Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

With that Velmira immediately moved her other fist toward his ribs, but before she could, Azarion turned his body and blocked the attack with his elbow before bringing his knee toward her abdomen. She lowered her arm and parried the knee with her forearm, then twisted her body and sent a kick toward the side of his head.

Azarion raised his palm and redirected the kick, causing the force behind it to tear through another mountain behind him. Neither of them moved backward from the exchange, and before the debris from the destroyed peaks could even begin falling, they had already disappeared again.

They reappeared several hundred meters away in the same instant, and Velmira’s fist was already moving toward Azarion’s chest. He caught her wrist before the attack could connect, but Velmira immediately twisted her arm and drove her elbow toward his face.

Azarion released her wrist and raised his forearm, blocking the elbow before his other hand moved toward her abdomen. Velmira intercepted the attack with her palm, redirected his fist, and immediately sent her knee toward his ribs. Azarion lowered his elbow and stopped it, then turned his body and sent a kick toward her side.

Velmira raised her leg and blocked it with her shin, and the collision between their limbs produced a shockwave that ripped through the mountains behind them. Several enormous peaks collapsed simultaneously as their attacks continued to clash without either fighter being forced away from the other.

Their speed increased again.

Velmira disappeared and reappeared above Azarion, bringing her heel down toward his head, but Azarion raised both arms and blocked the attack before immediately countering with a punch toward her stomach.

She twisted sideways and redirected his fist with her forearm, then struck toward his jaw with her elbow. Azarion tilted his head aside and caught her elbow with his hand, only for Velmira to rotate around his arm and drive another kick toward his back. He instantly turned before the kick could reach him and blocked it with his forearm, while Velmira’s other fist was already moving toward his chest.

He parried it with his palm, and she immediately attacked again from the opposite side. He blocked that attack as well, then sent his own fist toward her face. Velmira raised her arm and stopped it before their limbs collided with enough force to send another wave through the surrounding mountain range.

BAAAAAAAM!

An entire mountain behind them split apart.

Neither of them paid any attention to it.

They continued moving.

One moment they were above the mountains, the next they were several kilometers away, and then they appeared between two enormous peaks that were immediately reduced to debris when the force from another exchange passed through them.

Velmira threw a punch toward Azarion’s jaw, which he parried with his forearm before she followed with a kick toward his abdomen. He caught her ankle, but she twisted her body and sent her other foot toward his head. Azarion released her ankle and blocked the kick with his arm before striking toward her chest. Velmira caught his wrist and redirected the attack immediately, then drove her elbow toward his ribs. Azarion blocked it with his other arm, and before either could continue, both simultaneously attacked again.

Their fists collided.

KRAAAAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOOM!

The shockwave spread across the sky and erased the clouds surrounding them.

Velmira immediately followed with another punch, but Azarion parried it. He countered with a kick, and Velmira blocked it. She attacked with her elbow, and he caught it. He swung toward her head, and she raised her forearm.

She struck toward his abdomen, and he redirected the attack. He attempted to kick her side, and she blocked it. The exchanges continued without pause as their movements became increasingly difficult to follow, with both fighters constantly parrying, blocking, redirecting, and countering before the other attack could properly land. Their bodies remained almost perfectly balanced throughout the battle, and despite the overwhelming force behind every strike, neither Velmira nor Azarion was pushed away.

Only the surroundings suffered.

Every time an attack was redirected, the remaining force tore through whatever was behind the intended target. Mountains were shattered, peaks were flattened into debris, and enormous clouds of dust rose into the sky before being scattered by the next shockwave.

Their battle moved across the mountain range at such an extreme speed that the destruction appeared almost simultaneous, with one mountain collapsing just as another was being torn apart several kilometers away.

Velmira and Azarion continued exchanging attacks.

Fist. Parry. Kick. Block. Elbow. Redirect. Punch. Parry.

Each attack tore through the mountain peaks as ravines and Chasms tore open, they continued this same process without caring about the surroundings at all, and in the midst of it Velmira started to realize that Azarion had not simply had a change in appearance, he somehow bypassed the limitations of his cultivation rank...even now while she could still sense him to be SSS-rank, his strength and ability defied all reason.

They disappeared again before the debris could settle and reappeared somewhere else, continuing the same exchange without giving either side an opening. Velmira’s attacks became faster, but Azarion matched every increase in speed and parried each strike before it could connect. Azarion’s attacks became faster as well, yet Velmira intercepted every one of them with equal precision. Their movements had already surpassed what most beings could perceive, and even the rulers watching from afar could only properly follow them because of their own strength.

Then the distance between each exchange became smaller.

They no longer needed to travel hundreds of meters between attacks.

Their figures flickered through the sky almost continuously as their fists and legs collided again and again, with every blocked strike producing another shockwave that destroyed the mountains behind them.

BOOOOOOM!

BAAAAAAM!

KRAK!

Another mountain disappeared.

Then another.

Then another.

Yet neither fighter gained the slightest advantage.

The battle continued at an even greater speed until the surrounding mountain range had been reduced to little more than scattered debris. Only after several minutes had passed did Velmira finally make a decision, and...both of them came to a halt.

Meanwhile, the rulers who were watching the fight from a far could only wonder what in the world was going on with Azarion or rather they saw him as nothing more than Monster, felt many presences surrounding them at once, and in the same instant, those presences began moving toward them.

Three monstrous figures moved through the sky at tremendous speed, each one rushing toward a different target among the gathered powerhouses. The rulers noticed them immediately, no - they had noticed them the moment they were teleported here, catching them caught off guard was nigh-Impossible unless...one had an Artifact.

To beings standing at the pinnacle of Eliomor, SSS-rank Monsters were nothing more than children trying to challenge adults. Zaakrax simply turned toward the nearest Monster while Sylvaris and the others prepared to deal with their respective attackers, their expressions calm and still-focused on the fight as they found Azarion’s monstrous form interesting.

However, before any monster attacked the rulers, one of the Monsters suddenly changed its direction.

It rushed directly toward Kael.

Kael noticed the Monster approaching him and immediately raised his arms to defend himself, but the creature reached him before he could completely react, its fist coated with yellow Lightning which shocked Kael to extreme, ’An Elemental attack?! Shi-!’

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The attack struck Kael directly and sent his body flying through the sky at tremendous speed. He crashed into the side of a distant mountain, and the impact caused the entire mountain to shake violently as enormous amounts of debris exploded outward.

KRAAAAAAAAAASH!

Kael’s figure disappeared beneath the collapsing mountain.