Scrutinizing the twins with a smirk on his lips, Theodore calmly awaited their first moves. He had silently allowed his body to become suffused with as much Energy as possible, to reinforce it further.
However, due to his Endurance now no longer vastly surpassing his other Standard Attributes, the improvement was somewhat limited. Still, an overall roughly twenty percent increase with no downsides except for higher Energy consumption and some active mental effort was nothing to scoff at.
For a while, the trio was in a silent stand-off. But eventually, Spandarmad couldn't take it any longer. The moment that she saw her opponent blink, she threw a fiery lance fashioned completely out of Divine Energy. Naturally, when it came to beings as powerful as them, their perception was practically unhindered if they closed their eyes, and she was well aware of this. She had simply wanted an excuse to act.
Used to his sister's proactive nature, Devashtich joined her with some destructive, watery orbs of his own. To his discomfort, Theodore merely stood there, the corners of his mouth rising ever so slightly. He didn't make any attempts to avoid or counter these probing blows.
'Wait, what!? Something just interfered with my attack's targeting. It's ever so slightly off–although it should still hit. See? He couldn't avoid it in the en–Huh?! You've got to be kidding me!'
At first narrowing his eyes because he had noticed something amiss, Devashtich's expression soon transformed into one of utter shock. Right when his orbs brushed against Theodore and began to rend him apart, the majority of the force got reflected and acted directly upon his own body! Stumbling backwards, he held his stomach, hot blood pouring out from between his fingers.
"... how are we even supposed to fight this?"
Muttering to himself, the furrow of his brows deepened. Glancing over at his sister, he saw her gritting her teeth, a massive hole in her shoulder. Of course, it wouldn't take them long to heal from such insignificant flesh wounds, but it was still an uncomfortable experience to be injured like this as a consequence of one's own attack.
"You're going to have to try harder than that."
Theodore's voice interrupted their thoughts, causing them to focus on him again. To their astonishment, although at least a third of his body had been obliterated by their means last that they checked, he was already pretty much as good as new.
'It's like I thought: Absolute Reflection and Near Miss can not entirely handle facing 'divine' beings, mostly due to the massive cultivation stage gap between me and them, as well as the difference in terms of the hierarchy of life. But even without any other methods being employed, I can endure relatively casual blows.'
Ever since the end of his illusory lives, he had not once actually faced any higher lifeforms. Because of this, he had never been able to ascertain how effective these two Legendary-grade Talents of his were in supplementing his defences against beings like that. With this experiment of his having provided him with the data which he had been aiming for, there was no need to keep being a punching bag.
Whilst the twins were still a little bit rattled and trying to come up with countermeasures, they found themselves encased in a thick layer of Eternal Ice.
Even Celestial Stage experts couldn't simply shrug it off as if it was nothing, therefore they began to melt it with their Divine Energy and shatter it actively. Fortunately for them, their speed of destruction was more than fast enough to resolve this threat.
But before they could catch a breath, countless spinning spiral spears created from the same headache-inducing material began to bombard them from all sides, cutting off every single route of retreat.
"Ugh, I'm getting sick and tired of this!"
After passively defending for a few seconds, obliterating millions of these projectiles in the meantime, Spandarmad couldn't stand it anymore. Increasing her Divine Energy output almost to the maximum, the sheer might that she was actively exuding shattered all of the Eternal Ice spears around her and her brother.
'... as expected. Due to my pitiful Holos Acclimation Stage cultivation, they can practically ignore even my most powerful attacks. That'll only leave me with one rather boring, brutish course of action if I want to come out on top.'
Not disappointed, as he had expected this result, Theodore didn't let up on the barrage. At the very least, this could exhaust, delay and annoy his adversaries–if only a little.
Spandarmad easily shrugged off his harassing blows, glaring at him with overwhelming killing intent. Spreading her arms wide as if heralding the dawn of day, she conjured a dozen literal suns, before compressing them to be barely a fraction of their original size. This just served to make them more lethal, though.
Simultaneously, Devashtich chose to get serious as well, even if only to create an opportunity for his sister's attack to land. He constructed a cage of torrents around their foe, which he compacted and further reinforced as much as possible. Not only would this alone be enough to significantly pressure their target, but it would also lock him in place.
'Not too shabby. I'm unable to use my Intraworld Teleportation Talent here in the Lesser True Void, and teleporting via my Array would feel like cheating. Therefore, I will have to brave at least a part of these head on, no matter what else I choose to do. But... do they truly think that this alone is enough to deal with me?'
A subtle smile playing across his lips, Theodore covered himself in countless layers of polyhedron-shaped Eternal Ice shields. Rather than relying on a singular, solid and thick one, a large number of them would be more effective in resisting what he was about to face.
... yes, this was just another test of his. But who could blame him? With such weaklings amongst 'divine' beings in front of him, a couple of his theories and hypotheses could potentially finally be confirmed.
As soon as the streams of rapid water got close, shield upon shield shattered. Obviously, he created just as many more as there were lost, which allowed him to keep the violent embrace of the deep at bay.
But moments later, the compressed suns rained down upon him. To his amazement, Devashtich managed to seamlessly withdraw his cage at the very instant before the impact. Without plenty of practice, he might have accidentally ended up shielding him from his sister's solar bombardment.
