Immense Fury, Imminent Threat

Pshiiift~! Yun Nitu wasn't just going to watch as Tene beat the shit out of her. She rapidly convoked as much Neutral Energy before her as she could, bathing it in Earth energy coming from her body and somewhat from her immediate surroundings. No one but those with affinity could see Earth elemental particles begin drawing out from hiding and showing before mixing into Yun Nitu's Neutral Power Energy, creating a shielding wall before her that slowly encompassed around her shoulders and below her inner thighs.

“Ugh,” but before Yun Nitu could be fully encompassed by her elemental energy shield, some strings were already pulling and tracing her skin, making her pained and distorting the thoughts inside her mind. Yun Nitu gritted her teeth as Tene looked on while putting her maximum effort into winning. Neutral Energy raged within her as she saw Yun Nitu about to be surrounded by the strings.

PFWOOAAAH! Suddenly, Yun Nitu’s eyes lightened up with a warm lime, light green sheen. As soon as it happened, Tene’s eyes became astounded, but Yun Nitu immediately exploded forth with her ‘shield’ as it sent wave after wave of tremendous energy in every direction. Tene was quickly caught up in that explosion, bathing her obscure clothes in green and lime as Yun Nitu’s body became that of light as if turning into a non-physical body floating in the air.

‘Genoa’s Descent!’ Tene’s eyes flashed as she became aware that the rival she had been waiting to appear had finally presented themselves. Her eyes slowly recomposed as she saw Yun Nitu’s ethereal head turn to face her. The letter suddenly threw her right arm at the former, slowly and with elegance, but the air rippled around that arm as if sucked and banned from getting close altogether.

PUM! A 5 meters long elemental energy attack shot from Yun Nitu’s ethereal right palm. Tene’s body was in the middle of its trajectory. No, she was its target, its aim, the reason it existed. And as Tene felt all these strange things, intimate yet hostile from the Earth attack, she found her body unable to move away. She wasn’t being held or terrified, but she wanted to still finish her move against Yun Nitu. She could not move away.

“Haaaaag!” Tene roared, her mouth opening slightly wide as she started bringing her strings towards Yun Nitu’s ethereal body faster and rapidly consuming her Neutral Energy. Yun Nitu seemed to have a toll for using Genoa’s Descent Supreme Art ultimate move with her cultivation base. Although Yun Nitu had great mastery, her cultivation base couldn’t support it. If it was an Art, it would’ve been limited to her battle prowess, but since it’s a Supreme Art and not a Divine Art, Yun Nitu was deadlocked in space and could barely move. This was her chance!

Pshiiiii~iiiiiiiii~iiiiiift~! Tene’s body was rapidly closed in by the Earth attack, but she moved not as the strings around Yun Nitu were moving even faster, about to take in on the ethereal body! Yun Nitu’s legs started growing vines with thorns as they encompassed the air around her, seemingly commencing to build a cage against time. However, strings were already around her shoulders and hair as the 5 meters long elemental energy attack landed on Tene’s sternum!

“Blaawk!” Tene’s mouth spouted blood as the strings around Yun Nitu wrapped around her body, forcing warm lime and light green liquid to splutter into the air and making the ethereal body tremble as a whole. Although Tene’s body was hit right on the stomach, her Dantian region receiving pain but, naturally, no damage whatsoever, her hands didn’t let go of their gesture, and despite the pain every time she did, Tene continued to send Neutral Energy into her Artifact.

“Graaaaaaw!” Tene’s stomach wasn’t let go just like that. After the blow, shapeless limbs wrapped around her, gaining terrain over her clothes as the pain was physically inflicted everywhere they passed and stayed, like maggots. She started feeling Earth energy and Neutral Energy invade her body through its pores as her strings constricted around Yun Nitu’s ethereal body even more in this sudden battle of attrition with a flash dynamic.

‘This is the Genoa’s Descent that my ancestors fought against… and were forced to fend off!’ Tene marveled and feared at the same time, her thoughts back to all that little knowledge in her head that would make most people her age and cultivation base dizzy and want to puke. Of course, nowhere near Heian Ciemnosc’s level, but still. She felt her hands’ infrastructure pained, increasing its levels, when she decided to do what was needed in a stalemate like this. A decisive move!!

Sweesh, sweesh, sweesh, sweesh, sweesh…!

Suddenly, everywhere, around Yun Nitu and Tene, obscure violet shades, blurs, shadows, cuts as if through space but simply with a particular energy left behind, and formless shapes in a streaking line… showed up. The sound they made was like a muffled noise from a forced outcome, and to the experienced ears, it was the same as energy traveling through exceptionally intricate tunnels, guided through by an Art, at the very least, to employ something.

