The battle between Damien and Bai Yumo had already gone on for far longer than the previous one with Su Ren.
Despite the fact that each of their collisions was like a leaf floating on the river of time, so many leaves covered the river's surface that one would believe it had no depth whatsoever.
Hundreds of thousands of clashes took place, with the momentum shifting back and forth between the human and Nox. Their battle power shone in the eyes of those watching and placed them at the peak of the universe.
But there could only be one person in the top spot!
After Damien lost the protection of Transcendent Regeneration, his battle style became far more cautious. He utilized long-range attacks and constantly teleported to make sure Bai Yumo couldn't affect him with the same severity as before.
But just as he became more cautious, the Saint King became more daring!
The Demonic Providence granted to him by his training was Abyss Controller. He could take portions of the Abyss' natural energy and use them as if they were his own mana.
But this wasn't just a matter of using a different form of mana, it meant he could truly control the operations of the Abyss to a certain extent.
And Damien was forced to face that head-on.
'Shit!'
Damien rapidly teleported away, moving several hundred kilometers across the arena floor, but it didn't help.
The surrounding space had become a net that trapped him, it's chaotic fluctuations made it impossible for him to move freely despite the reality of his abilities.
After all, unless the strength difference was significant enough, the only thing that could combat a spatial practitioner was another spatial practitioner!
By influencing space directly, Bai Yumo effectively cornered Damien in a way he couldn't before.
And he wasn't finished with just this much.
The Saint King's arms waved through space like he was conducting an orchestra, however, the result of his actions was cacophony.
The spatial turbulence was only one of many mechanisms he abused in this battle.
As Damien tried to evade and counter using Mirage, as he tried to use the Twin Moons to create openings for himself to approach Bai Yumo, Damien was always met with obstructions.
His body streaked through the air, avoiding a section of collapsed and twisted space, only for him to enter a new area where all things were darker than black.
'A Dead Zone!' Damien exclaimed with a frown, remembering his last experience in such a place.
There was an absence of mana and laws that made it impossible for even someone of his caliber to maintain their mana capacity properly!
'I need to escape this encirclement.' Damien thought solemnly.
He dragged his body through the Dead Zone, swerving to avoid the blasts of Abyss Energy that surrounded him from all sides.
Damien's body was like an eel slithering through water, the terrain unable to affect his mobility much at all, but his mana capacity was finally beginning to see the negative effects.
'I need to get out of this Dead Zone to recuperate my mana, but it's hard. There's a time distortion here too, but I can't sense it since it's built into the absence of the Dead Zone.'
His mana was draining too rapidly for this destroyed area of space to be so simple, and realizing it, Damien's frown only deepened.
'Looks like I have to fight directly.'
Bai Yumo hadn't moved since the beginning of this new phase of the battle. While his expression made this seem like a taunting gesture or a show of arrogance, the reality was that it wasn't possible for him to move his body while controlling Abyss Energy so precisely.
The state he was currently in was similar to Damien's Elemental Wargod form, but because he didn't have the special physique that allowed him to easily control those elements he didn't have an affinity with, he needed to torture his body until his understanding of them was engraved deep in his soul.
One day, when he was more powerful, perhaps he could effortlessly wield the forces of nature like his father, but this was a story for another time!
Bai Yumo's eyes never left Damien, who was like a flying cockroach who refused to die, so when he saw the man come to a complete stop, his expression became somewhat serious.
As he expected, Damien wasn't planning to run anymore. He summoned all the mana inside him and summoned his understanding of Spacetime in full.
Damien's eyes were closed as he felt for those laws in the lawless space, and when they fluttered open again…
A translucent silver color decorated his pupils, and his hands moved with the elegance of an Emperor.
"Form."
He uttered a single word, and the Dead Zone around him shattered. A secure space was formed in its place, a semblance of Order that displaced Bai Yumo's chaos.
The battle changed again.
Bai Yumo and Damien no longer moved or attacked each other in a frenzy. Their collision was a true battle of experts, where superior comprehension would take the victory!
The Laws of Spacetime and the Energy of the Abyss clashed fiercely. When these two forces were put against each other, Abyss Energy had a natural advantage since it was more all-encompassing.
But when Damien added Samsara to the mix, and used Elemental Wargod to imitate the addition of the 5 base elements, the same couldn't be said.
It was a wave of black against a wave of silver, two waves of terrifying energy that clashed in the air and invaded each other's space to attack their casters.
Bai Yumo was covered in gashes and had several chunks of his body missing, eaten by space and time themselves.
Meanwhile, Damien wasn't untouched either. Abyss Energy couldn't pollute his internals, but it absolutely worked on his physical body.
His skin and muscles were corroded and burned away by the second, and even his bones started to feel the searing heat of the energy melting them into nothingness.
Nevertheless, he stood tall. The Laws he'd been comprehending were those that formed the universe's very foundation, and when he faced Abyss Energy, he didn't feel fear or panic.
He felt anticipation at what lay beyond the bounds of this small universe.
He felt like if he could kidnap Bai Yumo and study that energy for a few years, the secrets of the universe would be his.
It was a shame that such energy was in the hands of the enemy!
Damien sighed to himself, wincing as he burned his wounds closed with flames and lightning.
'This is it. I need to act now.'
The decision was made instinctively. Damien could feel that if he didn't charge in and capitalize on the opportunity now, he'd lose his chance to sweep the victory in the future!
His hands went to his sides and the weapons he held disappeared from his grasp.
The Elemental Wargod state faded, and in the next second, the crown around Damien's head changed to a new form.
'Void Breathing Second Form: Absolute Mastery'
Last time, Damien used this ability on his sword skills, but not this time.
This time, Damien's goal was to become a true God of Space!
