“Bahamut!”

Zhang Dong pointed out with his sword to order his familiar. The large golden dragon opened up that large maw to produce a stream of heated energy. It flew towards the large demi-human Emperor with the intention to drown him in hot divine flames. Yet, before they collided with the target they were smacked away to the side by a large cleaver.

This large weapon was probably as thick as a human and this person was wielding two of them around. The moment the stream of heat approached it was batted to the side as if it was smoke. He could see dark purple energy crackling around those blades. The space was being shifted in a strange way when the blades were used, it was as if the holy breath was still going forward but the area around it shifted.

‘Is he able to bend space around himself?’

Zhang Dong had a lot of knowledge concerning the various Daos in this world. He didn’t go into much detail into all of them but even he was able to use some lesser gravitational spells. This Emperor that he was fighting seemed to be specialized in gravity. All of his ranged attacks would suddenly change trajectory when that purple light appeared, sometime they would even be absorbed into a strange black orb.

‘Does this ability have a limit or can he create black holes as he wishes?’

This was a problem, Zhang Dong was capable of producing beam spells that involved his Dao of Lightning and Holy. These attacks were being countered by the gravity techniques this person was using. It seemed that he would need to get closer to get in some damage.

‘His soul is too strong for my soul arts, unless I can interact with his body directly it won’t do me any good.’

If he could overpower this man’s soul with his own then his victory would be assured. For this, he needed to start exchanging direct blows to slowly scrape away on his defenses. This would certainly not be an easy battle as he could tell that the man had a strong body. It was above the other demi-humans but only after a proper exchange would he know how much of a difference there was.

“Good… But is this all there is to you? Entertain me more!”

While he was trying to figure out his opponent from a distance, the Emperor kept rushing in like an angry bull. There wasn’t any tactics involved in the way he fought, it was clear that this guy was a brute, quite similar to Huo Qiang from his sect. Feeling out his opponent wasn’t something he was interested in, it seemed that he didn’t think that he needed to be strategic, his powerful body and gravity techniques were enough.

*GROWL*

“Shit, reduce your size Bahamut.”

After a couple of clashes, the first side to suffer was his. During a fly by the demi-human Emperor managed to nick Bahamut’s side with one of those cleavers. This was the first time he had seen someone being able to damage those golden scales this easily.

His dragon was just far too big to make fine adjustments in the air. Luckily he could shrink himself down to gain a boost in speed while also retaining most of his strength. Together with the vast healing capabilities that Bahamut possessed, he was back in action within a few moments.

Zhang Dong was now more similar to a dragon rider. With him being on top they swooped back towards their opponent. With the help of the smaller frame, they began their counterattack. His sword collider with the huge cleaver for the first moment, and his wrist took instantaneous damage as he almost lost the grip on his weapon. Only thanks to his healing capabilities was he able to quickly recover for another exchange.

The Emperor that he was fighting with looked like a monster. After a few clashes his mouth opened up, and the smile he was showing was truly gruesome. He was really enjoying himself, though Zhang Dong’s arm felt like it would fall off, his opponent could feel the effects as well. While his body was in good shape, his soul was being damaged each time they made contact.

‘What a sturdy body, I can’t go against this guy in a contest of pure power…’

Normal cultivators that were on his level would usually lose out due to Zhang Dong’s massive amount of stamina. He could just heal all of his wounds and continue the fight until his opponent became weakened. In this situation where the Emperor’s body refining technique was above his, he needed a different approach.

‘I should have the speed advantage, but I can’t use it during mounted combat, I need to get him down from that chariot.’

This was clearly not working out, his opponent was much heavier. With each strike, Zhang Dong felt the weight of the world dropping on him. Each time the Demi-human Emperor would increase the weight of his cleaves. It was already a miracle that the sword that he created hadn’t disintegrated on the spot. Only by surrounding it with a thick layer of sword energy was he able to hold on.

“This might hurt but I need your help, Bahamut.”

Thus when the time for another collision was upon them, he decided to change his target. His opponent was a battle idiot and had clearly lost himself in the contest. He was enjoying himself too much to see that the dragon that Zhang Dong was riding changed its flight path to collide with the two large horses that were pulling it.

