•••

“Wait!” Enyo shouted with a shocked expression, “You practice the Way of Buddha? How? You look and emanate an aura so unlike a Buddha.”

Her eyes roamed Astrallis’ body, “Your appearance is a seductive devil or a handsome fallen angel, not a bald benevolent monk.”

“Blame my grandmother, she’s the one who made me practice the Sanguinary Felicity Body-Art, an art only usable by females; it’s only because of the special circumstances I was able to cultivate it. Now just like the females, I’ve acquired the seductive look of a devil.” Astrallis shivered, his mind replaying the moments of when he looked like a girl.

He was inwardly relieved that Enyo never saw his past form.

Enyo nodded, choosing to ignore the unique circumstances as everyone had their secrets.

“Before my transformation, I assumed the role of a Way of Buddha practitioner rather well. I was pure and innocent, always abiding by my elders, afraid to hurt any entity that wasn’t tainted by nefarious thoughts.”

“Now,” with a wave of his hand, the aura of his emerald Qi began to rise, “I realise I was naive to conform to such principles.”

An aura of a devil monarch began to surge around him.

“I can be so much more, but at the same time...”

An aura of benevolence began to amalgamate with the regal devilish air around him.

“I can be like two sides of the same coin.”

“I can be like a Devil Buddha, have you ever heard of such a being?” Astrallis began to laugh to the heavens, his rose tattoos burning with a red light.

“Enyo, think about it. Have you felt your personality change ever since you began cultivating the art?” Astrallis questioned the fiery girl, without waiting for a response he continued, “Have you felt a hint of a devil inside you?”

“Do not be aghast. I’m sure you would have realised it. Eventually, you are not just a cultivator of three Ways, but four; the Way of Devil.”

Enyo’s aura became violent during Astrallis’ speech but as soon as the fluctuation occurred it receded. An ambience of resolve emanated from her being.

•••

A solemn air covered the Ether Family.

“It seems he figured it out rather swiftly. Accepting it even quicker,” Grandmother Anemone spoke with a stern voice, “I was hoping to explain these things to him. I was concerned about how he would take it; he’s unlike us. Before his transformation, he was innocent and naive, only caring about impressing me, he wouldn’t even harm an ant. A perfect child for the Way of Buddha, the very reason the Buddha Sects chose him.”

“We were born for the Way of Devil and the Way of Blood; we are just able to hide it,” Jasmine confirmed.

“This was all per the Astral God’s wishes. He didn’t just help you and your husband on a whim; it was all for a reason. He wished to create something new.”

“A Buddha and a Devil; both combining...” Grandmother Anemone’s voice trailed off.

“I’m also impressed by little Enyo, she’s already submitted to it and moved on.” Jasmine’s voice rippled, something flashing in her eyes when she looked from Enyo to Astrallis.

•••

“Enyo, bring out all your cards. For I will be doing the same,” Astrallis devilish voice began to rise with an imperial ambience.

“Bataar fuse!” He commanded.

Bataar, the lion-kitten materialised next to Astrallis, “Boy, do you want to do this?” Bataar said dismissively.

“She can handle it,” Astrallis responded.

Bataar fused into the Dharmic Nodachi, a smile on his face.

“Dharma Qi combust!”

Dharma Qi began to rotate at an inane speed through his Astral Meridians; his tattoos turned luminescent green in response. His eyes, now a piercing green, trained upon his nodachi, watching as Dharma Qi fused with the blade, an emerald fire encapsulating the sword as a result.

Sensing the change in Astrallis, Enyo began to take action too.

“War Immortal Qi combust!”

A golden-throne formed behind her, an ethereal figure emitting the aura of an emperor sat upon it.

Her fiery hair turned to a pale-gold, her eyes quickly following suit.

“Bloodline Spear Fusion!” Enyo’s eyes became stern.

The pale-golden Qi began to fuse with the nine-meter long blood spear in her hands. Golden runic formations started to run along the shaft of the spear, while the head of the spear completely changed into a golden colour.

Battle-intent continued to escalate from Enyo, a unique feature of the War Immortal bloodline. The longer she fought, the higher her battle intent became, at the same time the higher her battle intent, the more her power increased.

The aura of a devil monarch with the serenity of a Buddha, against the atmosphere of an emperor with the furore of a war god.

A battle of two future sovereigns.

With a beat of his wings the devilish Astrallis charged at Enyo, at speed above the capabilities of a World-Wandering Realm cultivator, nodachi pointed ahead.

A sonic boom resounded across the area, his speed reaching over a hundred meters per second, he struck the defending Enyo.

An explosion of emerald and golden energy occurred at the point of contact, eliciting excited cries from their weapons.

Enyo struck her spear towards Astrallis’ chest, just as it was about to reach his body, he parried the blow by holding his sword vertically and forcing the spear thrust underneath him.

Running along precariously on the bridge of the spear shaft, Astrallis sent a spinning kick against her neck, just as the potentially fatal kick was about to reach her throat a golden helmet and neck guard formed around her.

The kick sent Enyo crashing into the ground.

