"Boom! Boom! Boom!" In the deserted outskirts beneath the night sky, a series of violent explosions continued to erupt as fireballs and magic bullets collided. The spectacle expanded alongside the chase between Leon and Vali, the light from the blasts forming a continuous line of fire that streaked across the heavens.
Leon retreated rapidly, continuously releasing fireballs to intercept the magic bullets fired by the pursuing Vali. The scale of the exchange was immense.
Vali was incredibly fast, moving like a literal trail of light as he lunged toward Leon. Covering hundreds of meters in a single second, he had long since shattered the sound barrier, leaving sonic booms vibrating in his wake.
In comparison, Leon was no slower. Though he didn't transform into a brilliant streak of light like Vali, each flap of the five pairs of demon wings on his back propelled him backward hundreds of meters. His movement left a series of afterimages in mid-air, ensuring Vali remained unable to close the distance.
"Do you plan on running forever?"
Vali shouted a provocation, shattering an incoming fireball with a single punch. He charged straight through the scattering sparks, maintaining his relentless pursuit.
"Did you really think I'd stand still and trade blows with you?" Leon replied, completely unphased. "Don't be stupid. I'm just an ordinary demon, not a dragon who fights with pure muscle."
With that, Leon suddenly ceased his rapid-fire barrage. Instead, he raised a hand and pointed a finger toward the sky, causing a low, rolling rumble to echo from above.
Vali snapped his head up toward the heavens. Only then did he realize that, at some unknown point, the sky had been blanketed by thick thunderclouds. Thunder growled within the mass as flickers of lightning began to dance.
"Boom!"
A split second later, a thick bolt of lightning crashed down from the clouds, striking Vali's hastily raised hand.
"Divide!"
A low, mechanical voice rang out from the blue jewel on the back of Vali's hand.
The moment the voice sounded, the lightning bolt striking Vali's hand seemed to lose its strength instantly, physically shrinking in size. Its power had been halved.
However, that was only the beginning.
"Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!"
As the voice repeated rhythmically, the power of the lightning in Vali's hand was halved again and again. Finally, it was weakened to the point of being a mere spark, which Vali crushed in his grip.
The "Divide" ability of the Divine Dividing normally had a ten-second cooldown. However, in his Balance Breaker state, Vali could trigger the reduction at will, though each activation consumed a portion of his stamina or magic power.
Furthermore, entering Balance Breaker allowed the "Divine Dividing" to undergo an explosive release of power, causing the wearer's strength to skyrocket.
Consequently, Vali—who originally possessed the power of an eight-winged demon—had crossed the threshold of Ultimate-class and stepped firmly into the ranks of the Satan-class while equipped with the Scale Mail.
This was the power of the Balance Breaker of a Longinus; it allowed Vali to leap across two entire tiers of strength.
It was an inevitable outcome. Dragons were essentially manifestations of power, especially the Two Heavenly Dragons—the Red Dragon Emperor and the White Dragon King—who were beings capable of rivaling gods. Even without their physical bodies, as long as their souls remained, the power released through their Sacred Gears was enough to grant the wielder a surge in strength that far surpassed any ordinary artifact.
Faced with this version of Vali, even Leon couldn't help but furrow his brows.
"In that case..."
Leon stopped the lightning strikes. Instead, he pointed his other hand toward the earth, causing the ground to groan and tremble.
Suddenly, the earth began to bulge and heave. Countless boulders and jagged rocks shot out from underground like mortar shells, screaming toward Vali in mid-air.
"Energy attacks get halved, but what about physical ones?"
Leon stared intently at Vali, who was now locked onto by the swarm of stone projectiles. Vali did not disappoint; he reacted almost instantly.
"Half Dimension!"
As Vali fully extended the wings of light on his back, ripples of dragonic pressure radiated outward like waves.
Wherever the ripples passed, the incoming boulders seemed to be crushed by an invisible force. Along with the surrounding space itself, they were relentlessly compressed.
Under this influence, the volume of the countless stones was halved, then halved again. After successive reductions, the massive boulders shrank until they were no larger than grains of sand. A light breeze caught them, and they scattered, never even touching Vali.
This was a specialized application of the Divine Dividing's reduction ability. The technique reduced the volume of targets within a specific range by half, including trees, rocks, and even buildings.
"Hum—"
Vali then pointed his hand toward Leon, causing the dragonic ripples to rapidly expand in his direction.
Leon's eyes narrowed. He vanished from his spot, flickering away just as the space he had occupied was engulfed by the ripples. A small hill behind his former position was caught in the wave; it shrunk at a visible speed, getting smaller and smaller until it was the size of a pebble. The sight was enough to make one's skin crawl.
"That ability is honestly a bit of a cheat," Leon couldn't help but remark.
"And yet, even this power is still not as effective as your 'Zenith Tempest,' is it?" Vali lowered his hand, his voice sounding distorted through the helmet.
"So?" Leon curled his lip. "What's your point?"
"My point is, it's about time you showed your full strength," Vali said, emphasizing every word. "You haven't used your Balance Breaker yet."
