Even when he stepped into the very first stage of Demon Emperor's Will, it was for simple defensive measures. Because Dyon's demonic will was locked, this technique lost half of its effectiveness. So, what did it mean for Dyon to only use the first stage that was once a 2x multiplier at its peak? It meant that his strength wasn't multiplied at all, rather, it was only his defenses that increased.

Knowing this, to then say Dyon took it easy on Asyna might have been a complete understatement.

"You..." Asyna couldn't believe what was happening. "How is your body so powerful?! Who are you really?!"

Dyon wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. Instead, he took a mighty step forward, allowing his foot to sink deep into the arena tiles as his Demon Emperor's Will shot to the third stage.

In that moment, Asyna felt an overwhelming kingly aura envelop her. It felt as though a demonic emperor had risen up, filled with endless rage and bloody intent, prepared to bring the world into chaos.

Dyon's upper robes burst apart as his Presence threatened to shatter Asyna's Divine Sense all together.

Golden veins coursed across Dyon's well sculpted body, captivating anyone who saw them. But, maybe the most shocking sight were the almost life-like angel wing tattoos on his back, boldly shining with white, black and gold lights.

"AH!" Asyna's voice screamed outward as Dyon's fist blasted into her belly.

Rings of air blasted from her back while she vomited blood, the shockwaves from Dyon's violent punch almost tearing a hole in her abdomen.

Asyna fell to the ground in a heap, violently coughing up blood and holding her delicate hand to her stomach, unable to move.

At that moment, she had lost her murderous intent. She looked like nothing more that a teenage girl, gravely hurt by a towering man. It was a scene that elicited waves of pity and almost scorn at Dyon's actions. How could he be so heavy handed with a lady?

Dyon turned a sharp gaze toward Lilith in the stands, his eyes filled with intent to kill.

He had long since analyzed this dome. Because his energy cultivation talent was poor, and sealed, it had taken him a while to notice. In fact, had it not been for how proficient he was with arrays, he wouldn't have noticed at all until it was too late.

This dome had the ability to control energy flow at the whim of its owner. Using that capability and the built in arrays, Asyna could replenish her energy at a much faster rate than Dyon while Dyon would slowly lose his ability to recuperate. By the end, Dyon would be too tired to continue while Asyna would be brimming with energy.

The worst part was that this wasn't the end of it. If Lilith so chose, she could direct the flow of energy to strengthen Asyna's attack as well. Even though she had only made use of the first ability, it was already insidious enough to piss Dyon off, especially since it was done to kill him.

By now, the core disciples had paled.

Asyna and Dyon's battle had been fierce, and they definitely had more than enough power to shatter the tiles beneath them, yet they hadn't. What did that mean? It meant that their control over their energy was so precise that they were able to make use of 100% of it to attack, not allowing even a bit to transfer to the ground beneath their feet. If Dyon didn't have this ability, the 700 000 jin weapon on his back, even if he was just standing, would be more than enough to completely destroy this arena a million times over.

It was only now they understood that had they been chosen to fight Dyon, they would have lost miserably, maybe only the top half of the core disciples had even the slightest chance against him at all, but those experts were close to the celestial realm and some had even already stepped into it!

Dyon's angered gaze toward Lilith hadn't escaped the notice of those watching. What was he so angered about?

"IF you continue to cross me." Dyon said in a deep and rumbling voice, clearly spurred on by his use of Demon Emperor's Will. "I won't hesitate to kill you!"

Lilith's teeth clenched at this statement. It was obvious by now that Dyon had seen through her, but it wasn't as though she could voice what the problem was. At the end of the day, she was still only 21 years old, despite her cultivation, her judgement wasn't perfect, nor was her control over her emotions matured either. In the end, she could only take deep breaths to calm herself down from personally killing Dyon right here for threatening her in this way.

Soon, her ice-cold face recovered. "It's best that you focus on your opponent at hand, or you won't know how you died."

Behind Dyon, Asyna had finally stopped coughing up blood. In her eyes, an endless fury resided there.

She was the Princess of the esteemed Dark Elvin Clans! The heir of the Mathilde family! Why was a man from an inferior quadrant capable of bringing her to such a state?

"AHHHHH!" Her head tilted back as she screamed into the skies.

Her hair whipped about, seeping out with an energy Dyon had never sensed before. It wasn't a will, nor was it saint energy. Yet, it came with it an aura of majesty and devilish intent that made all those who felt it feel their skin crawl.

In that moment, a massive Asura's Eye, littered with pulsing red veins, appeared in the skies, causing the dome that withheld it to tremble in terror.

The Mathilde family's legendary manifestation had made its appearance once again...

Asyna's scream seemed to shatter the air, screeching and clawing its way through as though it came from the mouth of a banshee.

The energy radiating from her seemed to have about the same level of prowess as saint energy, but its density was such that it was very clear that if it was used to power Asyna's attacks instead, the results would be far more devastating.

Dyon frowned, immediately leaping backward to avoid Asyna's slashing claw.

Before, Asyna already had an off-putting, murderous air about her. But, now, it seemed to have multiplied several hundred-fold, causing all those who saw her to involuntarily shake.

What those of the audience didn't know was that the dome was constantly filtering the energy Asyna released down, not allowing them to fully understand just what was happening. Of course, this wasn't for the sake of those here, they weren't even worthy of coming into Lilith's line of sight. The ones Lilith was worried about were those powerful entities who frequented Soul Market. Although they tolerated the existence of such a place because it brought them endless benefits, what they didn't know was that it was their Devil Path cultivators that were the masterminds behind it.

However, Dyon was feeling the full brunt of it. It was just that he didn't have the same amount of knowledge as those old fogies. No matter how intelligent he was, there were some things that wouldn't be found in books and could only be passed on through wisdom and word of mouth.

That said, this didn't mean that Dyon didn't have some guesses of his own. One thing he knew for sure was that the reason this energy was so similar to saint energy, yet not at the same time, was because it originated from a different path of cultivation.

After meeting Luna in the second trial world, Dyon had been opened up to the world of energies. He had even begun to think that if so many different types of energies existed, was it really necessary to use the conventional method of cultivation?

Normally, a martial warrior would build an energy foundation, first tempering the body with essence energy, before allowing it flow into one's meridians. Then the process would be repeated with saint energy, then celestial energy, then enigmatic energy. However, what if there was another path? What if there were hundreds of other paths that allowed one to build themselves a different foundation?

Clearly, Asyna had a foundation built on the conventional method, or else she wouldn't be able to use saint energy. But, now it seemed she had tapped into a different method of cultivation entirely. What did this mean?

Asyna slowly stood, piercing toward Dyon with a blood red gaze even as the eye in the sky pointed toward him as well.