Meanwhile Tharvonis and Mikael continued to clash, sword meeting halberd as both cultivators used their Cultivation Techniques and skills to the greatest extent, each trying to gain an advantage in this brutal contest.
Clang.
After another exchange, Mikael gained a small frown as he began to feel… slightly uncomfortable?
It was a hard-to-describe sensation, but there was an undeniable feeling that something wasn't right, 'What is… this?' he frowned a little more, but—
Even when—in the next seconds as he clashed with Tharvonis—he tried to pay attention to his 'gut feelings,' he wasn't able to find the source of this sensation and, even weirder…
'It's nothing, I'm sure it's nothing…' a hint of hazy confusion passed through Mikael's eyes as the uncomfortable sensation that previously bothered him grew… dimmer, hazy, and unclear in a way that almost felt like it was hidden behind another layer of reality.
As if this sensation came from a dream while he was awake—or as if he was feeling reality while dreaming…
Progress: 99.978% → 99.979%
Titanbone Combat Form – Stonecrack Strike
Moonpiercer Sword Art – Third Movement: Silver Dawn Requiem
Tharvonis attacked with a series of rapid halberd strikes while Mikael defended using Moonpiercer Sword Art, the fight continuing on that note, seemingly without change, but something had changed—and Lian'er noticed it!
'Why are Mikael and this… thing! Not moving anymore!?' thought Lian'er in confusion, though of course she didn't forget to 'manifest' her hate toward Tharvonis.
The reason behind her confusion was that ever since they reached this hollow ring structure, the situation had shifted; it wasn't like earlier when both of them fought while covering vast distances with her following behind—
No! Something had clearly changed, and while the violence and power of their battle remained the same, what didn't was the fact that they were now 'stationary,' no longer tearing across the Realm of Broken Skies but fighting within the same zone.
A zone that, strangely enough, was right above the hollow ring structure… the structure that was quietly being 'nourished' by the energies of their confrontation…
'Maybe they wanted… a change of scenery?' Lian'er didn't pay much attention to the oddity, far more focused on keeping her eyes on Mikael's state in a way that ensured the moment he was in danger she WILL intervene!
After all, it wasn't like them being stationary was dangerous… right?
Unfortunately for the usually mischievous beauty, she was too far to notice that both Mikael's and Tharvonis's eyes had gained a certain 'hazy' look with faint traces of confusion, or else she would have instantly realized that something was terribly wrong!
Progress: 99.987% → 99.988%
Shake.
A Mikael wearing a slightly confused expression shook his head, he instinctively did so in reaction to the uncomfortable sensation that continued to grow stronger and stronger, a part of him instinctively resisting the haze that dazed his mind but—
Unfortunately it wasn't enough!
The confusion that gripped his mind grew stronger at the same rate as the uncomfortable sensation grew, leaving him dazed and unable to 'shake' out of it which had for direct consequence that his battle performance plummeted with him being unable to use the majority of his strength!
Normally, this would have terrifying consequences in such an extremely close, evenly-matched life-and-death battle, but fortunately Tharvonis wasn't spared either, his battle performance also plummeting as the same haze that afflicted Mikael wrapped around his mind!
An haze that at that moment if Mikael had been in the right state of mind he would have instantly remarked that this confusion and haze while coming from an unknown 'source' seemed to share certain similitude and resemblance to what he named his 'Foresight of Heaven's Mandate sense', but—
It was just similitude as ultimately it was clearly different.
If using Foresight of Heaven's Mandate to read his own fate was something that was beneficial to Mikael, this 'haze' while sharing the same 'source' clearly wasn't!
Progress: 99.996% → 99.997% → 99.998% → 99.999% → 100%
[Charging Cycle Completed]
[Initializing Dimensional Transfer]
"!!!"
The instant the [Initializing Dimensional Transfer] message appeared on the wall of the hollow ring structure, Mikael's previously uncomfortable feeling transformed into a terrifying one, his calamity sense blaring louder than ever but… strangely enough, it didn't transmit a lethal threat, rather… something else.
Nevertheless, this extremely loud 'blaring' was enough to drag Mikael out of his previous haze and confusion, 'My MIND! What…??' this thought had barely begun to form in Mikael's spirit when it was interrupted.
As without giving him the time to understand what was happening, a terrifying scream—one that carried unmistakable fear—resounded.
"MIKAEL!!!"
Instinctively his gaze snapped toward its source, his somewhat confused galaxy-like eyes meeting Lian'er's, but what instantly shocked him was that her usually lively hazel eyes were now filled with a deep fear of… losing him?
To understand the reason behind the beauty's fear, one needs to return to a second ago, at the moment when Mikael received the 'shock' that tore him out of his previous stupor.
At that moment Lian'er had been attentively watching both warriors battle, not thinking much of the sudden decrease in their battle intensity, but then—
'Huh?' she instinctively raised an eyebrow as she felt a distortion in… space?
The next instant she noticed that, at the bottom of the hollow ring structure, a purple energy had appeared, its color a dark, light-devouring shade of violet that swallowed everything around it, forming something that visibly distorted the air and the very space around it with its mere presence.
'What… that?' Lian'er only had a fraction of a second to be confused before—
BOOM!
The purple energy violently expanded outward, surging upward from only covering the bottom of the hollow ring structure to quickly filling the rest of it.
In an instant the previously hollow ring structure was now filled with this purple, lightless energy, making the structure seem as if it were a portal leading to another universe…
BA-DUM!
She didn't know why, but at that moment her heart skipped a beat before clenching painfully, as she was hit by a terrible premonition—one telling her that today she would lose something precious, very, very precious!
KRRRRAA-THOOM!
