"COME!"
Damien's roar exploded through the atmosphere and sparked Su Ren's fighting spirit into a burning blaze.
He slammed his foot into the ground and shot forward like a comet. His blades moved before he even reached Damien, twirling around each other like twin snakes in a mysterious dance.
And suddenly, they were in Damien's face.
His eyes widened. It was too late for him to react. The strange sword dance wasn't an illusion technique, but an ethereal misdirection that Damien couldn't see through with his base abilities.
'Shit!'
Damien twisted his body so the attack would hit a more manageable area, but before he could finish his motion…
Clash!
His arm rose, completely instinctually, and wielded Mirage to expertly parry Su Ren's blades.
'Huh…?'
Damien's mouth opened slightly in astonishment. Without warning, he had become a spectator in his own body.
It was a situation similar to when he used Devour for the first time, only in this instance, he was fully conscious.
But in both, his body succumbed to instinct and became a beast.
Shing!
Mirage did an impossible maneuver, shifting from a parry directly into a pierce in a motion that would've normally shattered its user's wrist.
And in fact, it did exactly that.
Snap! Crack!
A series of grotesque noises emanated from his hand and wrist, but Transcendent Regeneration immediately went to work, healing the injury before the sword finished its movement.
Su Ren's eyes narrowed as he witnessed this, his body moving backward with his blades coming up to block Mirage.
'Something strange is happening with this man.'
Su Ren's thoughts were extremely strict at the moment, only appearing when they needed to. He was completely focused on the battle from the start, as Damien's physical strength and law comprehension were truly incredible.
However, this was different.
This wasn't the strength Damien showed, and most of all…
'His scent changed.'
Screech!
The unknown crystalline material of Mirage and the contradicting metals of Su Ren's dual blades scraped against each other as Su Ren parried the sword's path and pushed it to the side. The sparks created by the event were colorful, almost iridescent due to the magical nature of the blades.
'His previous scent was wild and untamed. His claim of being a jack of all trades was completely backed by this nature. However, the current scent is like that of Master's body, that of an expert of untold proportion…'
'…how intriguing. Master, you were right. Coming out to experience the world is the best way to train.'
Su Ren made an expression he only knew how to make in battle.
It was an expression often seen on Damien's face in the exact same circumstances:
A wild grin.
'This fight…can propel me to the next level!'
Su Ren's eyes shone with ferocity.
He finally decided. There was no need to continue suppressing himself.
BOOOOOOOM!
His mana raged into the atmosphere, dying the severed world grey. Oddly enough, this grey brought light to the world, returning it to its original face and filling it with a sharp and deadly blade aura.
Spark!
Sparks flew through the air as the invisible blade intent clashed against Damien's sword, which didn't stop its movements even after being pushed away.
Damien was also pushed back several steps by the sudden wave of mana, his body riddled with shallow cuts.
"Interesting, so you want to compete in domains," he said enthusiastically.
"Indeed. Due to the current circumstance, it is impossible for us to fight with our full strength. However, if it is just for a moment…"
"…then we should be able to hide it from their eyes." Damien finished.
The Holy Light Realm was just a secret realm in the end. The two of them had already fought long enough to understand that a collision of their full force would collapse the realm entirely.
Even disregarding this fact, their interaction was being watched by countless eyes. It was never a wise idea to reveal one's cards to those whose affiliations were unknown.
But just once.
Just once, they wanted to experience what it was like to fight without holding anything back.
'Come, Space-Time River.'
Damien canceled the Absolute Mastery state. He was satisfied with the preliminary test, even if it only lasted for a few seconds. Any further testing could be done at a later time, when he and Su Ren were in a safe environment.
Instead, he let go of all else and put his everything into Spacetime.
Spacetime was his lifeblood, his origin, and the concept he loved the most.
The Space-Time River was merely a copy, a tribute by him to the true peak entity of Spacetime.
But even a copy of such an existence couldn't be weak, lest it stain the name of the legendary original entity.
Voom!
An iridescent blue river of stars slowly revealed itself in the air above. It was several kilometers long, stretching into the distance, and its width was almost a hundred feet, a far cry from its past minuscule form.
"If you want to see the peak of my achievements thus far, this is what I will show you. The concept of Spacetime, the very fabric of reality that allows all things to exist. Face its truth, and tell me what you can glean," he uttered, a slight hint of reverence in his voice.
Su Ren nodded in admiration.
"Then I shall reciprocate. The peak of my achievements with the blade, the path I have followed that allowed me to create my own variation of mana and is guiding me to the very peak of existence, is in this very domain. It is the deepest truth of humanity, and reflects the deepest truths within oneself. Today, I will show you the ability to sever 'everything.'"
Two men faced each other, their stances far too different for them to be compared.
Damien stood tall with his hands behind his back. His body was illuminated by the light of the Space-Time River, painting him as a Celestial descended to the mortal world.
Meanwhile, Su Ren stood with his knees slightly bent, his center of gravity lowered to the earth. His stance was grounded and reflected that of an average mortal practicing the blade, yet held a hidden profundity that was simply indiscernible to almost all.
A pregnant silence descended on the atmosphere as the two men faced off with their auras, the spirits of the battle gods shining in their eyes.
Even in the first banquet hall, the same was taking place.
All those elders and experts held their breaths, no longer daring to speak out for fear of missing a single instant of this interaction.
Their battle was short and packed with constant back-and-forth action, and in that tiny speck of time, the two managed to showcase a level of law comprehension that seemed unfathomable for a genius.
Their words were reflected clearly to these experts.
Those two geniuses were going to do everything in their power to cast a veil over the eyes of onlookers when this final clash happened.
To see through that veil, even these old monsters and influential figures opened their eyes wide and focused.
Until finally, that moment happened.
Two opposing intents clashed beautifully and chaotically…
And the impossible was actualized.
