"Grrr" the Dystopian general growled and put more strength into her attacks while attempting to stave off the frustration that was beginning to creep into her very being.
Of course, she was not the only one who was frustrated as Devon himself had to admit that this Dragon general was the strongest he had faced so far.
That said, he was not going to strive for a stalemate.
He wanted a win and he was going to get one.
...
Away from Gelread valley, right at the Dystopian border, two figures, one man and one woman floated in mid-air, a sign that they were both Cosmic saints.
"My my, surely this can't possibly be what Addilyn planned" said the male with a smile as he fanned himself with an elaborate fan while the woman kept her face stoic,
."In what way? The Dystopian army she commands still outnumbers the human side. Other these the fact that the human general is matching her in physicality, I'd say she is doing fine." She said with a shrug.
"Ah, but that's just it. Battling with a human, as though they were equals... With her hybrid dragon form no less, it's... Shameful." The man said with an annoying mix of a chuckle and a snort.
The woman said nothing.
Instead, she continued to watch as the two generals battled, a battle which despite being far away from her, she could still see clearly thanks to her impressive eyesight by virtue of her cultivation.
"So... What? Do we interfere now or do you want to keep watching?" The man eventually asked.
"Keep watching" the woman replied curtly.
...
Meanwhile, Devon and the General who we now know to be called Addilyn continued with neither yet able to take the definitive advantage.
*Bam!*
Addilyn had just landed a blow on Devon's crossed arms and the Dane man took it in stride before sinking his knee into her midsection.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAddilyn stifled a groan and retaliated with an impactful headbutt that knocked Devon's head down and she followed up with a mighty swipe of her tail.
It hit Devon away but when she attempted to follow up, the Dane Monster's eyes flashed, and his form shimmered. Not from him turning invisible but from him melting into a beam of light that closed the distance and struck Addilyn in the chest.
"Ack" Addilyn groaned but even then, she grabbed the arm and grinned while a thin line of blood flowed out the side of her lips,
"An ordinance of light? Maybe you really are my nemesis" she said and the area around her seemed to grow darker.
Everyone could see the phenomenon now forming around her but no one could feel it like Devon could as his eyes widened when the Darkness began to erode the light that coated his hand and enhanced his attack.
The Ordinance of Darkness.
And the Phenomenon forming around her showed that it was not at the insight comprehension but at harnessing.
The darkness not only eroded the light, but it also began to erode Devon's strength and he could already feel himself getting weaker with signs of even greater danger the longer this went on.
He suddenly radiated light so that it formed a phenomenon around him as well and used it to wrench himself away from Addilyn's grip.
"Ordinance harnessing... It's almost like you exist just to annoy me" Addilyn said with a huff.
"I could say the same thing about you" Devon said with a frown.
He was angry with himself. He had let her Darkness attack him for far too long and he could still feel the weakening effects.
Even when he used his Light ordinance to rid himself of the effects, the damage, no matter how minimal, had been done.
While the Ordinance of light mends, especially when used to counter the corroding effect of darkness, it did not change the fact that darkness was its natural enemy.
Even then, they were just like two sides of the same coin.
With one existing because of the other.
Kind of like Life and Death,
Chaos and Order.
With the absence of one begetting the other.
Anyway, Devon still had victory in mind and why wouldn't he?
When all was said and done, light had one advantage over darkness; speed.
Light moves and reacts speedily while Darkness creeps.
He could take advantage of that.
Devon then stretched his hands in front of him as he charged a glowing ball of light in the space of a second before releasing it to blast towards Addilyn but she had a thick coat of darkness around herself which absorbed and nullified the attack.
Devon never expected it to hit her but now that he had made Addilyn use her prepared Dark shield he would take advantage of the space of time before she moved it to defend her exposed back, to place an attack that would at least cripple her and leave her open for a defining hit.
When he moved in to implement this plan, which was quite impressive in itself, his attacks were deflected by a speedy swipe of Addilyn's spiked tail. And even then, it took no damage.
"What?" Devon was at first confused at how an Ordinance harnessing strike could have been hit away with a Dragon tail.
That should have been impossible. No matter how sturdy her dragon scales were.
Then he noticed the tail was coated with Darkness.
Now that he looked her over, she saw that her whole body was coated in the Darkness of her Ordinance harnessing.
Addilyn had found a way to overcome the slowness of her ordinance with the implementation of her physical strength and speed.
Devon's brows furrowed,
This level of control over her ordinance was already nearing Ordinance incarnation.
But while her control was impressive and deserved praise, she was still far from that level.
Addilyn roared with laughter,
"Hahahahaha, what sort of cultivator would I be if I did not take note of my disadvantage and think of ways to overcome it or at least temper it to the point that it would not cost me too much.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhat about you?" She asked.
"What about me?" Devon asked and Addilyn grinned,
"It seems you were so preoccupied with moving fast and catching me off guard that you failed to notice the darkness creeping ever closer to you". And just as she said it, Devon began to notice his body getting coated with Darkness.
Eroding at the light around him.
"What the...?" He exclaimed and attempted to fight off the darkness with his light while also thinking about how she has accomplished this.
He was always so aware of himself and could not understand how...that was when it hit him.
Piggybacking!
The darkness had piggybacked on his attack.
The light attack he had hit Addilyn with which she had swiped sway with her tail had still been tethered to Devon and he had failed to notice how it used that to transmit darkness back to him.
Being an opposite of the showy Ordinance of light, Darkness was far more subtle and capable of hiding its presence completely while biding its time for large-scale corrosion of the very core of the light radiating around him.
Addilyn was on him in a flash and punched him,
"Bam!"
It hit and sent Devon rocketing away but before he could even attempt to defend himself or heighten his speed with his Light ordinance, Addilyn was already behind him and striking him towards the ground...
*Bam!*
*Bang!*
*Crack!*
... Cracking the barren ground of Gelread valley.
The impact killing off C-class experts in the immediate area.
But Addilyn was not done as she dived downwards to finish what she had started.
When she got close, she noticed something weird: Devon was smiling.
Even as Darkness corroded his strength and practically rendered him defenseless, this man... This monster was smiling in an absolutely deranged manner.