High up in the air, Saber9 stood tall. Sword gleams circled around his body like schools of swimming fish, easily fending off wave after wave of vine attacks.
He began to perform rapid hand seals, and the aura radiating from him started to become peculiar.
Naturally, Nine Gloom noticed this transformation as well, but he did not really pay that much attention to it.
After the two rounds of previous attacks, he already had a rough understanding of Saber9’s level and felt that Saber9’s attacks were not much of a threat. His attention was focused more on Lin Huang and Virtuoso.
He did not completely ignore Saber9 either. Instead, he sent out more vines to counter Saber9’s assault, and also increased the frequency of the vine attacks, attempting to hamper Saber9’s moves.
However, the sword gleams swimming around Saber9 seemed to be alive. Not only did they increase in number along with the vines, but their movement also sped up in response to the increased frequency of the attacks.
Then again, Saber9’s hand seals were also completed very rapidly.
The instant he was done, both his eyes suddenly lit up with a golden sword glow.
About a meter in front of him, a golden sword gleam consolidated at a speed visible to the naked eye.
There was only one sword gleam, which gradually elongated to approximately one meter in length. It did not look very different from the millions of sword gleams that Saber9 had consolidated earlier.
However, only Saber9 knew that this sword gleam was completely different from the ones consolidated previously.
The essence of this particular sword gleam was a sword formation that Saber9’s Primordium had left behind. Furthermore, a sliver of energy was inserted into it.
This sword formation was originally meant to ensure Saber9’s survival. The moment Saber9 died, it would be activated passively, releasing an attack that was on par with a lord-level assault.
Naturally, the effect that Saber9 activated was much weaker than that.
Firstly, this was because Saber9 had yet to master this particular sword formation and thus could not fully unleash its power.
The second reason was that he had activated it himself, which meant that the sliver of energy inserted by his Primordium could not be used. The driving force for this formation was entirely Saber9’s own Divine Power.
Although on the surface it was impossible to detect the sword gleam’s peculiarity, Lin Huang and Virtuoso clearly sensed that terrifying energy was concealed within it.
However slow on the uptake Nine Gloom might be, he was still able to sense the threat emanating from the sword gleam. The sense of danger coming from it was even slightly more pronounced than that of the two shockwaves Virtuoso had replicated previously.
Naturally, Nine Gloom had no idea about the background of Saber9’s sword gleam. However, this did not stop him from treating it as a formidable attack-type secret skill.
‘It seems I really have underestimated this saber cultivator!’
In reality, he had never actually looked down on the three opponents he was facing. However, he had not expected to have miscalculated Saber9’s ability quite so much.
Nine Gloom was on full alert as he watched the sword gleam consolidate completely within the mere blink of an eye.
The instant the golden sword gleam materialized into being, it transformed into an electric arc and shot forward.
‘That’s fast!’
Nine Gloom was not the only one who thought so—even Lin Huang and Virtuoso could not help secretly exclaiming to themselves.
The strike was so swift that Lin Huang felt it might even be the fastest attack he had ever seen since he started down the path of cultivation.
He was unable to follow the attack at all by sight. Even when he used Divine Telekinesis, he was only able to make out the trajectory left behind by the blow.
‘What a move… If I were his opponent, I might be dead before I even had time to use Mirror,’ Lin Huang sighed secretly in his heart.
He could imagine that the attack would be outstandingly powerful as well as fast.
After all, it was the trump card left by an Almighty!
As the clone of an Almighty as well, Virtuoso was able to see much more than Lin Huang.
At a glance, they realized that Saber9 had not unleashed the full power of the trump card in this attack. Virtuoso was able to roughly guess at the reason for it.
‘As expected, the attack is much weaker when he activates it himself,’ Virtuoso thought to themselves, cupping their chin, ‘It’s also far less powerful… an attack of this intensity very likely won’t kill Nine Gloom.’
Virtuoso began to plan the next step without waiting for the results of the attack.
Meanwhile, confronted by this attack, Nine Gloom was under extreme duress.
This attack was incredibly fast. Even Nine Gloom could only catch a glimpse of the sword gleam. It was fortunate that he possessed powerful Divine Telekinesis and could sense the sword gleam’s complete trajectory.
The moment Nine Gloom caught sight of the sword gleam, he attacked without hesitation.
The vines multiplied in countless numbers, surging toward the golden sword gleam.
He no longer held out any high expectations of being able to block the attack. He only hoped that he could use the vines to wear down the power of Saber9’s assault.
When the golden sword gleam locked onto Nine Gloom, it had actually completely broken free of Saber9’s control.
Faced with layer upon layer of obstructing vines, it had no intention of circumventing them. Instead, it pierced straight through them. Wherever it passed, destruction followed in its wake, leaving only dust behind.
The vines could not stop the sword gleam at all. They were crushed into dust as soon as they got within ten centimeters of it.
However, Nine Gloom did not panic when he saw what was happening.
The sword gleam did not seem to dim at all, but Nine Gloom was very certain that each time it came in contact with his vines, it would weaken by just a fraction.
This time, he utilized the technique that Lin Huang and Saber9 had used to counter him earlier—he secretly infused all the vines with the ability to absorb and drain Divine Power.
The sword gleam would not weaken very obviously after colliding with the vines two or three times. However, what if they collided a hundred times or even a thousand times? What if they collided over ten thousand times?!
Even Nine Gloom had not anticipated being able to apply this method so soon—using his opponent’s own techniques against them.
It was not long before Lin Huang and the rest noticed that something was off.
Although Lin Huang did not know what Virtuoso’s expression was under their mask, he saw Saber9 frowning slightly. Lin Huang was not sure whether Saber9 was unsatisfied with his attack or if he was upset that Nine Gloom had used his own technique against him.
However, under his mask, Lin Huang looked rather helpless.
He had never expected that the trick he and Saber9 had played on Nine Gloom would be used against them now.
In the void, countless vines besieged the golden sword gleam.
The golden sword gleam was still moving like a hot knife through butter with no hint of any slowing down. It pierced through the multiple layers of obstacles and reached Nine Gloom within the blink of an eye.
Nine Gloom did not bother evading, knowing that it was fruitless to even try.
He had no way of dodging this attack.
Therefore, he chose to counter it full force.
He extended countless vines to fortify his defenses, forming a complicated structure of giant curved silver shields in front of him.
In short order, eighteen of these massive shields were formed.
They were like eighteen city walls acting as a barrier in front of Nine Gloom.
On each of the massive shields were entwined close to twenty thick god sequence chains of various colors. Those were the concrete, physical manifestations of sequence power.
In the time it took for a mere breath, the golden sword gleam collided with the giant shields.
Golden and silver divine rays abruptly flared up, immediately blotting out the heavens. At that instant, it seemed as if gold and silver were the only colors remaining in the world.
Even the two spectators, Lin Huang and Virtuoso, could not help squinting slightly.
However, apart from the gold and silver rays, neither of them could see anything at all.
A moment later, the two rays gradually faded, and Lin Huang and Virtuoso were finally able to see the state of battle at the moment.
The eighteen thick, massive wall-like shields had been completely pierced through, leaving a hole as big as a water barrel.
Meanwhile, Nine Gloom, who had been sheltering behind the shields earlier, was now nowhere to be seen.
‘Nine Gloom… is dead?!’ Lin Huang was skeptical.
