Lilian floated in the air several dozen yards off the ground, the skirt of her dress flowing down into wispy black mist that danced lightly in the still air. The same wispy black energy flowed over her scythe's blade, making it far more fearsome than it had previously appeared.
Her black hair brushed down past her shoulders, matching the color of the black Qi flowing around her. She was a stunningly beautiful avatar of death.
John was awe-struck, his mouth agape as he stared at his master, who he almost didn't recognize now. It was one of the few times in his life that he had been truly shocked to his core. He felt her aura, and his mind naturally drifted back to the only other time he had felt anything like it.
When he had been back in the Heavenly Lightning Sect, he had interrupted her training in her underground training room one time. He had opened a door that had been tightly sealed by strong formations, and upon opening it, had felt an overwhelming aura flood out of it, far stronger than anything he had felt from his master up to that time.
By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs and laid eyes on her, Lilian had already withdrawn most of that aura and had reverted to normal. Now he knew, back then she was training this form.
Lilian's gaze was calm, yet completely different than before when she had been fighting Zeras. Her expression previously was one of calm composure, but now it was calm confidence.
It was as if she were truly a god looking down on Zeras', about to pass judgment on him. There was not an ounce of doubt on her face. That calm gaze shifted towards John, who felt his heart jump for a moment and his breath catch in his chest as her crystalline-blue eyes locked onto him.. Not even demons and Asura's could make him jump the way he just did.
The two locked eyes, and it was as if John was seeing his master's true self for the first time. She studied his face for a brief moment, and then the smallest of smirks appeared on her otherwise neutral face. John almost thought he had imagined that smirk.
Was she smirking at his reaction? His surprise? He didn't know, and currently, he didn't care. He just wanted to watch his master fight in this form, and see what she was truly capable of.
Her gaze shifted back to Zeras', who was staring at Lilian with almost equal shock. He quickly recovered, as expected of one so talented and battle-hardened, and readied both weapons in his hand. However, he did not immediately charge over towards her as he had done for almost the entire battle.
Instead, he studied her, his gaze wary for the very first time. It was an expression that indicated he considered Lilian in her current form a worthy opponent, and not just his little sister. His instincts flared wildly with caution. Lilian was a real threat, to his life even, if he did not take her seriously.
Zeras' wary gaze locked with Lilian's calm and confident gaze, and his expression slowly but surely changed as he realized it was the same gaze he had been giving her the entire battle. A gaze of looking down on one's opponent, as if the outcome of the battle had already been concluded.
Zeras' felt his anger ignite from receiving such a gaze. He was Zeras, the pinnacle World Expansion genius. He gave such gazes. He did not receive them. His pride and anger ignited, and he roared furiously, like a primal beast cornered by a strong foe.
"You dare to look down on me?" Zeras roared, and dashed forward towards Lilian, his wariness gone. "The stars look down on all creation. Not the other way around," he boomed as he arrived before her, his astral blade glowing brightly with profound energy as he slashed it down towards her.
Lilian watched calmly as he approached and unleashed his attack, and held her scythe out to her side. The massive astral blade was almost upon her. Her scythe slashed out with incomparable speed.
Che!
Zeras' astral blade slammed downwards past Lilian, not halted at all by her attack. His eyes wavered with shock as he watched half of the astral blade fall to the ground beside Lilian, cleaved directly in half by her attack. The half blade that he held had fallen short of hitting Lilian, who had not moved an inch during the entire exchange.
Bang!
The broken astral blade fell to the ground, shaking it violently with its weight, and then dissipated away as it was made from Astral Qi. Zeras' instinctively leaped backwards to put distance between himself and Lilian, and his half-broken astral blade quickly reformed as he infused it with Astral Qi.
'Her attack is at least twice as strong as before!' John thought, shocked once again. This transformation Lilian had unleashed had multiplied her power greatly. The only thing that he felt comparable was his Asura Transformation and Dragon-God Shift, both which had similar effects. However, those effects were on his body, while Lilian's effects was on her essence Qi and potency of essence battle arts.
Zeras' expression wavered immediately after he had retreated, and he realized what he had done. He, the pinnacle genius of the world, had retreated in battle for the first time in his life.
"Unacceptable!" Zeras roared wildly, as if he were losing his mind. Most would have been cowed into fear by such an attack, but Zeras' had become enraged, like a wounded beast. There was no fear in him, only anger, frustration, fury.
His aura began to climb once more, his figure growing a bit larger in the process. Zeras had finally unleashed his full power, holding nothing back at all. John couldn't help but feel surprised again that Zeras had more to reveal than had been shown thus far. The Celestria family was truly one of pinnacle geniuses without compare.
"Stars are the pinnacle force of the universe! You will submit!" Zeras roared as he waved his bizarre looking weapon out before him, a trail of astral Qi flowing behind the crystalline center of the weapon.
As he waved the weapon outwards, orbs of light began to form in the arena, most of them concentrated around Lilian. The orbs of light instantly ignited into burning spheres of Astral Qi, like miniature stars, each brimming with apocalyptic energy. In fact, the energy of each star was far greater than when he had used it against Lua.
"Let's see you withstand this!" he roared, igniting the dozen stars to explode with his full power.
Lilian calmly stepped forward, appearing in the very center of all the miniature stars. They surrounded her like a cage; a cage that was about to explode with apocalyptic fury.
Her scythe suddenly slashed out many times, so fast that it was hard to see the weapon move at all. A scythe image brimming with incomparable spatial and death Qi slashed out towards each star, slicing right through each one before they could explode.
"You think you can cut a star in half? A useless effort!" Zeras said mockingly, still empowering the stars to explode.
"What did you say before?" Lilian spoke for the first time since unleashing her transformation. Her voice was soft and ethereal, yet cold and devoid of any emotions, like an unfeeling angel of death. "Even space bends before the might of stars?"
Her words caused Zeras to frown for a moment, and then he smiled. His battle art was finally complete, and ready to overwhelm Lilian with unstoppable power. He clasped his right hand, triggering the battle art.
The explosion never happened, and Zeras' eyes widened with shock as he watched his stars fade away into obscurity, consumed from within by a misty blackness that grew in power as it consumed the stars.
"While stars may bend space, not even stars can stay the hand of death!"
