He felt his body harden to the point that an arrow shot by an ordinary mortal wouldn’t be able to even scratch his skin. He felt a core of energy crystallizing inside his soul. It was much smaller than before, but denser and... purer. The amount of energy at his disposal now was incomparably greater than at the level of a mere practitioner.
The last change that Hadjar could clearly discern was his own spirit. A blue haze began to take shape. The little dragon, which had been as big as his palm before, was now as long as his arm. The sword inside his soul had become so strong that Hadjar could summon it into the physical world and hold it in his hand. It felt like an Earth level artifact, which hopefully meant that, in the future, a truly powerful blade could be created using this black sword.
All these thoughts flashed through Hadjar’s mind in less than a split second.
A golden energy storm raged around Sankesh. It was the first time Hadjar had seen anything like it: a cultivator who didn’t use the energy of a fire spirit, but a spirit of light. Hadjar had thought that no one could control the light itself. What had Sankesh’s path in life been like, if he had been able to comprehend the mysteries of such a powerful spirit?
Sunshine’s halberd flashed with golden flame. The waves of solar fire that spread out from it vaporized the stones in a 10ft radius. Black dust rose into the air, only to then disappear in bright flashes.
Even thirty feet away, Hadjar felt such a powerful wave of heat strike his face that he had no doubt that, if he weren’t a Heaven Soldier, he would’ve burned to ashes from a mere exchange of blows with Sunshine Sankesh.
They finally collided. Sankesh left a trail of golden fire behind him, and black fog with blue tinges followed in Hadjar’s wake. Sankesh’s downward slash was more like an axe strike — all-consuming and overwhelming, with immeasurable power contained in just that one swing.
Hadjar gripped the hilt of his Black Sword with both hands. His feet were firmly planted on the ground. With a roar, he swung upward with all his might.
The two opposing powers met in an explosion of light and darkness. The muscles in Hadjar’s arms creaked. The darkness swirling around his sword tried to hold back the waves of radiant light that Sankesh’s halberd emitted. Sunshine’s face twisted into a ghastly grin.
The pressure was so great that the stone floor under Hadjar’s feet was covered in huge cracks. Hadjar felt like a match trying to defy a huge fireball. Dancing petals of yellow fire started spreading across his pants.
“Nonentity!” Sankesh shouted over the roar of the flames.
He pressed down even harder with his halberd and Hadjar’s knees buckled. The light, which had covered a radius of ten feet previously, now burned stones that stood twice as far.
The pressure became so intense that the skin on Hadjar’s back burst open and hot blood flowed down his body. The ground beneath his feet became a deep hole.
“Strong Wind!” Hadjar shouted.
New, pure, and dense energy poured out from his inner core and into his arms. The blue energy merged with the black sparks inside his blade. The darkness around the sword thickened, creating the illusion of a black dragon crawling across the blade. The pressure became a little easier to withstand.
The more power Hadjar used, the more the darkness around him grew. It was pushing aside what felt like an avalanche of the fiery light. Hadjar’s knees, previously bent to an almost 90 degree angle, gradually straightened back up. The ground beneath his feet cracked even further, spikes of rock shooting up.
Sankesh stopped grinning. Pulling his halberd toward him, he spun around, delivering a powerful and swift heel kick. At that moment, the pressure of his Technique almost completely disappeared. Such a small delay wouldn’t be enough for most to prepare a counterattack or put up a defense. Even Hadjar wouldn’t have had time to do so this morning. But that was then, this was now…
His movements blurred into a misty shadow as the black blade came up parallel to his chest, right where the enemy’s attack was aimed.
Even though Sankesh followed the path of the Halberd Spirit, his kick was still powerful enough to match the force of two battering rams. Hadjar skid three paces across the ground and was then launched back. After flying at least fifteen feet through the air, he regrouped and, like a cat, landed on his feet. It only took him a split second to do so, but that was enough for the Spirit Knight. The storm of golden energy around him exploded into a thirty-foot tornado. After spinning the halberd above his head, he brought it down for a monstrous slash.
“Executioner of Cities!” Sankesh’s roar merged with the roar of the golden firestorm.
A wave of light, in which the outline of a huge halberd could be seen, swept toward Hadjar. The air around it thrummed with golden fire. No ash or dust remained of the evaporating stones. One look at this monstrous Technique was enough for Hadjar to realize that it could’ve wounded even Traves. And yet, he didn’t take even a step to the side. He didn’t try to dodge. He exhaled sharply, and a storm rose around him. Composed of black and blue energies, it was only eighteen feet high, but looked as fierce and dense as Sankesh’s own.
Sunshine’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight. Was he, someone who stood at the middle stage of the Spirit Knight level, feeling pressure from the energy of a miserable Heaven Soldier? Impossible!
Hadjar, feeling a new power surging in his arms, made an imperceptible swing with his sword.
“Rustle in the Treetops!”
Similar to the huge wave of fire, which had taken the form of a halberd blade, a black line appeared in the air. A huge dragon’s maw with vicious fangs emerged from it. Its massive mouth closed around the golden wave. The battle between light and darkness began once more.
Hadjar didn’t expect to completely stop the Spirit Knight’s attack. Sankesh had been at that level for at least a century and had fought in hundreds of deadly battles. Hadjar, standing a step below him, had only recently acquired his new power and didn’t know how to use it to its fullest extent just yet.
When Sankesh’s Technique, after losing a good half of its power, finally dispelled the ‘Rustle in the Treetops’, Hadjar directed his energy into his hands again. This time, without using any Techniques, he swung his sword wide. This launched a black, foggy crescent from his blade, one that had a blue dragon with a sword for a body trailing behind it. Hitting the wave from the side, it deflected it by just one inch, but that was enough. Sankesh’s Technique passed within a hair’s breadth of Hadjar’s shoulder, leaving a long and deep gouge in the floor near his left leg.
Sankesh, spinning his halberd once more, plunged its base into the ground.
“Seventy years have passed since the last time anyone escaped the ‘Executioner of Cities’!” Sunshine folded his arms. His eyes flashed with a golden glow. The storm of energy around him began to condense and grow more turbulent. “It’s been seventy long years since I last fought a worthy foe!”
Suddenly, the storm disappeared, but the pressure didn’t. On the contrary, it only intensified. Hadjar found it hard to breathe. He had to increase the flow of energy toward the dragon dancing inside his soul. The black cloak on his back grew a little longer. It seemed to protect him from the influence of Sankesh’s energy.
“Spirit Manifestation!” Sunshine roared the words.