Ryu's aura was akin to a blazing torch in the dead of night.
The temperature skyrocketed, to the point that it was felt even beyond the protective veil of the star path. It transcended barriers, elevated beyond restrictions, suffocated opposition.
However, it seemed as though Ryu wasn't satisfied with this alone.
His wings spread out, their subtle movements causing a torrential storm of vicious winds to rush out in every direction. They fluttered, a dense concentration of royal blue Heavenly Patterns appearing across their surface and subsequently across Ryu's body.
With a single flap, Ryu vanished from his location, appearing before Starlight with a descending dragon claw, his glistening, sword-like nails suddenly exploding forth with swirling black Heavenly Patterns.
All of Starlight's aura was shredded to pieces beneath the might of his draconic claw, the clouds above splitting into six and the ground below collapsing.
The sharpness of Ryu's attack caused Starlight's expression to change. He was completely taken off guard. He had believed with every fibre of his being that this battle would be over the moment he revealed his Dao, but to his shock, Ryu had a Dao surpassing his own both in maturity and grade!
And what were those patterns? They seemed to nearly close the gap between their qi quality. Those blue ones radiated with an aura that seemed indestructible, and those black ones radiated an air of destruction that shredded through everything in its path.
Suddenly, Starlight's eyes widened.
Phoenix Heavenly Patterns!
Lightning Oilin. Fire Dragon. And now Ice Phoenix? No, Dark Phoenix? No, Fire Phoenix? No...All three?!
Starlight's expression changed again. Ryu's claw had already appeared before him and he could feel that his Dao had suddenly become suppressed from all sides. It felt like no matter where he tried to escape, he would be swallowed up whole.
He was now experiencing what everyone did facing Ryu's Dao, but on a level it had never been before.
At that moment, Starlight's instincts screamed at him to do something that seemed to make no sense whatsoever, and yet he still followed it without hesitation. He retrieved his Dao, burying it within the deepest parts of his Do Heart before roaring out and countering with as much strength as he could gather in short order.
BANG!
Starlight flew out like a shot from a canon. The wind was torn to pieces around him and he nearly vanished into the ground.
Cracks appeared in his causality sword, and warped distortions threatened to force his blackhole and star constellations to collapse. The sudden difference was drastic.
Ryu stepped forward, ready to follow up, but his gaze suddenly flashed instead. His intentions changed on a dime and he pressed his hands together.
The nine pillars in the surroundings pulsed to life, golden Heavenly Patterns spiraling into existence on their body.
The aura of an Emperor Phoenix towered into the skies, a bridge between life and death seemed to be formed and the gatekeeper was none other than Ryu himself.
At that moment, Starlight flipped through the air, coughing up a mouthful of blood as he swiftly recovered. He landed heavily on his feet, his gaze landing on his cracked constellations. A malevolent expression took root deep within his irises.
With a squeeze of his fists, Starlight's constellations crumbled into motes of dark gold. He didn't say anymore words as the void to a new plane appeared behind him once again.
BOOM!
In one moment, there was silence, but in the next instant, thousands of bronze, gold and silver hands and arms tore a path out of the void, even grabbing its edges and pulling them apart further.
This time, the constellation didn't fuse with Starlight's body, but there was n doubt that its aura was on a completely different level, an aura that could only possibly come from a Hegemonic Constellation.
A mass of arms and hands appeared to Starlight's back. They coiled and wrapped around one another like an enormous star, capable of blotting out even the skies.
Starlight pressed his own hands together, mirroring Ryu from across the battlefield. Their gazes met, but neither said a word as their qi continued to rise into the skies.
Suddenly, their irises flashed with murderous intentions and their assault began simultaneously.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
On one half of the battlefield, there was nothing but a torrent of flashing palms, each carrying the power to level a mountain and split a planet in two.
On the other side, flames seemed to envelop the world. Arrows, spears, javelins, whips, even stars and cacophonic booms.
Ryu's gaze suddenly flashed. His palms separated and he pressed two fingers together on his right.
The skies rumbled and the clouds split, the streaks left behind by his previous Dragon Claw. It was clear at that point that Ryu's previous attack had shredded apart some of the Heaven's resistance, making the effect of his Storm Talent even more potent.
Lightning coalesced and a strong spatial qi surged.
Before the bolt could even descend, it vanished into thin air.
At the same time, a blazing red-black flame wrapped in pulsing black Heavenly Patterns shot forward out of Ryu's fingers.
The flame shot through a gap in Starlight's defenses before a flash of blue so bright it caused the latter to squint suddenly appeared and fused with it.
The aura of Ryu's Unbalance Mantra surged and his Rage Flames erupted with unprecedented power just before the fusion was completed.
However, just when it seemed that the most devastating part of the attack had been formed, the spatial qi fused with the violet lightning flame, causing the fused product to blink out of existence once again.
A mind numbing threat of danger suffocated Starlight, but it suddenly felt unstoppable.. and it only became worse as Ryu unleashed a mighty roar.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Ryu began to furiously punch at the air, but each and every pulse of Fist Qi came infused with large swaths of Spatial Qi, causing his fists to seemingly vanish into thin air, only for Starlight's constellation of planetary arms and hands to suddenly find itself counter at every time.
What once was a battle of flames and hands became a battle of human fistsand constellation palms.
And Starlight would suffer all the worse for it.
