Tower of Heaven

Darian and Atlas only stood across from each other with their blades drawn for a moment before they engaged in combat.

Darian used a large sword made for blunt impact, while Atlas used his much smaller and more graceful chain sickles. The dichotomy created an interesting scene for onlookers, as they knew that the result wouldn't be decided by the size of the blade.

Their first contact was already larger than anything that the rest of the group was able to produce. Evidently, Darian was much stronger than those who followed him.

BANG!

A sword and two sickles clashed against each other, their metal scraping and screeching. Two different powerful signatures of qi clashed against each other in the air between the two combatants, as if their auras were trying to determine a victor before they could.

That clash wasn't held for too long. Darian's sword cost him movement in return for power, so Atlas was first to make another move. He pushed his sickles downward and redirected the momentum of Darian's blade before raising his right arm and slashing.

Whoosh!

Darian rapidly moved his body back and narrowly dodged the sickle. His muscles bulged as he put strength into his arms and swung his sword.

Bang!

Unlike him, who only had to move a little to avoid the attack, Atlas had to jump back several feet.

As the greatsword slammed through the air, it created a pressure wave that made the atmosphere itself ripple. Before he even reached the end of his slash, Darian planted his foot in the ground and launched himself after Atlas.

His blade swung through the air as he moved, making it so that when he arrived in front of his enemy, it was already in the perfect position.

Atlas was well aware that neither blocking nor dodging was an option. That blade was mysterious and suppressed all of the surrounding space. As long as Atlas was in its direct vicinity, he could not directly counter it unless he was able to stop it before Darian gathered momentum.

He could only respond by countering its weight and fighting power with power.

[Presence of the Mountain]

Voom!

Rather than putting weight on Darian, Atlas applied the technique to himself. His own body became several times heavier. His feet sunk into the ground and even the air around him seemed to sink as he raised his chain sickles, and when his immovable form was met by Darian's unstoppable blade…

BOOM!

The ground shattered into pieces. A shockwave blasted through the trees, uprooting those closer and shattering those further. The spectating crowd was forced to establish a layer of joint protections around themselves if they wanted to remain unharmed.

But, even from the start, this battle looked too good to miss. They were willing to risk their safety in order to witness it firsthand.

By this point, Atlas and Darian had been active for long enough to recognize the presence of that crowd, but neither of them paid it any mind.

It was already too late to hide their battle. At this point, the most they could do was win so that they weren't shamed in front of the world.

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With that shared thought, they clashed. Darian moved slowly, but his attacks didn't stop. It was like he was wielding his sword with the same speed as someone with a much smaller and more convenient weapon.

Yet, in the same way, Atlas showed a level of power through the chain sickles that a weapon developed based on a farming tool should have never possessed. Both of them had reached a level of skill with either their weapons, bodies, or Daos to cover for the weaknesses they'd face in front of their current opponent.

So, they clashed.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sword and sickles met each other enough times to become great friends as their owners fought to the death. The qi released by the two cultivators was already incredibly powerful before they started using techniques, but that situation obviously wasn't going to be maintained.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Darian raised his sword and slashed down diagonally. Atlas did block, but he was forced to take several steps back, giving him the opening he was looking for.

He rapidly retracted his momentum and brought his sword to his side. His qi swirled around his body, and in the next moment…

[Setting Sun Slash]

He slashed horizontally through the air with seemingly no target at all. The crescent that his sword drew heated up and turned into a bright red flaming energy that flashed forward in Atlas' direction.

It arced through the air, creating waves of flame that spread to both sides. The imagery of a setting sun faintly appeared in the sky, which was quite beautiful to all onlookers.

Well, except for Atlas.

"Tch!"

He clicked his tongue and retreated back as fast as he could. He bought himself just a few seconds that he used to form a technique of his own to counter.

Unfortunately, the Grand Arsenal wasn't useful in this case, but that wasn't the only thing he was learning.

As a stronger cultivator, he could learn techniques from his past life that he had to put aside when he first reincarnated.

Flame energy enveloped his body. The concept of everburn endowed in the flames fused into the superheated energy Atlas produced. Almost like the creation of a formation, Atlas put the pieces of the technique together and perfectly manipulated his qi, expelling it into the world just as the Setting Sun Slash befell him.

[Rising Phoenix Gate]

Boom!

The ground cracked open and a huge plume of flames shot up into the sky. Said flames heated to an extreme level and almost became tangible as they formed the rough image of an ancient gate adorned by the head of a phoenix.

The [Setting Sun Slash] arrived just as it was formed, and the two manifestations of flame and light went to war.

Boooooom!

Wave after wave of energy pulsed into the surroundings. Even Atlas and Darian had to hastily raise their defenses and stand back to withstand the waves of power.

The flaming gate didn't seem to be an entity with defensive power at first glance, but that was a completely misguided assumption. No matter how it attempted to bypass the technique, the flaming slash was unable to do so.

The two different auras of flame came into direct contact. One represented the cool and malevolent flames of the setting sun, while the other mimicked the eternal flames of the Heavens.

They fought as if they were trying to determine which above them was superior. Even when Atlas and Darian stopped providing their qi to the attacks, they continued to rage on.

Faintly, one could hear the cry of a phoenix ringing out from the gate with every impact.

However, that sound was soon to be completely muffled.

After all, though their techniques refused to die down, Atlas and Darian were not content with ending their battle.

They charged at each other through the flames. They fought within the madness of their own creation.

None of this was allowed to end until they had determined their victor.