The explosion shocked not only Ezequiel but also every single person watching the dimension in the Imperial Arena. For a second, they found it hard to believe their own eyes.
The twenty-six Champions were all geniuses with the potential to reach the peak of Rank 6 and a slight chance of achieving immortality. Yet, every single one of them blew up, leaving nothing but masses of bloody shadows.
However, they did not remain in that state for long. Less than a second after the explosion, the masses of shadow began to fuse, forming three dark cocoons with red veins-like formations on their surface.
Ezequiel's eyes narrowed when he felt the immense amount of energy that each shadow cocoon had, and without hesitation, flashed forward.
The cocoons' defenses seemed extremely tough, and a field attack would not harm them, so the Supreme Neo-Demon needed to use a direct strike to end them.
He got close enough and was about to strike when from the biggest cocoon, a humanoid almost three times his size with dark metallic skin and bulky muscles, emerged.
A bloodthirsty smile appeared in the bulky shadow monster as it focused on Ezequiel and intercepted the attack coming its way.
When their fists collided with each other, a severe expression appeared on the Supreme Neo-Demon's face.
'I am using almost everything I have, and yet, this creature equals my physical power!'
Of course, equal strength doesn't mean equal battle power, and the Supreme Neo-Demon knew that very well.
Using his granular control over his body and the power of the laws, Ezequiel destabilized the bulky shadow creature's fighting pose. He was about to push it back to land another strike when he heard a cracking sound.
"Crack!"
Before the Supreme Neo-Demon could even see the new shadow creature, a kick landed on his stomach. While the strength in that attack was not as impressive as that of the bulky shadow monster, the speed was in a completely different league.
That strike sent Ezequiel flying away, and although he felt a metallic taste in his mouth, he did not lose focus and glanced at the creature that attacked him.
The new shadow monster was roughly two meters tall, with long and thin arms and legs, and it's back was arched as if its spine was a bow that could be tense and then released to achieve monstrous velocity.
Roku saw how the agile shadow creature sent Ezequiel flying away, and after he overcame the feeling of surprise, he felt immense rage as he turned toward King Bork and saw how the man's eyes glowed with a dark flame.
It was similar to the one present in the Champions before, but in the Peak Rank 5 life forms, the dark flame resembled tiny stars, while in King Bork's eyes, they were suns.
The entire Imperial Arena trembled as Roku's energy rose and spacetime cracked due to his power. Even an idiot could see that someone used magic and the laws to transform the Champions into those creatures.
However, before Roku could act, a voice full of might echoed through the Imperial Arena.
"Bork, explain yourself!" The Emperor opened his eyes again, and this time they glowed with immense power as he focused on King Bork.
Technically, as the current Emperor, Kurt was the referee of the Gods' Tomb Champion Contest.
Although the tricks and schemes that King Bork used in the past were evident for everybody, he never broke a rule. Thanks to that, Kurt could turn a blind eye, but if he did not demand an explanation for what just happened, it would affect his position.
"That is just a unique formation that I taught the Champions, and I believe there is no rule against this sort of strategy anywhere. Of course, King Roku, you could correct me." King Bork turned to Roku with a friendly smile on his face.
Kurt's eyes narrowed when he heard the explanation and turned to Roku, signaling for him to speak.
Roku's rage only grew when he saw King Bork's smile, and there was a profound desire inside him to go wild and attack, but he did not let his emotions take the best of him and took a deep breath before calming his murderous heart.
There was indeed no rule that prohibited the use of formations after all runes and magic matrices had always been considered part of an individual's power.
Although external interference was prohibited, King Bork only used it in his own Champions, and there was no way the other Kings would accuse him.
As for the shadow creatures, after being activated, they acted on their own, so there was nothing Roku could do about them.
"¡BOOM!"
The explosion drew everybody's attention back to the dimension where the battle occurred, and they saw how the last shadow creature attacked that zone where Ezequiel crashed.
It had the appearance of a dwarf creature less than a meter in height, with a long cape made of shadowy flames.
The dwarf shadow creature had just released twelve giant balls of dark fire that destroyed the entire mountain range where Ezequiel landed.
Flames capable of melting Rank 6 metal inundated the ground and obliterated everything in their path.
Many of the powerhouses on the balconies thought the battle was over when they saw that explosion as the flames were more than enough to incinerate even Late Hollow Sun Domain Stage existences.
Nevertheless, they realized they were wrong when they saw Ezequiel emerging from the fire with a halo of plasma on his back and forehead.
The Supreme Neo-Demon would have preferred not to summon Entropy, as the Sanctus Battle Partner was still fatigued from the last fight, but the shadow creatures did not leave him a choice.
With Entropy's help, his control over the laws increased his speed immensely, allowing him to reach the dwarf shadow creature instantly.
The creatures had sealed space with their energies, but thanks to his enhanced comprehension of the Law of Lightning and Entropy, Void Flaw Lightning Drive equaled teleportation speed in short distances.
There were minor burn injuries all over Ezequiel's body, but the Supreme Neo-Demon did not bother with them and gathered an immense amount of power on his fist as he prepared to strike.
While the dwarf shadow creature had the highest destructive power of the trio, it also had the lowest defenses, so Ezequiel was sure he could kill it with a single strike.
Unfortunately, when the dwarf shadow creature saw the fist coming at him, it only smiled as its shadow cape glowed, and then the other two shadow creatures emerged from it.
Ezequiel frowned when he saw that, but he did not lose focus of the battle and began to fight with the two shadow creatures simultaneously.
While the bulky shadow creature possessed immense strength and the agile shadow creature incredible speed, now that Ezequiel fused with Entropy, he could overwhelm them by using his superior battle skills.
Despite that, the Supreme Neo-Demon was slowly being pushed to the ground, as the shadow creatures were willing to receive blows to separate him from the dwarf shadow creature.
Less than a minute passed, and yet the trio exchanged more than one thousand different attacks. The swift shadow creature had a large cut on its chest, while a fist print covered the burly shadow creature's chest.
Injures also appeared in Ezequiel's body, but they were minor and could not hinder his battle power at all.
Although with Entropy, Ezequiel's power surpassed his enemies, he did not relax due to the energy he felt gathering inside the dwarf shadow creature.
Suddenly, both shadow creatures vanished from his side, and Ezequiel saw how two new heads appeared in the dwarf shadow creature as the energy of this one skyrocketed.
The dwarf shadow creature's cape expanded, growing immensely large before a gargantuan dragon head made of dark fire emerged from it.
The size of the attack covered more than half of the dimension that was supposed to equal a continent's landmass.
Ezequiel knew that he could not dodge the attack and the power in it equaled its monstrous size. His eyes glowed with silver light as a small smile appeared on his face.
"I guess I need to go all out!"
A heartbeat that echoed through the entire dimension appeared as a dark red aura overflowed Ezequiel's body, and his skin turned metallic black.
