Michael's expression contorted as he watched the stream of the sun and moon's essence shift. Each tick of the flow's direction deepened the shadows beneath his eyes, turning frustration to a gnawing hostility that seemed to press against the water's surface itself.
"How is this possible… How is that kid doing it?" he muttered low, but his voice trembled with a desperation that shamed his years of practiced composure.
In the next moment, he roared through clenched teeth, his cultivation base crackling visibly.
"Give it to me, suck it!"
The suction force at Michael's core darkened the already stormy lake, and the aura of the Mahayana realm pressed down mercilessly on the other juniors in the water.
His draw on the sun and moon's essence did indeed intensify, stirring whorls and currents, but it could not rival Ethan's pull.
Ethan, shrouded in somber calm, had already pushed the mask's power to its absolute peak.
