The swirling energy fused deep inside of Lineir's Second Heart, and he felt his cultivation break through to the next level. As it did, he felt... more connected with the world. He could sense the way the world seemed to bind itself together, its delicate intricacies and the elaborate relationships between things which made cause and effect. It was like he had been living in a fuzzy cloud his whole life, but now the haze was fading away, to leave clear sky which had been there all along. The only difference was now he could see it.
The brilliant flaring wings on his back soon caught the attention of the angel who had been pointedly staring at the heavens.
"Phoenix! You've renounced your honor and chosen to use a mortal body to be reborn huh? So much for your justice! No matter, you should have fled when you had the chance, I've already tasted your most powerful techniques, the end result will be the same!" The angel hurriedly drew his sword and began drawing out waves of death Qi once again. Lineir sighed,
"This wretched Phoenix, she might have helped my cultivation, and given me some ancestral techniques, but now I have to fight an immortal?" Lineir might be a little stronger, but it was clear that the destructive power of immortals was still beyond him. There was simply no way to contend against those whose might could collapse entire city walls!
"Kiddo... don't curse her just yet, the Phoenix Clan has some pretty potent techniques, and there may yet be a way out for you, can't you sense all that raging fire Qi?" Mei was excited, the amount of fire Qi was significant. Lineir examined the inside of his Second Heart, which seemed to have turned into a spinning molten ball of flame. There, he found a dense fire Qi which he could not control.
"It's indeed as you say, Mei, there is a ton of fire Qi, but I can't control it! Shoot, that angel is about to attack, what should I do?" Lineir knew trying to reason with the angel would not work. Even if he could somehow convince the angel that he was not the phoenix, why would the angel let him go? He was going to destroy the city in any case.
"Ugh, I don't use fire techniques in general, so all the ones I know are too complicated to explain to you. However, there may be another way. Those ancestral techniques, through them you should naturally be able to control this flame Qi, which is definitely immortal level. See if you can understand them!"
Lineir nudged around in his mind, prodding. Soon, split fractions of a second later, he found a layer of thought which was not his, yet was intricately being absorbed. When he focused his attention on this layer of thought, it was as if he could feel the repetitions of countless generations of phoenix practitioners. Each movement had been passed on through the bloodline till it reached this phoenix, and now that he had absorbed her essence, the bloodline was naturally under his control!
"Yes! I've found it, but none of these techniques are powerful enough to help us escape! She already used her most powerful move earlier, this is all pointless." Lineir despaired, while he could sense how to use this incredibly dense flame Qi, he knew from these ancestral memories that the power of each move would be insufficient to penetrate the angel's bone armor. Especially if he, as a mortal, was using them. Even with the right Qi, his body wasn't sufficiently powerful to fully draw out the potential of these potent techniques. Suddenly, he heard the phoenix's voice, a voice as angry as a starving flame,
"Mortal boy! I don't know how you managed to take control of my bloodline, but if you swear to use what I tell you against that Death Angel, I will tell you of a move even more powerful than those you've absorbed!" It was evident that the phoenix felt intense hatred for the angel, and even if it meant helping the one who had absorbed her, she was willing to go down with him! Lineir initially felt distrustful, but staring at the horrifying wave of Death Qi trailing from the angel's sword, clearly about to come crashing down, he cast aside his distrust.
"I swear! Quick, tell me!" He yelled out loud.
"Very well, you saw my primary technique is a beak attack earlier right? That's in my ancestral memories, the strongest penetrating technique of the Phoenix Clan, Lancing Curve, furthermore, there is a leg technique, Flame Kick. I have been working for years to fuse these techniques. I will imbue my knowledge to you, while incomplete, if you can utilize a portion of the combined power of this technique, then you may be able to take him by surprise because the destructive potential of this technique is many times its parts. Learn fast, he's coming!"
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Instantly, as the Phoenix's words were spoken, Lineir felt a profound amount of information flow into him regarding this technique. However, it was clear that it was incomplete. Mei, inside his Second Heart, observed this technique.
"This is good! But it's too incomplete... use it with the footwork I taught you! My footwork techniques far exceed any of these techniques in complexity and level, you should be able to bridge the gap in comprehension with it!"
