1835 Weakened
The loss of the Array made it difficult for Alex to continue fighting the Dragon Emperor the way he had before.
The attacks were much stronger for him now, and the chances of being critically injured were a lot higher.
Alex fought still, using every ounce of what power he had remaining to fight back. Godslayer still helped him a lot, but it wasn't much now.
The Dragon Emperor started feeling relieved as Alex became weaker. He wasn't very much weaker, surprisingly, almost as though the aid he had received from the beasts hadn't improved his power all that much.
Still, what strength he had lost entirely changed the tide of the battle, making the Dragon Emperor come out on top in every instance.
The Dragon Emperor started fighting more freely, defending and attacking using the minimum strength he had to muster while he watched Alex slowly lose strength even more.
"You're going to die," the Dragon Emperor said. "I can let you live if you want."
Alex fought back against the spray of lightning, his infinite ice spears struggling to destroy a single bolt with 3 of them when before he had done it with 2.
Alex sent back an attack of his own, empowered by everything he could muster at the moment, trying to stay strong in the situation.
He ignored the Dragon Emperor's words as those were just temptations that his enemy thought would work on him.
"I can let you live," the Dragon Emperor said. "As long as you give me everything you have. All the techniques you own, all the artifacts, all the knowledge. Especially that—"
His words came to a stop abruptly, making the Dragon Emperor realize that he couldn't speak about the Alchemy God's techniques out loud. He was not allowed to share what he had received or what he was going to receive for another 80 years per the initial argument.
"I will give you nothing, nor do I want anything from you," Alex said. "But if you do wish to give me something, I wouldn't mind your head on a platter."
The Dragon Emperor grinned. "I wasn't going to let you live in the first place either," he said. "There is not a chance either you or that white tiger lives to see the sunset today."
The Dragon Emperor came lunging at Alex, and Alex took a deep breath.
"Godslayer," he said softly. "This will be our final attack together. Please withdraw after this."
"I can still help you," Godslayer said in a surprised voice. "It's not much, but I can help you."
"Thank you, but you've done all you can," Alex said. He could see signs of fatigue show up in the Dragon Emperor's movement as well, he was clearly acting to show as though he was ready to continue this fight forever.
"Let me handle the rest."
Alex poured everything he had into his single, final attack while he had Godslayer's help. Godslayer agreed and poured all the power he had to give into this one attack as well.
Midnight glowed with dark light as everything started converging on it as the Dragon Emperor approached. Alex truly put in everything.
Flashes of white light flickered around in his vision as he watched Sword Qi appear out from his sword, surrounding him as he poured in Sword Aura.
At the same time, here and there, hair-fine Sword Qi began appearing all around him. They were at a far lower amount than the Sword Qi that appeared due to Sword Aura, and they began spreading around him.
They disappeared as soon as they went anywhere far away from him though.
This had been happening for a while now, but even now, Alex failed to notice it entirely. At some subconscious level, he could tell he was reaching some sort of barrier that he had to push through, but on the outside, he could not realize anything at all.
The Dragon Emperor felt the aura of the incoming attack and immediately realized that he had to be serious.
Alex swung Midnight.
God Rending Death Blade.
A pitch-black sword slash that was nearly 3 meters long and as thick as his thigh streaked across the air, making its way toward the Dragon Emperor.
The Dragon Emperor held back nothing, using his Spear Aura in this attack, along with his Dao of Lightning. The bolt of lightning destroyed the space it moved through, striking the incoming black sword slash.
A pillar of light rose to the sky as their two attacks clashed with each other, leaving behind a space that was in tatters for a while before it began fixing itself.
When the explosive aura and light disappeared, the Dragon Emperor quickly looked toward Alex, only to realize he had disappeared from the air.
"No!" he shouted out loud in terror. He sent his senses crashing all around him, reaching hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers in a single search.
He hadn't realized just how strong his spiritual sense had become, and using it he searched for where Alex had disappeared to.
Somehow, he could not find him anywhere.
'Where did he go?' the Dragon Emperor thought. 'Did he teleport away? How far did he teleport away?'
The Dragon Emperor couldn't sense anything, but for some reason, he found it difficult to believe that Alex could have teleported away.
After all, every single one of his people was still here. Had he teleported away, they would have certainly run off with him.
'No, he has to be—'
A sudden fluctuation in space next to him told the Dragon Emperor that something was happening to him. He sent his focus in that direction, sensing whatever there was in that location.
He didn't sense anyone or anything, but he could feel a build-
up of aura that should not have been possible.
Without a thought, he pointed his spear in that direction and shot out a lightning bolt.
His lightning bolt exploded just in front of him as something struck it, destroying it right there.
The Dragon Emperor expanded space and moved out of the way, noticing something finer than a strand of hair fly past him, leaving behind a trail of finely cut space that only he could sense.
His eyes snapped in the direction of where the attack had come from, but he could see nothing. He tried to sense someone there even though he was incapable of doing it.
The Dragon Emperor frowned, not understanding what was happening. He tried to use another attack when he sensed another movement of space behind him, and this time a large yellow palm flew out toward him.
The Dragon Emperor moved quickly, creating multiple roots to grow out from the air, striking at the palm as though a spear. The roots struck through the palm, destroying it with somewhat ease.
Once destroyed, the Dragon Emperor searched for the source of the attack, but he was completely at a loss once again.
'What is happening?' he wondered. 'How the hell can I not sense or see anything? What kind of bullshit is this?'
He didn't sense space fluctuations this time around, but he did sense the sudden appearance of a black sword slash.
The Dragon Emperor fought back.
'It's him. It's absolutely him,' he though. 'But where the hell is he?'
