Thunderzen glanced over his shoulder again, inspecting the Honorable Alliance leader's condition. The man looked even worse than when he had checked minutes ago, now appearing like a skeleton with a layer of skin draped over the bones. The aura coming from the Alliance leader was still potent and profound, but small signs of wavering were appearing, like wind causing a fire to flicker before reappearing.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Raijen and the Asura continued to exchange a flurry of blows, Raijen focusing only on defense and preventing the Asura's forward movement towards the ship. Distant blasts of lightning, fiery explosions, and astral energy illuminated the storm as the other battle continued to rage on.
Thunderzen glanced at the Asura, who had a wide, malicious smile on its face the entire battle. It had been agitated several times as its plans had been thwarted, but otherwise was no doubt enjoying the battle, almost as if it was just a game to him.
Thunderzen breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing this. The Asura was convinced that no matter what they did, they were only delaying the inevitable. There was nowhere on this world that John could run to, and so it was savoring the battle as if it were its favorite thing in life, instead of trying to end it as quickly as possible to get to John.
Thunderzen had an inkling that if the Asura truly went all out, they would have already perished, and their mission would have failed. He breathed another sigh of relief, thanking the heavens that the Asura's battle lust and arrogance had blinded it to its true mission.
After a furious exchange with Raijen, the Asura used the opening to unleash another calamitous attack towards the distant ship, which was now even closer. Raijen once more unleashed a beam of lightning to weaken the attack, and the storm's power blasting into it weakened it as well, but the attack pierced through the storm nonetheless, even more powerful than before.
Thunderzen kept his attention towards the battle, praying that John would be able to block these attacks long enough to buy them the time Lilian needed.
…
John stood atop the ship, his eyes locked on the distant storm, power coursing though every inch of his body. The explosion behind the ship faded away, and he took a deep breath, confidence coursing through his body.
"Come," he roared, caught up in the thrill of battle. It might not be a true battle, but for him, it was no doubt a life and death battle. Succeed and live, fail and die. The stakes could not be higher, his battle lust fully ignited.
He had felt useless this entire time, watching the others do all the work, putting their lives on the line. The time for him to do the same and prove his worth had arrived. His golden eyes, narrowed with focus, stared at the approaching storm. His Dragon-God Shift flared with absolute power, allowing his body to withstand the ruinous wind and spatial chaos blasting against him ceaselessly.
He had yet to utilize his Asura Transformation, as that was not much help in this battle. He needed to meet the Asura's attack a distance from the ship, otherwise it would be caught up in the explosions and disintegrate. As such, only ranged essence-based battle arts were of use here, and his Asura Transformation mostly only augmented his physical might.
The power of lightning coursed through every inch of his body as John prepared for the next attack. When the previous attack had arrived, he had utilized his strongest essence-based battle art to receive it; his Dragontail Decimation.
The battle art's weakness was its channeling time, but here, he had all the time he needed to prepare for the attack. Lightning Qi built up within his dantian every second, which was now far more powerful than before thanks to his Dao Transformation breakthrough, of which he had broken through flawlessly.
John felt as if his dantian had turned into a star, brimming with absolute might. He clenched his teeth with strain as he focused on holding it within, growing the power of his Dragontail Decimation every second.
Flash!
A flash of power burst through the storm again, piercing directly towards the ship. John's firm gaze locked onto the attack, his fingers twitching with anticipation. His eyes widened as he felt the power of the approaching attack, which was even stronger than before.
'I can't stop this attack as I am right now!' he thought, assessing the situation instantly. He frowned, and then sent a sound transmission to Lilian.
"How much longer until we get there?" he asked her.
"A minute, maybe two," she said, "if you can defend the ship that long, I'll make sure we get there in that amount of time."
John nodded his head, and then his focus shifted back towards the attack. He closed his eyes for a singular moment, muttering an internal prayer.
'I'm counting on you and this vibrant energy you gave me, Laia. It's still too soon to use this, but I have no other choice. I'm betting on your healing energy getting me through this,' he said, and then his eyes snapped open, his gaze widened with intense battle lust.
"Come!" he roared loudly, like a beast yelling to the heavens, "you want my life! Then come and take it! Bloodline Ability!"
Boom!
John's aura exploded as he activated his bloodline ability, turning each and every blood cell in his body into a miniature dantian. The Qi within the cells exploded out into his veins and meridians, flooding his body with incomparable power. John felt his meridians, veins, and bones fracture from the bloodline art, as it had not been six months since he last used it, and the damage from last time was still present within his body. The fractures expanded, as if his body would break and fall apart at any moment.
He held his breath, waiting for a feeling he was hoping would come. A moment of silence, and then he smiled. As if summoned by the damage, the vibrant life energy within his body coursed through his body, moving on its own volition. It washed over the fractured meridians, veins, and bones, mending them with a frightening speed.
The damage from the Bloodline Ability and the healing from Laia's vibrant life energy entered a battle, a stalemate of damage and healing. John's smile widened as he felt the power within his body reach heights he had never felt before, and his gaze locked onto the approaching attack, his fingers twitching with anticipation.
He pointed outwards towards the attack, and then unleashed the strongest battle art he had ever unleashed in his life. The Dao of Lightning and Power fused together under his control, augmenting the power of the War Mage art to an entirely new level. The world seemed to still for a moment around him, and then as if summoned from the void, a portal of lightning appeared before him, facing outwards towards the attack.
Dragontail Decimation!
The dragontail-like beam of lightning blasted outwards, as if it had the power to destroy the world. It slammed against the Asura's attack a hundred miles behind the ship, the collision creating an explosion that engulfed the entire land and sky. The explosion washed over the ship, drowning it in its power, while John's aura flared outwards, fighting against the explosion, keeping it away from the ship as best he could.
The calamitous explosion faded away, the steamy mist from the evaporated ocean beneath clearing as well. The sky was clear, and then the ship pierced out from the void of space once more, its exterior unscathed, speeding towards the Yuan Continent.
John stood tall on the ship, appearing like a bastion of unbreakable might, his aura climbing to the heavens above. His firm gaze and strong aura seemed to roar loudly, 'So long as I draw breath, this ship will not fall'.
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