Dilan was not sure how much time had passed but Nial had enveloped the entire Colosseum Arena in his dark energy.
Dark energy- that was what he called the energy that resided within the two Demons and Nial.
It was a bothersome energy that was stronger than ordinary mana if used properly. Unfortunately, Nial and his two Demons were able to use their dark energy with great precision.
Dilan was the most surprised about the energy control of Tyrant, the Giant Demon because he looked like a muscle-head who was incapable of doing anything except smashing things.
This didn't play well in Dilan's hands, at all, but it didn't worsen the situation further either.
He was facing rather perilous situations every other minute and one could say that he was extremely lucky to be immune to poison.
Kaeldur seemed like a master in the assassination. He could even summon and fuse poison with his dark energy, or so Dilan presumed. It might also be that Kaeldur's dark energy was different from the others, and had poison attributes from the get-go.
In the end, the truth didn't matter because Kaeldur's attempts to poison him failed miserably.
In exchange for the attempt, Dilan counterattacked Kaeldur. He cut off his arm using the first slash of the 72 Slashes of Destruction Sword Style.
To reinforce the Sword Style it had been necessary to use the Immortality Aura but that was not an issue with Dilan. He could easily summon the aura at the expense of some life force.
The final outcome was quite pleasant as well. Though he was not able to kill any of the two Demons, Dilan found the weaknesses for both of them.
While Tyrant was able to destroy, and actually absorb his layer of destruction, it was very harmful to Kaeldur. It was possible for him to cut through dark energy. This was very helpful against an opponent, who seemed to have an endless amount of a type of energy Dilan had never heard of before.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'Even if this dude absorbed the Godly Fragment of the Late God of Darkness, isn't that a little bit too much? He has even more mana to dispose of than some Demi Gods?!'
Dilan's only significant achievement since the battle started was that he forced Nial to use so much chaos that his body couldn't handle using it any further. The Eternal Darkness was trying to give his body the necessary cooling off before he could utilize his chaos energy once again.
This would take a while, but Nial didn't seem to be in a hurry, either way. Dilan was no different, but his goal was different from Nial's as well.
While Nial Orin had to be careful not to die and to, at least, survive a total of 100 days, Dilan couldn't actually die and he had to turn this battlefield into his greatest performance in order to demonstrate that he was more than worthy to receive the strongest possible True Destruction Trait!
Yet, the only one he actually managed to injure so far was Kaeldur, one of Nial's subordinates.
This feat shouldn't be underestimated but it was also something he barely achieved after dying hundreds of times. His True Undying Essence was still brimming in vigor but Dilan was not sure how to gain an upper hand let alone defeat an opponent such as Nial.
"Stop!" Nial suddenly shouted out loud, issuing a command to Dilan.
His mind froze for a quarter of a second at this moment and it took him a tremendous effort to be able to move once again.
Droplets of blood started to trickle out of his mouth. These droplets turned into a small stream as a massive amount of blood began to ooze out of the corners of his mouth.
Yet, instead of looking grim, Dilan forced a smile on his face. He had bitten on his tongue to the instance Nial's sudden command fell on his ears.
This was necessary for him to escape the most frustrating ability in the arsenal of the Eternal Darkness; mind control.
And it was not just any kind of mind-controlling ability but something that was strong enough to pierce through Dilan's mind, the mind that was capable of defending mental attacks from True Gods!
The Fallen Celestial and the Great Wise had taught him not only about the Ring of Infinite Elements Constitution, Mana, knowledge, and the Perfect Essence Cultivation technique but also about ways to deflect mental attacks.
The worst that could happen to long-range fighters that used Elements, and while practicing the Perfect Essence Cultivation technique was the risk of someone attacking the mind.
This could cause severe mental damage even to someone like Dilan. At least, that was their concern which made them force Dilan to learn various techniques that would passively protect his mind.
He practiced these techniques a lot, strengthening his mind to the level of a Demi God with a strong will and mental defenses.
Despite that, with the use of his unique types of energy and superior mind-controlling ability, Nial was able to issue subtle commands and force Dilan to listen to them without much effort.
Thus, Dilan skidded to a halt for a quarter of a second until the pain of his bitten tongue pulled him back to reality.
But it was exactly that quarter of a second that created a big disadvantage for Dilan.
Thorny vines made out of darkness shot out of the ground. They tightly enveloped Dilan's legs and restricted his movements while the thorns inflicted a little damage.
The thorns were an attempt of Nial to figure out where the limit of Dilan's ability lay. It was hard to believe that an ability as powerful as Dilan's Origin ability didn't have a drawback.
There should be a limit, a flaw…something that could be used against him, just anything!
Unfortunately, it looked like Dilan didn't possess such a drawback. After all, he was still as powerful as he had been several days earlier…and after getting killed hundreds of times.
The amount of blood Dilan had lost in the last few hours was already enough to prepare enough conserves for all the guards of an entire shelter, for at least a week at that.
This was unbelievable, yet, it was the truth.
"What the hell are you?!?" Nial's expression finally crumbled.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAll the confidence he gained throughout the last few years disappeared in the face of the abomination in front of him.
Dilan could only be considered a monster, no matter what others might say. He was the most terrifying opponent Nial had ever faced, and he was not sure what he was supposed to do against someone like him.
"It's funny that you ask me that because I have the same question for you!" Dilan shouted out loud, his crimson eyes glowing with a lethal glint while an unnaturally cheerful smile was plastered on his face.
His appearance made it seem as if he lost his sanity, but that was just Dilan's way to cope with endless pain and repetitive deaths.
Every single time he died several times in a specific period it was like a switch had been turned on. From that moment onward, he would turn into the greatest maniac until he wouldn't sustain a single injury for a certain period.
This was the 'tic' he got from getting killed in various ways, over and over again.
Nonetheless, turning into a maniac didn't mean that his brain stopped working.
On the contrary, his brain worked much faster than at any other time.
Thus, it was even more terrifying for Dilan to understand that Nial had still not run out of dark energy, or mana!
And that was the case even though they had been fighting for almost a week by now…without a break!
Dilan was also constantly replenishing his mana to make sure that the True Undying Essence would always charge a little bit, but there was a big difference between his combat style that focused on the preservation of mana and subtle attacks until he would unleash one powerful attack, rather than Nial's fighting style that was the complete opposite.
Nial didn't seem to possess a 'one hit to kill martial art' technique. He focused more on the constant release of powerful attack to obliterate his opponent as quickly as possible.
However, that made it quite difficult for Nial to finish off someone like Dilan.
He couldn't be defeated that easily.
But even then, it was as if Nial was a bottomless pit of mana.
Was that even possible?