"Hahahahahahahaha—!!!"
A manic laugh ripped across the battlefield.
"YES! YES! YES!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
Vorgrath's aura erupted.
Abyssal flames surged outward like a living ocean, swallowing the shattered ground and devouring everything caught in their path.
The earth melted.
Mountains of broken stone dissolved into rivers of molten rock.
The air twisted beneath the heat, while the remaining fragments of space trembled as though reality itself could no longer withstand his presence.
SWISH!!
I disappeared from the expanding blast radius.
A heartbeat later, I reappeared high above the battlefield, my feet suspended in the air.
My eyes remained fixed on the inferno below.
Calm.
Focused.
Ready.
At the center of the destruction stood Vorgrath.
His armor pulsed with an ominous red-black light. Cracks spread across its surface, glowing like veins of magma beneath the crust of a dying world.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
A pillar of abyssal flame erupted into the heavens.
The sky trembled.
The ground liquefied.
The atmosphere screamed beneath the pressure.
ROOOOOOOOOAR!!!!!!
A monstrous roar tore through the battlefield.
It sounded neither human nor beast.
It came from something deeper.
Something ancient.
Something that had crawled out of the abyss and learned to devour everything that stood before it.
The pillar of flame twisted violently.
Then it collapsed inward.
Layer after layer of energy compressed into Vorgrath's body.
The flames stopped spreading.
The destruction ceased.
All that overwhelming power—
Contained.
Controlled.
For several seconds, silence settled over the battlefield.
Then Vorgrath raised his head.
His eyes locked onto me.
"Now, little one..."
His voice was low, cold, and hungry.
"...Let's dance."
A familiar blue screen appeared at the edge of my vision.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Congratulations on entering the Second Stage of the Divine Realm.
Reward: 1,000,000 Points
Reward: 1,000 Azure Beast Pills
Another notification followed.
[MASTER INFO]
Divine Realm: D-2 — Middle God
Authority: Awakening
I barely registered the messages.
My attention remained on Vorgrath.
So that's what the breakthrough feels like.
The power within me had changed.
Not merely increased.
Something fundamental had shifted, opening a level of strength I hadn't possessed before.
But I had no intention of celebrating in the middle of a battle.
Especially not against him.
BOOM!!
The ground shattered beneath my feet.
I shot forward.
The distance between us vanished in an instant.
My fist drove toward his face—
CLANG!!
Nothing.
The space before me was empty.
Vorgrath had disappeared.
"Too slow."
His voice came from behind me.
BOOOOOOM!!
A fist burst through the air toward my back.
I twisted sharply.
The strike grazed past my shoulder.
I countered immediately, driving my elbow toward his ribs.
But he was already gone.
SWISH!!
A distortion appeared to my left.
I turned and unleashed a tail strike wrapped in blue lightning.
CRACK!!
The attack split the air.
Nothing was there.
Again.
And again.
Every time I approached, Vorgrath slipped away, appearing at impossible angles and striking before I could fully adjust.
He wasn't simply faster.
He was using space to dictate the rhythm of the battle.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Found you."
My perception sharpened.
For one instant, I caught the distortion behind me.
I moved.
But instead of dodging—
I attacked.
Primal Instinct surged through my body.
My form changed in a flash of white fur and blue lightning.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
My fist tore through the space where Vorgrath had appeared.
Only for his armored hand to close around it.
GRAB!!
The force of my punch stopped dead.
My eyes narrowed.
Vorgrath's fingers tightened around my fist.
His expression carried the faintest hint of amusement.
"Try harder."
Then—
He pulled.
Violently.
My body was dragged toward him.
His free hand flashed upward.
DANGER!!
I tilted my head.
Barely.
A blade of concentrated abyssal energy sliced across my cheek.
Warm blood ran down my face.
Before I could retaliate, Vorgrath's grip shifted, attempting to pull me directly into another strike.
I twisted my wrist and released a compressed burst of air between us.
BOOOOM!!
The point-blank blast detonated against his chest.
Vorgrath shifted backward by half a step.
Only half.
But it was enough.
I tore my fist free and retreated, landing several meters away.
My fingers flexed.
My cheek stung.
