1592 A Mock Battle. III
Felix waited until he predicted that a small opening would emerge in the next twenty moves of the paragon's incarnation before committing at last.
The instant his prediction came to fruition, he swiftly swung his battleaxe and released an instant spatial blade at the paragon's incarnation, forcing it to evade to the side and clear a millisecond of vision to the pride's symbol!
'Now!'
Then, he channeled his spell casting through the battleaxe to empower it and activated spatial displacement at the pride's symbol, aiming to switch places with it and his battleaxe!
He recognized way before that the symbol, though a source of the paragon's strength, was a separate physical ent.i.ty and not an intrinsic part of her!
He didn't know if this was a condition imposed by the pride laws to facilitate its destruction for others and keep it fair for the challengers or if it was always like this.
Whatever it was, he took advantage of the opportunity!
Whoos.h.!.+
As he enacted the displacement, the air around him s.h.i.+mmered with the distortion of s.p.a.ce for a faint moment before both objects switched places, causing Felix to find himself holding onto the pride symbol!
As the battleaxe? It was spinning above the paragon!
"TOTALITY COLLPASE!"
Without missing a beat, Felix channeled his ultimate ability through the battleaxe externally and turned the weapon into a conduit for this devastating power, unleas.h.i.+ng a maelstrom of destructive energy directly above the Paragon!!
Simultaneously, not waiting to see the results of his attack, Felix summoned all his strength and struck at the symbol with his bare hands!
His muscles tensed, his energy surged, and he delivered a blow with the full force of his physical and cosmic power, aiming to shatter the symbol in one fell swoop!
Above, the totality collapse raged, a storm of destruction threatening to engulf the Paragon. Below, Felix's raw strength was about to collide with the pride symbol, a critical attempt to weaken her immensely, causing her to fail in escaping from the destruction storm!
One could say it was a masterstroke of strategy and power!
'Not bad.'
Yet, the Paragon of Sins watched with an air of calm composure.
Contrary to any expectation of concern or defense, she merely smiled, an enigmatic and a.s.sured expression on her face.
'I have seen enough.'
In a swift and unexpected move, the Paragon snapped her fingers. The very fabric of reality around Felix s.h.i.+fted instantaneously.
He felt his fist, which was aimed at the pride symbol, slicing through nothing but emptiness, not even air was around.
'Huh?'
Stunned, he looked around and found himself engulfed in darkness, the environment around him pitch-black and disorienting.
A sudden realization dawned on Felix...He was within his totality collapse, the destructive storm he had unleashed through his battleaxe!
'It can't be...'
This realization sent a chill down his spine, a rare moment of being caught off guard in combat.
Turning to look at his previous location, Felix's eyes widen. There, in his place, stood the Paragon of Sins.
She held the pride symbol securely in her grasp, having seamlessly switched places with Felix.
The Pride symbol, still intact and pulsating with power, seemed almost to mock Felix's efforts...
The Paragon's ability to manipulate the situation so deftly, turning Felix's formidable attack against him, wasn't just a testament to her mastery over her strength, but it embodied a higher realm of combat tactical means compared to Felix!
"Do you have any other moves?" She asked.
But Felix couldn't hear her as the sound waves got erased the moment they entered his totality collapse domain.
However, he read her lips and he couldn't help but show a bitter helpless smile as a response.
It wasn't like he didn't have any other moves or techniques, but he understood that it was already too late for anything to make a difference...She was already 30% stronger than him, which was an impossible height to climb.
"I guess that's it for this round." The paragon chuckled after seeing Felix's slightly depressed look, "Don't be too upset, little cutie, regardless of what strategy, technique, power, or even if you were ten times stronger than me, you will never be able to defeat me...Much more powerful beings than you can even dream of have fallen under my feet."
Felix knew that she wasn't being boastful...Her powers were varied, her combat realm was an unclimbable summit, and her intelligence was just on a different level.
He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that even that slight opening he had seen before, was prepared by her to bait him into committing and see what he was up to.
In this way, no matter what he did, she was always prepared to counter against it.
As for the switch in location? Felix didn't forget that he was capable of utilizing a similar teleportation ability called blink when he possessed Lord Khoas' bloodline.
So, as the void law owner, it wasn't farfetched that she could use similar spatial talents by manipulating the void realm.
Even when Felix knew all of this, there wasn't much he could do about it...He was so limited in his attacks, that he felt handicapped against her.
"Sigh, you sure are one of a monster..." Felix sighed as he canceled his talents and returned the environment to normal, "I am starting to feel less and less a.s.sured about my battle against the alter ego."
He felt like all the power-up and arrangement that he had done was thrown down the drain.
Still, he was relieved for the experience as it made him more certain than ever, that he was not ready yet.
"Don't throw in the towel too soon." The paragon appeared next to Felix and raffled his head.
"I stated I am less confident, not giving up. I am doing this even if it kills me." Felix pushed her hand away in irritation, not wanting to get too chummy with her.
The paragon took no offense in his actions as she found his resistance more amusing.
"Also, it's a sin to compare me with that racc.o.o.n even though we possess the same powers." She stated calmly, "He barely has any experience in using his abilities...He is merely relying on his instinct and the details of his unlocked abilities. Compared to me, if you played your cards right, you might have a chance to defeat him."
'She is right, those two are two different beasts.' Thor supported, 'It's not that I am saying your battle will be easy, but at least, you won't feel as hopeless here.'
The tenants agreed with him. They understood more than anyone that a combat experience was the deciding factor between two equal fighters.
While Nimo's alter ego was powerful, they didn't doubt for a moment that Felix's last effort wouldn't have worked on him.
"In addition, Nimo's alter ego doesn't know that you are seeking to fight him or your new capabilities." Lady Sphinx added, "You might even win the battle in the first second, catching him completely off guard."
Nimo's alter ego already showed that he was planning to wait for Felix's death and the earring's destruction to be freed.
So, in his mind, he never considered for a moment that Felix would willingly free him from his seal to battle him. n(.0In
Felix understood just how important key information was in such situations.
"All of you are forgetting the most important fact." Lord Hades interjected expressionlessly, "Who told you that he needs to defeat him? I stated devour his core through Asna's core and this doesn't need his defeat, just coming into his proximity and willing it...Asna's core will take care of the rest and you just need to survive the storm during it."
While defeating Nimo's alter ego would make this process much easier, nothing was stopping Felix from ignoring the battle completely and prioritizing the merge!