2314.Will

Divine Architect's crystal eyes flashed with white light. The radiance didn't disappear like before. Instead, it continued to shine even after a few seconds passed.

It didn't take a genius to understand the meaning behind King Elbas' statement, especially for someone who had studied him for a long time. Yet, Divine Architect almost couldn't believe that her opponent had dared to mention something so ridiculous.

"You are bluffing," Divine Architect eventually announced. "An inscription master can't seize that power. It goes against the very logic of their existence."

"I told you," King Elbas coughed as he tried his best to stabilize his condition. "You lack flexibility."

"Enough with your meaningless words," Divine Architect scoffed. "You will die now."

The blinding circle spun faster, and superior force seeped through it to enter the higher plane. The deep energy was different from before due to the new meanings attracted, but its overall power remained on par with the previous attack.

King Elbas stared at the superior force for a while, but a sigh eventually interrupted his inspection. An annoyed expression took control of his face as he glanced at Divine Demon and the Foolery. Part of him felt glad that they were too busy to look at him.

"That's surprising," Divine Architect exclaimed. "I would have expected arrogance, not fear."

"That's because you won't be alive to see what I'll go through after this," King Elbas responded. "So annoying."

"Did you even hold back because of Heaven and Earth?" Divine Architect mocked. "It almost sounds like you are more scared of your companions."

"You really had it easy in the sky," King Elbas sighed. "Don't worry. I'll make you understand your mistake."

"I'm sure there won't be much understanding going on," Divine Architect stated.

"Not from your side, at least," King Elbas declared before closing his eyes and pointing his broken spear at the spinning portal.

Divine Architect snorted, but she didn't lose her focus. She even had some doubts about King Elbas' claims, but she didn't bother too much about them.

It didn't matter if King Elbas was telling the truth. He was in no condition to face another rank 10 ray. That power went beyond the realm of the miracles.

The portal reached its critical point when the superior energy in its insides started to fly toward its center. A clash happened, and a colorless ray shot forward.

Some energy dispersed into the void due to the different natures condensed in the colorless ray. However, a big chunk of the attack remained pointed at King Elbas and reached him faster than any rank 9 movement technique.

Divine Architect was utterly confident. The eventuality that King Elbas could defend against the attack didn't exist in her mind. Everything pointed toward her victory, so she prepared herself to summon inscribed items meant to dissect, analyze, and preserve her opponent's corpse.

Yet, before the colorless ray could hit, King Elbas exploded with a massive burst of power that made him reach unseen energy levels. He surpassed his previous peak, and a golden radiance flashed before him to meet the enemy attack.

The colorless ray was nothing more than a convoluted mass of unstable energy that featured different natures. Its sheer power went beyond anything in the ninth rank, but its stability wasn't even average.

The sheer power contained in the ray could stop most rank 9 experts from exploiting its innate weaknesses. However, King Elbas had already shown that he could touch those flaws with his fake quasi-rank 10 state, and his current attack was even stronger than before.

The golden flash seeped into the ray and enhanced the instabilities that affected its structure. King Elbas' attack worked as a filter that forced the different energy waves to split or clash.

The ray crumbled into a series of attacks that flew in different directions and explosions. The sheer power unleashed by the detonation was immense, but it fell close to the limits of the ninth rank, which allowed King Elbas to endure it.

The exchange naturally attracted Divine Architect's attention, and pure stupor filled her mind when everything calmed down enough to reveal King Elbas' figure. She couldn't believe her enhanced eyes when she saw her opponent devoid of any injury and at the peak of his power.

"What?" Divine Architect couldn't help but shout.

The matter was far from simple. Divine Architect would have accepted secret weapons or reckless techniques, but King Elbas didn't seem to have resorted to any of them.

King Elbas had merely gone back to his peak and fixed his items. Actually, his level had slightly increased, but that outcome didn't make any sense. Divine Architect had calculated how much energy he had left after the previous exchange, which wasn't theoretically enough to produce those results.

"Did you hide your enhanced final energy before the final battle?" Divine Architect asked as she regained complete control of her mind and tried to come up with reasonable explanations.

"You know I didn't," King Elbas stated as he inspected his recovered figure. "I would have never allowed you to injure me otherwise."

"Where did you get this energy then?" Divine Architect asked. "And don't play games. Answer me."

"We are quite demanding, aren't we?" King Elbas laughed. "I told you. I performed a miracle."

"Stuff like that doesn't exist," Divine Architect claimed. "Divine Demon used the assistance of the world to create his techniques, and the pig isn't too complicated either. We both can translate their miracles into actual techniques."

"But you can't replicate them," King Elbas declared. "Your immense knowledge is a limit that you can't overcome. Instead of isolating yourself in the sky, you should have spent the past millennia among unreasonable idiots."

Divine Architect was tired of those meaningless words. Countless items left her figure and melted before fusing with her blinding circle. She didn't need King Elbas to find answers. She only had to kill him and seize those explanations from his corpse.

"You saw similarities in our paths," King Elbas announced before teleporting above Divine Architect so quickly that even her enhanced senses failed to register that movement.

Divine Architect quickly decided to ignore the teleport. Her body could endure another attack, and she was also ready to sacrifice her inscribed item. It didn't matter what King Elbas did. Both options would leave him exposed.

"But you are terribly wrong," King Elbas continued as he pointed his spear toward Divine Architect. "How we seize power that overcomes the ninth rank already explains the immense differences in our mindsets."

"Shall I remind you that you stole from Heaven and Earth to stabilize your breakthrough?" Divine Architect teased.

"I steal," King Elbas replied, "You attract. I break the rules. You create them. My quasi-rank 10 state changes the very reality of the cultivation journey. You merely build a passage where powerful energy can fly."

"How does that explain your current state?" Divine Architect asked.

"I can't believe I have to explain it after all of this," King Elbas sighed. "My will is simply far stronger than yours."

"You dare insult me like this?" Divine Architect asked.

"I wield the best energy in the world," King Elbas explained. "I have the best technique in the world. In this state, I can push my superior will into the very fabric of reality and alter it."

Divine Architect's eyes shone with blinding light. She finally understood something, but she couldn't do anything about it. The imminent exchange was already set. Nothing could affect the next seconds.

"According to this very reality," King Elbas continued as power accumulated on the tip of his spear, "You never injured me, and my technique has always been stronger."

"These effects can remain active only if you overcome my attack," Divine Architect pointed out.

"Wrong," King Elbas corrected. "Everything will depend on the might that my will forced my world to reach."

After that, a pillar of golden light left King Elbas' spear. Divine Architect, the giant mirror, and the spinning item disappeared among that torrent of power, and smoke came out from deep areas of the void.