She slowly stood up, only slightly injured, managing to displace the damage through her ‘War Immortal's Mantle’.

Her battle-intent ever-rising.

With a jump, Enyo reached Astrallis in a split second.

“Myriad Spear.”

Her spear struck out continuously, striking out so many times it gave the illusion of multiple spears attacking Astrallis.

Astrallis parried the spear strikes as he was slowly forced back by the increasing power of Enyo.

‘Karma Eyes activate’, Astrallis began to observe the karma seeds within Enyo’s body. Her body was alight with teal coloured seeds; even a quaint teal corona was beginning to form around her.

‘Oh, her karmic seeds are increasing. It seems it's not just her physical strength that increases the higher her battle-intent becomes, her comprehension as well. It’s a manifold increase in power.’

Astrallis kept on deflecting the spear strikes, but at the same time, he allowed for small amounts of Dharma Qi to sneak into her hands.

Gradually the karmic seeds in her hands began to disintegrate causing her strikes to become slower and less accurate.

Although the amount of lost karmic seeds was not enough to impede her attack, it was enough to make Enyo retreat, forcing her to reevaluate her plan of attack.

Alas, Astrallis never gave her a chance. He directly chased her with his overwhelming speed and began to strike heavily against her defending spear.

“Imperium Assault of the Jaded-Lion.” With a loud shout, Astrallis lifted his nodachi into the air, a heavenly lion’s roar followed, space tore as a result of the nodachi.

Astrallis one-meter long blade struck down with his most potent attack, forcing the spear out from Enyo’s hands instantly disintegrating it, while the nodachi flew off into the space tear.

Astrallis directly lashed out against the golden figure before him, causing the beautiful female in the armour to vibrate and cough blood. He immediately sent a flurry of punches, each time disintegrating a karmic seed within her.

Due to the Dharma Qi inside her mind, Enyo’s clarity began to disappear, replacing it with battle-intent, she started to instinctively block the blows of Astralis; unintentionally preventing him from destroying more of her karmic seeds.

While these attacks in the physical realm were going on, Astrallis was invading her soul-space with his Dharma Qi pressuring her soul-being, forcing the Enyo, in reality, to react slower.

The Dharma Qi in her soul-space was imprisoning her soul-being, emerald bars began to coalesce around her soul-replicant, causing the near unconscious Enyo to fall completely.

The figure on the throne noticed the unconscious Enyo, and began to emit an unfathomable power and a bloodlust so thick it was palpable.

“Defence of the Throne.” With a shout, the ethereal figure on the throne commanded the throne to charge towards Astrallis.

The throne became corporeal long enough to smash Astrallis a thousand yards away from her.

“No!” Grandmother Anemone formed in front of the ethereal figure destroying it before it could continue its fatal attack. The Religion-Master suddenly emitted a towering killing-intent and vanished from the secret realm.

Astrallis completely undefended rolled along the ground, tearing a scar in the sediment.

He languidly rolled to his side, his left wing twisted at an odd angle and his right-wing wholly torn off, his ability to fly gone entirely. He tried to stand only to realise he had a stump for a right leg.

An aura, unlike anything an eight-year-old should possess tore out from Enyo’s body, sundering the skies and space.

A golden light began to shoot out from her eyes turning the ground into magma around her, the light continued through the air and destroyed a summit of a mountain a kilometre away.

The power of the light gradually dimmed and began to burn a few meters in front of her, but this was still beyond anything Astrallis could handle.

Astrallis watched the unconscious girl turn to look at him, heaven-piercing killing-intent trained upon him.

She began to amble towards him.

Jasmine flashed to Astrallis side, the elders in tow.

“Do not stop me; this is my fight,” Astrallis said, completely ignoring the people around him.

Grabbing his torn off wing, Astrallis used it as a stilt to push himself onto his remaining leg.

“Shakyamuni Manifestation of the Three,” Astrallis shouted activating his Shakyamuni Manifestation cultivation technique.

His body, voice and soul harmonised.

Astrallis began to move towards the oncoming Enyo while chanting.

“Our thoughts shape us; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

His voice reached her soul, while at the same time he removed the Dharma Qi jail from her soul-being.

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

Her soul-being intermittently flashed with light.

“Fight back to reality, do not be overtaken by power.”

A shred of consciousness began to form in her eyes.

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the

truth.”

Astrallis reached her on his makeshift crutch; he gently said, “You’re not allowed to lose control.”

“I didn’t mean too,” Enyo said, tears cascading down her face as she looked at the wounded Astrallis.

“It’s okay…”

At that moment a flash of golden light took over Enyo’s consciousness, her eyes burst out with energy shooting towards Astrallis.

But as the energy beam was about to reach Astrallis, a tear in space formed and from within an emerald blade made out of bone came out and directly deflected the energy beam.

The one-meter-long blade carried on and struck Enyo’s chest, lodging itself there.

The heavily wounded girl fell over, while Astrallis languidly stared at her.

He stood over her, and with his last bit of energy he pulled the blade out from her chest and placed it in its sheath.

He then collapsed next to her.

Benevolent energy full of life enclosed the unconscious duo.

•••