Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 560: Pressure

The two chains of [Love’s Bond] had finally reached their target. However, Void’s Disciple, or rather Adcarkas, only snorted as he swung his dagger at the two metallic snakes approaching him. Another invisible attack shot out, and an extremely deep scar appeared in the ground. The cut was laser-sharp, but it exploded as it had created some sort of vacuum, causing dust and stones to shoot in all directions.

The power in the strike was shocking even when the Zhix clearly wasn't going all out, and Zac knew that most weapons would be ruined by such an attack. Then again, [Love’s Bond] was no normal weapon. Not even Void’s Disciple should be able to comprehend the value of the coffin on Zac’s back, what kind of unique treasures and materials went into its creation.

White scars appeared on the two chains where Adcarkas struck, but they didn’t even crack from the swing. Void’s Disciple eyes widened in surprise, as this was the first time in the battle things didn’t go exactly his way. The Zhix reacted instantaneously though as he tried to move away, but the two chains gained a burst of speed allowing one to catch his ankle before he got away.

This was exactly what Zac had been waiting for, and huge amounts of his corrosive Dao flooded the two chains as he stomped down into the ground, flashing forward with [Loamwalker].

He didn’t actually think that the Dao Fragment would be able to harm the Dominator, but Zac hoped that it would restrict him like it did with Ogras when he tried to meld with the shadows. Even if that didn’t work, they were still physically bound to each other. He didn’t have access to [Profane Seal] in his current form, but this wasn’t a bad substitute. There would be no escape, only a brutal melee; just what Zac excelled at.

But Zac had also seen just how powerful Void was, and more surprisingly, just how many treasures he possessed. Something unexpected could happen in a drawn-out fight, so he needed to go hard from the start. Exposing all his ultimate cards this early would spell disaster if he failed, but he knew that he needed to use some of his aces in this fight.

A storm was kicked up as Zac appeared right in front of Void’s Disciple, and both himself and his Tool Spirit were radiating a mesmerizing glow. He had activated not only the second rune on his axe, but also [Hatchetman’s Rage] to push his power to the next level. Doing so essentially put a timer on the fight, but he didn’t expect the battle to last very long with the intensity it had until now.

“So you found your courage after all. I might not be allowed to kill you, but I can make you suffer,” the dominator said as fury burned in his eyes, and he turned into a blur the next moment as his dagger shot straight toward Zac's kidneys.

Zac quickly pivoted while simultaneously swinging down his axe and [Verun’s Bite] fell in a vertical swoop toward Adcarkas. Zac also activated [True Strike], trying to split the Dominator's attention by making him think someone was attacking him from behind, but the Dominator just snorted in derision at the ploy as he continued his stab. The chains of [Love’s Bond] also make Void's Disciple's lose his balance, but it was as though Zac was trying to move a mountain with the chain while Void’s Disciple stood unmoving like a towering tree.

The dagger barely missed Zac’s body, but he still felt a searing pain as a deep wound still opened up somehow, and blood streamed down his left leg. Just dodging that dagger wasn’t enough, it had to be covered in some invisible energy. Zac was unfortunately completely incapable of spotting it though. Was it because [Cosmic Gaze] was still stuck at Early Proficiency? No matter how much he strained his eyes he hadn’t been able to see the attunement of any of the skills Void’s Disciple used, only the destruction they caused.

But Zac suddenly felt a pop as the strain on his eyes lessened, and hazy energies appeared around Void’s Disciple the next moment. Zac felt a surge of confidence as he realized that his ocular skill had actually evolved mid-battle. Had he finally found the key to upgrading this skill; spotting invisible energies?

Improving his sight against someone who relied on invisible skills was huge, and it would hopefully allow Zac to gain an advantage. For example, just a first look at his enemy had exposed that the small dagger the Dominator held in his hand was just a decoy. There was also an invisible weapon that was attached to his fist, and Zac suspected that this was the real weapon Void’s Disciple relied on.

