Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

*BANG!!*

The blast was beyond impressive.

Amelia had not simply charged a cosmic attack and imbued it with a phenomenon... No, she had done something even more difficult and powerful.

She had condensed a Cosmic phenomenon to the point that she could dish it out like she would a cosmic attack.

That level of Cosmic energy control was commonplace for cultivators at the Cosmic Aurora realm as they would at that point be required to condense such attacks on a combative basis.

Such attacks meaning the manner in which Cosmic Auroras are dished out fairly casually in that realm.

Anyway, cosmic phenomenons were usually more of a wrecking natural disaster sort of attack. Usually causing a physical effect (when being prepared) on the surroundings and the people in said surroundings. Especially those with lower cultivation bases.

Their release was impressive, overpowering, and oppressive. It was widespread and lacked any real control.

This is why it was usually instead used to imbue and strengthen Cosmic attacks and thus give more control and direction to the attacks.

It (Cosmic phenomenon) was also not a subtle attack when used or prepared by a cultivator, and opponents are much more able to figure out their aim before the phenomenon is even completed.

As such Cosmic phenomena are only really used to display prowess and not really as a way to catch an opponent off guard.

But that was exactly what Amelia had just accomplished.

She had used a raw unadulterated Cosmic phenomenon and had not only condensed it without her opponent's knowledge through which she was able to catch him off guard, but she had also controlled so much that while it was an attempt to win and very effective, she did not put her opponent's life in danger.

This was not a battle to the death after all.

Only when the attack hit, did Ethan figure out that it was not a cosmic attack as he had previously thought. That it was stronger... Hit different... And would win Amelia the duel if he had not thought to adequately defend himself.

He had surrounded himself with cosmic energy as a precaution the moment Amelia dodged his spear hit but as a Cosmic phenomenon had not been what he had expected to begin with, his prepared protection could only take him so far.

*BANG!!!*

The sound of a collision between his prepared defense and Amelia's phenomenon was almost deafening and it ended with an expected victory of the phenomenon.

Ethan was blasted back and struggling to stop his roll and get back to his feet with no thought of giving up as he did not believe this duel was over.

Amelia, however, stretched her hand forward after a graceful landing from her airborne attack to smile at Ethan and once again charge a phenomenon.

This one, however, was not subtle.

It had all the characteristics a cosmic phenomenon should have...

It was impressive...

It was oppressive...

It affected the surrounding...

But it also had control...

Amelia wielded it as though she was wielding a blade... A blade she yielded in one hand while she still held her Warhammer in her other hand.

And then came the distraction...

Hal watched Amelia roll her eyes when five young men, all wearing robes that told of them being members of the Sensual palace, sprung out of the crowd, as though their seemingly out-of-nowhere attack had been expected.

And it had been.

Not just by her and her clique but by everyone watching.

It was sort of like an expected twist that everyone still wished to see even if they knew it was coming and the surprise had already been ruined.

Speaking of Amelia's clique.

They were not ignoring the outspring of youths either.

And they rose to meet the young men in duels that the young men might not have known but were destined to lose.

Hal shook his head at the entire display.

In his opinion, if the 'surprise attack' was expected, then why didn't they simply battle it out as groups from the start.

He was about to dismiss it all as them all being much too used to their idea of honorless battles when he saw all five young men holding up rune sheets which why proceeded to smack against the ground surrounding Amelia.

This was what they had been doing while the one-on-one duel went on... They had been charging pieces of a larger scale tailor-made Array that they all now activated.

While Rune sheets can be stored, the moment they have been charged with either cosmic energy or Astral energy in preparation for this sort of Array formation, they can no longer be stored.

If storage is forcefully attempted, the storage treasure is likely to be affected negatively by the stored, violent, eager-to-be released energy and in most cases, it would explode.

As such, charging the sheets beforehand and then storing them was out of the question for the success of Ethan's grand plan.

As the Array activated around her, Amelia tried and failed to break out of it and soon began to feel the Array's oppressive effect.

Basically, the Array was meant to increase gravity within a designated space while also trapping its target within. The target, in this case, being Amelia.

Ethan, now back to his feet and wincing at the ache he was feeling from Amelia's phenomenon smiled triumphantly while he walked confidently into the Array and that ease with which he twirled his spear in his hand coupled with his entry into the array made it clear the Array had no effect on him.

It was drawn with a target in mind.

Of course, Ethan was not a Runemaster but a member of his group, who was at the moment dueling with Delaney, was and he had been responsible for drawing the Array.

Anyway, when Ethan moved to take advantage of the oppressive nature of the array on Amelia, he was in for a surprise. 

Amelia was a member of Hal's inner circle, surely she could not lose to a cultivator who was only one stage higher than her in cultivation.

Especially not when all he had as a trump card was a gravity-altering Array.

Her reactions were indeed slower and there was clear sluggishness to be seen but even then, she outclassed him.

The single-stage difference in their cultivation could never make Ethan an automatic better of the two.

Even with the Array, Amelia owned his ass.

Wielding her phenomenon together with her Warhammer cosmic armament, she proved continuously that Ethan was in no way her equal in battle.

Hal watched on with a proud smile as Amelia continued to hit at Ethan in any way she could.

Her aim looked to be to get the young man to admit defeat and yield but Ethan was not having it.

He was not willing to give up and eventually, Hal sighed and had enough of his do-or-die attitude.

Also, Amelia looked ever closer to making use of her succubus bloodline.

She no longer had anything to prove.

The better of the dueling pair was clear and Hal no longer saw a need to remain anonymous.

And so, as Amelia and Ethan stood opposite one another with the young man biting his lower lip in annoyance at how he had been unable to take advantage...

*Snap*

... A particularly loud snap of fingers sounded and with it came the projection of multiple Royal Blue runes that slammed against the Array surrounding Amelia and Ethan and nullified it in barely a second.

The Array was in no way comparable to Hal's rune projections both in the amount of energy imbued and in rank.

Hal was already a fifth rank Runemaster while the array just like its creator was at the fourth rank.

The Creator of the Array who Delaney had adequately smacked already was awed by the remastering as he, even better than anyone else, knew that this level of Astral energy control and manipulation surpassed the fifth rank even if that was the energy the projected runes were giving off.

All eyes turned to the originator of the royal blue runes as the handsome young man began to walk towards the Arena and in confident strides...

"Just give up. You've lost" Hal told Ethan while he smiled brightly at Amelia who smiled back just as brightly.

Ethan frowned at the exchange,

"This is no business of yours. I will give up when I want to. And right now, I don't want to" he said.

Hal sighed,

"You've insulted me enough by ignoring my existence to duel with her and 'take her as yours'... But I am willing to let that slide if you cut your loses and give up now"

Ethan sneered,

"So you're the mysterious partner..." he said and made to take a battle stance when Hal rolled his eyes and grew impatient.

With a wave of his hand, he slammed Ethan with a wave of cosmic energy so strong and so oppressive that the young man could do nothing against it.

And that was saying something because the attack was slow enough for Ethan to amass Cosmic energy in form of attacks and phenomena to defend himself... Which he did.

But they all proved useless and he was helpless as the wave of energy tore through his defenses to smack him into the ground...

*Bang*

... And there then came a resultant sound which made it clear that something was broken.

*Crack!*