As they soared through the air for another five minutes, the grand paladin leading the way suddenly came to a halt. He pivoted his body to face Zack.
Zack also stopped and glanced around, he figured the spot looked suitable. "Hmm, this should do the trick."
He loosened up his arms and legs with a series of flicks, all the while aware of the grand paladin's gaze fixed on him. Surprisingly, the grand paladin seemed a lot calmer now compared to their first encounter at the grand palace.
‘Man, he's way more intimidating than this, Zack thought, feeling a gulp rise in his throat. ‘Nothing's scarier than a composed enemy.’ He briefly entertained the idea of finishing the grand paladin off earlier, even if it meant sacrificing some folks back in Tormentaheim. But he quickly shook off that negativity. "Nah, that's not my style. What would set me apart from the saintess and the pope if I went down that path?"
The grand paladin suddenly piped up, "Ready?"
Zack cocked his head in confusion. "What's this guy on about?" he thought to himself, but replied, "I'm always ready."
"The grand paladin spoke again, “It seems as though you're treating this as some sort of game. You fancy yourself a genius, don't you? I discerned from the remnants of battle you left behind that you hadn't yet ascended to the level of a powerhouse when you slew her. You managed to defeat a level 3 powerhouse while merely at level 2. Moreover, from the domain you projected earlier, it appears you've grasped some fundamental concepts and attempted to craft your own sigil. Your confidence is evident with your original power and with the addition of your own sigil in place. However, that strategy would only suffice against an early level 3 powerhouse. Not for..”
Zack cut him off, "Yap, yap, yap. You're yapping away. Let's just fight."
Before the grand paladin could retort, Zack vanished from his spot, not because of [Stealth], but because he'd hit hyper-speed in an instant.
BOOM!
The barrier in front of the grand paladin cracked, but this time the grand paladin stood firm, not hurtling backward.
Zack, now back in his original spot, looked at the unharmed grand paladin and clicked his tongue. ‘Tch, as I thought, need more output, huh?’
With a slip and a swoosh, Zack once again stepped into the grand paladin's domain. It felt like diving into the deepest ocean, with pressure pressing in from all sides, like mountains bearing down on him.
But he was prepared, shielded by his own domain and his barrier, not to mention his lightning-tempered body. ‘Piece of cake,’ Zack thought as he appeared behind the grand paladin.
[Mjolnir!] x 2!
Another huge hammer materialized in his left hand. Gripping both hammers tightly, he poured mana into them until the symbols and patterns on their surfaces shimmered brightly.
[Mjolnir] - MAX OUTPUT!
He swung his shammers to the grand paladin’s back.
BOOOOOM!
The force from the hammer's impact reverberated through him, but his sturdy frame and the structure of the hammers absorbed most of the recoil. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to keep his grip.
In the still world, he watched as the explosion began to erupt from the point of contact with the grand paladin's back. But, before it could fully ignite, Zack shifted to another position and hammered the grand paladin once more. He repeated this dozens of times until he suddenly felt a strange force traveling from the hammerhead to the handle, about to reach his palm.
He quickly let go of the hammer, but a surge of force grazed his left palm. Suddenly, his left fist felt unbearably heavy, and as the force threatened to travel up his arm, he made a split-second decision and severed his left forearm. But as he looked up, he saw the grand paladin swinging his sword amidst the explosions left behind by Zack's hammer.
A sinister smile adorned the grand paladin's face, as if to say, "Gotcha!" His heavy arm had momentarily stalled Zack's movements, but that was all it took in a battle between level 3 powerhouses to land a critical blow.
Before Zack could react and evade the slash, the grand paladin's blade breached his domain. Eyes wide open, Zack screamed inwardly as he desperately poured more mana into his [Triple Enhancement] to maneuver.
BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM!
In the frozen moment, Zack's earlier strikes on the grand paladin's body landed almost simultaneously. The entire 200-meter area around the grand paladin disintegrated into pieces, hurling the grand paladin towards a nearby mountain. The impact crushed the mountain's peak, creating a crater with a 500-meter radius.