And that was what was going on precisely. From the crowd, the Obscure Orb Sect’s Grand Elder Jolden and those higher-ups in their respective vip zones felt incredulous! They knew this was their organization’s Supreme Art, and nothing could be better than to discover one of their Geniuses thoroughly learn it at the Second Step! This was a lot to take in!

Grand Elder Jolden might’ve felt some inkling of Tene’s capabilities and learned Supreme Art, but he could only know after seeing her employ it. Thus far, she had never utilized it, even when her opponents were on the same stage. That she didn’t use it to deal with others made the Obscure Orb Sect proud, but the fact that she managed to cultivate it to this point and bathed them with mad pride!

It was already one thing that Yun Nitu could use the Genoa’s Descent ultimate move, but the Phosphorescent Flower Sect seemed to already have known. On the other hand, although the Obscure Orb Sect was slightly weaker than the Phosphorescent Flower Sect, their Supreme Art was more complicated to learn, predominantly because of its unique Darkness elemental affinity requirement. Yet, as Tene barely had any, there weren’t many hopes for her to achieve it.

No matter what they thought before, they now felt like they had won a hundred million lotteries. Their eyes were wide as hearts enlarged as they saw Tene’s sclera turn violet and black while her irises and pupils kept their natural black. And as the Artifact’s strings covered all of Yun Nitu’s ethereal body, and whatever age she attempted to build to protect herself was nowhere to be seen, Tene grasped her hands tight and pulled the strings!

‘Milblades Storm, Category 1!!’ Tene shouted inside her mind as she arched her body backwards, her canines tightly gritting her teeth as her eyes’ veins bloodied, threatening to burst out. Everywhere around them, the obscure violet cuts left in the air with energy started moving, trembling for a second before suddenly shooting everyplace! Yun Nitu’s head looked towards every possible angle before struggling within the strings.

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew…! Yun Nitu’s body was bombarded with several energy blades. Each one was at least a couple feet long and at least one’s fingers in length. Their width was very mild, no bigger than one’s hand, but there were hundreds of them! Yun Nitu’s body increasingly glowed as more and more energy blades went after her. Her body was visibly getting hurt and in a bad state, as even her grip on Tene’s front body was washed away after several seconds.

“AAAAAAHHH!” Yun Nitu’s ethereal head suddenly roared as her body was expelling more Earth liquid from her body, her blood and flesh. Her head’s size was deformed, as if she had opened her jaws wide, roaring to the top of her lungs. It wasn’t a bloodcurdling scream, nor did it sound panicked. Instead, it was one calling for her body’s willpower and resilience. For in the next moment, she exploded with an endlessly growing scintillating light green!

BOOOM! BOOM- PAM- POM… POM BOOM BOOM BOOOOM… Consecutive explosions went off as the air above all the arenas shook, nearly affecting the other duels protected by the referees. Even those from other arenas looked at Tene and Yun Nitu’s fight. Suddenly, like a new sun, the light blinded everyone from the Neutrality realm below and even Neutral Encephalon realm cultivators. And to keep that congruence, the cameras all around kept the blinding effect in as the booming sounds continued ringing for many seconds.

“There!!” Suddenly, a spectator shouted as everyone in the bleachers tried to find somewhere to look at. With their Spirit Sense floating into the feature to see the duel, they saw 2 ladies, bleeding and with their clothes constantly breaking, fighting each other with their eyes closed at melee. Their forearms met each other, as did their shins and wrists as they struggled to land a blow or 2 every tens of bouts.

Fwiii- pah! Swush- thud, thud, thud. Wooom- pa- tah!

Within the blinding light-green glowing sphere, even its creator, Yun Nitu, couldn’t see through it. With her eyes tightly closed, like Tene, she relied on her Spirit Sense and Soul energy fluctuations to detect everything around her. What was strange was that they didn’t use their Neutral Energy. It wasn’t holding on to their bodies or extremities as they fought in close combat.

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Only their crystallized armor was present, exchanging blow after blow that cracked the armor pieces around them. From arm to leg and even waist and chest, everything was being targeted, breaking, and additionally struck. The crowd suddenly lost their breath. They looked at this fight with their hands on their chests, shoulders, wrists, or holding their own hands. As Tene and Yun Nitu soared even higher from the arena, everyone’s necks started twisting to watch everything.

Each blow exploded the air around their fists, legs, and bodies whenever an impact finally landed on their bodies. However, the young women weren’t sent flying away even as they were struck. Their bodies were kept in place, barely moving a few inches, before returning to the fight, keeping the melee going as the light green glow around them began disappearing.

