Darino vs Shui

As the trident was already damaged, Darino used an art to make it self-destruct and threw it at Shui. The explosion it caused was much more powerful than in the case of the black sword, but the result was the same. Both Shui and the room were unscathed. Still, Darino had expected this so he was already onto the next move. He revealed a big hollow horn that seemed to be made from shriveled grey wood and blew into the tip. A shriek escaped from the horn that mercilessly attacked Shui's ears. It would have been loud enough to shake the ground if this was outside, but by itself sound of this level wouldn't do any damage to Shui normally. However, the sound from the horn was special as it came with a component that attacked the soul.

Although he was confident in his soul cultivation, Shui knew not to underestimate spiritual attacks, especially ones created through external forces. Though it was a crazy method, with enough living sacrifices a spiritual attack capable of felling a True Master wasn't impossible to create even when used by a mortal. The spiritual attack hidden in the sound attacked Shui at the same time as the sound hit his ears. Techniques to defend the soul were difficult to learn even for him, but he could use inscriptions for the same effect.

'Protect' 'Silence' 'Echo' 'Reflect'.

While blocking the sound through mentally drawing inscriptions, Shui also tried to reflect it. Darino was naturally equipped with countermeasures, but the horn itself wasn't. After a few seconds, it showed visible cracks so Darino was about to make it self-destruct before taking out his next item, but this time Shui decided to move ahead of him.

"Ethereal Blade Method, Speed Form, First Stance: Instant!"

Shui reached in front of Darino before he even he realized he had moved, and swung his blade diagonally upwards. Darino was instantly knocked into the immobile door and the horn exploded while still in his hand. It seemed like a near-perfect hit, but as he recalled the resistance his blade faced, Shui kept his guard up. As he expected, Darino appeared from behind the smoke. Cracks decorated his armour, but it hadn't been destroyed.

That strike was without a doubt the most powerful slash Shui had ever made, and it was more than capable of splitting apart any ordinary tesora-rank artifact. Yet, Darino still stood. Blood dripped down his mouth from behind the helmet, but he hadn't received any serious injuries.

Now that he confirmed that Darino possessed a means of surviving one of his strongest attacks, a bright smile that could instantly charm anyone below the Earth Realm into his loyal servant surfaced on his face. Despite the fact that Darino only sensed danger from that smile, few still living in the world had ever seen Shui so sincerely happy.

"Darino, thank you."

While Darino was confused by Shui's gratitude, Sui was swung at him from behind. Even reacting to Shui's speed was impossible, but Darino had taken measures to defend beforehand. This time, Sui was stopped by a translucent film, but only for a brief moment before shattering. Shui could have easily pressed forward with his attack, but his slightly activated Sage God Eyes saw through the trick of Darino's barrier. As soon as the film shattered, a spiritual attack in the form of a pike launched straight towards his head. Without losing a second, Shui countered with a spiritual attack delivered through his eyes and shattered the pike. He then followed with a horizontally slash that targetted Darino's chest, but Darino was able to raise his arms to guard in time.

The force still knocked him towards the flaming wall that blocked the exit. Darino was able to defend against his slashes, but Shui didn't want to risk him falling to his heart flame so he quickly ran towards him and kicked his body to the right. While Shui used 'Seal' and 'Protect' talismans to block off the entrance, Darino threw an old human skull at him. The skull was obviously holding a curse so Shui deflected it, with martial intent but Darino activated it from a distance. Several translucent green specters escaped from the skull and charged at Shui. 

Shui could immediately tell that these specters were amalgamations of sacrificed mortals combined through a powerful malice. He had many means of erasing the specters but he chose a relatively benign option. By combining 'Purify' and 'Fire', he applied a golden white holy flame to Sui which purified the specters on contact.

Darino had prepared a shriveled eyeball which when used after the specters were destroyed could transform into a powerful restriction, but he could tell that it would be a waste to use it now and switched to a black fishnet. When he threw the fishnet, it rapidly expanded to the size of the room and blocked all routes of escape. Shui tried to cut it, but his force wasn't able to sever the parts of the net, only move it. Shui used his barrier to block it instead, but the moment it made contact he could tell that his barrier was being drained of energy at an increasing pace. The more energy it stole from his barrier, the stronger it became. Furthermore, once Darino had Shui stuck in place, he began throwing all sorts of single-use artifacts at him.

Shui could have dispelled his barrier and held off the fishnet by rapidly swinging his sword, but the other attacks from Darino would wear him down. Shui regretted not having designed any of his Power Forms, but he didn't despair. Thanks to his eyes, Shui had seen through the nature of the net and knew that he could burn it with the void flame if necessary, but he wanted to use his body to overcome this challenge. After further analyzing the net, an idea popped into Shui's head.

'It's a little risky, but it should work.'

He allowed the net to bypass his barrier while still stopping everything else. Darino had no idea why he did this, but once the net drained him of his energy and forced Shui to release his barrier, Darino was confident that he would win. Still, he didn't think Shui was a fool, so he increased the intensity of his barrage.

Once the net latched onto Shui, it began draining his nature energy like Darino thought, and Shui encouraged it while focusing his perception within himself. He didn't like wasting his hard-earned divine energy, but for the sake of his plan he was willing to make this sacrifice. When his energy reserve had dropped to about 20%, Shui could feel a change in his body. However, rather than a change, it would be better described as discovering something that was there all along. The transcendent force that was always in his flesh, rushed through his weakened body like blood and brought him a burst of vitality. 

"Ha!"

With a roar, The net was forced off his body and a swing of Shui's blade flung it back at Darino along with the other items he had thrown at him. Darino didn't take any damage, but he had to use one of his life-saving measures to survive.

While relishing in the domineering feeling of overwhelming power, Shui mentally thanked Darino. Though there had been times when his energy was low before this, it had never happened in a battle where he was in this much danger. It was due to the clear possibility of death that Shui's transcendent force awoke. He still wasn't able to sense the divine force that accumulated within his body as it transformed into a divine body, but he was certain that his current power would be enough. 

"Darino, I realize you might not want to hear this from me, but, there won't be any breaks from now on, so please, try your best to survive. For both of our sakes."