The wound began to close, though the faint trace of abyssal energy slowed the process.
I touched the blood on my face.
Then looked at him.
A smile spread across my lips.
Good.
At least he could be forced to move.
I vanished.
BAM!!
My fist struck his ribs.
BAM!!
A knee drove toward his abdomen.
BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!
I followed with a relentless barrage of punches and kicks, each attack aimed at a different opening.
We tore across the battlefield.
Sky.
Ground.
Air.
It made no difference.
Every collision produced another shockwave.
Every missed strike carved another wound into the landscape.
My tail lashed through the air, lightning gathering along its length as I attempted to catch him between attacks.
Vorgrath blocked one strike.
Dodged the next.
Then countered.
BBBBBAAAAAAMMMMM!!
His fist crashed into my guard.
The impact sent me flying backward through the air.
I stabilized myself before I could crash into the ground, but the force carried me several meters farther than I expected.
My arms burned.
Abyssal flames clung to my body, spreading across my chest and shoulders.
I tried to dispel them.
They resisted.
I tried to regenerate the damage beneath them.
The wounds remained.
Blood slipped from the corner of my mouth.
I wiped it away.
Across the battlefield, Vorgrath stood completely still.
His aura barely fluctuated.
He hadn't even needed to pursue me.
"Still holding back that white tiger form?"
His gaze travelled across my body.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"...You'll need more."
I said nothing.
For a moment, I simply watched him.
My current form was powerful.
My lightning was stronger.
My control had improved.
And the Authority awakening within me had already demonstrated its ability to challenge forces that ordinary strength could not easily overcome.
Yet Vorgrath continued to stand before me.
Unbroken.
Unimpressed.
His power wasn't something I could dismiss.
Neither was his experience.
I exhaled slowly.
"...I see."
The smile disappeared from my face.
"Then let's stop wasting time."
I straightened.
The air around me became still.
For one brief moment, even the distant flames seemed to quiet.
Then—
I roared.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!!!!
My aura exploded.
Blue lightning erupted from my body, spreading across the battlefield in violent, branching currents.
The sky darkened beneath the gathering storm.
Thunder rolled across the heavens.
The ground split open as energy poured through the earth, sending jagged cracks racing toward the horizon.
My body began to change.
White fur spread across my arms.
My features sharpened.
My hair turned white, streaked with blue lightning that flickered like living fire.
My eyes burned completely azure.
No ordinary blue glow.
No faint distinction between iris and pupil.
For an instant, my eyes became entirely blue, as though two miniature storms had awakened within them.
Then the light stabilized.
My pupils sharpened into predatory slits.
Ancient.
Focused.
Unmistakably the eyes of a beast.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
Power surged through my body.
The pressure around me intensified.
My aura expanded, then compressed, becoming denser with every passing instant.
The difference was immediate.
My senses sharpened.
My movements felt lighter.
My strength climbed to an entirely different level.
The power coursing through me surged beyond a hundredfold compared with my previous state.
The sky trembled.
The earth split.
The remaining abyssal flames bent beneath the pressure.
Even Vorgrath's aura flared in response.
For the first time since the battle began—
His expression changed.
Not fear.
Not hesitation.
Interest.
He studied my transformed body, his smile widening.
"Now that's more like it."
I rolled my shoulders.
Blue lightning crawled across my white fur.
My wounds still burned beneath the lingering abyssal energy, but the pain had become distant.
Manageable.
I looked directly at him.
And smiled.
Cold.
Controlled.
"My turn."
BOOM!!
I vanished.
The air imploded where I had stood.
In the next instant, I appeared before Vorgrath, my fist already driving toward his chest.
BAM!!
The impact thundered across the sky.
Vorgrath's body shifted backward.
I didn't give him time to recover.
BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!
Three more strikes followed.
A punch to the ribs.
An elbow toward the jaw.
A kick aimed at his abdomen.
Each attack landed with enough force to produce a shockwave that tore through the surrounding air.
Vorgrath blocked the final kick with his forearm.
I twisted in midair and struck again.
He countered.
Our fists collided.
BOOOOOOM!!
The shockwave sent us flying in opposite directions.
Vorgrath disappeared.
I felt the spatial distortion behind me.