A massive explosion rocked the sky as the two grandmasters collided with each other. Everyone that was fighting on the sides stopped in their tracks as they were affected by the shockwave. When turning to see what was going on, they could see the demi-human Emperor entangled with the much smaller human master.

“Haha, you wish to fight me like this? You overestimated your capabilities, now fall before me!”

The man dressed in bronze-like armor performed a double slash with both of his cleavers. He was aiming for the moment when Zhang Dong lunged forward when jumping down from his mount. Yet before he could perform a full swing something interrupted it. Another collision of metal against metal rocked the whole place.

Zhang Dong connected with the dual blades at the exact moment they were crossing each other in a cross pattern. It caught the Emperor in a bad position that mitigated some of the force that was created and pushed him down to the ground. A purple comet surrounded by golden energy collided with the rocky surface on the ground to create another massive explosion.

‘Did I just break both of my wrists?’

While the Emperor was producing a massive creator below, his hands were in a world of hurt. His body refining skill was maxed out, his whole body was made out of resistant metal but his bones were still getting shattered with almost every hit he had to take. Only thanks to his healing skills was he able to hold on.

‘At least I got him down to the ground, hope this will even things out.’

For a moment he looked to his familiar that was getting double-teamed by huge black ponies. They were surprisingly vicious in their attacks which caused Bahamut to receive damage and back away. He had hoped that he would be able to easily devour the two by himself but they proved to be close to his level.

“You… No one has been able to push me this hard in centuries, this is exhilarating, show me more! This is truly the hunt that I’ve been waiting for, I will be sure to place your head with my other treasured trophies, you have earned the right to be in my collection!”

“Sorry, but I still need this head, my wife would kill me if I became a stuffed animal.”

Zhang Dong descended down to the ground where the Emperor was slowly moving toward him. With them facing each other while standing there, the size difference had become apparent. His opponent was still capable of deflecting his ranged attacks and would probably get back onto his chariot if he let up, it was time to go toe to toe with this monster. If the leader was defeated then the rest would disperse.

Without a proper leader, the tribes would be unable to work with each other. Even if they remained in the Azure Dragon Empire, they could be slowly hunted down while his forces block the bridge to their original zone.

‘This is easier said than done, first I need to defeat this guy, he is a fighting maniac so he probably won’t try any underhanded tactics…’

“Okay, let’s try this again…”

As his enemy was slowly moving toward him as if he was assured of his victory, Zhang Dong activated one of his techniques. It was an old one that surrounded his whole body with a golden aura and an array of lightning bolts. His body started getting bigger, muscles began expanding and his all-around aura began to become fiercer.

This rapid change caused the demi-human leader to stop for a moment. His previous wide grin became even wider, it was as if he was enjoying that his opponent was becoming stronger before his eyes. Soon the two charged at each other, yet this time around the larger of the two was getting pushed back.

The two giant cleavers were swung around by the brutish Emperor. They destroyed the ground that the two walked on, yet Zhang Dong did not falter. Each hit was evaded with grace and after each dodge, a counter was delivered swiftly. Soon the man’s giant body started caving into all of these attacks, when they finally separated the winner of the exchange was obvious.

“You…”

After getting pummeled by Zhang Dong that activated his power-up technique, the Emperor was slightly stunned. His grin didn’t disappear, instead he looked pumped up.

“Finally, after so many years I find myself a worthy prey for the hunt! The hunger, it fills me even now, I will bite down on your jugular and feel the warmth of your blood!

Instead of a concerned opponent, he was rewarded by another psychotic speech. It was clear that this Emperor wanted to be challenged, all of the battle maniacs were like this. Probably he would be satisfied even if he lost as long as it was to a proper challenger.

“You have earned the right to my name and I will have yours!”

“No, I really don’t care about your…”

“Engrave the name of Phallusius Maximus as you die by my blade!”

“... Of course you would have a name like that…”

Zhang Dong gave out a sigh after receiving the name of his opponent. Even though he wanted to laugh this was not the place for it. His opponent was already powering up as he got ready for a counterattack. It was finally time for the real battle to start.