Crack! Crack! Crack!
It was as if countless crystal diamonds exploded at once—a grand, thunderous sound merging with the energy shockwave, echoing in everyone's ears from the void. Heaven and earth split, sun and moon fell, an endless collapse reverberated.
It felt as though the entire starry sky was collapsing. The square light-pattern continued to spin.
Andrew Han, robed in cyan, cleaved downward in midair. The sheer ferocity of his strike nearly exceeded the square light-pattern's capacity. The square light-pattern that encased the Life-and-Death Duel—inscribed with countless runes and personally crafted by Suweng—began to tremble at extreme frequency. It teetered on the verge of collapse, about to unravel.
The light-pattern shuddered millions of times before it barely managed to dissolve the terrifying force of that blow.
"What... what kind of mystery is this?"
Suweng could no longer hide his astonishment. His heart was full of wonder; he truly could not fathom why Andrew Han’s strike was so terrifying.
The light-pattern was on the verge of collapse.
And what of the Starlight-tier prodigy from Tianyu Palace?
Her skin, black as obsidian, trembled as her Soul-Will shook violently. Even with Fifth-Order Creation Light–level intent at its peak, she could barely withstand the world-shattering axe strike.
“No, this isn’t right!”
Bella York’s delicate eyes widened in shock.
“My calculations were off.”
"Andrew Han possesses four Power Traits, with two nearing fusion. But beyond that, there's a faintly emerging fifth Power Trait!"
She had underestimated Andrew Han.
Had she known, she would have unleashed her full power from the start.
Andrew Han, who had delivered such a terrifying blow, shot skyward in an instant. Like scattered starlight returning to the spiral arms of the galaxy, he hovered ten thousand meters above, palms joined, brewing a breathtaking torrent of Creation Light between them.
Cyan halos swirled around him, resembling planetary belts.
He overshadowed eternity itself, gazing down at Bella York.
His face was devoid of joy or sorrow; his voice was indifferent. “So few Consciousness Nodes—is that really something to be proud of?”
Hmph.
Bella York’s frosty expression shifted to a mocking smile. She assumed Andrew Han’s words were mere psychological tactics and paid them no mind.
The light-pattern continued to spin. Bella stood at its edge, her beautiful face cold, her obsidian skin trembling, pupils reflecting the descending pure cyan battle axe.
“The first time, you wounded me.” Bella wiped the blood from her lips, her black skin shining with dazzling Soul-Will starlight. “There won’t be a second time. Never!”
Her voice, half roar, half whisper, echoed through the arena.
Soul-Will has its own secret arts. The flower sea spun violently, centering on Bella York, transforming into a riot of color—multicolored soul starlight swirling in a divine cycle, as if the flowers themselves were the wheel of cosmic reincarnation.
Immediately, Bella surged upward against the current.
Countless petals were born anew, illuminating the dark starry sky. The vortex, torn between fierce collision and fusion, swelled with the storm—limitless and boundless, as the soul wheel suppressed all.
As the vortex evolved.
Bella wore a confident smile and met the cyan battle axe head-on. The magnificent vortex, in truth, held endless sharpness—decomposing Andrew Han’s strikes into cosmic dust, as if she controlled the cycles of the starry sky itself.
“Life-and-Death Duel.”
“You die, and I live.”
Bella York sneered inwardly, now certain of Andrew Han’s strength. “Chenriver Palace is nothing worth mentioning. You have no right to boast… Even in a Life-and-Death Duel, the terms should be set by us.”
She tapped her toes in the void, ascending thousands of meters as the endless vortex continued to break down Andrew Han’s axe strikes.
It was like sunlight rising over the horizon, propelled by infinite Soul-Will—irresistible.
“Oh?”
Andrew Han narrowed his eyes.
He stood high above, pouring out Creation Light, subtly altering the shape of his battle axe. Like the cascading flow of a galaxy, his strikes encircled the vortex of flowers around Bella York.
But it was useless.
Just as before, the flower vortex merely wavered, dissolving Andrew Han’s starlight power. Through the swirling petals, Bella’s cold gaze seemed to pass judgment on him.