2237 2237. Monstrous

"You can force yourself to keep moving," Alexander commented, "But your body will reach its limits faster than mine anyway."

"We won't know until we try," Ulpia smiled before a shockwave replaced her figure.

Alexander's eyes widened in surprise, and a layer of metallic skin promptly grew over his body, but the ability turned out to be too slow. Something slammed at the center of his torso and made his consciousness go dark.

Alexander couldn't sense anything, but his instincts did their best to send him vague inputs captured among the darkness of his consciousness. They mostly carried pain, but they also indicated specific locations at times.

A vague conclusion made its way among Alexander's dizzy consciousness. Ulpia's offensive was going on while he was in that weakened state. She had grown faster and stronger after fusing with her avatar.

The new strength unleashed by Ulpia stretched the duration of Alexander's weakened state. He slowly learnt how to sense again in the middle of his mental dizziness, but he remained unable to react to the attacks landing on him.

Ulpia's offensive was relentless, but Alexander only felt slight consequences. He was in no condition to sense what was happening to his body, and his attention was also elsewhere.

Alexander trusted his body and innate resilience deeply, so he disregarded any worry involving his condition to focus on the only topic that mattered. He had to regain control of his senses and movements before Ulpia had a chance to kill him.

Innate abilities unleashed their effects and fused, but none of them seemed able to do much against Ulpia's offensive. Alexander couldn't even pour more energy into the process since he had to rely on his instincts to handle everything.

The situation felt desperate, but Alexander didn't give up. He couldn't even have those thoughts in that situation. His mind almost went back to a primitive state as his survival instincts took control of his body and did everything in their power to save him from that condition.

The greatest difference between Alexander and Ulpia didn't involve their bodies. The two experts were pretty similar in that field, even if the reasons behind their power were quite diverse.

Instead, what put Alexander and Ulpia apart was how they used their power. Ulpia relied on techniques perfected throughout the eras, while Alexander used abilities inherited from the magical beasts' world.

It was only normal that Alexander couldn't match Ulpia's sophisticated attacks. He had never aimed to do that. Still, his brutal and relatively reckless approach fell short now that Ulpia had shown herself able to wield a superior power.

The situation worsened as Ulpia kept Alexander locked in a torrent of attacks. The primal mindset achieved in the middle of that darkness couldn't come up with a combination of abilities that could save him. It didn't have the intelligence to find flaws in the enemy offensive.

<br/>Alexander's instincts could only opt for a different approach. They couldn't save him by being smart, so they grew even dumber. They dropped any attempt to create something stable and just empowered what they could.

Among Alexander's countless innate abilities, many of them involved temporary mindless states capable of generating immense power. His survival instincts activated all of them simultaneously due to the troublesome situation, and Ulpia didn't miss that event.

Ulpia was punching Alexander all across the higher plane. Her attacks left deep marks in his body and flung him away, sometimes even forcing him to crash on battles handled by weaker begins.

Of course, Alexander's arrival turned those battles into a gory scene, and Ulpia's chase only worsened the situation. The issue became so significant that most underlings interrupted their fights to abandon their spot whenever the two experts got too close.

Ulpia did her best to inflict as much damage as possible. She was suffering in that empowered state. The injury on her shoulder expanded due to the extra effort, but her entire body also started to crack.

Her body couldn't endure that state for too long, but she had to press forward. Something inside Ulpia told her that Alexander was about to regain control of his movements. He was about to show a new power, so she had to damage him deeply to pave her way toward victory.

That moment arrived far before Ulpia's expectations. She had just reached Alexander, and an incredibly fast punch was about to fall on his face, but a clawed arm suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Ulpia was ready to deliver a second attack that could knock Alexander down again, but her wrist shattered under the massive strength unleashed by the grip. Moreover, she noticed that Alexander wasn't awake at all. His eyes had opened, but they carried no reason.

A monstrous roar left Alexander's mouth and created a soundwave that slowed down Ulpia's second attack. She still managed to kick him on his chest, but he had the time to wave his other hand.

Alexander shot far away, and Ulpia disregarded her injuries to chase him. She had lost her right arm, and a long cut had appeared on her torso due to the last attack, but she couldn't stop. That would mean death.

Another wave of surprise swept Ulpia's mind when she noticed that Alexander stopped himself before the energy from her kick could vanish. Alexander's face had long since abandoned its old features due to the many bruises, cuts, and holes on its surface, but Ulpia could still see a monstrous expression behind all of that.

Alexander seemed to have turned into a mindless beast that reeked power from every inch of his maimed body. He was filled with injuries, and some patches of his skin had disappeared to reveal his internal organs. Yet, he appeared stronger than ever.

That unexpected recovery didn't stop Ulpia. She reached Alexander and used her maimed arm to deliver an uppercut. Sadly for her, Alexander voiced another deafening roar, and her movements slowed down.

Alexander instinctively waved his hand to take care of the uppercut, and Ulpia saw her whole arm leaving her body. She couldn't stop Alexander's clawed fingers, but her leg was already up, and her foot soon landed at the center of his chest.

Another chase started, but Alexander recovered even faster than before. Ulpia saw another severe injury opening on her body when she tried to launch an attack, and her expression flickered when Alexander blocked her second blow.

Alexander was getting quicker, while Ulpia's condition continued to worsen. Yet, she still managed to come out of the exchanges. She only didn't know for how long she could keep that up.

The limits of the empowered state stopped being a problem. Ulpia realized that her body would shatter even before she ran out of energy. Her resilience wasn't an issue either. Alexander's attacks were far more troublesome.

The situation turned tragic when Ulpia saw a spark of intelligence flashing in Alexander's bloodshot eyes. She was in the process of throwing a punch when he grabbed her. She expected to lose her arm at that point, but Alexander decided to pull her instead.

A simple pull from Alexander could move entire regions. Ulpia didn't even realize when her body crashed into the sky. The event had been too fast, and what followed also fell in that category.

Alexander instantly landed on Ulpia. His feet crashed on her chest and shattered it. A few chunks of flesh still connected her to her lower body, but Alexander severed them by pulling her from her ponytail.