Mei could only suggest this insane course of action. While what she said was theoretically possible, the waves of death Qi were already pouring out of the angel's sword towards the city. This entire conversation had happened in moments, and Lineir would have to bridge the gap in comprehension in an instant. Furthermore, there was only enough flame Qi in his core for one shot. If he messed it up, even a little, there wouldn't be enough to try again. Lineir's eye's snapped up to the encroaching waves of Qi. Then he looked beyond to the angel and smiled. The wings on his back flickered, and he disappeared!
The angel had just finished his swing, and was gleefully anticipating the destruction of more of his hated enemies' city,
"Ah, to be able to kill your opponent twice, phoenixes do have their good points! Hahaha"
A second later though, his mouth dropped as he felt a presence at his back. There was no killing intent, but he felt the shadow of death for the first time in his years as an Immortal. He immediately turned his neck to see a human boy at his back, wings of red flame blazing, and a pitch black sword of night leveled at him. He sneered, despite his initial shock,
"Come on, Phoenix, don't try to fool me, I know you don't have enough strength after resurrecting to harm me!"
However, Lineir didn't even bother correcting him. His left leg alighted in flame and he spun to swing it out in a vicious frontal roundhouse, a long talon of flame stretching out to give the impression of a Phoenixes' kick passing through the air. The angel hurriedly sensed a terrifying heat dropped down, dodging below. however, with his back turned, Lineir continued the momentum of the spin to launch out a back kick with his right leg, another line of flame scything across the sky to form a terrifying X of fire. The angel, having already moved down, could only dodge slightly, and he felt the flames licking across his arms as they passed by. Lineir muttered,
"The claws grip the prey... and then the beak plucks out their heart!" The momentum of his back kick added on to his roundhouse spin, and he brought his right arm across his back while facing away from the opponent to launch a massive slice right at the lower half of the x. The angel, having already moved to dodge the first two kicks, could only receive this flaming sword cut with his body.
"Blast Cross Kick!"
Lineir, having delivered this final blow with his back facing the enemy, turned to observe the results of this never before seen fusion technique.
This technique, crossed two kicks, one a roundhouse swipe, and the other, a fierce curved back kick, to create an X trapping the opponent between two lines of flame. The final blow was then delivered with a beak, or in Lineir's case, a sword, and would deal massive damage using the spin of the two kicks to add momentum and strike the "grasped" target. It really was a Phoenix technique, as if his kicks were talons holding the prey still as his beak came to pierce the flesh.
Lineir had combined the scattered hints he was given by the phoenix, with Mei's footwork perfectly, fusing two separate Phoenix clan techniques, and an unfathomably deep footwork into one new technique.
Boom Boom Boom Booooom!
The angel tried to receive the blow with his sword, but was too slow after launching his waves of death Qi technique, and took the hit dead on with his chest plate. The flaming sword cut, seemed to cut into him, then exploded into an endless blaze of flame which shook the skies. Red fire roses blossomed across the sky, a bouquet of deadly flowers which expanded and then retracted creating huge booms. Each was bigger than the last, and finally a heart-shaking explosion rang out as all the previous ones retracted into one final display of destruction. From the explosion, the angel emerged, ashen, and smoking, his armor rent to pieces, and a huge charred scar still glowing in his chest. Even as an immortal, while he would not die from this alone, this was a serious wound! Lineir met his pained gaze with red eyes glowing with madness. The angel began to back away, as a dark portal appeared behind him.
"You're not the Phoenix! Mortal, who the hell are you! Damn you, Heaven will not allow you to defy its ways for long! Fool! You have slighted Heaven!" He dropped back into the portal and vanished with it. Lineir slumped in the air and descended.
"Glad that's over."
Then the Phoenix spoke to him again,
"Thank you for fulfilling your oath, but the undead will keep coming so long as he's alive." Lineir looked down and started. It was as she said, down below thousands of undead were pouring into the city, which had been utterly blown apart by the waves of death Qi. Lineir quickly realized the dense fire Qi which had fueled his insanely powerful attack on an immortal angel was all but gone. His own cultivation base would not be enough to sustain flight for more than a short span of time, and the fiery wings on his back dimmed slightly as the energy feeding it started coming from his own far lesser Qi. He stared down below at the masses of undead and sighed,
"Plan B it is I guess...."