1117 The Price of Arrogance
Dragon-God Shift.
Limiter of Pain. Limiter of Power. Limiter of Speed. Limiter of Healing. Limiter of Life.
Shadow of Death: Form Two
All these components of John's power flared to life at the same time, filling his body with an indescribable level of strength.
A monstrous explosion of Qi blasted inside him, powerful enough to rip apart any other Dao Transformation cultivator with ease. His bones creaked, organs trembled, and flesh and muscles ripped as the explosion within shot him forward like a heavenly meteor intent on destroying all in its path.
Boom!
The veil of nothingness shattered as John accelerated forward like a blur of heavenly lightning, so fast that only the most pinnacle of powerhouses watching could follow his movements. Even then, they watched with wide eyes filled with awe, nearly overwhelmed by the profundity, explosiveness, recklessness, and lethality of the assassination art he had just used.
A shiver of instinctual dread crawled up the spine of many, including the likes of the Sword-Saint and even the Yang-Sovereign, both who couldn't help but look towards the Prime Shadow, who sat there with a wide and proud smile on his face. They studied him for a moment, the realization of what they were seeing creeping in.
The ultimate assassination art of the most powerful assassin in the world, one that even they couldn't help but respect and fear, had been taught to a genius whose talents and genius far eclipsed the Prime Shadow himself. A thought occurred in their mind at that moment of a future time when this pinnacle genius was at his fully realized cultivation level, able to unleash such a deadly assassination
Che!
Space rippled like a jetstream behind him as he accelerated towards Ji'Han, the gap between the two of them closed in the blink of an eye.
"What!" Ji'Han cried out with shock and even disbelief as he felt a lethal danger approaching out of nowhere. By the time he turned to look, John was already upon him, scythe already slashing out towards his waist. At that moment, Ji'Han?s eyes went wide as he felt tme dread for the first time in his life, with thoughts of not only loss of the tournament, but loss of his life flashing through his mind.
His mind raced with options, his instincts desperately trying to deal with the situation. There was not enough time to move his domain swords to intercept John. There was not enough time to seal John with his Seal of Sword and Space or counterattack with his Divine Sword Pierces the Firmament. These arts were powerful enough, but were not quick enough.
His pride and hubris shattered like glass by his instinctual will to live, Ji'Han's instincts took over, his actions occurring before he could even think or process them. A primal roar of desperation boomed out from Ji'Han as his dantian flared to life with his absolute power, smashing through the self-imposed restriction on his cultivation.
His cultivation instantly climbed back into the Half-Step World Expansion Realm, his power doubling in an instant. At the same time, his body flared with vibrant strength as his Emperor Grade Variant Body activated, unlocking the few limiters he had unlocked earlier in his life. While he was not a true body cultivator and thus could not unlock all the limiters available to a Dao Transformation cultivator, he had managed to unlock the Core Formation Limiter of Pain and Meridian Forging Limiter of Power. While these paled in comparison to the later limiters' usefulness, his instincts were activating every inch of power he had.
Flash!
At the same, his body became alight with bright, powerful flames as his Flame Attribute Body activated as well, augmenting his explosive power and defensiveness. Finally, his true-sword returned to its normal size, he slashed it outwards with the full power of essence and strength he could muster in time.
The moment before John's scythe sliced through his waist, Ji'Han managed to raise his sword, swinging it halfway before scythe and sword collided in an apocalyptic clash of power.
BOOM!
Already weakened by the spatial altering effects of the Yang-Dao Sphere, space splintered like a web of cracks in a windowpane where the two weapons met. The cracks slammed onto both John and Jill-Ian, the force of the spatial chaos enough to cut their skin and flesh.
"Gah!"
A cry of pain boomed from Ji'Han, as despite using his full cultivation and everything he could throw at John, his hastily- summoned power was still weaker than John's overwhelming speed and heaven-defying strength. At the same time, John felt a wave of surprise rush through him, as the clash had managed to injure him as well, a testament to Ji'Han's formidable strength. His arms trembled from the force of the impact, his muscles and bones straining in protest.
