Chapter 345: The Heavenly Empress Versus Anna
Listen While Reading: 02. Fearless General Zhao Yun
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Although I knew she wasn’t holding back, she was without a doubt.
One of the toughest opponents I’ve ever fought in my life.
At the side of the Heavenly Demon, the Heavenly Empress stood as an equal.
If it hadn’t been because of her only weakness, her kind heart, which always made her hold back against those she pitied, she could definitely have killed me.
With that single palm strike…
BAAAM!
I fell to the ground and rolled over the grassland.
“Anna! That was absolutely nothing; stand up.”
“Cough… ugh, yeah, absolutely nothing! Aren’t you a bit like the old crow now?”
“I-I would never be like him!”
“Heh.”
FLASH!
I combined Golden Dragon Step with Cloud Step and then Myriad Self Arts to create my own movement technique.
{Myriad Self Arts}: {One Hundred Steps From Heaven}!
By using the movement of all my Egos into one, a single step was like a hundred, reaching her back in a split second, leaving behind rainbow-colored afterimages.
“Ah! That technique…?!”
She quickly reacted, twisting her body and spreading her wings to push me away with them so I couldn’t sneak on her.
Yet…
I gathered the Golden Pink Flames of Love and Hope into my hands, intercepting her wing attacks.
Not a chance!
{Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Weapon Materialization} + {Boundless Love Protection}!
I moved my hands as if they were dozens of snakes at once; each movement was independent, and then they began to divide into dozens of more hands made of rainbow light.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Ah! Impressive!”
At the same time, she attacked with piercing blows using her long nails imbued with Hope Flames.
“{Heavenly Spear Claws}”
Every time they were about to pierce through my defensive techniques, the Protection of Love would activate, negating a large portion of the damage and slowing down her blow.
“Huh?!”
At the same time, it helped me reach her elbow and strike it with a Golden Dragon Fist.
“ROOOAARRR!”
My Aura transformed into a giant golden dragon, roaring as I punched her elbow; she was sent a meter away.
BAAAM!
Only a meter.
She was as hard as a mountain now!
“I’ve become tougher now, haven’t I? Merging with my other self helped in many ways! I’ve become twice—no, perhaps thrice—as strong as before, Anna!”
She rushed towards me, spreading her wings and flapping them rapidly to give her an amazing boost in speed.
But I can do the same!
FLASH!
I spread out my demonic wing and my angelic wing, clashing against her as the two of us fought in the skies.
She twisted her body; in a split second, she was spinning upside down, her big, sharp, birdlike talons with long claws were like deadly blades.
“{Golden Spinning Talon Kick}”
The power of Hope empowered her attack tremendously, as I was forced to defend with my Aura and my arms.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Oof!”
I quickly kicked the air and rushed upwards, but she followed, rapidly appearing above me by outspeeding me and then kicking me down.
“{Heavenly Step}”
BAAAM!
“Agh!”
As I fell, I heard her voice.
“Anna! This is not your complete power; try out more forms, more shapes,” she explained. “Harbor Love and Hope… And turn that into your weapon. How do you intend to save those you love? How do you intend to make your dreams, your hopes, become a reality?”
“Right…”
I concentrated, releasing the power of [Boundless Love Protection] and understanding it better.
It helped me reduce damage taken by encompassing it in something; it can be any part of my body or perhaps even weapons.
When in contact with an attack, it’ll mitigate its damage and slow the attack down, creating openings.
Okay, I get it.
FLASH!
I rushed upwards as I kicked the air beneath me, reaching master once more.
This time, the Flames of Hope transformed into two huge mechanical fists.
{Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope Weapon Materialization}!
The power to weaponize and materialize the Flames of Hope temporarily. This allowed master for a variety of attacks and abilities.
But we agreed on no weapons, so I simply fused it with my Aura to make my aura… more solid!
“Hoh?”
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
My attacks reached her instantly; she quickly intercepted them with kicks and palm attacks. She wasn’t evading them, though, just taking them on.
“Weak! Not enough! {Buddha’s Golden Palm Of Tranquility}!”
There it is! The palm she used before!
Now’s my chance!
{Boundless Love Protection}!
Manipulating this technique as if it were gum made of pink-colored Ki, I used it to wrap around her own palm attack as it came.
BAAAM!
“Huh?!”
And it now came rushing towards me in slow motion.
