'Partial Divinity.'
Once again, a call was made.
However, its strength was nowhere near its predecessor. Under the heavenly vine's suppression, Sir Theon had no choice but to forcefully activate his Demonic Providence again.
He couldn't summon the Saint Emperor's strength a second time, but he had long made contracts with several Lord-level Demigods that he could use in case of emergency.
'Blade Lord's Intent.'
Sir Theon's aura strengthened to a new level and sharpened incredibly. His entire body became like a sword, and the blade in his hand started to swing even without his prompting.
It was like an extension of his body, something he could control on an instinctive level.
Shing!
His blade slashed through the air in a mysterious pattern. Sir Theon's body weaved through the 99 vines that attacked him, easily dodging and parrying their attacks before counterattacking fiercely.
Vines dropped like flies. It was like their previous forcing Sir Theon into a corner was a complete lie.
'As long as the Demonic Providence is active, I can move while ignoring my internal injuries. However, when it ends…'
Previously, Sir Theon used the Saint Emperor's Divinity because he was in a critical situation where he needed the greatest power output he could get.
However, for his body, bearing a Lord's Divinity was far less taxing. His efficiency would be maximized at the cost of raw power.
At this moment, Sir Theon's opponent was a vine that hadn't fully grown into its strength yet. Its sentience was limited so its control over its laws wasn't refined at all.
As long as he could capitalize on his temporary advantage and destroy that vine, he'd end up with benefits that far exceeded the consequences he'd suffer from overexerting his power.
'I have five minutes. I must not falter!'
His head snapped in the direction of the heavenly vine, his body following not long after. By the time his thought ended, he was already halfway to the heavenly vine's main body.
But how could it allow its greatest threat to return?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Vines blasted the ground open with every inch that Sir Theon moved. The number grew from tens to hundreds and even until the thousands, endlessly approaching Sir Theon and attempting to confine him.
Unfortunately for the vine, Sir Theon wasn't in his same weakened state anymore.
With the Blade Lord's Divinity, he truly became a master of the blade. His every strike was filled with profundity and meaning and his every movement caused the winds to whip in reverence.
Slash!
He slashed out forcefully, throwing a massive crescent of Blade Aura into the horde of vines.
Shik! Shik! Shik!
A strange sound rang out as the vines were slashed into pieces. As they landed on the ground, Sir Theon suddenly noticed that they were absorbed into the earth like the corpses of the dead.
'At this rate, the vine will regenerate endlessly. It's already delayed me too much!'
2 minutes passed. Even if it wasn't much time, it meant everything to Sir Theon.
He wasn't even a thousand kilometers closer to the heavenly vine yet, and he had several thousand to cross.
If every thousand kilometers took an entire two minutes to penetrate…
'I'll never make it.'
Sir Theon's eyes hardened. His face turned dignified.
'It seems I won't be able to escape death today.' He realized.
But would this realization shake his resolve?
Never!
Even if he was fated to die, he'd take his enemy along with him. If he didn't try until the end, the possibility of survival would truly become zero!
"Burn!"
VOOM!
Sir Theon's eyes burned brightly, his body suddenly covered in bulging veins. His blood boiled and burned, empowering his aura with its vitality.
"Damned vine! I will conquer you today!"
Sir Theon's body arched, his head turning to the sky.
RAAAAAAAH!
He let out a fierce roar. His aura flared several hundred kilometers into the surroundings, letting loose a storm of Blade Aura that obliterated any and everything in that range.
BOOM!
Sir Theon's body shot forward like a comet. By the time his third minute ended, he only had a few hundred kilometers to travel before reaching the vine's main body.
At that time, the situation evolved again.
The heavenly vine wasn't remaining in stasis while Sir Theon attacked it.
It's every action to delay him had a single purpose: to buy enough time for it to acclimate.
And while that time wasn't completely bought…
VOOOOOM!
A massive fluctuation escaped the ground below Sir Theon and blasted him into the air.
A vine shot through the exploded ground as the rest had, however, this one was inherently different.
The flower blooming at its tip was clearly emanating fluctuations of Sword Aura, likely collected from the dead.
'Blade Aura and Sword Aura are rivals in the same vein. It chose to fight fire with fire until it can understand proper countermeasures.'
Sir Theon gritted his teeth in frustration. In all his years of life, he'd never been this suppressed by an opponent at the same level.
'I won't allow today to be the day I suffer such humiliation.'
Sir Theon slammed his feet against the air as if it was solid and shot towards the vine with ferocity, slashing in a specific pattern that was difficult to perceive with the naked eye.
'Blade Lord's Inherited Art: 10,000 Consecutive Slashes!'
SHIING!
His Blade Aura reached a great level and created 10,000 interconnecting lines that acted as an inescapable net of death.
In response, the vine shot out several fierce blasts of Sword Aura, utterly brutish yet far more damaging than Sir Theon's strikes.
BOOOOOOOM!
The two forces collided in the air in a terrifying flash of light. The air was cut into tens of thousands of pieces, and even the Wild Continent's sturdy atmosphere slightly cracked under the pressure.
Sir Theon shot several thousand kilometers in the distance, blood spraying from his body.
Yet, his face was decorated with a grin.
'Foolish vine.'
He might've been injured, but the direction he was flying…
Sir Theon suddenly turned his body and slashed his blade diagonally.
'Blade Lord's Inherited Art: Absolute Dominance.'
The edge of his blade made contact with something solid.
Blade Aura overshadowed the heavens.
Sir Theon put everything he had into this attack. He used the momentum of the explosion to shoot himself towards the heavenly vine and use his final minute to gather every last bit of power that he could.
The Absolute Dominance strike was the full force of a Supreme, a force that caused the Wild Continent's atmosphere to crack into several different pieces.
His blade penetrated the heavenly vine's thick exterior layer.
HAAAAAAAAAH!
Sir Theon roared, his muscles bulging monstrously as he pushed the blade deeper into the vine's trunk.
It went deeper and deeper. With every second, another piece of the heavenly vine was obliterated, returned to nothingness by Sir Theon's blade until finally…!
The final minute of Partial Divinity was exhausted.
Sir Theon's progress…?
Roughly halfway through the vine.
His strength faltered.
His expression crumpled.
"I still…failed." He muttered.
The thick trunk of the vine separated into countless strands that wrapped around Sir Theon and dragged him into its body.
And in the same moment…
"It's time."
A voice rang out in the void.
