Rumble…
At the very moment the Shard of Defiance began to make a move, Valyr felt as if his own perception of time had ground down to a halt.
Whether it was his spear mid-swing, his body pushing all of his strength, mana, and Shadow Energy towards the spear, or the surprised looks on the twins' faces…
All of them were frozen at the moment, with only one thing continuing to move.
Whir…
Rotating on its own axis, the Shard of Defiance gradually began to emanate an ancient aura, filling the entirety of Valyr's mind with the vision of a desolate and war-torn battlefield.
Sensing the great amounts of conflict and bloodlust that allowed this current sight in his mind to arise, Valyr briefly wondered whether he would be forced to stay in such a sight for a long time with how time was frozen.
Fortunately, it did not take long for the vision in his mind to change, going through a myriad number of scenarios within seconds that quickly expanded Valyr's horizons.
However, if there was one thing across the scenarios that remained the same, it was the fact that the ancient aura the Shard of Defiance emanated continued to linger after every change, slowly growing in intensity as the young man passed through more and more scenarios.
Eventually, the vision in his mind stopped changing, landing on one specific scenario that allowed Valyr to feel the ancient aura of the Shard of Defiance at its greatest.
Compared to the desolate battlefield that had greeted him at the start, Valyr was instead greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of space, with only the light from the stars faintly illuminating what was basically pitch-black darkness.
However, amidst the dark backdrop, a giant tower could be found at the center of the vision as the entire structure was lit up through unknown means.
At first, Valyr began to wonder why the visions stopped at this tower.
Though, as he willed his mind to move closer to the tower like in the other visions he had gone through earlier, he felt the ancient aura of the Shard of Defiance get stronger the closer he got.
With that, hesitation filled the young man's mind for a bit before eventually deciding to move even closer to the tower.
By the time he was only a few tens of meters away from the tower, he soon noticed that there was actually a small entrance at the base of the tower, its height only a few meters compared to the kilometers that the tower seemed to occupy.
In fact, that small entrance opened on its own once Valyr was only ten or so meters from it.
Whoosh!
With Valyr not even knowing what was going on at this point, the ancient aura from the tower was released in one go through the opened entrance, all of them making its way to the young man.
In an instant, Valyr felt as if all of the cells making up his body had returned to their peak condition, sensing that all of the fatigue he had built up throughout the Trial of Nine Stars so far had disappeared in one go.
Not only that, but he felt as if his entire body had entered an ethereal state that allowed him to make even greater use of his current strength.
Feeling his perception of time gradually return to normal as he noticed his spear starting to move again, the young man went through a myriad of thoughts in his mind as he thought about what he was going to do next.
In his current state, he had no doubts that he would be able to defend against Dawan's attack with great ease. He even felt like he would even cause a slight backlash to the man if he were to move accordingly to his thoughts.
Though, with how much energy and strength he would have left untapped in his current state, Valyr felt that it was a bit wasteful if he were to let it dissipate after his successful defense.
And thus, Valyr had changed his mind.
He was going to retaliate the very moment he dispelled Dawan's attack, using all three remaining attacks he had to try and make the pair of twins admit defeat.
After all, once he was out his current state, he knew that he would enter a state that would make it more than impossible for him to even defend against a tenth of the strength behind Daon's attacks.
With that, Valyr was determined to see the plan he had just come up with to the very end, continuing the swing from before as spear tip soon met ground.
"[Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style]!"
"[Dark Arcane Mirror]!"
Fwoosh!
With [Primeval Immolation] activated, the dark barrier that would usually appear in response to the skill was now tinged with flames, all of them making the barrier feel as if it had become a physical wall.
Then again, with how he had all of his empowerment skills activated, as well as how he was currently in an ethereal state awakened by the Shard of Defiance, the barrier truly felt as if it could defend any attack thrown its way.
And it would soon prove itself as Dawan's attack had finally collided with the barrier.
Bang!
Surprisingly, the dark barrier was able to hold on against Dawan's attack, slightly caving in due to the massive amounts of force contained within the attack.
Though, after a portion of that force had been dispelled, the barrier found no issues taking the entirety of the attack head on as it remained standing in place.
Soon, a dark version of the fist was conjured by the barrier, prompting both Dawan and Daon to look in shock as they conjured their own barriers to defend against the counterattack.
However, just as they had felt like they had put up what they considered was an adequate defense against the reflected fist, Valyr had finally proceeded onto the next step of his plan.
"[Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style]…"
With him currently being in an ethereal state, Valyr felt as if he could spend as much mana and Shadow Energy he wanted without having to worry about his reserves.
With that, he used that to his advantage, stealthily making his way closer towards the twins while they were preoccupied by conjuring their defenses against the fist [Dark Arcane Mirror] reflected back.
Then, just as the two were confident that they would be able to get out of their current situation somewhat unscathed, it was only then did the young man make his move, hearing an ancient voice from his mind as he swung his spear without hesitation.
'Break the chains.'
"[Arcane Tide of the Dark Night]!"
Whoosh!
With the twins feeling a sense of danger coming from the side, Dawan and Daon looked on in fear as they watched Valyr swing his spear upward, conjuring a wave that was far darker than the barrier he had conjured earlier.
However, unlike the normal [Arcane Tide of the Dark Night], the current wave more resembled like a blade made out of pure darkness as it swiftly moved through the air.
In response to the sudden attack, both Dawan and Daon bolstered their defenses by conjuring yet another barrier around them as they infused both with their Intent Energies.
Yet, even with that…
Bang!
The condensed wave of dark energy had no issues cutting through their barriers like butter, causing the twins' defenses to destabilize as they were left wide open to receive the reflected fist.
Naturally, both Dawan and Daon moved away from where the reflected fist would land, which caused a loud explosion to occur as the fist kicked up a great amount of the ground into the air.
Seeing that they had avoided what seemed to be two incredibly deadly attacks in conjunction, the pair of twins looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief.
However, just as they thought that they would be able to land yet another hit, a feeling of looming danger appeared behind Daon, only to see a calm Valyr staring back at him with his arquebus ready to fire.
"[Mana Overdrive]."
"[Grand Burst]."
Bang!
Though a loud explosion accompanied the shot as Valyr pulled on the trigger, the bullet now looked more like the beam of a laser thanks to the effects of [Primeval Immolation].
With it approaching breakneck speeds due to the young man's currently high stats, the shot eventually landed true on Daon, even though he had tried his best to avoid the attack at the very last minute.
"Agh!"
Even though the attack did not land on any of Daon's vital areas, it landed around his right shoulder, bringing him a great amount of pain as he clutched the wounded area whilst kneeling on the ground.
Watching his twin succumb to such a ferocious attack, Dawan shifted his sights towards Valyr as he looked at the young man with tangible fear in his eyes.
Seeing that Valyr remained calm after shooting Daon and was planning to aim his weapon towards him, it was as if the final barrier of confidence in Dawan's mind had been broken down, kneeling on the ground as he began to plead for mercy.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!"
"We admit defeat!"