Throughout all this time, Yun Nitu’s ethereal body started dissipating its warm lime, light green, non-physical body. As more time passed, her body was revealed, gaining her beyond-beauty appearance, and brown skin shone on by the sound. Tene wasn’t distracted by it, nor was Yun Nitu herself, whose body kept recovering her clothes as they were destroyed by Tene’s attacks and the remnants from each blow.

Tene’s clothes were also ruptured from time to time, but they would regrow almost immediately. This way, even if they were close to flashing half the world at once, they could keep fighting without worrying too much about it. It didn’t consume their Neutral Energy, Spirit Sense, or Soul energy. Thus, they could continue fighting with it as much as possible until their device and clothes had no more Stones’ energy to spare.

These clothes were expensive and offered the same protection as any other top-notch armor before an Earth grade armor piece. Thus, Tene and Yun Nitu went at it without any fear. Their punches and kicks were as impossibly brutal as possible, each trying to strike the other’s body however they could to inflict pain, alarm the other, or cause an injury. The situation became tense, with each of their blows causing a tremor in the air, higher than anything Heian Ciemnosc had shown… so far.

“HAUGH!” Yun Nitu's arms, covered by Earth energy, shoved downwards like knives, cutting through the air and attempting to decimate Tene’s flesh. But at this time, as another 2 blades flew towards them, Yun Nitu sent a couple long, thin Earth elemental energy barriers to her sides as her hair, with the last strands of Genoa’s Descent Supreme Art left behind, dissipated from her body. Still, her eyes maintained that warm lime, light green glow within.

Plack plack! As blades and barriers neutralized each other, Yun Nitu struck Tene’s lower stomach with both palms, forcing some blood from Tene’s lips, but she brushed it off with a momentary frown and her pupils shrinking. Yun Nitu felt her nape numb, and her pores there closed as her eyes widened out of nowhere. “!”

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew!

From behind Yun Nitu, a dozen blades from Milblades Storm, Category 1, flew towards her! Yun Nitu only had a couple seconds to turn around and leave a tight grip on Tene’s body with a swift bout of Neutral Energy to turn around and start preparing to neutralize such an attack. But at that moment, as Tene didn’t bother struggling free from the Neutral Energy constricting her, her legs were wrapped by an obscure, violet Neutral Energy…

“!!” Yun Nitu’s back coldly sweated as she felt a pair of legs, with brutal, cutting strength and energy, wrap around her arms from the back. She didn’t need to look back to know what was transpiring. She stood there, comically standing and forming a sort of barrier as if Tene was just playing with her in good nature. However, the experts in dueling felt the tension and decisiveness of this moment as they saw what others couldn’t.

Tene’s Neutral Energy was slowly depleted at a scaringly visible speed, unbeknownst to Yun Nitu but not to the Godly beings. Yet, the latter didn’t have time to chat with each other and discuss it as the young women hadn’t stopped fighting, and with each second, the tension increased. Even Godly beings were leaning forward from their seats, let alone the crowd and those watching the shot outside the stadium.

Tak, tak, tak, tak…

The obscure violet blades were met with a warm lime, light green energy speeding towards them, crashing and sending a dusty cloud around it the size of a male adult’s torso before dissipating. However, as it congregated in a small space, causing the nearby flying blades and energy bouts to weaken and become disordered even before clashing together. A big explosion was imminent. But, just then, Yun Nitu lowered her head slowly so her right eye could barely see behind her.

There she saw Tene, still tightly wrapping her legs behind her, smiling a little before suddenly turning fearfully serious. A bit of red blood seeped from Tene’s right nostril as a strange shape formed half a meter above and behind Yun Nitu’s upper back. It was like a long, wide knife with a cartoonish lightning bolt shape. However, while it had electric energy sparkles going around, it was obscure violet and had no color or property related to lightning.

“... heh.” Tene’s lips let out a low, muttered chuckle. Her neck was twisted, and as she lowered her head, her chin nearly met her collarbone. Still, she looked impossibly attractive with her disheveled hair and bloody cuts around her face, with some blood staining her white skin. Then, Tene additionally spoke, her lips slowly moved as she muttered under her breath. “Cate…gory 2.”

Drip~. A longer trail of blood descended from Tene’s right nostrils as Yun Nitu twisted her upper torso around and started congregating all of her Genoa’s Descent to form layers and layers of Earth elemental energy before her. Her skin brightened with an Earthly glow as her eyes lost all color related to the ethereal body she previously formed. Tene grinned. She looked forward to keeping melee bashing each other. Yun Nitu’s eyes lost the panicky fragments she was carrying just now, wanting to know what they would end up like after this move.

