"..."
After Mikael finished speaking, an astonishingly heavy silence fell upon the area as Lian'er stayed quiet, her head slightly lowered, her bangs falling before her visage, hiding her eyes that were rapidly darkening.
'Mikael is developing… strange ideas, he was away from me for too long, I didn't see him for sooo, sooo long, and now he's saying things like that! No, that won't do, that won't do at all, I need to make him remember what matters the most… ME, his beloved Senior Sister, he should have only eyes for me, all the rest is irrelevant!'
'Maybe I should knock him out and bring him back to the Sect, then lock him in my house for all eternity?' for a moment she truly entertained the thought as a dreamy look appeared on her visage, but then she shook her head as a faint glimmer of fear crossed her eyes,
'No, I can't do that, what if Mikael hates me after that!' This fear alone was enough to quell all her previous thoughts and smother them.
After all, no matter how… dreamy and marvelous the previous situation might have been, the instant she imagined a world where Mikael no longer looked at her with appreciation, no longer treated her as HIS Senior Sister but instead gazed at her with disgust or even hatred…
Shiver.
An uncontrollable shiver coursed through her body, she didn't dare to even imagine a situation like this one, it was far too horrifying, 'No no no no no no no no no no no no, this can't ever happen!' she inwardly shook her head in terror, and after several more moments of silence she finally made her decision and raised her head—
"Okay~ I'll do what you say, Junior Brother~" 'joyfully' declared Lian'er, her tone now overflowing with joy and affection, a stark contrast to how she had been only an instant ago, making it obvious to anyone with even two working brain cells that this wasn't natural!
Seeing her like that and knowing that, with his selfish urge to battle Tharvonis, he was making her suffer, Mikael felt a sharp pang of pain and guilt, but he didn't show it outwardly and instead gave her a small, gentle nod,
"Thank you." He stayed silent for a moment, wanting to convey his appreciation for her decision before continuing, "After we're finished with this Realm of Broken Skies, what do you say we go on a… date, just the two of us?"
"YES!" The word burst from Lian'er's lips as the joy and brightness on her visage instantly became ten times more genuine.
The next moment, realizing how… telling her loud exclamation had been, Lian'er's perfect visage grew a shade rosier before she coughed lightly, "Huhm, I'll go now, I'll wait for you to have finished!"
Without giving him the time to respond, the beauty flew a good distance away before stabilizing hundreds of kilometers further—a perfect distance, as she wasn't too close to 'interfere,' yet close enough that, should she see her beloved Mikael fall at a disadvantage, she could instantly intervene and help him!
But… what of her declaration that she wouldn't intervene?
Phff, it meant nothing!
Of course, ideally she wouldn't need to interfere, but if it became necessary she wouldn't hesitate for even a heartbeat; after all, it was a thousand times better for her Junior Brother to be upset with her than for him to be dead!
'Junior Brother, I may be…' she had difficulty even thinking of the next word, her pride as the "Senior Sister" not allowing her to utter it, yet she wasn't blind to reality, 'weaker than you, but with me also having mastered Sword Intent, we can definitely work together to kill him!'
'And… I won't hesitate to do so!' This thought passed through her mind, the beauty's expression growing focused and intense as she attentively watched Mikael floating in the sky hundreds of kilometers away, her eyes locked on him with unwavering devotion and burning resolve.
***
"It was to be expected," sighed Mikael upon seeing Lian'er retreat 'only' a few hundred kilometers, giving him a faint inkling of her intentions, yet he didn't react, for the current situation was the 'best' he could realistically hope for, so after that brief sigh he refocused his attention on the 'blast zone'.
Actually, the word refocused could be misleading, as there hadn't been a single instant during his entire interaction with Lian'er where he wasn't on guard and ready to erupt with his full power should Tharvonis attack!
After all, it wasn't because for once Mikael—having his 'warrior heart awakened'—wanted to have an honorable fight, one that would send his blood boiling, that he had suddenly become naive and would bet his, and more importantly Lian'er's, safety onto Tharvonis's 'Varnari honor'.
His safety he could compromise, as he understood perfectly well the risk he was taking by engaging in this life-and-death battle he was subjecting himself to, but compromising the safety of his women?
That was something he would never allow, it was far beyond his bottom line!
And this was true even for Lian'er, as even though she wasn't 'officially' his woman nor his Dao Partner, for Mikael—and for her, he was sure—the difference wasn't much, as they both understood each other's feelings, it was only a question of time.
'It's nearly time,' thought Mikael as he warily watched the blast zone where space was stabilizing in a way that in a couple of seconds he would get a 'line of sight'.
Myriad Lightning Convergence Physique +++ – 100%
Arcs of purple lightning danced across Mikael's skin with even greater intensity as he once more readied himself for battle, once more entering his 'peak' state—of course, not truly his peak state, since he wasn't using Ferocity Art Mark III – Stage 2 like when he had unleashed that continent-sinking strike which he had quickly deactivated afterward.
After all, Ferocity Art Mark III – Stage 2, even with all its upgrades and refinements, was still extremely costly to use, and wasting tens of seconds of its activation for 'nothing' would have been far too wasteful; he planned to use it only in bursts at critical moments, for in this way—and only in this way—could he truly maximize its power!