Whilst previously, the layers of Eternal Ice were still sufficient to tide Theodore through, this time, they were ripped apart so quickly that he couldn't keep up whatsoever. They did their part in absorbing a chunk of the coordinated attack, but it was at most half of it.
Before the last shield was breached, Spandarmad hastily switched the suns into self-destruction mode, then yielded control over the part of her own Divine Energy that had been utilized to create them. She wouldn't be able to recover any fractions of it which would remain after the assault concluded, but she would technically not count as the attacker any longer. And that was exactly what she was banking on!
'Wait. Wasn't she the dumb one? How did she figure that out so fast?!'
Legitimately shocked, Theodore stared wide-eyed. As the fire consumed him, a huge chunk of the damage was reflected upon the suns themselves–but they were already bursting apart!
'... oh well, I found out what I needed to. Even in terms of defence, my Eternal Ice can't fully protect me. It's time to wrap up.'
As his Faavi-created and occasionally Energy-fortified clothes began to burn, he clenched his fists and shot straight through the flames at an inconceivable speed. His skin and flesh ignited, almost getting carbonized immediately. His bones cracked from the heat, threatening to shatter. More and more of his body practically melted away, leaving him with naught but an incomplete skeleton by the time that he escaped.
Yet as soon as he had left this hell behind, the same watery cage from before attempted to halt him in his tracks. With his bones mending themselves and his flesh regrowing almost within the blink of an eye, he withstood the extreme pressure and torrential rapids with his bare physique. He was battered, bruised, broken and ripped apart, yet he didn't flinch even once.
By the time that he finally arrived in the Lesser True Void again, the twins had grown pale. They had witnessed his extreme recovery speed first-hand–and it was now that they realized that they absolutely couldn't eliminate him, no matter how hard they tried.
Whilst his ruptured eyeballs were healing from one moment to the next, Theodore shot them a bright smile. Never did he halt in his steps, and before they could move too far away, he had already made it to Devashtich's side. Reaching out to grab him, he entirely disregarded the watery Divine Energy-created obstacles that the man put in his way.
Although his arm shattered repeatedly in the process, he was undeterred. Finally calling upon his Compound Array to reinforce his physical vessel further, he soon remained entirely unscathed when faced with Devashtich's desperate assault. His speed having increased a few notches as well, the twin eventually found himself outmanoeuvred and caught.
That was when the brutal and ruthless beating began. If Theodore's Eternal Ice couldn't hurt his foes, then he would simply have to rely upon his own body, transforming into the most lethal weapon available at this point! And that was exactly what he did.
A punch to the gut tore a hole through Devashtich's stomach, and an uppercut to the chin blew away half of his head. A kick to the shin shattered his leg and a powerful bear-hug practically locked him into a cage of flesh and blood.
By the time that Theodore was done with him, nothing but a highly compressed, cubic mass of meat, blood and bone remained. Of course, that was not nearly enough to kill Devashtich, and he could even still retaliate via utilizing his Divine Energy–however, Theodore didn't allow him to reform his body properly for the time being.
Afraid to accidentally catch her brother in her attack, Spandarmad didn't know how to proceed. She had launched small-scale blows against that detestable bandit, but it hadn't been of any use. And now, Devashtich was pretty much at their opponent's mercy.
'What do I do?! What can I even do!? I won't just leave Deva behind! But... how can I get him back?'
Her mind currently in overdrive, she considered all of her options, only to come up empty. Together, they hadn't managed to take the stranger down. Alone, and unable to use her most powerful moves, that was even more impossible.
Her back drenched in sweat, she blankly stared at Theodore, who rapidly got closer to her–no doubt intending to turn her into another cube to subdue her. That was when, finally, she had a brilliant idea. If she couldn't beat him, then why not yield and plead for mercy?
"I give up! You win."
Falling to her knees and making the most adorable but awkward pleading face that she had in store, Spandarmad raised her arms in surrender. Even in his current six-sided state, she could feel her brother's discontent, but she didn't give a hoot about it. They had tried, but they had failed. It was as simple as that!
"... what a shame. I had hoped that you'd put up a bit more of a fight."
Sighing to himself, Theodore shook his head in disappointment. Although the twins were at the Celestial Stage, they had no impressive Talents of their own, which had made the whole battle not as exciting as he had hoped. Thankfully, he had managed to learn a thing or two, therefore it hadn't been a waste of his time–but it certainly could have been much better.
"Very well, then. For now, I'll take the two of you into custody. We can have a chat later on, to decide what'll happen to you and your people. Do not resist–it'll just hurt more if you do."
Utilizing his Lesser Void Guarding Array, he drained both Devashtich and Spandarmad of most of their Divine Energy, then immobilized and shackled them. Naturally, he had allowed the 'Celestial Cube' to regain his normal shape first.
Taking another glance at the relatively regal fur- and pelt-based clothing that the two wore, a sudden thought came to his mind.
'Wasn't Cristyn's description of the Naxsir's attire similar to this? But it's not exactly like nobody else wears those sorts of clothes–they're comfortable, beautiful and easy to acquire, after all. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask, just in case. I mean, what are the chances?'
"You wouldn't happen to be Naxsir, would you?"