This only lasted but a few seconds.
But it was enough!
I grabbed her arm and quickly pushed her down.
She smiled in disbelief, kicking my back with all her force and trying to break out of my lock.
“Amazing, but can you truly keep me locked?!”
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
I encompassed my body with the power of the Boundless Love Protection, but it was already wearing down; the Love Essence I had gathered wasn’t enough to keep it up for long.
At this point, she’ll manage to break out before we even hit the ground!
“Anna, don’t lose focus!”
She quickly slammed my chest with a single, normal punch. As she forced me once more to try to let go of her arms.
Yet I was tightly locked into her arms, and I wouldn’t let go!
“Ugh! You’re a persistent little brat!”
“I learned from an even worse demon!”
“Hah!”
I quickly covered my body with several layers of Heavenly Golden Flames of Hope, and began to materialize them into layers of armor, growing heavier and heavier.
“Armor?!”
She was surprised; usually it could only take the form of weapons, but that was just too old for me. making it take the shape of armor came naturally.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
She kept trying to hit me, but it was not dealing any damage now!
“Master, you’re the one holding back too much now!”
“Hah… fine.”
RUMBLE!
With a sudden shockwave of golden light, I was sent flying through the skies before we could reach the ground below.
“Ah! That amazing power…”
She was shining like a star amidst the cosmos.
Her entire body overflowing with pure golden flames… and sunlight.
“My disciple, can you match with me in this form?”
“I’ll try!”
“Very well.”
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
“Ah!”
I was left speechless as she appeared from above, below, to the right, and left within a split second. It wasn’t clones either but her own afterimage because she moved so quickly!
CLASH!
A kick to the head.
BAAM!
A palm attack to my back.
CRASH!
A powerful kick on my legs.
BOOM!
And a punch on my chest.
“Uuggh!”
I could probably use Skills and other things to attempt to match her.
But I didn’t want that!
Somehow it felt like it would hurt my honor to use those things against my master.
She’s using her pure, unfiltered martial arts.
I must do the same!
However, that does not mean…
That I won’t apply the power and philosophy of these skills to my martial arts.
And turn them into my own power, permanently.
Electricity.
Light…
Conduction.
Golden flames.
Threads of Hope.
All of these words, techniques, and elements surged within my mind.
I harnessed them into my own body and then released them through my Spiritual Body as I activated Myriad Self Arts and combined it with several Hope Arts.
“If I can’t match you now, I’ll slowly catch up… to you!”
FLAAASH!
My body exploded with golden electricity, and this wasn’t the skills anymore; this was my own spiritual martial technique.
(Listen While Reading: 38. Successor of Niten Ichiryu)
“{Myriad Self Arts}: {Heavenly Lightning Tribulation Echo}”
The Echo of the Tribulation I went through, the burning heavily lightning, the pain I felt.
And also the awakening I underwent through it!
I turned all of it into my power, fusing it with the power of {Empathy}, the additional power of the Demonic Cursed Seal of Pain which I could use even outside of this technique itself.
By applying the foundations of Empathy into other techniques, I could go even further beyond.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
“You’re matching me?!”
My master was baffled as I rushed towards her; our fists met light against thunder, and explosions of light reverberated, erupting across the skies one after another.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“I could never possibly match you, master; you’re the strongest of the two!”
I rushed above her, kicking her head with all my force as I spun in midair, copying her techniques.
“But your amazing techniques, I’m making them mine as well!”
“Eh?!”
“{Golden Spinning Talon Kick}”
I lacked her sharp talons, so I simply transformed my own Myriad Self Art Aura and gave them to me.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
The spinning kick attack was powerful enough to push her down into the ground!
BAAAM!
At long last, I managed to push her into the ground.
Yet, this was far from over.
Crack, crack…!
Her hands were grasping the earth tightly, shattering it.
“Anna… Amazing! Show me more of what you can do, evolve! Develop at my side! And maybe… I will let you have a glimpse of my pinnacle.”
She rushed towards me, and I ran towards her.
In this battle there was no time or space for cowardice.
I would face her head-on!
“Okay!”
She swung her fists, releasing dozens of palm attacks at once this time.
“Ah, shit!”
I quickly gathered the Boundless Love Protection once more and encompassed now her palms but…
My own body with it.
FLUOSH!
“This better work!”
