If it were his previous Sword of the Storm, Izroth would not have paid it too much attention. However, his current Sword of the Storm was a Unique grade weapon.
The fact that Zouren was able to block such a weapon using only his fist, without a doubt, had to do with the strange energy he used.
There was also something else that caught Izroth’s attention. He noticed that the instant his Sword of the Storm touched Zouren’s fist, it felt as he was being pushed away. It was not because Zouren possessed some monstrous physical strength, but rather there was an unknown force at play.
“Keep me company…? Do not be conceited!” Zouren said as his gaze turned cold.
The next moment, the energy that encompassed Zouren’s fist became increasingly dense. The energy resembled a vortex that pulled everything to a single point!
BOOM!
With just a slight twitch of his fist, the energy that Zouren swiftly built up in his fist exploded outward with an overwhelming force.
“Ignorant fool. If you had stayed away, perhaps you could have kept your life for a little longer. But, since you delivered yourself to my feet, I might as well let you kneel down before I erase you from this world.” Zouren stated as he lowered his fist.
“You want me to kneel before you? I’m afraid even if you were to step into the divine realm right this moment, you still would not have the ability to make such a thing happen.” Izroth’s voice sounded calmly from the cloud of dust that was kicked up by Zouren’s attack.
Rmmmmmble!
Suddenly, the earth within the surrounding sixty meters started to shake as miniature quakes spread throughout the battlefield.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
Suddenly, the cloud of dust was blown away as eight sharp blades of wind shot forward in Zouren’s direction!
“You sure know how to talk big—for someone who is about to die, that is.” Zouren scoffed as he swept his hand in front of him.
In one smooth motion, Zouren lightly tapped his hand against seven of the blades of wind. As for the last one, it missed him by almost half a meter so he didn’t even bother intercepting it!
The moment his hand came into contact with blades of wind, their trajectories all changed as they were repelled in different directions away from Zouren.
“You plan to defeat me with such weak and wild attacks? It’s just as I knew from the beginning. I don’t know what kind of method you used to fool that old man of the Sky Palace and the third young master of the Dragon’s Palace, but you are not worthy of that Golden Lustrum Imperial Token. Only someone with both status and power like myself am worthy of such an honor. How can some unknown nobody take first place? I don’t accept it.” Zouren declared as he glared at Izroth without hiding his killing intent.
“Oh? Do I need you to accept it?” Izroth spoke unhurriedly.
“Of course! Who told you to take the captain seat for the second team’s selection? With your status, are you qualified? In the end, you only have yourself to blame for your demise. Hopefully, in your next life, you learn who you can and cannot afford to offend.” Zouren responded as the mysterious energy that covered his hands began to expand until it completely encompassed his arms.
A carefree smile appeared on Izroth’s face.
“Someone that I cannot afford to offend? Let me tell you—there has never existed such a person.” Izroth said nonchalantly.
“You-!” Zouren wanted to retort but was quickly cut off by Izroth.
“Enough words. You should hurry and bring out your domain; otherwise, you may not get another chance.” Izroth said as he returned his Sword of the Storm to its sheath.
When Zouren witnessed Izroth sheathing his weapon, paired with his arrogant words, he nearly coughed up blood out of pure anger.
Not only did he put away his sword, but he even provoked him to unleash his domain?
May not get another chance? Arrogant! Truly, arrogant! When was the last time someone had looked down on him like this?!
Zouren gritted his teeth as veins could be seen protruding throughout his face while he attempted to control his anger.
“Good, very good! Initially, I still hoped you would put up somewhat of a decent struggle. But, now, I can see that attacking with words must be your only talent! Want to see my domain? If I, Zouren, need to use my domain to defeat someone like you, then I will crawl on the ground like a dog for the rest of my life!” Zouren said mockingly.
He then continued, “Though it’s too bad I won’t get to see you suffer a bit first—since you’ll be leaving this world now!”
Out of nowhere, a strong surge of killing intent appeared behind Izroth as the sound of crackling lightning echoed throughout the battlefield.
Agromin, who had been hiding his presence and waiting for the perfect moment to strike, finally made his move against Izroth!
“This idiot really believes that we’ll just sit back and let him do as he pleases? Does he think this is some sparring session where we take turns fighting one on one? In a real battle, there is no such thing as cowardly tactics. You do whatever it takes to win while suffering the least amount of losses possible. When it comes down to it, all that matters is the end result—not the process!” Agromin internalized.
Agromin’s body was cloaked in azure lightning from head to toe as he launched his surprise attack against Izroth.
Unlike the typical lightning element that focused mainly on raw destruction, Agromin’s azure lightning was special. It could fuse with his body to grant him not only a great deal of destructive power but also something that made him feared among those of the same generation.
Agromin’s speed was fast, but it was nothing too impressive. There were plenty of others of the same generation who were even faster than him. But, even those who were naturally faster than Agromin could not avoid his strikes because of one thing—acceleration.
Agromin’s azure lightning gifted him with an acceleration rate that reached the levels of extremity. Because of this, his opponents were unable to properly respond to his blitz-like attacks. After all, no matter how fast someone was, it became useless if there was no window of time left for them to react.
When Zouren saw that Agromin made his move, a smirk appeared on his face. Of course, he was well aware of Agromin’s fighting style and knew that it was only a matter of time until he took action.
“It’s a shame I can’t finish him with my own hands. But, seeing the shocked look in his eyes when he doesn’t even realize how he died—I guess this outcome is not too bad.” Zouren thought to himself.
If they were in the Mortal Realm, Zouren would have taken his time to deal with Izroth. However, their time in this Secret Realm was limited and every moment wasted here was another that could be used to gather treasures.
Seeing that Izroth’s death was inevitable, Zouren turned to face the dome of cherry blossoms.
“I should take this chance to lend the fifth princess a hand so that she will have no choice but to owe me a favor. Still, I didn’t expect that girl to recover from that poison so fast. Judging from her state, the pill she consumed must have been at least a grade-four pill. I guess that’s just one of the benefits of having a high-grade apothecary for a master. Too bad she’s going to die here anyway.” Zouren stated as he once again prepared to break through the dome.
…Crrrrrckle..!
Suddenly, without warning, Zouren felt the surrounding atmosphere undergo a sudden shift. This abrupt change seemed to originate from Izroth and Agromin’s location as a powerful flood of the lightning element was unleashed in every direction!
“That fool. Doesn’t he even know how to control his own attacks?” Zouren complained as the lightning element rapidly approached him.
That’s when Zouren realized that something was off, which caused him to furrow his brows.
“Wait—something’s wrong. This isn’t azure lightning. This is-!” Zouren noticed that the destructive lightning element unleashed was not Agromin’s azure lightning. Instead, it was some kind of purple lightning with a much higher concentration of destructive energy!
Realizing that the purple lightning was hostile, Zouren immediately raised his hands as the destructive energy washed over him.
Bzzzt!
Immediately after doing so, Zouren’s entire body momentarily seized up.
“?!”
Zouren was able to avoid any kind of major damage; however, the lightning still managed to seep into his body, temporarily paralyzing him.
“Break!” Zouren roared as he forcibly expelled the purple lightning energy from his body, restoring his movements.
But, just as Zouren thought that matters could not get any more unusual-
Plop!
Something fell before Zouren’s feet, causing him to instinctively look down.
It was an arm without an owner. No, to be more precise, he knew its owner.
This arm—it belonged to Azure Lightning Agromin!
