Chapter 1903 - 1902 - All Out

"You all need to protect the survivors. If you find a way out, take it!" He spoke calmly as he let his scales cover his body. His wives and Fey were about to protest but his aura swept outward and they could not resist at all!

Lind had decided. There was only one way to win and that was to dance on the knife edge between one tier and the next. He would pull out all the power the Demi Tier had while touching on the Full Tier.

If he pushed too far, he would ascend and he had seen no evidence he could do anything after that for the Sea or Realms or the others. He had to do it now!

The Bastard stood smoldering but alive. The resilience of Fiends would shatter the heart of the stoutest warrior. Fortress walls would crumble to dust under the kind of assault they just brushed off as if it was nothing.

The various realms and worlds had suffered for untold billions of years as the Fiend menace had encroached on them. Trillions of lives had been lost not to Samsara but to feed their life!

The source of all that suffering stood before him with almost no robes left. The ash grey skin revealed the plain appearance extended to his flesh for certain. There were no defined muscles nor any sign of the preternatural signs Fiends usually had.

Lind smirked at him and the Bastard knew he was being mocked.

"You play with fire, Lind Frey. If we both ascend, this fight between us becomes pointless. Neither of us will ever be able to die." Lind was about to attack when he froze. His actions confused the Bastard but then Lind smiled wide.

His shoulders began to shake as for the first time he absolutely knew something the Bastard did not!

"WHAT?! WHAT IS SO FUNNY?!" Something about his laugh disturbed the Fiend. Lind had no intention of revealing a thing but he knew one fact.

Eternal Realm cultivators could most certainly die! In fact, a whole universe of them were extinguished!

The fact all of them were currently alive was solely due to that fact!

Energy could not be created or destroyed. That rule still held. That was something he had never been able to break no matter how insane his powers. He took all the energy within him from his Divine World.

Enough Eternal Realms leave, the Divine World will collapse and become seeds of new realms.

Too many Demi Tiers tip the scales and cause the Harvest to begin, so what happens to the Full Tier? They vanish and never return? They can never reach out to those they left behind?

He wanted to know the answers but what was important was that he knew Eternal Realm cultivators could die!

That fear had been looming over him for so long but the truth was anything could be killed. It was just a question of taking away what made it live forever.

Lind calmed down and his clear head made him realize he was about to make a mistake. He was going to try and do what had failed all previous versions of him.

A straight battle would end in his defeat.

He kept his scale and claws as he would need them but his aura flared and he resumed his charge. The Bastard summoned 2 gauntlets and assumed a defensive posture.

The 2 came together and the shockwave from just one impact of their fists damaged the entire room. It was going to be ripped apart.

"KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR ANY TRAP SLIPPING INSIDE!" He shouted out loud as transmissions had zero chance of getting through.

It was the last consideration he could give to them. Their lives were in their hands alone now.

[You were wise to warn them. I have indeed kept a few more surprises in the wings.] Lind ignored the vile voice. Their fists were blurs but the dark gauntlets cracked his scales after only 3 strikes. He healed and kept going.

Time became a lost cause as both were solely focused on killing the other. His tail sometimes struck true and the Bastard had to focus on purging the harmonic Qi. It proved he was afraid of it still.

Lind did not push it, however, and continued the slugfest. As the battle continued, the Bastard began to smile.

[You have run out of clever tricks. I have felt you trying to manipulate Time, life, and death just as he did. You have failed.] Lind did not argue. Any doubts lingering about power failing against the Bastard were made clear.

Fiends were tanks. They could take damage and recover before it could pile up. There was no such thing as scar tissue or wasting resources. They naturally could tap into their dantian to recover.

The Bastard also knew not to fall into the trap of using too much. He was easily able to regulate the healing and not waste any movement. He was far superior to him in combat.

While Lind was burning energy like mad, he did not falter. He kept swinging his fists, tail, and legs while infusing his harmony in each part of him. It made the Bastard match him and the 2 were clearly now far beyond any Demi Tier in power.

The shattering of the walls was missed by the pair but they were not missed by the survivors. They fled out and Lind could finally run wild.

His body bulged and the Bastard had to dodge to the side away from the opening as Lind blocked the entirety of the walls with his dragon body.

He left nowhere to go. The Bastard seemed to become a blur, proving he could be moving faster! Lind felt pain all along his body but he ignored it as his upper body remained human. He used his massive torso to move faster as well!

Harmonic Qi flowed all around them to cover the floor and ceiling as well. The physical building was close to collapsing. He felt surges in Fiend Qi but he now flared his harmony to consume it all to fuel his aura.

It saved his dantian some resources in the long run and the Bastard went wide eyed at the realization that Lind was using his own tactic against him!

They reached a stalemate in their fight once more. Neither could kill the other outright but neither could they escape. The truth was now neither could gain any upper hand.

The Bastard was lashing out with all his power but it made no difference. He was completely trapped!

"You cannot keep this up forever!" The black vile Qi shot out of his gauntlets and severed an entire section of Lind's dragon body but it then flared with emerald light to block him from slipping away as it healed.

Confusion flared until his face paled.

"You–you–you have been siphoning my Qi?!" It was absurd. The Fusion Harmony could absorb and convert his Qi. He had been prepared for that process but the Defiance Harmony did something else.

It reverted Fiend Qi into its component parts. Natural Qi and the intent of the Fiend behind it. Demonic Qi had always been refined but never part of either Celestial or Natural Qi.

Lind was actively using it to keep his harmonic Qi active with every drop of blood and every attack! He was taking hits on purpose!

"You have become used to out lasting your foes. Let's see what gives out first, my harmony or your dantian!" Lind sneered as the fight resumed.

Neither held anything back as they both now knew it was an endurance trial. The Bastard sneered right back as it was clear he felt he could win. A Fiend grew more efficient as Lind well knew.

An Eternal Realm could likely squeeze out a lot from incomplete souls that an Immortal Fiend would run out quickly.

Lind began to fight even more fiercely but it did not seem to cause the Bastard to use up more resources. If anything, he fell into a rhythm that avoided unnecessary loss. He even began to evade any blow that might draw blood.

Lind's scales shimmered with both blood and his own ferocity as clouds gathered above them. The Bastard was surprised at such wasteful spending until the chill in the room reached him.

"What is–?" Emerald ice suddenly appeared everywhere. The Bastard could not avoid it all. He had expected lightning but got ice instead!

Lind had learned that the Eternal Realm and his own Mystery of Possibility unlocked the usual rules. Storm Arts need not just be lightning, wind, and rain anymore!

He could bring any element he wished in the form of his harmonic Qi and it would come to be.

The Storm of Defiance was now far more than just lightning!

The Bastard noticed his movements were not just restricted but slowed by the ice storm. Anger flared as his Fiend Qi surged to disperse what it could but he realized he was losing!

A spinning blade appeared but it only shattered a few spikes of emerald ice before it fell apart.

"Something wrong?" Lind's voice was just as cold as the ice. His eyes were now reptilian as they glowed at the Bastard. "If you have anything left, now is the time or I will be ending you."

The Bastard was about to sneer when his eyes narrowed. Taunting? Why would Lind Frey taunt him? He would just kill him or delay until he could. Yet, the storm was bad and his power seemed to be humming along.

His head slowly scanned the room until he slowly smiled. The harmonic Qi blocking the floor and ceiling were gone. The storm covered the ceiling but the floor was wide open.

"Nice try." His fists slammed into the floor and he escaped from the dragon!