Just as Lian'er's heart skipped a beat, the void-like energy reached the limit of the hollow ring structure, having filled it in its entirety, and normally, if the structure were functioning properly, this was where it should have stopped but—
Cracks, cracks
The damage the structure had accumulated over the last million years made itself known with extremely severe consequences, because when the void-like energy collided with the outer limit of the hollow ring—a boundary forged from a special metal—it now let out worrying, splintering cracking sounds.
This caused damage to the hollow ring structure which allowed faint wisps of this dark purple energy to begin to 'touch' reality—previously having been confined within the structure—and the instant it did so it had catastrophic consequences, with the very space around it being torn apart as if it were nothing before this mysterious energy!
'...'
Almost by instinct her gaze moved to the battling Mikael, who wasn't far from the hollow ring structure, before shifting back to the special metals that were rapidly ceding, and then once more to Mikael—
Pale.
Her visage instantly turned two shades paler as she realized that from where Mikael was, he would definitively be affected by this void-like energy when the structure ceded!!!
"MIKAEL!!!!"
And this was what led her to let out a terrifyingly loud scream, filled with fear for her Mikael…
While the above description of events looked like it took a long time, in truth everything happened in not even a full second thanks to her cultivation-enhanced thought processing speed—allowing her cultivation-enhanced scream to reach Mikael just as more and more wisps of dark purple energy were escaping the hollow ring structure.
"!!!"
Mikael's eyes widened as his now non-hazy senses fully caught the terrifying spatial fluctuations coming from the hollow ring structure, which was coincidentally just under Tharvonis and him!
"What!?"
At that moment Tharvonis's confused voice spread out, the Varnari's instincts fully activating as they sensed the deadly threat, allowing them to chase away the previous haze and confusion that had muddled his mind, but unfortunately—
He was even slower than Mikael in coming to his senses, and when you took into account the time he would need to adapt and understand the current situation…
It was clear that his reaction would be delayed, and in the current situation, this delay was something that didn't forgive!
Meanwhile Mikael ignored Tharvonis as his now fully working mind operated at a thousand miles per millisecond, his thoughts flashing at lightning speed as he took in the situation, 'I was mentally influenced and now I am in a perilous situation, when the structure below gives way, I will definitively get caught in the "blast zone" of this dark purple energy and—'
Mikael's thoughts grew grimmer as he arrived at a conclusion, 'Considering how meticulous this trap was, with how I was mentally influenced without sensing anything, I doubt I will be able to escape this easily… the only question is who this trap was aimed at? Me or Tharvonis?'
These thoughts and numerous others flashed through Mikael's mind in a millisecond before ending on something as his gaze rested on Lian'er, '—at least Lian'er isn't in the blast zone…' he estimated based on the spatial fluctuations he could sense…
This realization brought with it a small sense of relief, one that didn't last long as the next instant—
Swish, vhooom.
Right after her fear-filled scream resounded, Lian'er, without thinking about anything—and certainly not her own safety—erupted with a fear-induced burst of speed far beyond her limit as she cut through the sky, heading straight toward Mikael and straight into the danger zone!
Bubble, sizzz.
Just as Lian'er began to move toward Mikael, the dark purple energy made further progress on the hollow ring structure, its outer 'walls' beginning to develop large cracks as a non-negligible amount of energy started seeping into reality.
"NO!"
Seeing Lian'er's action, a fear greater than facing any life-and-death battle hit Mikael at the idea of Lian'er putting herself in danger or worse… dying!
Myriad Lightning Convergence Physique +++ – 100%
Purple Lighting Mode – Ferocity Mark III – Stage 2
Purple Lighting Mode – Cloudbreaking Stride
Wind Cloak
…
Without caring about thinking of the best way to escape the deadly trap anymore—which was the main reason why he had 'wasted' a millisecond in thought—Mikael didn't hold anything back as he erupted with unimaginable speed right toward Lian'er!
And this 'not holding anything back' wasn't kidding, because not only did Mikael use every means at his disposal to increase his speed, he pushed each of them beyond their 100%, and he even began to burn his foundation—all to achieve the greatest speed possible!
All of that coming together, especially with him burning his foundation—which was a situation where, at best, he would come out with injuries that would require a long period of healing or, at worst, suffer semi-permanent damage—
Allowed him to burst forward at a speed thousands of times faster than sound, turning him into nothing more than a blur as, with every passing millisecond, he covered vast distances, closing the space separating him from Lian'er at an unimaginable speed.
100 kilometers.
Surprise mixed with hints of hope appeared on Lian'er's visage as she saw him gradually leaving the 'blast zone' while rapidly nearing her.
50 kilometers.
The surprise had vanished, replaced by a steadily growing hope that allowed her previously all-encompassing fear and terror for Mikael's safety to slightly diminish.
10 kilometers.
The terror gripping her heart had largely diminished while hope burned brighter than ever, because for cultivators of their power… 10 kilometers was nothing!
And for Lian'er, that was everything.
Even though she knew that reaching him wouldn't magically make him safe, nor make the danger suddenly disappear.
No, she knew that it probably wouldn't change anything and that she would put herself in grave danger, as she would now be in the 'blast zone,' but—
She didn't care!
Author Note:
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———
Things really are taking a turn for the worst aren't they?
Let's hope that Mikael and Lian'er successfully survive this calamity and…profit(or else Mikael wouldn't be a good protagonist…right?)
It would be a good idea to write more for this Author Note, considering I didn't write one for a couple of chapter but I don't have more idea, on what to write, so I'll stop there.
———
Want to read ahead? Unlock advanced chapters on Patreon—just search SDASLUMMY.
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— End of Chapter —