The bird was a master of wind and space from what Ning could see. He wasn't sure what energy it was using to manipulate them, but it was certainly stronger than the current him if he didn't use Aether.
"Screw you! You are not the only one with spatial skills here," Ning shouted even as his body was torn apart.
Aether released from his body and moved towards the bird's body. It struggled for a bit before moving inside the bird
Then, Ning created a point of absolute gravity which soon started devouring the bird as it stood.
The bird was able to resist for a bit. If not for him being several levels higher than the bird when using Aether, Ning would've likely kept on the struggle for much longer.
Right now, he simply added a bit more Aether and suddenly the bird crumpled in on itself as a tiny black hole grew in the space where it was.
Once Ning stopped putting in energy, the black hole disappeared, and so did the bird.
Ning slumped back onto the ground as he huffed a little. The wounds on his body regrew as seconds passed by and by the next minute, he was up and ready to leave.
Still, he feared a little. If even such a strong bird didn't hold any crowns, what did?
Just the Ning saw something flash from the corner of his eyes. He turned to look at a large pillar of light somewhere in the forest, or maybe even beyond it.
"What's that?" he wondered. Soon, an answer came to his mind. "Is that the crown?"
His vision zoomed but he could barely see anything inside that pillar of light. It was still too far away.
"Let's go see what it is," Ning thought and flew towards the beam of light.
He flew around for almost 10 minutes at his best speed before he reached the place. He couldn't help but be surprised at just how far the beam of light was.
When he arrived, he saw the crown right in front of him. It was a golden crown with about 5 large spikes coming out of it, and 5 smaller spikes, which all ended on a small golden ball.
The cylinder that made up the crown itself was about 5 centimeters thick and had a small round indentation all around it.
Ning couldn't see all of it, but after seeing the placement of the dents on the crown, he could tell there were 5 of them in total.
He tried to fly forward to grab the crown, but he realized that the beam of light was acting as a barrier.
In the end, he was forced to stop and drop to the ground.
When he did, he finally noticed the 5 people that seemed to have arrived at the spot already.
One of them was surrounded by the beam of light and was likely the person who got the crown.
He held a bloody rock in his palm as well as a dead snake beneath his leg. Seeing how the rock had killed the snake, Ning was surprised that such a beast was able to give out a crown.
'So it's not just a strong beast that could have had the crown huh?' Ning thought.
The man inside the beam of light looked like an ordinary fellow. Given how he had to use a stone, Ning was sure he came from a planet where either he didn't have any powers, or the planet itself didn't have any unique energy.
Ning turned his head to look at the man that stood on the other side of the beam of light.
He was a blue-haired man with a sword strapped to his waist. He was big and buff, and had wide shoulders to show that he had quite the power.
Ning looked to the air on the left of him and saw a woman of red skin fly with bat-like wings behind her. She was scantily clothed, which showed her incredible figure.
Other than that, she held a seductive smile as she looked at the crown slowly fall down as all of them did.
Finally, Ning turned toward the most outrageous-looking person here. Ning couldn't tell if this person was a man or a woman at all.
After all, they were in a goddamn Mecha.
Ning looked at the azure-colored mecha standing to his right he couldn't tell how strong this mecha was, but he hoped it didn't hold much power.
After all, it was just a bunch of metals put together to look humanoid right?
As he thought, the crown slowly fell to the man in the beam. The man reached out his hand to grab at the crown, but the crown phased through his hands like it were an illusion.
Then, it settled onto the man's head without him doing anything. The man tried to touch his crown and finally, he could feel it.
DING!
The beam of light vanished and the floor was open for everyone to fight in.
The flying demoness in the sky brought out a whip of hers, which she held in her hand, ready to fight.
The blue-haired man slowly brought out his sword, which too was blue as well. Ning was surprised when he saw that sword.
He could see waves coming in and out from the sword's edge as water dripped from it. It was like someone crafted an ocean into a sword.
The mecha to Ning's right brought out its giant gun as well and pointed it toward the man in the center.
'Shit! That man is in trouble,' Ning thought. At the same time, a whip, a giant wave of water, and a laser blast attacked where the man stood.
Before the attacks landed, however, Ning pulled the man towards him with telekinesis and opened a portal as he flew towards him.
Ning grabbed the crown from his head right before the man entered the portal.
Then, the crown vanished and appeared on top of Ning's head. Ning touched the crown and then looked at the group in front of him.
"They're not going to let me go so easily, are they?"