Krrraaaa-shhhh.
With that sound, the last tear in reality caused by Mikael's unimaginably powerful attack began to heal under the 'efforts' of the Realm of Broken Skies, which focused all of its strength on mending the 'injuries'—in the form of holes and tears in space—it had suffered, finally allowing Mikael to see what lay beyond.
"!!!"
Standing in the middle of a dozen of kilometers wide and deep crater there was something or… to be more precise there he was!
The 'he' that entered his line of sight was what Mikael instinctively understood to be Tharvonis, and the less… the less that could be said was that the Varnari genius hadn't emerged unscathed from Mikael's devastating attack.
If Tharvonis, while considered 'exotic'—in comparison to humans—was still previously what could be called extremely handsome and graceful, now… now he had lost all of his handsomeness!
His skin, muscles, flesh, blood, organs, and more had all been annihilated and cut into countless pieces by Mikael's all-out attack; on his body there wasn't even the slightest hint of flesh present anymore, everything had been utterly destroyed.
The only 'sign' that Tharvonis was still 'alive' was the fact that his entire physical form hadn't been erased—there was still one thing left, and that thing was his skeleton that was standing on its two feet along in the devastated crater, the only part that had 'survived'.
And this skeleton wasn't white like that of a human but of a beautiful golden color, or… at least it should have been a beautiful golden color, with ethereal runic patterns carved into the bones as the skeleton 'shone' with a radiant golden hue, but at this moment—
At this moment the skeleton was in a truly dreadful state!
Numerous sword lines and cuts marred it, some shallow and others deep enough to almost split the bones apart, while the runic patterns were tarnished by thousands of minuscule sword cuts, and the once-brilliant golden light had grown extremely dim—clear signs of how much surviving the earlier attack had cost him!
And this was totally normal, after all Tharvonis not only had to endure an attack that could have slain a Peak Core Formation cultivator, but on top of that he also had to survive within an extremely unstable space that was constantly trying to rip him apart!
In this situation any other Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator would have already been turned to ash 100 times over, but not him, with his incredibly pure and potent Varnari bloodline he was able to endure and survive.
And that wasn't all, as not only did he survive but he was even healing, the process was slow but Mikael could see that parts of the golden skeleton inflicted by a mix of Sword Intent infused cuts and spatial tears were gradually mending, in a way that if he did nothing, in a couple of minutes Tharvonis would be up and ready for another round!
"You really survived that… impressive!" Mikael's voice, full of awe, spread out with ease, undoubtedly reaching the non-existent ears of Tharvonis, but as a cultivator he didn't need ears to hear, nor did he need eyes to see, and Mikael 'felt' it moments later when Tharvonis's 'gaze' fell upon him.
The handsome cultivator shook his head, "Sorry but—"
His voice was cut mid-sentence as he suddenly disappeared, erupting with his peak speed as he executed a Purple Lightning infused Cloudbreaking Stride, reaching the golden skeleton that was Tharvonis while Purple Lightning Lunar Qi infused with Sword Intent swirled fiercely around Sangrelia.
"I don't intend to let you peacefully heal!"
At the very moment the first word escaped Mikael's mouth, he swung Sangrelia right at the golden skeleton, and the timing was such that the instant his last word left his lips, an avalanche of rapid Lunar Shadow Slash strikes descended upon Tharvonis's seemingly powerless form!
Clank, clank, clank.
"I would want nothing else! This is a life and death battle after all!" roared Tharvonis with his non-existent throat as a pair of daggers materialized in his bony hands, which he then used, in a display of masterful daggership, to block and divert Mikael's attacks.
Because of his extreme skill with daggers, he was able to 'protect' himself from the numerous, extremely fast and powerful Lunar Shadow Slash strikes, but unfortunately—
Shlikk, clank, clank, shlikk, clank.
Tharvonis injured condition quickly showed itself as because of his current… non-ideal form his physical 'stats' were far lower than usual and consequently he wasn't able to defend himself against all of Mikael attacks with some of them slipping through his defense.
These sword strikes struck true and landed on his bones, deepening or adding new bone-deep gashes on his already damaged golden skeleton, individually these strikes didn't inflict much damage because of Tharvonis body extreme toughness—something that was even more true considering that the skeleton was the hardest part of his body, but,
Tharvonis wasn't relieved at having successfully endured these strikes, on the contrary his expression grew grim because as an experienced warrior he understood perfectly well the precarity of his current situation,
'This situation can't go on! I am accumulating damage faster than I am healing because of Mikael's Sword Intent! If this continues on I will ultimately be worn down to death!'
Titanbone Combat Form – Earth-Sunder Palm
Immediately after reaching this realization, Tharvonis didn't waste even a fraction of a second before acting, withdrawing one of his daggers into his storage ring before using his now free hand to unleash a powerful Earth-Sunder Palm straight toward Mikael's form.
Moonpiercer Sword Art – Third Movement: Silver Dawn Requiem
Thud.
The palm collided with Mikael's chest, yet thanks to his rapid reaction he emerged unscathed—though not unaffected—as the immense pushing force contained within Tharvonis's bony palm was enough to send him flying backward for several kilometers.
It wasn't much for cultivators of their level, but it still gave Tharvonis the time he needed to change his previously precarious situation.