I turned before he fully emerged.
His fist was already coming.
I ducked beneath it and drove my knee toward his abdomen.
BAM!!
The strike connected.
Vorgrath's body folded slightly.
I followed with a kick.
BAM!!
He was sent backward.
But before he could travel far—
He vanished.
A distortion appeared above me.
His leg descended like a falling pillar.
BOOOOOOM!!
The kick struck my guard and drove me toward the earth.
The ground rushed closer.
I twisted my body.
BOOM!!
Blue lightning erupted from my feet, reversing my momentum.
I shot upward like a missile.
Vorgrath's eyes widened slightly.
I was already in front of him.
BAM!! BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!
My fists became a storm.
Each strike flowed into the next without wasted motion.
I attacked his chest, ribs, shoulders, and abdomen, forcing him to defend from multiple angles.
For the first time, he was being pushed backward.
Not because he lacked strength.
But because I wasn't giving him enough time to bring it fully to bear.
My tail swept around.
Lightning gathered along its length.
CRACK!!
The strike connected with his side.
Vorgrath grunted.
I immediately followed with a palm strike.
Energy compressed between my fingers.
Blue flames gathered in my hand, rotating around a core of concentrated lightning.
The sphere grew denser.
Smaller.
More powerful.
I drove forward.
"ROOOOOAR!!"
The condensed stormfire slammed into Vorgrath's chest.
For a fraction of a second, the attack remained contained.
Then—
I released it.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
A colossal beam of stormfire erupted from my palm.
Blue lightning and azure flames spiralled together, forming a destructive column that tore through the sky and drove Vorgrath straight toward the earth.
The battlefield vanished beneath the radiance.
The ground collapsed.
The crater deepened.
Layers of rock melted under the overwhelming temperature.
Energy surged through the impact zone, tearing apart everything caught within its reach.
I continued pouring power into the attack.
The beam intensified.
The earth sank farther.
The air vibrated under the pressure.
Then—
Detonation.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
The explosion swallowed the battlefield.
A towering cloud of dust and smoke rose into the sky.
The shockwave raced outward, scattering debris across the ruined land.
I hovered above the crater, breathing steadily.
Blue lightning crackled around my body.
My eyes remained fixed on the destruction below.
That should do it.
I waited.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then—
BOOM!!
A pillar of energy erupted from the crater.
The smoke dispersed instantly.
The remaining dust was swept away.
And the figure standing at the center of the devastation was revealed.
Vorgrath.
Standing.
Unbroken.
His armor was gone.
Melted away by the stormfire.
Yet beneath it, his body remained intact.
His skin was red, his muscles dense and sharply defined, as though his entire physique had been forged from living steel.
His hair had grown wild, black strands streaked with crimson falling around his face.
His eyes glowed with white pupils.
And his aura—
It was calm.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
No wild eruption.
No wasted energy.
The abyssal flames moved around him like obedient shadows.
He looked down at his bare chest, then slowly raised his head toward me.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Good attack."
He took one step forward.
CRACK!!
The ground fractured beneath his foot.
"But not enough."
I stared at him.
My stormfire had struck directly.
The attack had carried enough power to reshape the battlefield.
Yet Vorgrath had survived without a single visible wound.
My expression remained composed.
But deep within me, something sharpened.
So that's his real body.
The armor hadn't been his true defense.
It had been a restraint.
Or perhaps a means of controlling the destructive force within him.
Either way, the opponent standing before me was more dangerous than the one I had fought moments earlier.
Vorgrath rolled his shoulders.
The air around him trembled.
Then—
He vanished.
SWISH!!
I barely had time to react.
He appeared directly in front of me, his fist already moving.
BAM!!
I raised my hand.
His fist struck my palm.
I caught it.
The impact sent a shockwave through the sky.
Lightning surged around my arm.
Abyssal energy twisted around his.
Blue and red-black forces collided, distorting the space between us.
For a single second, neither of us moved.
My palm pressed against his fist.
His knuckles pushed against my grip.
The air trembled.
The sky fractured.
Reality bent beneath the pressure of two powers refusing to yield.
Then—
Vorgrath looked into my eyes.
I looked back.
And slowly—
We both smiled.