The World Tree fell into silence, hearing the irritation in Ri's voice. Although Ri probably wouldn't care, The World Tree had never been spoken to like this in its long existence. Even the previous Elvin Queens had never dared to do so… It seemed this new queen had quite the fiery personality.
It sighed. 'If you had awakened me earlier, you might have been able to mobilize the power of this world by now… then you wouldn't need to use your life span on something as petty as revitalizing mental energy. But you were stubborn then and you're stubborn now. I'll let it go for now, but only because Elvin Queens don't have three times the life span of humans, it's closer to thirty times…' The World Tree's sigh deepened. 'I'll do you this favor since he is your King…'
After mumbling to itself, The World Tree fell into silence.
Dyon was completely oblivious to all of this. Maybe if he spent just a moment thinking about it, something like this should have been obvious to him. But, he was so focused on surviving that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
However, this was truly curious. The twins had said that even they couldn't escape the detection of the heavens. Yet, Dyon was receiving help from Ri. Not only that, but the Kitsune geniuses were hidden in his inner world. That said, Dyon wasn't thinking about any of this either… If he did, he'd have The World Tree to thank again…
As Dyon fell into a rhythm of gritting his teeth in pain and swinging his axe, he couldn't hear the strained roars of the kitsune Head behind him.
Head Void was struggling even more severely than Dyon. Not only did he not have a selfless state, he wasn't adept at using weapons. He could only run and defend, before getting blown away, only for it all to repeat once more.
The sound of Dyon's words reverberated in his ears, but his pride refused to allow him to accept defeat. It wasn't until he saw Dyon cut the Giant in half not once, not twice, but over ten times that he suddenly felt everything was crashing down around him.
He understood more about this trial than even Dyon did because he had stumbled upon an ancient text about it, so he knew how he was meant to pass. But, he simply couldn't execute it.
The Giant Dyon faced grew dimmer and dimmer as Dyon's axe wielding became more and more profound.
The angles of his wrist moved with an elegant flair. What started out as him maintaining less than 5% of the momentum of his swing when he switched hands became 10%, then 20%.
Almost in reverse, his clumsy movements became elegant, before slowly becoming so simple that he seemed like a complete beginning.
Dyon was slowly capturing the true nature of the axe… In his mind, the Giant before him was becoming no more than a log of wood…
… It was at that moment the Giants shattered and the Staff began to vibrate.
*Before the Giants disappeared*
Dyon's axe careened forward with ever growing fluidity. He could almost feel the weapon becoming one with himself.
He suddenly understood that his understanding of weapon's wills was too shallow. What did it mean to comprehend sword qi? Or the qi of a battle axe? Was it really as simple as an added power boost or sharpener?
Until now, that's all Dyon saw weapon qi as. However, this taught experience taught him differently.
On the surface, the ability of this Giant was to switch the handedness of his weapon in an instant. It was simple and straight forward, just like one might expect from an axe wielder, but on a deeper level… There was something Dyon was missing.
Dyon's arm once more gave way and became a cloud of minced meat and shredded bones before a blaze of white flames quickly healed it.
Not only could this axe wielder switch hands seamlessly, the momentum he had gained was never lost. However, it still wasn't so simple.
This ability to continuously carry over and accelerate momentum was maintained even when the Giant subtly changed the angle of his swing.
Somehow, it had incorporated the swift and nimble nature of a flexible sword into the aura of an axe. It was truly mystifying.
Dyon fell deeper and deeper into contemplation. He almost couldn't feel that pain of his limbs being torn apart anymore as the bull-bird's energy steadily depleted.
'The key lesson here isn't about a magical ability to switch hands… It's about momentum…' Dyon's breath grew hotter, turning into a cloud of fog under the cold and salty ocean air.
The process of switching the axe from hand to hand was simple to Dyon. Because the trials were restricted to sainthood levels, these avatars didn't have the ability to restrict space. However, although Dyon was able to get a hit in by using his spatial will, this wasn't the correct way to do things.
The secret wasn't to imitate the giant by using other means, it was to become a reflection of the giant using its very means.
'The ability to switch hands isn't hidden within spatial will… It's hidden within the axe's will itself…'
Sometimes, things that seem simple on the outside are actually incredibly difficult in reality. One of these things was chopping wood…
For a novice, even chopping a single log can be a long an arduous task… It's not simply about how much power you put into it, but it was about understanding the grain of wood and where to apply that power. It was about sensing the subtle differences between blocks of wood and using said differences to your advantage. It was also about properly applying that power with a steady and controlled momentum, shifting the positions of your wrist and body to seamlessly achieve the best result.
'That's it…' A door seemed to open in Dyon's mind as the brilliant royal blue array spanning a hundred meters behind him shone gained a level of brightness, becoming slightly less illusory.
Dyon's arm swung downward, an ancient aura emanating from his every movement before the axe suddenly switched hands.
The Giant was more than prepared, having switched its axes position as well.
The two large blades were inches apart, their momentums so fierce that sparks of air lit as they approached closer. But, that was when Dyon did something even the Giant didn't see coming.
For a second time, his axe switched hands, building up momentum from not just two, but three swings.
Just as the Giant's axe was about to meet Dyon, Dyon's swing also met its head.
An eruption of blinding light brightened the dark sky as Dyon's body was sent flying. However, this time, he wasn't injured in the least. Because the Giant was preparing to clash with Dyon's axe, it didn't notice that Dyon had already positioned the golden dragon scale in preparation for his second switch.
The Giant's head blasted apart in a blaze of illusory motes of light before its bodies steadily disappeared.
Dyon's breathing was rough as he stood hovering in the air, his massive wings flapping to his back. He was surprised, he had already been prepared to fight against the avatar Head Void was handling, but it seemed that transcending its comprehension was enough to make them all disappear.
However, there was no time to rest. Dyon could only allow the axe to fly back into his weapon's pagoda as the staff began to vibrate.
Head Void looked toward Dyon like he was seeing a monster for the first time in his life. All of the arrogance of a dao formation expert had disappeared.
He hesitated. Should he submit? Would he have a chance to live then?
'Ridiculous!' He grit his teeth. 'I am the Head of the Void family! How could I lower my head to an essence gatherer junior!'
The doors to Dyon's pagoda opened once more as a 12 meters long staff shot into his hands.
Slowly but surely, a bald monk began to appear as the pinnacle staff vibrated. He was far shorter than the Giant and even by normal human standards, standing at only about 1.6 meters tall. Yet, his staff from well over 2 meters in length.
He grasped his staff before eyeing Head Void and Dyon. In the next instant, he separated into two individuals and shot forward.
