Ascension of the immortal Asura

"Tch," Lilian clicked her tongue with frustration, her eyes still staring forward. Her power flowing into the ship intensified as she pushed the ship to its fastest speed she could manage.

"It caught up too quickly," she grumbled, trying her best to resist being affected by that horrible aura enveloping the ship. It flashed through the chaos of space once more, and then reappeared over the ocean again soon after, the ship moving tens of thousands of miles in an instant.

The storm was closer than before when they re-appeared, its size growing in their visions, the aura stronger than before.

"How much longer until we reach where we need to be?" John asked Lilian, his eyes never leaving the storm that was fast approaching them.

"I'm not sure," Lilian said, teeth gritted with strained effort. "But not long enough. If that thing attacks this ship, we're as good as dead. I'm using every scrap of Qi from myself and the spirit crystals to move this ship as fast as possible. I cannot spare anything to power the ships defensive formations, or we'll be caught. If that thing manages to attack us, we're finished!"

John frowned as he stared at the oncoming storm. The flickers of lightning were growing brighter, the figures revealed within by the flashes becoming larger as well. The storm was now close enough for him to make out a single figure for certain, Raijen, its massive frame, shadowed within by the storm clouds, standing out amongst the others.

They entered the chaos of space again, and then reappeared moments later. The storm had closed the gap once more. It would no doubt be on them in less than ten minutes, and within striking distance from the Asura far before.

"We're so close! So close!" Lilian said, her voice tinged with regret, as if she no longer considered their escape possible.

John shifted his gaze from the approaching storm of death, staring at his master's back. She felt his gaze and turned her head sideways, giving him a sideways glance. Her eyes narrowed at him as if she could read his thoughts.

"I'll buy us a few minutes," John said firmly, "or at least try to do that. You just focus on getting us where we need to be."

"Don't be an idiot," Lilian chastised him angrily, "even I am not a match for that thing, let alone you. Both of us would perish instantly before a single attack from that thing!"

John smiled at her.

"Come now master," he said playfully, as if the storm of death was not right behind them. "Surely by now you should have learned to not underestimate my power."

Lilian frowned, her eyes studying him closely.

"I'm not going to fly out and attack the thing of course," John said, "I'm just going to make sure that if it does attack the ship, that the ship doesn't explode in a ball of fire. We need this ship in one piece to reach where we're going. You yourself said it."

Lilian's narrowed eyes continued to study John, and then she sighed, returning her gaze forward.

"Fine," she said, "just don't get yourself killed, or this is all for nothing."

John smiled and nodded, and then turned towards the ship's rear door, his face growing cold. His narrowed eyes stared at that storm, that wall of death approaching them. He flashed forward, appearing at the rear door. It opened as he slapped the formation at the side of the door.

The air rushed by, threatening to suck him out the back, but he held firm. He exited the ship before they entered the chaos of space, lest the chaos flood into the ship and do harm to it. John instantly appeared on top of the ship, his feet planted firmly on the ship's top. Strong threads of Qi bound his feet to the ship, ensuring that he did not go flying off.

The air rushed by him, the ship moving so fast that the air actually hurt him. His skin began to peel away, blood seeping outwards. The vibrant life energy Laia had infused him with instantly healed the wounds on its own volition, causing John to smile at the thought of her.

Boom!

John's body exploded with power, draconic scales appearing all over his body, his eyes turning golden. The wind slamming into him no longer damaged him, although it was still quite painful despite using his Dragon-God Shift.

Suddenly, the chaos of space appeared all around him, replacing the fearsome winds with the damaging storms of spatial chaos. John braced against those storms, enveloping his body with the Dao of Space as best he could. His spatial Dao, combined with his Dragon-God Shift allowed him to remain firm on top of the ship.

Bright light returned to the world as they appeared above the sunny ocean once more, the storm closer than ever. It was like a massive wave of darkness, one that stretched up for a hundred miles and sideways as far as the eye could see.

The explosions of lightning intensified within, the flashes revealing glimpses of the calamitous battle within. John gazed firmly at the storm, his scythe gripped tightly in his right hand, awaiting the challenge to come.

…

The storm howled with calamitous power, the winds and lightning within strong enough to destroy everything that was unfortunate enough to be in its path. Six figures within the storm ignored the winds, their battle within raging with devastating power.

The Astral Emperor's figure danced within the storm, his movements so fast that it seemed he was a ghost appearing at different locations at the same time. Each time he appeared, astral energy of incomparable power blasted outwards, slamming against his three opponents who fought with everything they had to keep the man at bay.

At the same time, Raijen, Thunderzen, and the Alliance leader fought with everything they had as they battled the Asura. Their battle had turned into one of pure defense, focusing their all on stalling the Asura as much as possible. They had long since cast aside any thoughts of attacking it with the intent to injure it.

The Asura battled its way forward through the world, forcing aside anything thrown at it with absolute power. Its speed had hardly been slowed as it sped across the world, Raijen and the others barely keeping up with it.

Thunderzen felt relief as their battle raged on, thankful that they had the foresight to use the Heart's of Vibrant Oblivion before the defensive formation had fallen. Had they not done so, the Asura would have been impossible to stop or catch up to. Even then, they had been fighting a losing battle, one that they focused everything on just to survive, where they hopefully bought enough time for John and Lilian to escape.