Bai Yumo understood his disadvantage.
Yet, he had no plan of falling to it.
Damien was able to take first blood because he attacked bigger and faster than he could, but he wouldn't allow that man to continue controlling the momentum of battle.
Bai Yumo's awareness spread through the starry sky for several tens of thousands of kilometers, allowing nothing to exist outside his perception.
His hands came together as he formed a sphere from his mana, growing and condensing it in waves.
Damien was surely somewhere in the surrounding space, hidden.
It was certainly an option to wait for Damien to attack and move from there, but why would he do that?
Voom!
Bai Yumo's mana let out a pulse that tremored through the healing space.
His eyes narrowed and turned to a specific location.
'Explosion.'
BOOOOOOM!
The mana sphere in his hands burst, sending shockwaves in every direction.
Space shattered into pieces, the chaotic void bore its fangs, and utter destruction spread.
"Keuk…!"
Damien choked on a breath from the layers of space.
The former sequence took place in a mere second. While he was preparing to ambush the enemy, he didn't expect to be hit instead!
His body didn't fly far, but the burst made him visible to Bai Yumo, who didn't let this chance go to waste.
'Ten Thousand Fangs.'
Abyssal Mana filled the air and formed into countless tendrils that shot toward Damien from every direction.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Space exploded just from their presence, and when they came near, Damien could clearly feel the terrifying power contained in them.
He narrowly dodged the first tendril, allowing it to raze against his face.
Hissss!
His skin burned like it was splashed with acid.
Damien's brows furrowed as he continued dodging, but he didn't attack back or use any unnecessary movements.
His body went barely to the left, evading a group of tendrils, before impossibly twisting to avoid another group.
He flipped and weaved through space like a fish in water, not even teleporting to escape the encirclement.
Bai Yumo watched him carefully.
'Why act this way and leave yourself open?' He wondered.
But now wasn't the time for that.
He gathered mana again, this time infusing countless law fluctuations into it.
'Death of Spacetime.'
Wap!
A strange sound rang out.
The death of Spacetime, a reflection of the Abyss and something Bai Yumo experienced countless times with his own body.
A single second could take years off one's lifespan. Time and space had long died, and the only thing remaining was a cheap imitation of their qualities.
He manifested this atmosphere in Grand Heavens Boundary, turning this area of the starry sky into a manifestation of the Abyss!
Damien's eyes widened.
'This…!'
He long understood how strange the Abyss could be, but feeling it was different.
Time and space weren't truly gone, merely present in a different form.
In a more vague form, as if they were still trying to become the concepts they were today.
This atmosphere enveloped Damien and clouded his senses with darkness. The surrounding abyssal tendrils became invisible in this air, their attacks completely unrecognizable.
Damien did his best to continue dodging.
His perception was cut to a point he didn't think possible, and he could no longer see Bai Yumo anymore.
From all sides, countless barrages of attacks swam towards his body.
Constructs of Abyssal Mana filled with concepts that made it up created a terrifying atmosphere that not many could survive!
The base of the Saint King's strength wasn't much different from Damien's.
Time and space were at its center, even samsara had a piece, but Bai Yumo had a specialization in death and destruction that Damien didn't possess.
When the human genius was sat in this execution ground, there was little he could do to evade!
Flash!
Damien teleported out of the center, unable to bear the pressure anymore.
However—
BOOM!
Damien's body reappeared directly in the path of an abyssal sword.
The sword crashed into his chest and exploded, filling his body with its energy.
"Khhh…!"
Damien gritted his teeth and endured. He used the Void Physique to clash against the mana, but against his expectations…
'What?! It's friendly?!'
The Void Physique did not try to remove the Abyssal Mana from his systems, but instead interacted with it like a close friend!
'No wonder it didn't react last time I fought the Saint King. The connection between the Abyss and the Void is a lot deeper than expected!'
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Damien was struck by several constructs one after the other.
Their mana coalesced and created a corrupted flow in his blood vessels that fought Transcendent Regeneration and even his bloodline abilities, forcing them to retract their fangs.
Damien's eyes narrowed.
'He's trying to get rid of my support systems before ending me.'
Bai Yumo's goal was simple. Last time, Damien won because he had more stamina. If that stamina was taken from him, the battlefield would be less than even, it would be in the Saint King's favor!
However, contrary to logical thought, Damien didn't try to get out of the attack range.
It wasn't because teleportation was failing him in this vague definition of space, but because he had an even better idea.
"Since you're coming, then do it properly!"
He shot through the air like a comet, straight towards the source of the constructs!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
BOOOOOOOOM!
Damien used his own mana to clash against the incoming wave. He got hit over and over again, his body was filled with Abyssal Mana, blood pooled in his mouth, but he didn't stop his ascent.
Outside the Dead Zone, Bai Yumo watched with widened eyes.
Was his enemy trying to kill himself already?!
Their battle had just begun!
'No, that man would not make such a stupid move. He must be—!'
Before his thought could finish, his eyes widened in horror.
From within that Dead Zone, a place he never should've been able to perceive, Damien was staring directly into his eyes,
His lips moved treacherously.
Bai Yumo read those lips.
"Found you."
Damien's expression twisted into a grin, and he disappeared.
CRASH!
Damien exploded with mana, filling the Dead Zone with his presence.
A bright starlight blue river glimmering with iridescent light appeared in the air, bringing a sense of stability into the chaotic area.
And with that correction, with the introduction of order, the Dead Zone shattered.
Damien appeared behind Bai Yumo once again.
His sword was already at the enemy's neck before anyone understood what was happening.
"I get it now," Damien said, his voice flowing into the Saint King's ears like the whispers of a Demon King.
"Your mana, I understand it."
'Void Sword Art Seventh Form: Supernova'
A nonsensically dense fluctuation of mana appeared far too close for Bai Yumo to be comfortable.
Along with those words, it was like his doom was guaranteed.
The entire starry sky was filled with bright white light. It shined so brightly that even the projections in the skies across Grand Heavens Boundary were blinded for a moment.
Damien felt his enemy's strength.
Now it was time for the enemy to feel his!
