Rivers of the Night

BANG.

The earth beneath Theron exploded, his spear arching through the air.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Unleashing three swift strikes, he peppered Bylo with his attacks, his blade weaving through the skies.

This time, every blow he exchanged was immediately expelled from his body, the destruction of the Sect square being left in their wake.

[Shadow Flush] combined with Theron's Echo allowed him to stand toe to toe with the Fourth Elder. His strength was lacking, but he practically absorbed the blows as though he was the cloudy skies themselves.

His body rippled with energy, his high water content bubbling as Bylo agitated its waves—and yet only for the briefest of instances before they, too, were expelled.

He was a complete tank, his blows heavy and his defenses heavier.

And the more he battled with this spear, the more fluid his strikes became, the more clever, the greater his control over range and area control.

It quickly felt as though he was seeing the world as though it was trapped within his own lens of control. He advanced and retreated, his footwork shifting and changing from what he would expect from a dual wielder to a man who placed his entire hope and strength on the decisive edge of a single blade.

The fact he was battling against another spear master only made Theron pick up on these quirks even faster.

He saw how Bylo changed his hand position, how he used the flexibility of his spear to attack from unexpected angles, or how he leveraged the length of his spear for more power.

Theron's head tilted to the side almost on instinct as Bylo's spear tip extended beyond his neck, barely nicking at his skin.

Up in close range, Theron drew an arc from low to high, his hips explosively torquing.

He didn't have enough power to bend the Peak Touching Cloud Realm spear, but the spear itself obeyed him, its body too becoming as flexible as a whip.

Bylo sensed the danger, but this time his expression was also ice cold. As Theron had expected, after the first near-death experience, any thoughts Bylo had of underestimating Theron had long gone out the window.

There was a pulse of darkness in his eyes, and Theron's spear actually passed right through Bylo's body as though it wasn't even there.

Hitting air, Theron's balance shifted just the slightest bit, but Bylo had already solidified again, pulling back his missed spear strike and already accelerating forth with another.

Theron activated [Shadow Step], shifting away as he felt the oncoming danger as well, but the instant he appeared again, Bylo's strikes were already coming for him.

They missed.

Theron split his afterimage to the left, while he actually appeared to Bylo's right. Activating [Shadow Extend] for the first time in this battle, he stood outside of Bylo's range, sending out a strike right at the middle of his head.

Bylo's spear passed through a cloud of black fog vaguely shaped into a humanoid. He completely missed Theron's body, and waves of danger hit him from the side.

BANG.

Theron's wrists rattled as his spear smashed against a protective item, a small shield that immediately caught Theron's attention.

He had seen a small shield like that before, back when he had fought the genius of the Obsidian Eclipse Sect.

Under normal circumstances, the quality of his spear should have ripped through that item like it was paper. In fact, Bylo was having a very hard time protecting himself even with his spear, having to expend a large amount of energy on wrapping his weapon in protective coatings.

That was actually why Bylo was limited in the spells and techniques he was using. Otherwise, a single exchange would have shattered his weapon and ended this battle.

However, Bylo had accurately assessed that Theron's use of [Shadow Extend] would weaken the penetrating power of his weapon, so he was confident that he could use this shield to block…

And then counter.

BANG.

The shield exploded, but Theron's pupils constricted as he knew this wasn't because of his strength. Bylo had allowed it to explode on purpose.

The possibilities for why flooded Theron's mind, but he couldn't grasp a single reason until it was almost too late.

Bylo vanished. This time, he was the one to appear behind Theron, his spear aiming for the latter's heart.

Taking advantage of the brief time before the eruption, he managed to complete his reconstruction. But his timing was so perfect that Theron was not only trapped in the blast radius, blocking it for the two of them, but with the new volatility in the air, there was simply no way for Theron to use [Shadow Step] to escape again.

Bylo had used the same trick the Eighth Elder had, but the difference was that this time the Fourth Elder had used a perfect sphere of disruption.

And the only direction Theron could go to escape—backward—had been blocked by Bylo's spear.

He was finished.

Bylo allowed himself to sneer, erupting with all of his power. Even if Theron managed to twist like he would, there would be so much Mana in this strike that it would turn a Silver Mancer's body to minced meat from the inside out.

BANG!

Bylo's spear thrust, a shocking amount of power erupting from its tip.

The disciples in the surroundings had long run away, watching on in shock toward what was happening. But a battle of this caliber was one their eyes and senses couldn't even keep up with, let alone truly spectate.

But they didn't need powerful senses to see one building after another falling in a cone of destruction that leveled everything in its wake.

The power of a Cloud Resonance Mancer displayed itself in earnest. When not suppressed by Theron's techniques and schemes, this was the real power of a cultivator who had stepped into that realm.

Which made it all the more shocking that Bylo hit nothing but air.

Theron used [Shadow Step] once again, passing right through the volatile wave of energy he supposedly couldn't and appearing to Bylo's side.