.

'Seems like I have to take this more seriously... I wanted to save strength if possible, but this is going to be a one sided beatdown now...'

Reluctant, Alexander decided to use the gifted martial arts of the Heavenly Way.

His [13 Divine Martial Arts] now in use, Alexander also circulated his [27 Heavenly Steps] appearing behind Ark who immediately turned around expecting a powerful physical strike, but instead...

'?!'

Feeling slight danger even while in position, he saw Alexander's finger point at him from a small distance, his finger glowing brighter by the moment.

'[First Form : Spark]!'

His finger now making Ark's eyes squint, he saw Alexander's fingertip explode in power, a laser fifty million kilometers wide drown him, his body aching from the substantial damage.

"Urgh!"

Regaining his balance, Ark sent a fist at Alexander, but before he could reach him...

'[Second Form : Expansion]!'

A wave of energy expanded from Alexander's being, instantly blocking the incoming fist, not even slowing down, no signs of it stopping anytime soon.

Unable to retract his arm in time, Ark's right fist was crushed by the ever-expanding shield, forcing his fist to gruesomely enter his own arm, until it reached his shoulder. But more problematic than the pain was the wave now hitting him head-on, crushing his bones which were desperately trying to resist, swiftly turning to dust.

Regenerating, Ark tried to recover his stance, but soon saw a faint light coming from Alexander's fingertip, a death ray intending to pierce him.

'[Seventh Form : Death]!'

Panicking, Ark started to circulate his own [13 Divine Martial Arts] as well, instantly putting his left arm forward, glowing a soothing green.

"[Sixth Form : Life]!"

A giant green shield of light forming in front, the red laser struck it with full force, causing it to lit up in response.

Luckily blocking the instant laser using his insane reaction time and battle sense, Ark was still not showing relief.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! That's dirty! I can't block this with a lower technique!!'

Sweating, Ark could only give up, his shield of green light unable to sustain any more damage, breaking apart. The laser not missing this chance, it pierced through the barrier, impaling Ark's heart just as fast.

Blood dripping from his lips, mouth and chin, Ark glared at Alexander with contempt.

"Why play dirty in this?! Is it not a fair fight, where the strongest remains? You even played along, limiting your strength as I did..." Ark could not understand why Alexander would suddenly use a combination from the peerless [13 Divine Martial Arts] against his techniques.

"Don't overthink it, I don't have many martial arts suitable for such battles, so I used this. But even so, why do you care so much? In this trial, only the strongest remains! We both have reached this stage in life... so I'm more than certain you know what strong refers to in this situation!"

Gritting his teeth, Ark could not refute. Indeed, in life, strong did not mean powerful muscles, peerless cultivation, dreadful poisons or anything of the sort. It simply meant being the winner, to not lose, no matter the context. Even if they lost a competition, if they won inside their heart, it did not matter, they were stronger than the ones who won without experiencing its effects.

So what if Alexander used over the top martial arts? If he did not regret his action, and won in his heart, he would be the strongest.

His eyes burning, Ark exhaled his pent up anger, looking straight in Alexander's eyes with coldness.

"Then, it's fine if we truly go all out?"

Frowning deeply, Alexander sighed, before nodding slowly.

"It's fine!"

Now standing in front of each other once more, they calmed their minds, ready to surpass even the limits of the Ascension Realm.

It was the true start of the battle!