RUMBLE!
Meanwhile, a kilometer-tall mountain not far behind Zack was obliterated into fragments by the grand paladin's strike aimed at him. As the dust settled, it became apparent that Zack had lost his entire left arm. He had managed to dodge the attack by sacrificing his left arm and moving to the right.
Meanwhile, the grand paladin soared back up from the mountain crater. Zack could see that some of the grand paladin's bones were crushed and his body was bruised; it seemed like the grand paladin hadn't emerged from the exchange unscathed either.
But instead of showing signs of defeat, the grand paladin cracked his neck, lightly swung his greatsword, and grinned at Zack. "Round two?" he proposed with a maniacal smile.
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Zack thought, 'This guy is nuts for battle!' Not realizing that he wore a similar smile under his devil mask, which mimicked his smile creating a devilish grin.
Conjuring a temporary arm made of lightning, Zack formed a spear of lightning in his left arm.
[Odin's Spear - Gungnir!]
Both Zack and the grand paladin vanished from their spots simultaneously. Zack was faster, but this time, the grand paladin had compressed his domain to a radius of 100 meters from 800, intensifying the pressure inside like a mountain pressing down. This forced Zack to slow down enough for the grand paladin to anticipate his attack and counter.
BOOM!
The fluctuating pressure within the grand paladin's domain made it challenging for Zack to control his speed. He found himself occasionally missing his attacks or narrowly avoiding the grand paladin's strikes.
Now, Zack was extra cautious about the strange force transferring from his weapon to the grand paladin's body. As soon as he felt it, he discarded his weapon.
With the heightened pressure from the grand paladin's domain, the erratic fluctuations in pressure, and the strange force transferring from his weapon to his body upon each clash, Zack felt like he was treading on thin ice.
A single strike from the grand paladin's greatsword was imbued with the concept of a 'mountain,' making it akin to facing an avalanche head-on. One wrong move, and Zack's body would be crushed. Fortunately, his domain could block indirect attacks from the grand paladin's domain, sparing him from being overwhelmed by strikes from all direction. Otherwise, he'd be toast.
Yet, despite the peril, Zack fought with a grin plastered on his face. When was the last time he engaged in a bare-knuckle brawl like this? Perhaps the grand paladin was onto something earlier; he hadn't gone all out, refraining from using [Invisibility], [Stealth], or overwhelming the grand paladin with high-powered spells.
But that didn't mean Zack took the fight lightly. He was fully committed to battling the grand paladin in close combat, using his magic to duke it out fist-to-fist. He craved this kind of fight. Bombarding enemies with massive spells was a blast, but nothing beat the thrill of close combat!
BOOM BOOM BOOM! RUMBLE!
In a flash, they clashed hundreds of times per second, flickering between spots and leaving the 500-meter radius around each clash in ruins, marked by sword scars and massive craters. They appeared as two balls of light, one crackling with lightning, the other radiating the weight of mountains, relentlessly slamming into each other. Their high-speed combat left behind hundreds of afterimages across the 10-kilometer battlefield. Due to Zack's superior speed, it seemed like each mountainous light clashed with five or ten crackling bolts of lightning.
Gradually, the entire 10-kilometer area they fought in was reduced to nothingness. They moved fluidly, not confined to a single spot, carving a path of destruction as they went.
The wizards who had come to witness this historic battle had long retreated dozens of kilometers away after ten late-level 1 wizards were reduced to dust by a stray sword strike from the grand paladin and a bolt of lightning from Zack.
Using specialized devices similar to telescopes, the wizards watched in awe, breaking out in cold sweats at the sight of the two behemoths locked in combat. Mountains crumbled, canyons formed, and the earth shook with each clash. Distant explosions echoed like the earth's anguished cries.
