The previous set of events took place in a matter of seconds. Less than a minute passed into the battle before Bai Yumo summoned his manifestation and Damien began to barrage him.
Their battle started at a far slower pace than Su Ren's previous one, and while they were also fighting fiercely, the difference in atmosphere could be felt.
The reactions of the crowd could be assumed. Generally, they didn't have much complexity as they didn't hold many thoughts towards the battle.
The only person who had extremely complex emotions towards it was Su Ren himself, who watched each collision from the edge of his seat.
As time went on, the battle became fiercer as well.
Damien and Bai Yumo stopped testing the waters and used greater and greater amounts of mana, infusing more complex concepts into their attacks by the second.
The arena was already being torn apart at a rate quicker than in the previous battle, but Su Ren had a strange feeling.
'This isn't the Damien I fought.'
The Damien he fought was far more forward and far less caring about safety. He would charge into battle with no thought of surviving unless he killed his enemy.
His current cautious approach didn't feel right to Su Ren, and while the man himself didn't know it, his observation was spot on.
Damien had been fighting against his usual characteristics for several reasons, but the need had already vanished.
Because now, Damien had a thorough understanding of the kind of damage the Saint King could do to his body.
'It'll be dangerous, but what fun is there without danger?'
The main thing Damien noticed after their first several thousand clashes was that Bai Yumo's mana capacity was massive, almost great enough to compete with him.
Regardless of strength, if they kept fighting as they'd been, they wouldn't be finished for another day or two…
And that was only if one of them ran out of mana!
'The Saint King has strength, but it's completely different from what I have. If I have power over the environment, he has power over living beings.'
The thought made him frown, but Damien didn't lose his conviction.
'Whatever happens, happens.'
His eyes instantly sharpened.
And his body vanished.
'Void Sword Art Sixth Form: Worldbreaker'
BOOOOOOOOM!
Bai Yumo had been standing steadily until this point. Despite Damien's harassment, he didn't lose his cool or lose ground in any way.
Surprisingly enough, Bai Yumo was quite the skilled melee fighter.
His fan became a blade unlike any other, slashing and piercing with a sharpness that would boggle one's mind.
Even Damien wasn't safe from it. Just as he'd scratched and stabbed the Saint King several times, he had many gashes covering his own body.
They healed rapidly, but the pain from them spread deeper and deeper, infecting Damien's spirit and dragging him down.
However, when Damien's sword came down this time, it felt different.
It exploded with power that swept past Bai Yumo and into the earth below, exploding outward in the next instant,
Similar to what Su Ren previously did, Damien filled the ground with his energy and created countless geysers that spewed the terrifying force into the air.
Where they contrasted was that Damien didn't use these geysers to attack, but—
BOOOOOOOOM!
Another massive explosion went off as Damien used Worldbreaker again.
Bai Yumo shot through the air, crashing against the arena wall as he was pushed away by the heavy mana waves.
He shot to his feet and pushed forward again, but in that moment, a geyser opened up under his feet!
Wap!
The entire world shifted in Bai Yumo's perception.
Before he could regain his senses, a swift wind passed by his shoulder.
Shing!
Damien appeared behind him with Mirage dripping in black blood.
Bai Yumo's arm landed on the ground with a thump as the man himself stumbled out of the geyser he was standing on.
Unexpectedly, it was on the complete opposite side of the arena from his original place!
Bai Yumo was delirious from the abrupt travel through the chaotic spatial layers, something a normal person would be torn to shreds by, and he hardly felt the loss of his arm.
'Void Sword Art Fifth Form: Dimensional Severance'
A black line of light approached him from behind, bent on cutting him into two perfectly even pieces, but in that final moment…
"Enough."
Bai Yumo's voice was different from before. It was filled with malice and unknown darkness.
The pressure from that single word banished Dimensional Severance to nonexistence.
Three streaks crawled up both of his cheeks, his sclerae were dyed black, and a pair of devilish horns appeared on his head.
"No more of this."
The arm he just lost regrew itself, painting a gruesome picture as Bai Yumo turned around to face Damien.
"Die, fool."
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An absolutely catastrophic mana pulse filled the arena. The corrosive energy the Saint King previously used as poison was now clouding the air, and the original Nox Mana he used was suppressed under its shine.
Damien frowned as he felt it invading his body. It was disgusting, especially since this energy was so familiar.
'That guy…did he just remove a seal?'
That's what it felt like. His power suddenly jumped to another level, and the complexity of his laws was at a point where even Damien had to be wary.
The main problem was his mana.
'That energy…'
Damien had felt it twice before.
It was first inside the Void Corridor when he was being transported to the Divine Realm, and second when he was in Eien, coincidentally at the site of another Void Corridor.
Damien's knowledge showed its strength here, allowing him to understand the nature of this energy instantly.
'It's Abyss Energy.'
The latent energy that made up the Abyss and gave it its fearsome reputation was in the hands of the enemy.
'Repel.'
Damien's body was surrounded by several layers of spatial mana that functioned similarly to Dimensional Cages, except these were specialized in expelling external energies.
He frowned when he saw how fast the layers were being destroyed, but there was nothing he could do about it.
'Until now, I've injured him a few times, but I've never struck him seriously. Even his arm being severed meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.'
Damien teleported continuously and observed the Saint King, who was currently covered in a suit of domineering armor made of that black yet vibrantly colorful energy of the Abyss, and by the looks of it, he was getting acclimated to the power boost he'd just received.
'Logic says this is the best time to attack, but logic is always wrong in situations like this.'
Damien kicked a loose chunk of rock out of the ground and loaded it with mana before launching it at Bai Yumo's body.
Just as he expected, the rock was immediately trapped in an incorporeal net that broke it down to its foundational elements and absorbed it.
'Haa…how troublesome.'
Damien didn't like being a masochist, so he also didn't like entertaining that side of him.
But it seemed this time…
'I'm going to get hurt a-fucking-lot.'
There was no escaping fate.
And as Bai Yumo exited his trance-like state and came back to reality…
The battle between Damien Void and the Saint King could finally begin in full.