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
I intercepted each one of her palms by unleashing my Myriad Self Aura in combination with my Hope Flame Weaponization, turning my Aura into several fists.
And ultimately…
“Eh?!”
“Ah!”
I was somehow matching one of her strongest techniques!
“So this is how it works!”
Boundless Love Protection.
It protects me from damage when I target a foe, and it even slows them down.
This represents the power of love itself and how it can sometimes make someone oblivious of their surroundings and everything else.
And then, the reverse of that, what I had just discovered.
Greater speed, more damage dealt, giving me a small chance to match my master!
This represents the obsessive and fierce love that someone might feel for another person.
Or sometimes, if you’re narcissistic, for yourself.
As I felt enlightened by Love itself, I smiled.
I gave a step forward, evading the incoming barrage of fists and spear-like attacks by ducking for a split second.
Master reacted, about to kick my face.
However!
I could feel it now…
I have to use it now that I can feel it.
{Seven Steps From An Ideal Future}!
“First Step!”
I took a step forward.
A single step, and the world around me shook.
RUMBLE!
The earth shattered into pieces and the sky trembled.
As the ground shook, it threw us off balance for a second or two.
Enough time for me to step into the empty area again.
“Second step!”
CLASH!
A massive wave of light reached her.
“T-This is?!”
BOOOM!
The wave threw her away, enough to buy me even more time.
“Third Step! Fourth Step! Fifth Step!”
Each step was a special kick technique with a unique effect attached to it!
The third step released a powerful, blazing kick.
FLUOSH!
The fourth step was a piercing, spear-like cold kick.
CLAASH!
The fifth step was both legs together, hitting her like a hammer.
BAAAM!
“Aha! Hahaha!”
She laughed as she took the attacks, smiling with… passion?
I see, so even the calm Heavenly Empress enjoys a good fight from time to time.
“You’re ever-evolving, Anna! So fascinating… so incredible!”
She unleashed more of her powers, slowly releasing all her Mental Locks.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
She matched and then surpassed my speed, becoming a being completely made of golden flames and sunlight.
I had to intercept all her incoming blows; I was unable to go into the offense again!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Ugh…!”
And what’s worse, the power of Love was decreasing.
If I let go of Love for a bit more, I’ll love my chain of attacks with added effects, dammit!
No!
Focus…
I still have my own Physique.
My own Psyche.
My own Spirit Body.
All of these things.
They’re all the power of my own body and soul.
My own Physique has several innate abilities, techniques ingrained within my very being.
Turn them into martial arts and fight back!
“{Sunlight’s Blessing}! {Starlight}!”
I released my body’s sunlight at once, as an eruption, an explosion of pure golden and white light reached master within seconds.
BOOOM!
“Impressive, but still weak.”
She rushed past the smoke.
However.
“{Brilliant Nova}”
FLAAASH!
I became a miniature star, shining so brightly as if my life was about to fade away.
“Ugh!”
Even master recognized its brightness as she covered her face by seeing it all.
This gave me a chance.
I rushed, as I kicked her twice.
“Sixth Step…”
A kicking strike resembling a golden spear piercing through her was unleashed.
CRAAASH!
And then, the last kick was…
“Seventh… Step!”
The last step to reach the Ideal Future!
CLASH!
“Guh?!”
She muttered in pain as I kicked her chin.
And suddenly, she was paralyzed for a second.
“Ah! I’m paralyzed?! Wait a second, how is this—”
TRUUUM!
Space and time distorted around her and me.
The last step, the last kick!
“{Ideal Future Domain}!”
An ideal future was shown within the domain, an illusion that became a domain, a realm of its own, both real and not.
“T-This is…!”
And she saw it with me.
A world where peace reigned, a world free from the constellations, the awakening, the apocalypse, and the void rulers.
This was the ideal future of Earth I was aiming for…
“I see…”
She smiled as dozens of invisible punches struck her from every angle.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Until the entire Domain came undone.
Crack, crack…!
CRASH!
“Impressive… Amazingly done, Anna!”
She emerged from the Domain with slight bruises…
Haha, she’s tough as a mountain—no, harder than that, definitely.
“But it’ll take you even more than that to match my true power! Can you do it? Do you think you can do it?!”
“I’ll try!”
“No, you simply cannot just say you’ll try, my disciple. This time…”
“This time… I’ll do it!”
Trying was not in my vocabulary anymore.
I’m doing it.
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