Bai Yumo was certainly a character.

If one only interacted with him a few times, they’d find him someone without much personality, a person who had nothing of his own aside from his arrogant manner of looking down on the world.

However, Bai Yumo was hiding much more than he showed. The Saint King wasn’t someone who could be ignored as just another young master with eyes on top of his head.

His current appearance was that of a death god. He was doing nothing but standing in the middle of the arena floor, breathing slowly with his eyes lightly shut, but the air around him was filled with a sense of oppression that couldn’t be ignored.

“Huu…”

He let out a deep exhale, withdrawing the aura around him until the arena became uncannily still.

All eyes were on him. Without fail, the entire population of the atrium was watching with bated breaths for his next move.

And he vanished.

Bang!

Damien’s eyes widened as he felt a fist impacting his face.

His body rocked to the side as he took several steps to regain his balance, but before he could, another barrage of fists attacked his face and chest.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blood flew from his lips as Abyss Energy surrounded his body and attacked him from all sides. Damien was suddenly thrown into what felt like a blender that was trying to tear him into tiny chunks!

‘Damn!’ He exclaimed inwardly, internalizing the attack force and planting his feet deep into the ground.

His arms went out instinctively, crossing before his face and taking the impact of Bai Yumo’s punches.

He finally had a chance to rationalize the situation.

‘He’s moving too fast. It’s almost faster than teleportation.’

No, it truly was a hair faster than teleportation, which was incredulous to even think.

How could one describe speed that was quicker than instant movement?

The answer was that one didn’t.

Boom!

Damien moved his arms away and allowed Bai Yumo’s fist to hit him.

He used the force to push himself away, teleporting as well to make distance.

He drew Mirage without waiting a second and summoned his mana.

‘Void Sword Art Third Form: Dance of the Void’

His body became incorporeal. Thousands of alter images of him filled the arena floor, blocking Bai Yumo’s vision and taking his attention away from Damien’s main body.

“Petty tricks!”

Bai Yumo slammed through the air and destroyed afterimage after afterimage, turning thousands into hundreds within a second.

However, he didn’t expect that each afterimage had the ability to attack on its own!

His body was cut in several places despite the newly formed armor, a consequence of Damien’s influence on space itself, but each injury healed instantly.

Meanwhile, Damien’s main body was flying across the arena, hidden with One with Dimension, observing the changes in the situation solemnly.

‘This transformation is influenced by his Abyss Energy. If I get too involved, I don’t know how the Void Physique will react…’

Damien was a bit wary about it, since he had no intention of revealing his greatest secret in front of the entire universe, but he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing because of this fear.

‘I need to be prepared to control it.’

He grabbed Hel and Freya in his hands and clutched their triggers without mercy.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Hundreds and thousands of black and white bullets filled the air, crashing down on the ground like meteorites and raising hell.

The air was filled with Life and Death mana in spades, the concepts of Samsara creating an isolated ecosystem within the arena that removed it from the control of those outside.

Damien’s hands clapped together as he called forth his Samsara Intent and pooled an extreme amount of mana into his attack.

‘Rotate.’

Voom!

The Life and Death mana he let loose into the atmosphere swirled around the arena’s periphery and formed a dome that traced the arena barrier.

A set of laws was established regarding life and death.

A set of laws that disallowed the concept of regeneration entirely.

Damien sped through the air and approached Bai Yumo without fear, raising Mirage to chest level and pulling his arm back.

‘Void Sword Art Second Form: Horizon Break’

BANG!

A hole was torn in Bai Yumo’s armor. Black blood spilled into the arena as he roared in pain.

The wound tried to heal. The Saint King’s skin and bones squirmed like worms to reconnect, but another energy interfered with the process and burned anything born from that regeneration.

This attack could be considered first blood, but it wasn’t just Damien’s win.

His attack gave away his position, and Bai Yumo’s eyes turned towards him like a beast who caught his prey.

“You are good,” he said coldly as his body vanished and appeared before Damien.

“Yet, it is not enough.”

He raised his arm above his head, gathering a ball of Abyss Energy, before slamming it down on Damien’s chest.

Damien twisted his body with gritted teeth, teleporting behind Bai Yumo before the attack could connect and slamming Mirage down into his neck!

BOOOOOOM!

Mirage clashed against the Saint King’s armor, screeching as it tore a gash in the thick material, but it wasn’t the cause of the explosion.

The Abyss Energy Bai Yumo summoned acted with a mind of its own, impossibly twisting its trajectory and hitting Damien at the same time he struck his enemy.

The pain was horrible. It was like he was being swarmed by millions of ants made of poisonous mana.

Damien’s face twisted in pain, but he didn’t let it disperse his momentum.

He couldn’t allow the Saint King to take any victories in this battle, whether big or small!

‘Frozen World.’

‘Dimension Shift.’

‘Spacetime Severance.’

Space and time were convoluted into something disgusting by Damien’s influence. Time became inconsequential, the dimension was cut in half and then burned away, and the fabric of reality itself was torn open to consume the Saint King!

Bai Yumo’s eyes narrowed rapidly as the full force of Damien’s attacks appeared in sparks of an instant. He put up a thick wall of Abyss Energy that swallowed the chaotic Spacetime and ground it to nothingness, but it wasn’t something that could be done easily.

“Keuk…!”

He coughed out several mouthfuls of blood as he was forced to retreat to avoid taking more damage, but Damien wasn’t ready to let him go yet.

‘Void Breathing First Form: Elemental Wargod.’

The Void couldn’t be shown, but Void Breathing was a technique that could be used with or without revealing such knowledge.

Because the Void was all things. If it wanted to, it could disguise itself as anything.

Damien’s eyes turned into orbs of rainbow light as a crown of energy manifested on his head.

The energies of countless elements that he had no affinity for filled his body, giving him a sense of superiority that he didn’t feel the last time he used the technique.

‘I can see the path.’

He grinned to himself as he charged back into combat.

Once again, the entire arena became obscured to the eyes of those watching.

But this time, it was because there were simply too many damn explosions!