His voice was far from loud, but he made sure to infuse it with his qi so everyone on both sides would hear him. An action that made Zarconix cough a mouthful of blood out of anger and shame.
Yasha stared coldly at the arrogant young ape-man. What was going through his mind, only he knew.
Ace didn't know what to think at that point. Using his [Observation], he could sense that purely in terms of energy, Wukong couldn't compare to his opponent. Still, somehow, that last strike had actually stepped into the realms of saints in terms of power, faintly suppressing the energy reserves of the bear.
Even though he hadn't been in this world for long, even he understood that such a feat should've been impossible, and yet, somehow, he had accomplished it.
He didn't know if there was a ninth step, but he knew that even if there were, there was no way Wukong would be able to perform it. He could sense that Wukong's dantian was almost empty of its mageforce, and unfortunately, despite his gruesome-looking injuries, Ace could sense that Zarconix's life force was far from his limits.
If Wukong were going to win, he'd have to rely on his ability as a warrior. Still, looking at the confident and excited grin on his face, Ace understood that was exactly what the man wanted.
"DIIEEEEE!" Zarconix roared.
His paw, which was no smaller than Ace's torso, tore through the air with unbridled ferocity as it aimed to turn Wukong's grinning face into pulp, but Wukong was anything but a slouch.
Zarconix's paw only hit his opponent's afterimage, but it was a good thing Venerin had ordered his men to move back as the area where they had been was instantly reduced into a blast site.
Ace could only gulp in shock as he realised that if this beast were released into his old world, it'd likely take the joint efforts of at least two, probably three, of the four emperors to defeat it.
As he got lost in his thoughts, he was dragged back to reality by Wukong's sudden hollering.
"Oii brat, pay close attention. I'm now going to show you the different levels of comprehension for warriors!"
Hearing Wukong's audacious words, Zarconix's eyes glazed over. Never in his life had he felt so humiliated. He had just become a saint, a feat which should've been his greatest achievement to date, but now, he was being used as a dummy for someone at the eighth rank to teach a child.
He let out a deafening roar that burst the eardrums of several of the weaker members of both armies. Even Ace, who was the furthest back and had also reacted quickly by covering his ears, could hear nothing but ringing as he stumbled around, trying to steady himself from his dizzy spell.
A helpless sigh escaped Wukong's lips when he saw the effects of his opponent's furious roar. "Was that really nece-"
Zarconix had had enough of Wukong's arrogance. He unleashed a wild barrage of attacks aiming to reduce the ape into a burnt heap of monkey meat. Unfortunately, Wukong was simply too fast!
No matter what he tried, he was unable to so much as graze the lower hem of Wukong's robe.
"STOP RUNNING AWAY!" The bear roared furiously.
"This king wouldn't be dodging you now if you hadn't disorientated everyone with that annoying roar of yours," Wukong replied with a frustrated accusatory tone which only added to the beast's wrath.
Each of the bear's attacks laid waste to their battlefield, but Wukong showed no difficulty avoiding each blow.
"Finally!" Wukong exclaimed upon noticing the return of Ace's focus. "This king can show you the different stages of comprehension."
As he said that, Wukong's body disappeared in a flash, avoiding the incoming paw from above. Zarconix's terrifying claw crashed into the ground, creating but another devastating crater.
Ace, who'd only just cleared his head and steadied himself watched in shock as Wukong's appeared on the shoulders of the beast, casually stood looking him dead in the eye.
"This king was gonna wait for you to become one with your glaive to explain this to you, but having a live target for my demonstration works even better," Wukong explained as he dodged another attack. "As you already know, the first stage of comprehension for warriors allows them to become one with their weapon."
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Zarconix opened his mouth just about to release another furious roar when Wukong's staff came crashing down on the top of his snout. It did virtually no damage, but it was enough to catch the bear by surprise, interrupting him before he could release his roar.
Zarconix entered a wild frenzy as he tried his best to land a hit on Wukong, but the monkey-looking man elegantly danced around him as he struck each of the beast's weak points.
To Ace, who had suppressed his shock so he could pay close attention to Wukong's display, the substitute teacher of his future school looked like an artist, and the battlefield was his canvas. Whether it was his timing or technique, each strike was literal perfection.
"Becoming one with your weapon not only grants you more control but also allows you to attack with greater speed and power," Wukong said as he allowed each attack to flow beautifully from one to the next.