Zac could only see a translucent outline, but it would appear that the weapon was some sort of bladed glove or a claw, something that a pugilist would use. Two edges stretched out on both sides of his arm, starting halfway down his forearm and ending fifteen centimeters in front of his fist where they joined together into a rounded edge.

It was no wonder he had been cut even if he dodged the knife, as he had been well within reach of the much larger hidden blade. Zac couldn’t see how the edge was attached to Void’s Disciple’s arm at all, making him believe that it might be an energy weapon like the fractal edges of his [Chop].

The wound in Zac’s gut was deep, but with his berserking skill active he barely registered it. The pain rather fueled his killing intent, and he growled in fury as he continued his own swing, trying to cut Void’s Disciple in two. The Dominator’s free hand rose to meet the blade, and Zac finally noticed that something was up with it.

There was a thin film covering the palm, and Zac barely could discern some sort of runes covering it. It turned out that it wasn’t just his palm that had been able to block his [Chop], but there was some sort of defensive layer that Zac had been unable to spot until now. Adcarkas was trying to block Zac’s attack the same way as before, probably thinking it would damage Zac’s morale if his attacks were diverted by a simple palm.

However, a physical swing by a boosted Zac and a fractal edge were two completely different concepts.

A terrifying force slammed into the barely discernible barrier, and any remaining complacency in Void Disciple’s face was gone as cracks echoed out from his arm as bones broke. Zac’s eyes lit up when he saw the scene, as this had been his goal all along. If he activated something like [Deforestation] or [Raputous Divide], then the Dominator would respond in kind. But Void’s Disciple was clearly arrogant, using the bare minimum to fend off the assaults thus far, like it was an indignity for him to use proper skills against weaklings.

Zac was hoping to bank on this haughtiness to deliver a devastating blow with the help of the thee superimposed boosts of his Dao and two berserking skills. But the Zhix reacted instantaneously and moved his body in a mysterious fashion, and Zac felt the force in his strike being slowly exhausted as the Dominator pushed his hands in a spiral while slowly bending further and further down toward the ground.

"Stellar Convergence," Adcarkas growled as his purple eyes stared into Zac's, and a miniature spiral galaxy had sprung up around them the next moment.

It spread over a hundred meters around the two, and Zac could sense a shocking amount of destructive power in every single one of the stars. The others hurriedly scrambled out of the way, but Zac was caught in the heart of the galaxy, with Void's Disciple being the black hole. Zac frowned at the situation and thought to take a step back to regroup, but his mind immediately screamed of danger.

Zac quickly understood that he would have to withstand the power inside the stars if he wanted to back away, and even he would be bloodied and battered if the hundreds of lights went off simultaneously. He could only push forward, but that was his desire anyway. It seemed as though Void was trying to steal or somehow convert the force in Zac's swing, but he would still be grievously wounded if Zac managed to cut through the defenses before he was done.

It was essentially a race, so he grit his teeth as he tried to break the odd defense that Adcarkas' spinning hands continuously conjured. He could already see that the initial collision had caused fault-lines to appear all over the Dominator's hand on top of the broken bones, and Zac felt that just a little more would be needed to break through. Besides, the stalemate also gave him a chance to maneuver [Love's Bond], and the Dominator now had a fetter binding each of his limbs.

A pitch-black beam suddenly shot past straight next to Zac’s leg, expertly avoiding the rotating stars all around him. It unerringly flew toward the Dominator’s throat as he dealt with Zac’s strike. It was Ogras who had already turned into his ultimate form, but he actually had a second set of wings this time. As he pointed his newly acquired spear at the Zhix. He looked like a god of darkness, and multiple beams shot at weak spots of the zhix in short order.

A bloody gash appeared on the Zhix’s throat, but it was unfortunately not enough. Ogras’ shadowlance simply wasn’t strong enough to fatally wound someone like Void’s Disciple in one go. However, Ogras was like a mobile turret, continuously shooting out more and more lances as Zac and Void’s Disciple were locked in a stalemate where Zac couldn't retreat nor managed to push forward.

