Dyon's gaze flashed once more, a bloody swirl of black cutting into Emytheus' frantically dodging figure.
"My wives probably feel fear knowing I'm battling here. My daughter feels fear knowing she might never see her father again. My family, my friends. They feel fear even if I do not."
Dyon knew it well. How could he look down on Emytheus for feeling fear? Wouldn't he then have to look down on his own family and friends as well? Wouldn't he himself feel fear if it was his daughter fighting this battle and not himself? What was worry if not fear…?
Dyon aura surged, his fist only barely missing Emytheus' head. However, the very same corrosive emptiness that came from his gaze followed up toward his elbow just as it passed by Emytheus' neck, taking a piece out of it.
"Even I have felt fear before. The day I gazed into the black flames that now coat my body, my mind shook and my Dao Heart shattered. I was 'weak' just like you are now. In fact, I was even more cowardly. I chose to try to kill myself while at least you scurried around trying to preserve your life.
"What I look down on you for isn't your fear, but rather the fact you allowed your fear to grip your mind, to affect your heart, to dull your blade.
"My, Dyon Sacharro's blade… Will never be dull again!"
BOOM!
Emytheus crashed heavily into the ground below. Since the start of the battle, this was the first time either one of them had touched the ground. To now, they had been lofty Kings in the sky.
Dyon's aura faltered. The moment he felt victory was in his grasp, a wave of fatigue overwhelmed his body. It wasn't a sudden change, but rather one that he had simply perpetually ignored to now, using his tenacious will to continue onward.
Dyon landed on the ground below, feeling what was left of the Eastern Region beneath his bare feet. Or rather, this was the very edge of the Eastern Region, the very same central planes where it all began.
Emytheus lied weakly just a hundred meters from him, a distance that was the blink of an eye to those at their level.
A sudden laughter came from Emytheus' lips.
"… Maybe you're right. I was too cowardly before, but my Dao Heart is now firm. There's nothing you can say to shake me. My fear will always be my strength from this day forth."
"There won't be another day past this one."
Dyon forcefully gathered qi from the skies using his vajra body, sending a blazing palm forward.
"Unfortunately for you, Dyon Sacharro… My cowardly self will be the reason there is."
Dyon's expression flickered as a section of the tall looming mountain ranges of the core region no one dared step foot into collapsed.
He was inwardly astonished. What did Emytheus' words mean? Why did those mountain ranges collapse? Even more odd, those collapsed mountain ranges were actually rapidly reforming before his eyes?
Dyon suddenly felt a strong suction force on his body. The already strong suppression he had been weathering multiplied several times over. A terrible pain he hadn't felt in a long time assaulted his mind, overshadowing even the battle injuries he sustained.
The last time he felt this pain was…. The Immortal Plane!
In the distance, the figures of several Sapientia came into view, their sorry figures rushing out from the core region and just over the rapidly reforming mountains of black.
"Heed my call, Beasts of Artemis!"
The only of the 12 abilities Emytheus hadn't used suddenly appeared. Numerous mythical beasts long thought extinct appeared, yet Emytheus actually used them as canon fodder to block Dyon's palm strike!
Emytheus' laughter sounded.
"You are oh so intelligent, aren't you? Grand Sir Sacharro? Did you already forget that I purposely lured you here to these central plains before this battle began? Did you never wonder why?
"Before you go, I don't mind enlightening you. The core region of the Ancient Battlefield isn't such a grand secret, your legacy is just too shallow to know the truth. You take pride in being born of mortal parents, but this will be your downfall.
"I'll give you a hint out of the kindness of my heart since you were also kind enough to inform me of why you disdain me so… The Immortal Plane has an Ancient Battlefield too."
Dyon's heart stopped beating.
All this time, he hadn't used his vajra body for fear of being rejected by the mortal plane. He had only been forced to as a last resort due to Emytheus' power, but he managed to use his Crown to hide his energy fluctuations from the mortal plane.
The mortal plane seemed to allow his strength as long as it came from his own body, but his vajra manifestation was inherently a being of the Immortal Plane!
Suddenly, the barrier between the mortal and immortal had been shattered via means completely unknown to Dyon. In that instant, Dyon no longer only had to hide his strength from the mortal plane, but the Immortal Plane as well. And he… Simply didn't have the strength to do so.
For the first time since the battle started, Dyon's calm expression vanished. He could only complete one action before his body disappeared completely, leaving nothing but a half dead group of Sapientia and a laughing Emytheus.
By the time Dyon's Immortal Sense cleared enough for him to sense his desert-like surroundings, he fell to his knees, his fists pounding into the ground as a furious roar escaped his lips.
He had been sent to the Immortal Plane.
A deep rage bubbled up within Dyon, causing the land around him to quake. But it became very apparent very quickly that as devastating as his strength was on the mortal plane, even with him unleashing uninhibited emotions here, he barely moved the sand around him to create a ten-meter-deep pit.