The wizards could no longer keep up with the movements of the level 3 powerhouse, only catching glimpses of their afterimages. Even the level 2 wizards—like those in the Lightning Magic Tower, the red-haired child from the Fire Magic Tower, the bald bodybuilder of the Earth Magic Tower, the blue-haired woman of the Water Magic Tower, and the newly appointed heads of the Wind and Ice Magic Towers—watched the live footage of the battle with grave expressions.
As Zack clashed with the grand paladin, he frequently breached the grand paladin's barrier with his spear, leaving slashes on his opponent's body, or smashed through the barrier with his hammer to land blows. Though the grand paladin's natural healing abilities slowly mended these wounds over time, the damage inflicted was greater than what could be healed, and thus, it accumulated.
Since Zack had become wary of the strange force that made his body feel heavy, he had not suffered any direct attacks from the grand paladin, despite the increased pressure and random changes in intensity within the domain. Perhaps just a few bruises from evading the grand paladin's strikes. It was evident that Zack held the upper hand.
However, a nagging feeling tugged at Zack's mind. Suddenly, he created a compressed explosive with a hefty amount of mana and detonated it between himself and the grand paladin before moving backward.
Instead of pressing the attack, Zack questioned, "Hey, why didn't you unleash your full power?"
The grand paladin remained silent.
Zack pressed on, "I know you level 3 powerhouses can manifest your sigil to unleash stronger moves. Though it is not like this," he gestured to his own sigil, which was technically not a true sigil as he cast it like a spell. "But the real deal."
The grand paladin remained silent, continuing to rush towards Zack. Zack's eyelids twitched. "Fine, if you won't show me your true power, I'll make you."
Previously, Zack had restrained the amount of mana he poured into his weapon spells. But now, he unleashed it with abandon. His [Mjolnir] in his right hand and [Gungnir] in his left hand swelled, their patterns acting as restraints to prevent them from exploding outright.
"OVERDRIVE!"
BOOOOOM!!
With each strike from his hammer, the grand paladin's barrier shattered, and the ground beneath him caved in, creating craters 500 meters in size. Hurtling towards a nearby mountain, the grand paladin obliterated it to pieces.
SWOOOSH! BOOOOOM!
Before the grand paladin could rise, a spear of lightning pierced his newly erected barrier, penetrating his left abdomen and continuing through the mountain, leaving a hole with a radius of hundreds of meters and an unknown depth.
The grand paladin was flung towards the edge of the hole, creating another crater hundreds of meters in radius. Hastily, he moved to another location, because another explosion from Zack's hammer obliterated his previous spot, creating another hole alongside the first.
Zack deliberately slowed down, allowing the grand paladin a chance to dodge. Then, he casually rested his hammer and spear on his shoulder, hovering high above the battered grand paladin. "You were right. I didn't take this fight seriously at all. But now, I'll get serious. You better give me your all, otherwise, today might really be the anniversary of your death."
The grand paladin scowled at him, but Zack paid it no mind. He'd had his fill of close combat with the grand paladin earlier, and the fact that the grand paladin had been holding back only served to irritate him further. It was time to put an end to this.
Flying up to meet Zack at the same height, the grand paladin glared at him, gritting his teeth. "You will regret this," he spat out, performing a seal with his left hand while gripping his greatsword with his right.
Closing his eyes briefly, the grand paladin reopened them, now shining with bright light.
"HEAVENLY MOUNTAIN - MANIFEST!"
A magnificent sigil erupted from the grand paladin's chest, emanating a powerful sense of oppression and the weight of the earth itself. Just beholding the sigil made Zack feel his body grow heavy.
Suddenly, Zack's instincts screamed danger, and he immediately flooded his [Triple Enhancement] with a massive amount of mana, swiftly moving backward. As he halted, he noticed that the grand paladin's domain had expanded back to its original size. But the pressure emanating from it now far surpassed what it had been when the grand paladin compressed it to 100 meters.
Turning his bright gaze towards Zack once more, the grand paladin declared, "Let me show you the true power of a level 3 being."
Feeling the overwhelming sense of oppression from the grand paladin, Zack met his gaze head-on and declared, "Bring it on!" with a fearless smile.