His arms were already shaking with strain, but the odd technique that the Zhix was doing kept dissipating the impact, forcing Zac to instill more and more energy into the strike to keep going. Of course, it was just a swing that utilized his physical power and Dao rather than any skills, so Zac could keep going for a good while longer.

Ten shallow gashes appeared in an instant all across the dominator’s body thanks to the demon's efforts, most of them centered at weak spots. The other Anointed seemed to be preparing something similar, but it finally looked like Adcarkas had enough as a necklace cracked. A dome that locked everyone except Zac outside appeared in an instant, locking him, Adcarkas, and his swirling galaxy inside.

“Break it!” Zac heard Ogras roar from outside, but the voice was muted like he was extremely far away.

The Anointed had backed off when Rhubat was wounded, but their hulking bodies moved toward the glimmering barrier without hesitation. The runes on their body lit up as they punched on the barrier, seemingly delighted that there was finally something they could do to assist Zac.

Unfortunately, Zac's brief break in his attention to see what was going on proved to be a fatal mistake as a tremendous force surge within the Dominator’s body. The palm blocking Zac’s swing suddenly disappeared, and Zac couldn't help but lose his balance as he had been pushing with everything he had.

The Dominator had managed slightly twist himself while diffusing Zac’s swing, and with Zac's lapse of concentration he had swiveled to the point that his body wasn’t even in the trajectory of the swing any longer. The Blade of [Verun’s Bite] harmlessly ripped apart the air right next to him, only cutting off a small piece of Void Disciple’s robes.

Zac knew he was in trouble, and the shield of [Hatchetman’s Spirit] immediatelycovered him as the emerald leaves completely ensconced him. He was even considering activating the first skill of [Love's Bond] to survive, but doing so would force him to transform the Spirit Tool to its shield form, which would free Void's Disciple of his four fetters.

He eventually decided to bet the house on him being able to withstand Void Disciple's attack, at which point he would counter.

Void’s Disciple was shockingly fast, and he had somehow transferred the force of Zac’s downward swing into a rotating momentum that turned into a mighty roundhouse kick aimed at Zac’s side. The kick immediately broke the shield and Zac was thrown away, the pain even cutting through the haze of [Hatchetman’s Rage].

However, while the kick was mighty, it wasn't the real problem.

A series of explosions rocked Zac the next moment as one star after another in the galaxy exploded, each one of them containing the force of an early E-Grade Warriors' full-powered attack. Zac desperately conjured more and more emerald leaves as they were disintegrated, and the spectral forest of [Hatchetman's Spirit] disintegrated before he even landed as all the defensive charges were used up.

But he survived. A few of his ribs were definitely broken and Zac looked like a bloodied corpse, but he was still alive and in fighting condition. The kick had thrown him straight through the galaxy until he hit the barrier from inside, and a coruscating series of explosions had detonated all the stars on this side of the galaxy.

The skill dissipated the next moment, leaving just Zac, Void's Disciple, and the four chains that connected them inside the dome.

Zac spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, and he shot the Zhix a murderous look as the Cosmic Energy in his body surged. Space split apart the next moment as the massive wooden hand appeared above the dome, but that wasn't it. Zac himself was already rushing back toward Void's Disciple as a fractal blade grew out from his axe, its gleaming edge quickly turning golden.

Void's Disciple laughed as his body transformed. He only grew a head taller, but his body turned pitch black while his eyes became burning suns. His muscles grew in size as well, and he radiated a shocking pressure that made Zac think of the Cyborg. Void's Disciple seemed to have a class that mixed the concepts of space and pugilism, and this ought to be his true fighting form.

It looked like the Dominator was finally ready to show his real cards, but it remained to see whether they were greater than the combined force of both [Nature's Punishment] and [Rapturous Divide].