Su Ren was a powerful genius whose talent was admired by many from the day he was first born.
He ended up with his master after a series of twists and turns where he was kidnapped by several sects and greater influences who wanted his talent for themselves.
In reality, his master wasn't some saint, but a great thief and someone whose name was dreaded by most. He never planned to pick up a disciple, but since fate allowed it, he did too.
Su Ren was raised in this kind of environment, where he was exposed to many things from a young age and learned the world from the perspective of someone who wasn't jaded or possessed by its social structures.
Still, it was hard to not grow arrogant when one was a supreme talent. Su Ren grew faster than any of his peers and took his number one spot on the Dimensional Leaderboard by the time he turned 60, something impossible for normal people.
And as a testament to his power, he held that spot for an entire decade.
That's when he met Bai Yumo, the Saint King, for the first time.
***
Bang!
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
The longer Su Ren and Bai Yumo's battle went on, the more frenzied it became. It was hard to distinguish who sent which attacks, or who was getting hurt or disadvantaged by the situation as their bodies intertwined in a dance of death.
Hundreds of strikes were exchanged by the second, and complex laws were thrown about like trash on the street. Even the Demigods maintaining the barrier couldn't hide their shock and admiration for the level of collision taking place on its grounds.
Su Ren's eyes were narrowed into pinholes as they dashed around and took account of the surroundings. His blades never stopped their motions even when Bai Yumo wasn't in front of him, sending waves upon waves of pure grey blade intent razing through the arena itself.
These scars seemed useless, but the Saint King knew better than anyone how dangerous they were!
Each one became a geyser of Su Ren's energy, stealthily corrupting the arena itself with its aura and subjecting Bai Yumo to the full force of its invasive properties.
"I see you've mastered this little skill," he said as he swerved through the minefield of mana and approached Su Ren's body.
"However, this is not what you promised last time."
He brandished his weapon, a sleek and ornate fan made of unknown metal, and sliced it through the air.
"Keuk…!"
Su Ren gritted his teeth as he was pushed back. He clenched his muscles and used mana to forcefully close the gash in his chest as he shot back into combat.
"How could you understand what I promised?" Su Ren replied coldly, crossing his swords and twisting them in a strange way as he slashed out.
'Coiling Serpents, Dance.'
It was a mystical scene. The two blades extended as if they had no physical limits and turned into living manifestations of snakes that cut into Bai Yumo's body and pushed him away.
Su Ren didn't stop his charge, jumping up in the air and raising his blades above his head as he charged an extreme amount of mana into his arms. He descended like a shooting star, his body burning with powerful light as he barreled towards the ground.
"Someone like you could never understand true ambition!"
***
'Meteor Descent!'
BANG!
It was a move he'd invented recently after seeing a world destroyed by the impact of a single meteor's fall.
And his current opponent was the best one to test it on!
Su Ren slammed down into the surface of the dead star, his blades slamming into Bai Yumo's body heavily.
"Take it, Nox scum!"
"Hmph! This much is nothing!"
Bai Yumo was an interesting opponent. Unlike the rest Su Ren had faced to this day, he didn't back down in the face of death.
It was something Su Ren came to respect as they fought, despite the fact that the opponent was an unreconcilable enemy.
And as if his grit wasn't enough, he was also incredibly powerful. Su Ren had never met someone in his life who could stand face-to-face with him and confidently say they wouldn't lose in a fight until he met this Nox being.
"I won't allow a foreign invader like you to stand at the top of this universe! That spot is reserved solely for me!"
His words were powerful and supported by power. Bai Yumo, just like Su Ren, had never seen an opponent like him.
It was one of his first true excursions into Grand Heavens Boundary.
Before this, he'd been corralled around by his seniors and forced to fight against genius after genius to raise his standing in the universe and accomplish his final task of topping the Dimensional Leaderboard.
This was an important step in his father's plans, a move to divide and humiliate the opposition, and he understood that his place in it was extremely important.
However, he wanted to experience these things alone. He didn't want to just say there were none worthy of him, he wanted to prove that he was an existence who couldn't be touched, whether within or without the universe.
Su Ren was the final obstacle in his way, and while he wanted to win this fight justly, he didn't think he could do so without ruining his father's plans.
Su Ren and Bai Yumo respected each other's strength, but they were destined to be enemies from the start.
And with Bai Yumo prioritizing the Nox's plans over their battle, the respect they had for each other shattered.
***
BOOOOOOOOM!
The force of Su Ren's meteor descent burst the entire arena floor into chunks of debris that chaotically buzzed through the air as they were swept up by the mana currents.
At the center of the impact zone, Su Ren and Bai Yumo stood at a standstill. Su Ren pushed forward with the force he accumulated, while Bai Yumo used the force of the earth to support himself while he blocked Su Ren's blades with his opened fan.
SKREEEE!
The metal of their weapons screeched and sparked as they fought for dominance. Su Ren and Bai Yumo never broke eye contact, their gazes holding a number of unknown emotions.
Even as they stood in this deadlock, their auras clashed and ruined the environment further, neither of them willing to give up their edge.
If their fates were different, perhaps they could've even been friends in this life.
But this was not possible.
Because just as Su Ren put training above all else, the Saint King put his father above any and everything.
He was nothing more than a slave to that man's whims, but he was totally content with this status for some odd reason.
Su Ren couldn't understand it as someone with the independent mindset of a practitioner, and it felt like every time they fought their beliefs were challenged and placed on the table to debate each other.
Whether it was right to be independent and grow on the path one believed best, or whether it was best to grow under an umbrella and never leave its shade.
Or was it simpler?
Perhaps at the very core of the matter, it didn't matter what their beliefs were. They merely refused to lose to each other.
It was a relationship that Su Ren once had hope for, but as time passed and as he faced Bai Yumo now, he realized it wasn't possible.
Because that man would never change his ways.
***
How did the battle end?
Su Ren could've sworn he was just fighting, but in the next instant, he found himself on the ground, unable to move or control his mana.
He gripped his chest, feeling the disgusting energy swimming within.
He sat on the dead star alone and slammed his fist into the ground with hatred in his eyes.
He'd been defeated by cheap means and left for dead without an ounce of respect.
At this moment, he lost his number-one spot on the Dimensional Leaderboard without an ounce of resistance.
The grand things he'd said during that battle…were they all meaningless?
In the end, there was no such thing as fairness in this world at all.
Not then, and certainly not now.
