His body glowed faintly as the effects of Fiery Justice burned through his veins, and his hair stood on end as he used Girdings of the Arbiter. He pushed off the ground, moving so quickly that Lao didn't have a chance to even blink before he was upon him. Another shield appeared in front of Lao, but this one was hastily constructed, and it was quickly overpowered by Sam’s attack.
Lao jumped backwards, moving incredibly slowly to Sam’s sight, narrowly avoiding the head of the hammer. The wave of energy that shot out afterwards still caught him though. Lao was tossed backwards, flipping end over end. The staff expanded once more, and he caught himself on its end, balancing there for a brief moment.
The crowd cheered once more, a few of them even chanting his name. Lao pointed his finger at Sam, sending a ray of blue light at him. Sam dodged it with ease, but the attack was not meant for him in the first place. It ricocheted off the wall, gaining power as it did so. The attack sped up as it entered a reciprocal cycle with the momentum within it, and before Sam could even speak, it was moving too fast for him to see.
Lao slumped over, his Dao pool rapidly draining from the constant expenditure. Sam shifted his stance, trying to predict where the attack would come from. A tiny flash of blue light coming in from the left was his only warning, and by then it was too late. With a shout, Sam triggered his armor skill. A wave of power, filled with the energy of his Dao of Resolve, entered his body. His skin started to smoke, and Sam gritted his teeth. The amount of strength that he could bring to bear now was immense. It was almost too much to use in fact.
Sam tried to direct it toward his body, finding it a struggle to do so. His muscles and bones were burning with energy, and as he took a step, the sand beneath him was blasted away as if a meteor had landed there. He grabbed his hammer firmly, and swung it at the ray of light like a baseball bat.
The two attacks collided, and his mace tore through the Dao construct in an instant, scattering motes of blue light. Sam held his hammer out to the side, and pushed off the ground. A ten foot wide hole formed behind him, the sand scattering across the arena. Sam was before Lao in an instant, his mace raised high.
Lao planted the staff desperately, expanding it to its fullest size. Sam brought Mjolnir down, slamming it into the staff. Both weapons hummed as they impacted each other, neither giving an inch. They were equal in power, but the power of their wielders was not equal. Eventually Lao was forced to let go, and all of the repressed energy shot up into the sky in a beam of incandescent light. A hole formed in an overhanging cloud, and then the energy was gone. Lao stumbled backwards, and Sam collapsed to his knees, unable to control the raging power any longer.
Using so much of his armor augmented strength in one go had inflicted a toll on him, even without the damaging effects of the skill coming into play. It took a few minutes for the two men to recover fully, by which time Sam had gotten to experience the aftereffects of the armor. When the three minute period had elapsed, a jolt of electricity had run up and down his body, tearing out some of his health points. It had been quite painful, but completely bearable. The pre System Sam would have been screaming, but the current one barely felt it.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Sam and Lao exited the arena, the older man stowing his new staff in its small form. Sam could tell that the weapon suited Lao completely, and he was glad of his decision to give it to him. The crowd parted like water before a dreadnaught, and they made their way out of the arena in silence. As soon as they left, Lao cracked a smile.
“Did you see all of those people hanging onto our every move? It was like we were some kind of gods to them. Still, respect is better than hatred any way of the week.”
“I suppose so. In any case, you have definitely improved since reaching F Rank. You seemed to have shored up your physical stats. Your Dao is also a lot more powerful than before,” Sam replied.
“I was in the top hundred people in this universe to form my Dao Fragment. It gave me quite a boost, let me tell you. I won’t share the specifics, but it made me a lot more powerful than before.”
Sam nodded. His title for being first had been borderline absurd, and he assumed that the reward from the top hundred places was almost as much so.
“Wait, what place within those hundred spots?” Sam asked.
“Number 29. It didn't tell me who was on either side of me, if that is what you are wondering. I was surprised as well, but it was similar to my position in the Mote formation rankings. You might be a monster, but there are many others out there in the depths of our universe. We haven’t even seen any of them yet, save in passing during the…” Lao trailed off there, remembering the devastation of the universe and subsequent rebirth that Berrigious had caused.
Both men were starting to draw the awe filled eyes of the general populace, and they quickly ducked into a small cafe on the side of the road. They had picked it for its lack of patrons, and save for a few stares from the shop owner, they were undisturbed. Lao and Sam leaned in, and picked up their conversation again.
“Well, we have one year to prepare to meet these aliens. I might be on top with my Dao, but we have no idea what kind of levels these aliens are going to have. I have already experienced the strength of one who is part of a hive mind, Hugo Mar, and I am sure that there are some alien civilizations that mimic that.”
Sam had come to the conclusion that Hugo Mar had been so powerful because he was getting the lion’s share of the available essence from the Legion. He might not have been able to access the same benefits as the rest of humanity, but he was certainly doing well for himself.
“Hugo Mar? Did you encounter him during your journey?” Lao asked.
“Well, not exactly. He possessed one of his subordinates, but even that version of him was far too powerful for me to fight. I believe that he is using his forces to funnel essence into himself to artificially increase his level. I doubt anyone on Earth as if this moment could have stood against him alone.”
“Huh. That’s concerning. How did you escape?”
“His transformation timed out, and I was able to survive long enough to avoid dying. If he had been able to permanently remain there, I would have been dead. As it is, I need to seriously up my game if I am to survive.”
“Why the hell are we here chatting then? You need to go train as much as you can before we eventually have to deal with him.”
Lao got up out of his seat, and dragged Sam behind him.