Still, even with the injuries it had sustained from the last lightning bolt, its defenses were too resilient to be pierced by attacks of that level. Fortunately, Wukong was far from done!
"The next stage of comprehension is called wielding. Like this king told you earlier, comprehending it allows you to wield heavy weapons as though they were light weapons allowing you to attack at high speeds whilst retaining your usual power." Wukong said as his attacks suddenly picked up speed.
Despite focusing as much as possible, Ace was unable to catch so much as a glimpse of Wukong's attacks. Even his opponent, a saint-level magical beast, struggled to keep up, but the additional speed didn't add enough power to cause any further damage.
But Wukong didn't seem bothered by that in the slightest as he calmly carried on with his explanation. "The flip side of that coin allows warriors to wield light weapons as though they were heavy."
A confident smirk suffused his lips as his staff followed a downward arc, crashing on the tip of the bear's snout. "Or, in the case of this king, wield a heavy weapon as though it were an even heavier weapon!"
The sound of bones breaking rang through the air as blood and snot gushed from the bear's nose, informing all the viewers that Wukong really was capable of hurting the saint in front of him.
Ace, who was using his [Observation] to gleam as much he could from the substitute teacher's display, could sense the added power in that last strike. It was like the staff had transformed from a staff to a mountain. Even the ground beneath Zarconix splintered beneath the strike.
Ace could only sigh at the beast's ridiculous defence, as even after a strike like that, other than a fractured and bloodied nose, Zarconix didn't seem too affected by it.
"Most who reach this stage can only comprehend one of the two concepts at this stage. Only the most talented and/or patient of warriors can comprehend both, but that's not the end of the wielding boundary," Wukong explained, as a confident smile suffused his lips.
Ace, who hung on Wukong's every word, watched in shock as he was once again unable to follow the man's lightning-fast attacks, but that wasn't what shocked him. What shocked him was the damage that he was inflicting. Though it wasn't much, he could see the bear's body constantly wincing in pain.
"You'd need to be a genius amongst geniuses to do this, but after comprehending both concepts, it becomes possible to fuse them into one, thereby granting your attacks additional power and speed."
Wukong's demonstration was shocking for everyone, not just Ace. Even Venerin, one of the most powerful of those present, watched with wide eyes, feeling as though his horizons had just been expanded.
Yasha's cold reptilian eyes became colder with each passing second. He knew Wukong was a top-level talent, but he never expected this. 'No matter what happens, he can't leave here alive!'
"The third and final stage of comprehension for us mortals is 'Impose.' This stage allows us as warriors to borrow from the 'imposing force' of nature. In doing so, we can either use the forces of nature to compress space itself around our target to keep them from moving, or…"
Ace watched as Wukong's aura seemed to merge with nature. If it weren't for the fact that he was looking directly at him, Ace wouldn't be able to sense the staff-wielding warrior at all.
Being a saint himself, Zarconix was much more sensitive to the laws of heaven and earth than Ace, so he could clearly sense Wukong's aura, but it was also because of this that he felt a faint threat, but it was that same feeling that brought him no small amount of joy. "Trying to compete with a saint in comprehension of the natural laws? Hahaha, your arrogance truly knows no bounds."
Ace watched as Zarconix's aura also seemed to become one with nature, all but disappearing from his [Observation], but the fire around his right paw multiplied in size and intensity to the point that even the space around his paw seemed to burn.
Ace, whose comprehension was nowhere near that level, didn't understand exactly what he was watching, but he still refused to blink. He watched as the bear's burning claw of what may as well have been a fiery ball of death approached Wukong's seemingly simple staff thrust, but just before they made contact, he watched as Zarconix's eyes threatened to bulge from their sockets in complete shock.
BOOOM!
Despite the first line of the army being over 500 meters away, as the two attacks made contact, the shockwave from the explosion sent most of them stumbling back.
Even Ace, who was on the wall, had to raise his hands to cover his face to shield him from the winds.
Ace still couldn't sense either of their energies, but as the dust was starting to clear, he heard Zarconix's astonished voice. "Impossible! How could you…"
"Just because you need to comprehend the forces of nature to become a saint doesn't mean only saints are able to do it," Wukong said disdainfully from inside the dust cloud. "And this king has a better understanding of the natural laws than you!"