Che!
JiTIan shot backwards through the sky like a kite, his body tumbling head over heels hundreds of times, his momentum far too great to steady. Blood spurted out of several wounds on his body as he tumbled through the sky, painting the sky with streaks of red. Having activated his near-full strength at the last possible moment, Ji'Han's instincts had saved him from a swift and sudden defeat.
Being caught off guard like this could not be blamed on Jill-Ian. He, as well as most of the world, had no idea that such a terrifying assassination art existed. He had no idea that one in the Dao Transformation Realm would be able to completely erase their presence in such a short time. Had he known that John possessed such a dangerous assassination art, he would have used his full power from the very start to cut John down before he could use it. Such was the terrifying nature and lethality of the Shadow of Death: Form Two used by the most perfect match for such a self-harming yet explosively powerful and strealthy battle art.
Refusing to lose his advantage, John pushed down the pain in his arms, sending a full wave of essence and body Qi into his meridians once more. His body flashed to life with brilliant lightning as he shattered space around him, stepping into the void.
"Chaos Lightning Shatters the Void!"
Using his newly-improved movement technique after learning Chaos Lightning, John surged through the spatial chaos with far greater ease than before. After learning the initial properties of chaos energy, he found his ability to read and even slightly control the flows of spatial chaos to be far greater. Combined with his ability to directly smash through the chaos with his body alone, this movement art was far more formidable than just a week ago.
Boom!
Space shattered directly above JiTIan's position as John smashed through the spatial void like a war god, his right leg slamming down onto Jill-Ian's waist with his full strength.
Boom!
Ji'Han cried out in pain again as he shot down towards the ground, slamming into it with disastrous power. The mountain he hit shattered into a million pieces as his body pierced directly through it, tumbling head over heels on the other side, smashing apart more mountains, valleys, and everything else in his path.
Flash!
John flickered into existence again, stepping out of the spatial void directly above Ji'han once more. He hovered a hundred yards in the sky, looking down on his wounded opponent. Blood sickened Ji'Han's body, while John pressed the advantage once more, giving Ji'Han no time to react.
This series of events had been from Ji'Han's own doing. Had he used his full cultivation, his full power from the beginning, John would have never been able to overwhelm him as he had just done, at least not without using his Asura Transformation.
'This is the price of your arrogance' John thought as he tightened his grip on his scythe, spatial power and ruinous lightning flashing into existence on the blade, transforming it into a reaper of spatial lightning.
His power fully surging through his body, both essence and body pushed to the limits, filling each and every inch of flesh with monstrous Qi, John raised his scythe, which suddenly burst alight with awe-inspiring power.
Four Dao's surged onto his blade, merging towards one another. The Dao of Power fused with the Dao of Lightning, creating a burst of brilliant lightning far more powerful than any lightning unleashed yet.
At the same time, the Dao of Space fused with the Dao of Annihilation, the aspects of both Dao's, speed, sharpness, lethality, mixing in perfect harmony. His soul strained under the weight of creating not one, but two fusions of profound and powerful Dao's, the process draining even for someone as gifted as himself. At every moment it felt as though he would lose control of the fusion, resulting in a catastrophic explosion directly in his face and within his soul.
Teeth gritted and soul pushed to its limits, he finally stepped over the edge after a brief struggle. Four Dao's combined into two fusions, his scythe slashed downwards, unleashing a scythe-image unlike anything he had unleashed before.
His face paling slightly from the Qi expenditure of this monstrous battle art, he breathed out softly, muttering the name of the Battle Art for the first time out loud.
The name seemed to reverberate through the air, lingering there for a moment, allowing all to hear it's name.
The name of a battle art created to cleave through anything in its path. A battle art combining the strongest aspects of his combat talents. A battle art created with the singular purpose of felling his ultimate foe.
"Asura Reaping Scythe!"
