A dark, sinister aura—a mixture of every foul color imaginable—seeped from Asem's body. The ground beneath his feet and everywhere his aura touched crumbled into sand, disintegrating in an instant.
Just like with my power, as the force radiating from Asem expanded, space itself shook violently! Cracks splintered through the space behind him, shattering it to reveal the landscape of the dimensional gap beyond. To affect space merely by raising his power...
Once his heightened power reached a certain threshold, it stabilized. The dark, ominous aura wavered silently. As if overpowered by Asem's sheer intimidation, space itself resounded with heavy, thundering vibrations.
So this was Asem's true power...!
Someone like Rizevim using enhancers couldn't even hold a candle to this! A lesser god could be subdued with a single finger... no, simply by hitting them with this aura alone.
I clicked my tongue and muttered:
"Damn bastard... he was hiding power like this all along?"
"Heheh, when you show off power like that, how could I not want to show mine?"
Both of us, now at maximum output, began stepping forward until we stopped within arm's reach of each other. It was the exact same setup as when this fight started. Except this time, both of us were at full power. Even I had no idea how this would play out.
Asem flashed a fearless grin.
"Come at me."
"Yeah."
The moment I answered, I drove an uppercut straight into Asem's abdomen. The solid hit folded his body into a 'C' shape, and as his head dropped, I targeted his face with a rising kick.
Planting my foot, I launched myself into the air to position myself above his airborne body, then slammed an elbow strike into his stomach, driving him straight back into the floor! The impact of his crash caused the entire ground to cave in!
Attempting a follow-up, I charged straight through the billowing cloud of dust, only for a mass of sinister aura to come flying at me from the haze. I swatted it aside horizontally, dodging it just in time, but—
"Hah!"
Suddenly appearing right before my eyes, Asem drove a roundhouse kick straight into the side of my head! Unable to block in time, I was sent flying helplessly into the stone wall, embedding myself deep inside it!
That bastard... he targeted the split second my attention was drawn to that mass of aura...!
While I was analyzing his tactic, Asem pulled his right fist back—and unleashed a punch at blinding speed. We were too far apart for a fist to reach me. Yet he swung anyway. Which meant—
"...Guh! A long-range shockwave punch?!"
A tremendous wall of fist pressure slammed into me, pinning me against the wall! The continuous stream of long-range shockwaves left me with zero room to escape!
"Don't get cocky!"
If that was how it was going to be, I'd just detonate my aura in all directions. A spherical barrier of rainbow aura expanded with me at the center, consuming everything it touched.
Having carved out an escape route, I wove through the pressure of Asem's punches and closed the distance between us. Asem immediately adapted, shifting into a close-combat stance.
It became a raw, brutal brawl—fists and kicks imbued with massive aura colliding at point-blank range.
"AHAHAHA! That's it! Battle isn't any fun unless it's like this!"
As he traded blows, Asem laughed with pure delight. How should I put it... yeah, he really felt like the creator of guys like Razul. A complete battle maniac who enjoyed nothing more than fighting a strong opponent who could rival or push him to his limits. That was the exact vibe radiating from Asem right now.
...Though seriously, needing to pull out this level of power just to get him to enjoy himself from the bottom of his heart? This battle maniac's standards are way too high.
I caught the straight punch Asem threw, and he caught the uppercut I retaliated with. With both of our arms locked, what followed was an exchange of kicks. If either of us loosened our grip even a fraction, the other's momentum would overpower them. Understanding this, neither of us could relax our grip even while trading kicks.
As our leg-only clash continued, Asem suddenly seemed to think of something.
"As expected, fighting indoors like this with our current strength is a bit too cramped. —Let's change locations."
In an instant, my body was violently repelled by something. It was an invisible force, like opposing magnetic poles, that blew me away. Sent flying, I smashed through the stone wall and was blasted right outside.
Was that just now caused by Asem's battle spirit...? It felt similar to the pressure of sword qi that old man Maurice uses...
Pondering this, I twisted my body in midair and landed on my feet.
The ground beneath me was a vast desert, with nothing as far as the eye could see except sand. ...Looking at this place again, it really reminded me of the Underworld. It had that distinct atmosphere of a realm of the dead.
"You were thinking it looks like the Underworld, weren't you?"
As if reading my mind, Asem asked with a chuckle.
"Well, that's only natural. I used the Underworld as a slight reference when I created this world. Oh, and I referenced Heaven a bit, too. Along with a few other places."
"Referenced the Underworld and Heaven...? Why would you do that?"
To my question, Asem wore a meaningful smile.
"You'll understand eventually. That is, if you manage to survive."
Leaving it at that, Asem assumed a combat stance.
"Is that so? Then I'll just make sure to survive."
I lowered my center of gravity and took my stance as well.
Me, clad in my Hero-era gear, and Asem, wearing the battle attire passed down through generations of Ast Ade Demon Kings.
Holding our stances, neither of us moved a muscle. We locked eyes, reading each other's breathing, paying attention to even the slighest shift in qi.
Asem's qi... despite releasing such a dangerous wave of force, it was remarkably calm. There wasn't a single trace of disturbance in it.
No matter how powerful a fighter is, there are always moments when their focus wavers or their qi flows unpredictably beneath their consciousness. To reach a state where that doesn't happen requires reaching the absolute end of training—someone who has pushed themselves through hell and come to fully understand every facet of their being. And the only ones I knew who had achieved that were my masters: the God of Fists, Glanseis, and the Sword Saint, Maurice Noah.
"That power of yours... you weren't born with it, were you?"
At my question, Asem grinned broadly.
"Indeed. I practically killed myself over and over through training. Ah, I really miss those days."
I see. So this guy earned his current strength through grueling training, too.
Hearing Asem's words, Ddraig chimed in.
(I always knew he was dangerous, but that just doubled his threat level. Someone who gained power through rigorous self-refinement never succumbs to overconfidence. Trying to look for an opening isn't going to work on him.)
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