Drip… SWISH- Pfwiiiuuuuuu~~...! KA- BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

“Woah!” - “Shit!” - “They…”

Suddenly, the obscure violet knife half a meter above them, blurry and nearly transparent, shot towards Yun Nitu’s back, mercilessly attacking her like this. On the other hand, the latter’s 2 nostrils abruptly streamed down with blood, with some tiny speckles of bright light green coming off of it. Just then, the knife descended, trying to stab itself into Yun Nitu’s body. However, the barriers Yun Nitu placed behind her suddenly formed a tunnel.

When the knife went through it, it became stuck, but it continued moving towards her. Yun Nitu kept her upper torso twisted, nearly facing that knife directly with her palms put together in front of her sternum. She closed her eyes as the friction between the Earth energy tunnel protecting her and the knife burst onto her face and Tene’s frontal body. The blood under their noses was blown away as their hair was helplessly flung backwards. In that mere moment, they were like eminent warriors at their last. Before a couple seconds could go by, with the knife struggling to stab Yun Nitu and the Earth energy tunnels keeping it on hold, the knife continued to dive for a few inches before finally stopping. However…

That was when, just as the knife began losing its physical body and turned more transparent, everything changed. The knife became the epicenter of an explosion. First, by forming a sphere that rapidly increased to 3 meters in diameter, wrapping both ladies before the first sound of its explosion arrived. The girls were enveloped by it, but even as it happened, the hosts above and the vip zones below didn’t move a muscle in worry.

A transparent, violet explosive wave surged 10 meters around where the young women were fighting. By now, every other fight had ended, and the remaining participants were watching with their necks stretched, facing the sky. Heian Ciemnosc noticed Kilah tightening fists down the sides of her body as she looked up with a pair of eyes congested with inferiority. Her teeth gritted behind her teeth, and her eyes spewing killing intent.

After noticing this, he returned his gaze to above the girls’ arena. The explosion waves diminished, and although they were low, some fighting sounds could be heard. Finally, the crowd gasped, one by one, as Tene and Yun Nitu were once again sighted. This time, with their eyes opened and their somewhat limp left and right arms hanging on the other’s shoulder directly before them. Meanwhile, punches went to the other’s face and neck, holding each other to stand up, not for a better fighting posture.

Pom… pam… peng… kuh- pom pom… slap… tk-huh… bam…

Occasionally, their knees met the other’s ribs, sternum, or solar plexus… with difficulty. Overall, only their fight was left to be determined by its victor. Every pair of eyes looked on as they were finally finishing it. Everyone could see how wounded and exhausted they had become and couldn’t help but feel calm upon the decisive final few seconds.

Tene and Yun Nitu gave punching and sometimes kneeing the shit out of each other for over a minute before their feet finally landed on the arena. Their clothes were in rags but mostly were well-kept still, even now. Yet, blood flooded their clothes from the inside, giving rise to eyebrows as they saw Yun Nitu’s back with a fist-wide-sized stab that went for 2 inches deep. And several cuts around Tene’s stomach, including her left breast, where her clothes became drenched the most.

Pum… puh… thud…

“You win,” Yun Nitu’s forehead was hit. Her eyes went blank for a second. Tene was waiting to receive her next blow, but as usual, she moved her right fist to attempt an extra blow. When Tene felt the lack of an attack from her opponent, and her knuckles landed on the other’s collarbone, she looked up. However, Yun Nitu’s head immediately fell on Tene’s left shoulder before announcing her loss. As soon as those words came out of Yun Nitu’s lips, she closed her eyes to rest.

“Tene’s victory!!” The referee above their arena, feeling moved, announced to the world with a grave voice. On the other hand, Tene looked up and felt a few tears beautifying her already amazing beauty… she had made it!

… Not much time passed after this before the next, third round, would commence. Heian Ciemnosc watched as Yun Nitu was grabbed by Bajo and slowly sent her to the vip zone with Earth energy starting healing her. And without hesitation, the Phosphorescent Flower Sect took a costly vitality array formation to help Yun Nitu recuperate faster and more efficiently.

On the other hand, Tene sat on the arena and started recuperating when Grand Elder Jolden threw a tiny object from his chair. When it landed atop Tene’s head, it became a mini-vitality array formation with the same quality, just more undersized and temporary.

Immediately after, as the possible tournament champion recuperated from her grievous wounds, the third round’s participants were announced. Among them, Biston, Sahnyr, Yun Tang, and Teno were in!

Once again, however, it was shocking to see not only Yun Tang against Teno, emboldening the crowd to grow crazy but also that Sahnyr was fighting against the last elite cultivator not belonging to the top 8 organizations. Many hoped for the ‘dark horse’ to appear and defeat her! However, what was awe-striking was Biston’s opponent… Kilah.

…