Chapter 161 Chaos and Ruin II (1/2)
CHAPTER 161
CHAOS AND RUIN (II)
The air was dark and brooding, weighing heavily onto the shoulders of those present. It was a brief flicker of silence, of stillness that very few would get to experience in their lives whereupon the whole of the world shuts down, the nature of time collapses, the space itself freezes in that momentary lull, the breaths of the living grow dampened, and all matter -- dead or alive -- as if unified begets the discontinuation.
Lino had experienced such a feeling a few times over throughout his life, yet it never weighed as heavily as it did at this very moment. He held onto the sword in his hand tightly as droplets of sweat quickly began formulating, his mind forcing him to blink repeatedly. The aura around Erkhaan exploded into a blazing mass, shifting space freely, its indistinguishable colors visible to the naked eye.
On the other hand, Lino held it all in; after all, he was fully a Body Cultivator, while Erkhaan was a mixture of the two. Lino calmed his breathing quickly and forced the Singularity that was seething in his soul to wake from its slumber. Soon enough, a wave upon a wave of Qi stormed every inch of his body causing his muscles and veins to bulge.
The time came immediately after; Erkhaan unleashed a massive force which propelled him forth, crashing into Lino within a blink of an eye. The latter replied instantaneously, rising his sword as to parry the strike. The crash of the two extremes brought about an explosion which resulted in the entire hall scrambling into pieces. The floor was uprooted into huge chunks as the dust blasted out, with numerous columns and pillars supporting the hall collapsing.
The two however completely ignored the destruction of their surroundings; Erkhaan held onto the sword which had clashed against Lino and struck with the other one as he used the momentum to bound Lino from the side. The latter rotated on his pivot foot and raised his leg in a tall arc, crashing it against Erkhaan's side and blasting him like a cannonball through the hall and into the wall.
At the same time Lino felt a massive singe of pain assail left side of his chest where Erkhaan managed to slice open a massive wound. Lino stilled the breathing through Qi and shoved a mass of amounts of it into his feet whereupon lightning crackled like a woken beast, further demolishing the already collapsed floor.
By the time Erkhaan stabilized his body he sensed a torrent of energy swarm over him, forcing him to cross his swords over his chest and defend against a massive slash. Another burst of energy exploded, completely shattering the outer wall of the hall, exposing the courtyard in front entirely.
Ekrhaan flew in an arc through the sky as his lips curled up in a savage grin which was followed by a maniacal laughter. A pair of bloody wings spurted out of his back as he used them to diminish the momentum, coming to a halt before he let go of both of his swords which then continued to hover next to his body. He then roared toward the sky and raised his arm up whereupon a massive, sphere-shaped clump of liquid blood appeared, wiggling and sizzling repeatedly.
Lino felt immense danger coming from the lump and instantly shoved even more Qi into his feet as he switched to the backhand stance. His body trailed almost at the speed of light and quickly caught up to Erkhaan. The latter smiled once again and brought his arm down. The clump of blood pulsated for a second before thousands of tentacle-shaped, crimsoned arms exploded out, all converging into a wall-thick shield into which Lino crashed.
Erkhaan underestimated the sheer force of Lino's body and was rather shocked to see cracks immediately spread throughout the shield. His wings fluttered once as he immediately backed off -- just in time as the shield exploded into billions of droplets and fragments. A figure of a haggard-looking beggar stormed through and still pressed on toward Erkhaan.
The latter realized he couldn't compete in the bodily strength or even speed against the beggar-looking man; his advantages lay in the difference of Realms and the fact that Lino couldn't externalize his Qi, meaning he couldn't attack from the range.
Erkhaan's wings fluttered yet again as he rose up nearly a whole mile into the sky, spreading his arms wide. Shortly after the space around him distorted as the spinning vortexes began appearing one after another. Entirely black in color, it didn't take long before they started spitting out energy which formed into bolt-like, piercing clumps of Devil Qi that then began slithering down onto the ground like rain.
Lino landed forcibly, creating a mile-wide crater and immediately looked up toward the sky only to see it completely blanketed in black bolts. Startled, he pushed his Singularity once again to release more Qi, shoving it all into the simple-looking sword. The latter hummed in a seemingly melodic tune whereupon the inscriptions running across its surface lit up like stars in the golden resplendence.