John's eyes went wide as he watched Araxus appear before him like an incarnation of lightning. The last time he had felt lightning this dangerous was during his Heavenly Tribulation, surprising him greatly. He lifted his right hand and unleashed his fastest Twentyfold Lightning Ruin, which blasted outwards towards Araxus.
Boom!
The beam blasted onto Araxus, who pierced directly through the center of the beam. That process slowed him down enough for John to recover his wits and speed to the side, narrowly avoiding Araxus' powerful attack.
The earth where John had been shattered into a monstrous explosion of lightning, far greater than the previous explosion. A crater a dozen miles wide appeared in the arena, with molten magma flowing down the sides, forming a pool of magma at the base.
Hovering in the sky after barely dodging the attack, John whistled softly as he looked at the result of the attack. He rolled his shoulder, which was still stinging with pain, then activated his Limiter of Healing and Limiter of Life once more, quickly sealing the wound and restoring his body to its former condition. With his Limiters, as long as the damage was not too great or done to an important part of his body, healing the wounds was relatively simple as long as he had sufficient Qi. Still, the damage he had sustained had been quite significant for him, as he was hardly ever damaged by another in his realm.
"Ninety one percent," Araxus' voice sounded out from within the crater, his figure appearing a moment later as he rose from it and into the sky, staring at John with narrowed eyes. "I pierced your shoulder and exploded a battle art within it, and you only took nine percent damage," he said, his eyes looking at John's now-healed shoulder.
"And that damage is already healed," he added, shaking his head in a defeated manner. "You really are a freak."
"I should say the same to you," John replied. "That's the most damage someone in my realm has done to me in years."
"I'm sure you meant that as a compliment, but to me, that was more like an insult," Araxus replied.
John's words insinuated that defeating him was impossible, and that Araxus should be content with only injuring John and treating that as an accomplishment. Regardless of if this was true or not, to a pinnacle genius like Araxus, it was most certainly a veiled insult.
John merely shrugged, as the truth was often cold and indifferent to one's feelings. He liked Araxus, but wouldn't lie to him to make him feel better. Araxus was a true-born warrior through and through much like John himself, and sugarcoating words was not something either of them would appreciate.
"Heh, I guess I'll just need to be stronger in this battle is all," Araxus said, then pointed his lance towards John once more.
"Wait," John called out, causing Araxus to pause his movements. He looked at John with narrowed eyes, wondering what this was about.
"That lightning of yours was different than before," John said. "Was it another type of lightning?"
"It was," Araxus nodded. "Nine-Yang Lightning."
"Nine-Yang Lightning?" John repeated questioningly. Much like frost lightning, he had never heard of such lightning. "Is it related to the Yang-Lotus?" he asked, drawing parallels from the number used.
"It is," Araxus nodded. "I comprehend this yang-based lightning by studying and cultivating before the Yang-Lotus for many years. Is the complete opposite of my frost lightning."
"Yin and Yang based lightning," John mumbled softly. "A frightening combination."
He reached out and held his hand upwards as a flicker of this Yang lightning crashed from Araxus' aura and towards John. The bolt slammed against John's hand, knocking it downwards with its power, then disappeared. Araxus narrowed his eyes as he saw John absorb his lightning, then sneered and raised his hand to point towards John. "I woudlnt advise absorbing my lightning," he said with warning. "You may have absorbed it, but the lightning is still mine. Now that its inside your body, lets see what damage it can do."
He flicked his hand upward as if to command the absorbed lightning, but nothing happened. His eyes widened as he tried again, but failed once more. "How did you cut me off from my lightning?" Araxus asked curiously. "You may have Awakened King Runes," John said, smiling lightly. "But I have Origin Essence Runes. Once your lightning enters my body, it becomes mine, simple as that."
While that was the truth, John had left out the other half of the equation, which was the Celestial Lightning Script. The script had taught him how to perfectly absorb and use all sorts of lightning, while also changing the structure of his body to be able to absorb lightning without harm befalling him. The Origin Essence Runes amplified that further, making John the God of All Lightning inside his body.
"I see," Araxus said, lowering his hand. He raised his lance to point towards John once more, his expression becoming firm again. "No matter. I will just beat you into submission externally then."
"Wait," John said, then closed his eyes. His actions shocked everyone, including Araxus, as closing one's eyes in battle was foolhardy. While John's Divine Sense could see everything around him, relying only on Divine Sense in battle was never a good thing, as there were ways to fool one's Divine Sense.
John's eyes remained closed for several seconds, while Araxus paused and waited for him to finish. True to his words from before, he proved his resolve in wanting to win in a straightforward manner, and not through trickery or deceit. While such a personality was naive, John couldn't help but respect Araxus more and more the better he got to know him.
A minute later, John finally opened his eyes, locking gazes with Araxus. He then pointed a finger towards his opponent, then smiled.
Boom!
A beam of lightning blasted out towards Araxus, whose eyes went wide with shock. He raised his lance and easily batted aside the beam of lightning, as its power had not been that great, and had been more like a testing blow than anything. What had surprised him was not the power of the attack, but the very nature of the lightning used.
"Tch, it's quite difficult to comprehend," John sighed. "It seems I won't be able to use it in this battle at the very least."
Araxus, as well as the spectators looked at John as if he were a complete monster. The arena went silent as they stared at him with wide eyes, Araxus especially.
"Did you….how did you just unleash Nine-Yang Lightning?" Araxus asked, voice tinged with confusion and awe.
"What do you mean?" John replied. "I comprehended it just now, but you could say that what I unleashed was merely a shadow of your Nine-Yang Lightning's true power. It's far from being at the same level you can unleash."
"Do you know how long it took me to initially comprehend Nine-Yang Lightning?" Araxus asked, voice and face still filled with disbelief.
John shook his head.
"Three days!" Araxus replied. "It took me three days to comprehend what you just comprehend in one minute!"
"Ah," John said, lowering his hand. He didn't know how to respond to that, as any reply would most likely be taken as derision or an insult of some kind.
Araxus stared at John with an even look for quite some time, then gritted his teeth ever so slightly.
"You know, you're really starting to piss me off with everything you do," Araxus said. While his words sounded angry, his voice was rather calm, revealing that it was more of a joke than anything.
His lance suddenly pointed upwards instead of at John, then surged with power as two beams of different lightning surged to the sky. As they rose, storm clouds like before began to form, quickly churning into a violent tempest far more powerful than the Thunderfrost Tempest Araxus had used before. A moment later, Araxus shot upwards like a bolt of lightning, disappearing within the clouds.
The power contained within the clouds increased explosively in an instant, turning from a tempest into something even stronger. The winds kicked up, forming gales that shattered mountains and emptied rivers.
At the same time, the clouds seemed to divide into two halves, one half becoming white in color, the other black. The two-halves began to revolve around each other, quickly forming a symbol John recognized. .
A Yin-Yang diagram!
"Prepare yourself," Araxus' voice boomed out from within the clouds. His voice was deep and explosive, like thunder itself.
His figure appeared from the clouds a moment later, descending just below its surface. He locked gazes with John, then pointed his lance directly towards him.
"Yin-Yang Lightning Tribulation!" Araxus said, his voice exploding with power as twin bolts of lightning shot out directly from the center of the Yin and Yang clouds, merged with his lance for an instant, then shot down towards John with the horrifying power of Yin and Yang Lightning.
