Vs Athena

Xiu!

Athena was momentarily stunned. At that moment, Blade's silhouette blurred, completely disappearing from Athena's view, shocking her in the process.

Her mind quickly restabilized but, her shock was evident. Too quick! The speed Blade rushed toward her with was simply too quick! By the time she could realize that he was already in front of her...

Bam!

Suddenly, Blade's fist landed on Athena's unprotected abdomen. Groaning in pain as blood quickly reached her throat, Athena grabbed her stomach and made some distance.

But, Blade's speed was still too much. After gaining a fair bit of mastery of lightning, the purple lightning was coursing through his body, improving his overall burst of strength but, his perception, agility, and speed was improved by a much greater amount.

Before she was able to react, Blade had already appeared behind her. Immediately, she didn't bother with anything else. Seeing as Blade was serious, possibly willing to seriously injure her, she immediately let loose without restraint.

Thrum!

If one was present, they'd instantly sense the change in the atmosphere. Around Athena's body, intense heat was ever-present. Her skin had a light red glow and her crimson-red eyes carried with them a powerful and mysterious gleam.

Fwoosh!

Without hesitation, Blade's fist parted the winds, his powerful right fist released crackling purple lightning as it shockingly went straight through Athena's chest..!

With flames coursing through her body, Athena's legs carried a burst of incredibly fiery power that allowed her to jump into the air with immense power and speed the moment her feet landed on the ground... what Blade's fist penetrated was merely an afterimage!

Athena stood upside down in the air, her figure seemed to defy the laws as her cold fiery red eyes stared toward Blade's figure. Before he had time to redraw his fist, Athena had already descended, fully recovering from the backflip, she sent a much more powerful punch toward Blade's figure.

Even with his back turned, Blade understood one thing. The incoming punch... It was powerful! Even with the purple lightning coursing through his body, Blade understood that the punch was much more powerful than his own. Luckily, the speed couldn't compare.

With his head turned and the corner of his right pupil perceiving the path of Athena's fist, with a slight tremble of his body, he lowered his right shoulder, effectively evading the punch. But, he didn't stop there as he quickly grabbed hold of Athena's right arm with his left hand.

Tch!

Grunting a little, he tried to throw Athena over his shoulder but, he underestimated the strength of a flame attribute user. Instead, it was Athena who quickly escaped his grasp and locked her grip onto Blade's left hand before pulling him away.

Bam!

Sending a powerful left-footed quick, it landed flush on Blade's chest, momentarily raising him off the ground...

Cough!

Blood escaped Blade's lips as his eyes bulged. Though it was covered by his mask, Athena could still sense his sorry sight but, she didn't feel any other emotion besides excitement. As if possessed by a war mongrel, she wanted nothing else but to continue this blood-pumping battle..!

Bzzz!

Suddenly, a bolt of chaotic purple lightning was released from Blade's body. His eyes seemed to release bolts of lightning as his figure blurred. In this state, his speed and agility shot through the roof and the world seemed to momentarily slow down.

'Now!'

His eyes contained utter seriousness and his expression was solemn. He couldn't last long in this state as his energy would easily and quickly be consumed. He didn't have infinite energy after all so he quickly stood up and rushed toward Athena who was located a mere half of a meter away.

Huh?

For a moment, it seemed as if Blade had disappeared from the world. All she heard was the buzzing sound of lightning before her vision grew hazy...

Bam!

A powerful punch to the gut left her dazed for a moment. But, at that moment, Blade's fists didn't let up as he sent multiple more punches in that second.

Each landed on her abdomen before one last punch landed on her chin. A vital weak spot on the body of humanoids as the power contained in it sent shockwaves through her brain, rocking it back and forth in a violent manner.

With now dilated pupils, the world suddenly twisted and the skies flipped over. Before long, darkness attacked her mind, sending her unconscious, her body losing the ability to stand and she fell into Blade's embrace..!

Hah!

Hah!

Holding Athena up, Blade took in heavy breaths as he adorned an exhausted expression. Even though he looked like that, he had a smirk on his face. Grabbing the space ring in his hand, he infused energy into it before taking out multiple Spirit Stones.

Resting Athena on the ground, he then crossed his legs, hovering a few inches over the surface of the earth as he began absorbing the energy into his dantian, refining it into his own Law Qi and refilling his ocean.

From the battle, he quickly learned that his Battle Sense and Awareness were skyrocketing with each punch and also when receiving an attack It had begun before awakening his mastery in Lightning and had only skyrocketed by now.

Monster... Blade considered himself a monster when he thought of Andra. Though they had sparred with each other many times back at Limitless Sky Sect, after the first few times, it wasn't even battling anymore.

Even with Astral suppressing his cultivation base, his Battle Tactics quickly spiraled out of Andra's league. And the same thing could be said today...

With his Battle Senses and his sudden burst of speed and agility along with his perception bursting through the roof, it was easy for him to finish the battle so quickly.

Obviously, the next battle between him and Athena wouldn't end soo quickly. This time he caught Athena by surprise, but the next time, she'll be better prepared.

"Anyway, I wonder what these two Laws are..." Seeing the sea of white and the sea of black waters, Blade was slightly confused. He understood something... For some reason, he was unable to control it, unlike the purple waters.

But, he wasn't worried. Though he didn't understand why, he understood that after reaching a certain requirement, he'll be able to manipulate these waters just the same.

For now... raising his hands and opening his palms, a black mass appeared on his right palm, and on his left palm was a white light... This was all he could do, for now at least...

Looking around, Blade couldn't help but chuckle.

Sigh!

"That was stupid wasn't it..."

Looking around, the duo was basically surrounded by the forest known as Devil Swamp... It was a place filled with countless Beasts.

And even though Blade didn't care the least bit about them when he was at the peak of his strength, with the two of them fighting, constantly weakening themselves to find who the stronger one is, wasn't this actually making the work of the beasts much easier?

Imagine the two of them were to pass out from the exhaustion of battling, thinking this, Blade shook his head, unable to understand how he could be soo lustful for battle and not think of his surroundings.

'It doesn't matter now, does it? What's done is done. But, now, Devil Swamp...' Gazing at the misty and mushy forestry nearby, Blade's space ring lit up. Levitating next to him was the compass-like treasure that detected fortune.

'Since descending to the Limitless Sky Continent, Limitless City, though it been faint, this thing has been constantly pointing toward that place...' Blade's eyes stared toward the swamp with expectation.

Once his energy was recovered and Athena was brought awake, the next destination was Devil Swamp Lands. It was a place that he didn't have much knowledge of, even after receiving information from the city lord, it was a mysterious land that wasn't fully explored.

What he did know was there were many different types of monsters from flesh and blood lifeforms to spiritual forms monsters.

From full-fledged beasts, transformed animals that were corrupted by death energy, to even spiritual monsters otherwise known as Evil spirits.

Unlike all other types of monsters, Evil spirits are unharmed by physical attacks unless one used Life energy or Law energy to harm them.

For the normal people of this world, those who hadn't opened their meridians, these people who couldn't use the lowest form of energy, Life energy, these type of monsters who lacked a physical form were the worst types, invincible existences that were omnipotent.

The worst thing was, they attacked not merely by harming one's physical body but, these things attacked one's mind through the use of spiritual attacks or something else...

At the end of the day, to be unbothered by these monsters, one needed to have a commendable amount of willpower.

'Willpower, this place, Devil Swamp, is also a good place to hone willpower...' Blade thought as he absorbed the energy contained in the immense amount of Spirit Stones in Athena's space ring.