Indeed, while it appeared on the surface that Vali had the advantage and Leon was merely playing defense, Vali didn't dare lower his guard. He had gone all out and activated his Balance Breaker, yet Leon was holding his own without even using his own. That was not a comforting realization.
Leon glanced at Vali but said nothing. Suddenly, he shot upward into the sky, disappearing into the thick thunderclouds.
"You want to see my Balance Breaker?"
Leon's voice boomed from within the clouds, resonating like a peal of thunder.
"Then talk to me after you survive this!"
The moment he finished speaking, a blinding flash of lightning erupted within the clouds. Leon's silhouette, with its five pairs of wings, was bathed in a pale blue light, making him look like a descending god of storms.
Vast amounts of electricity surged through the clouds, converging on Leon at a terrifying speed.
"Not good!"
Vali sensed the impending danger and began to flare his wings wide once more. However, halfway through the motion, he realized to his horror that he couldn't move.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
With a jarring sound of freezing, ice began to seep from the joints of Vali's armor. Frost rapidly spread across the mechanical structures of his wings, locking them in place and preventing them from expanding.
Feeling the sudden, drastic drop in the surrounding temperature, Vali realized that Leon had been laying a trap in the shadows throughout the exchange. He had seen exactly how Leon had dealt with Kokabiel.
"Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!"
Without a second thought, Vali triggered his reduction ability. The blue jewels across his armor chanted in unison. As the dragonic ripples washed over him, the freezing stopped. The ice coating his body was rapidly whittled away by the power of "Divide," clearing his armor in an instant.
But by the time Vali had freed himself, Leon's ultimate attack was fully charged.
—Fall.
As if a deity were delivering judgment, Leon's voice rang out again. Countless bolts of lightning erupted from his body, turning into a horrific rain of thunder that hammered down toward the earth.
It was an apocalyptic sight.
The storm spanned several kilometers, turning the entire area into a lightning zone. Everywhere the eye could see, violent bolts of blue energy were snaking down from the pitch-black clouds, bent on total destruction.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The lightning fell like divine hammers, striking the ground, the forests, and the mountains. The deafening roar was constant as the blue serpents of energy connected the sky to the earth, obliterating everything in their path.
In the midst of this natural disaster, Vali stood at the epicenter.
Lightning fell around him. Lightning fell above him. Everything in his field of vision was blinding electricity, making his armored figure look as small and insignificant as an ant.
"Raaaaagh!"
In his desperation, Vali raised both hands and let out a roar. He intercepted the falling bolts with his palms while frantically activating his ability.
"Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!"
The blue jewels across his body were working at an extreme overload, their mechanical voices overlapping into a single drone. Vali manifested a reduction barrier in front of him, weakening every bolt that struck him.
Yet, the number of strikes was infinite. He was forced to trigger "Divide" thousands of times in succession. Consequently, Vali's magic power began to drain like a dam that had burst.
Whether it was a Sacred Gear's basic ability or the Balance Breaker state, everything came with a cost. The Balance Breaker, in particular, required a massive amount of energy just to maintain. Most wielders didn't dare activate it lightly.
Vali was only able to use it so freely because he was a descendant of the original Lucifer. He possessed the blood of a Devil King, granting him an astronomical pool of magic power from birth.
This innate power far exceeded what Leon had started with. While Leon's initial magic had been at the level of a Middle-class demon, Vali had started at the High-class level and quickly surpassed it. As a descendant of a Satan, Vali's talent was peerless; he could use his Longinus without restriction because his reservoir of mana could handle the strain.
In his Balance Breaker, Vali could normally stay transformed for an entire month without rest, provided he didn't use any high-drain abilities. He was so magically wealthy that he used his Scale Mail just to fly from place to place.
In contrast, the Red Dragon Emperor, Issei Hyoudou, could only maintain his Balance Breaker for ten minutes when he first achieved it in the original story. The difference between ten minutes and a month was staggering.
However, that was only when not using abilities. When someone used their powers as frantically as Vali was doing now, even the most massive pool of magic would eventually run dry. Eventually, he would lose the ability to even stay in his armored form.
"Crack!"
Just as the thought crossed Vali's mind, his helmet shattered, revealing his face and his wide, shocked eyes. A single bolt of lightning had pierced through his weakened barrier and struck his head, destroying the headpiece.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Soon, more and more bolts of lightning began to bypass the barrier. One after another, they slammed into Vali's body, tearing chunks out of his armor. These bolts had been weakened by several rounds of "Divide," otherwise, they would have done far more than just damage the plating.
"Ugh—!"
Vali grit his teeth, preparing to make a move. Unfortunately, he was too late.
"Snap—"
A soft sound echoed from behind him, and Vali's expression froze. The figure with five pairs of demon wings had silently appeared at his back, reaching out to press a palm against his spine.
"In a fight, you should watch your back more carefully, kid," Leon said with a narrow-eyed smile.
In the hand pressed against Vali's back, a ball of fire ignited.
"BOOM!"
A massive explosion erupted at the center of the lightning storm. Bursting flames surged outward without warning, mingling with the surrounding electricity to create a strange, chaotic vortex of fire and thunder.
Leon's figure shot backward out of the blast, soaring into the sky. Meanwhile, Vali's body, trailing black smoke, plummeted toward the earth.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi