As the Overlord moved in, Lao brought his hands together, and a cone of blue energy erupted forth, humming through the air. It passed over the E Rankers in the blink of an eye, and bathed them in light. It did not seem to have any apparent effects, but a moment later, Lao started to punch himself in the face. The aliens stared at him in bemusement, until they suddenly were sent flying backwards by an invisible force, impacting their heads. Threads of blue light appeared in the air between them and Lao, connecting them to the elderly Dao master.
Lao grinned, finally able to affect those above his level. He had always been a prodigy in the realm of the Dao, but now that power extended into himself, allowing him to have an outsized impact on the world around him. The Dao Seed of Reaction was one that allowed him to rewrite the laws of physics around him, as well as many other applications aside. The main one though was tying two objects together in a sympathetic loop, where anything that happened to one would happen to the others.
As the aliens recovered, the Overlord was upon them, bringing down a hammer of light upon them. Jakoss snarled and a burst of energy erupted from his body, knocking the man back. The air crackled and hissed as the caustic energy of his Dao erupted outwards, searing at local reality. However, the Overlord remained undaunted, and his hammer lengthened, catching the fighters in its path. Red light detonated on top of the trio, blasting them away.The damage was minimal, but they were still shaken.
“Enough of this!” Jakoss roared, and his body began to glow, along with those of his companions. It seemed that they were finally taking this seriously. “The shame of having to use our skills on ants like yourselves can only be erased by blood.”
“Maybe the shame should be because of your weakness,” Sam replied. He knew how people like the E Rankers worked. They were ubiquitous everywhere in the Multiverse. Used to being treated like minor gods, they were shocked when they were forced to accept that their levels were the only thing that made them special. There was always someone stronger, or more talented than them. Of course, the natural reaction was anger.
As the E Rankers geared up, Sam and the others did the same, layering their buffs upon one another. The battle was finally beginning in earnest. Sam took off, teleporting away from the city’s force field. It would be better to keep this clash away from the city, at least going by his experience with E Ranked battles. The fight against Gaea had sent devastation for dozens of miles in every direction. He emerged a few dozen miles away, near the canyon. It was a fitting enough place to stage a battle between demigods.
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The E Rankers followed, their bodies humming with power. Jakoss hovered in the air a few hundred feet away from Sam, his fists limned in light. Then he punched forwards. His movement was deceptively simple, but it contained an entire world of meaning. Light sparkled through the air as the punch traveled towards Sam. A tunnel of power formed along the path of the strike, encompassing the world around Sam. It was some sort of Dao effect, as he was unable to see anything beyond it with his own Dao senses.
He laughed, and extended his hammer forwards. Dao energy traveled up his arm, sinking into the E Ranked artifact. Purified mana whirred up his channels, joining the energy continued with the weapon. Then he brought it down, as Jakoss punched. A beam of light traveled forwards from his punch, ionizing the air around it. Meanwhile, Sam’s hammer tore apart the world around it, rifts of Dao energy forming thanks to the sheer concentration.
Then both attacks struck one another, sending a blast wave of heat and light across the world. The column of reality occluding Dao Energy shattered apart, and the fury of the two fighters was released upon the world. Air turned to plasma and stone to glass as the thunderous explosion vented its power in all directions. Dust exploded upwards as the ground was reduced to a scorched crater.
Sam and Jakoss were buffeted away, teleporting out of the blast radius a moment later. Sam’s skin was burnt, and Jakoss seemed a bit dazed. Still, in a conflict between an F Ranker and an E Ranker, it was an incredible outcome. Sam should have been reduced to a smear on the firmament, but instead, he had come out fairly equal considering the fact that he could easily heal superficial burns.
As Sam fought, the battle between the others started. The Overlord rushed Makra, and the remaining captains who had come were banding together against Anthos. In many ways, this was a battle that would determine the fate of the planet.
Sam cracked his knuckles, and summoned his Dao to his body, empowering himself more and more. His hammer blazed with the glorious light of vengeance, and he blitzed towards his enemy, his eyes focused on the target. Jakoss seemed perturbed by the results of his opening attack, and was a bit slow on the uptake. However, he was still an E Ranker, and he clearly focused on physical power. In the end, he was superior in that regard.
Sam’s hammer came crashing down onto an upraised hand, sparking off it like it was made of metal. However he saw the truth behind the facade, and saw the currents of Dao energy running through the man’s fist. From what he could tell so far, Jakoss cultivated some form of stereotypical force related Dao, which made his strikes carry a greater weight than normal. It was likely how he remained relevant as a pugilist when his enemies wielded weapons.