Two rocks of devastating power hurdled toward each other. Akata had displayed his Astral Obliteration while Alabasta had unleashed his Meteor Star Shot. The pressure exuded by the two attacks caused the arena to rumble and the air to shake.

The Astral Obliteration unleashed by Akata was only the size of a fingernail at first, but then it quickly grew to the size of a head. It didn’t stop there as it continued to grow. As it grew it drew in more energy from Heaven and Earth to power itself. The pressure coming from it made the crowd above inch back to escape it. It was illusory at first but then it began to become more realistic as the ground broke apart and converged upon it. This was far more devastating than any of the previous times he had unleashed this attack.

However, Alabasta’s Meteor Star Shot wasn’t inferior in the slightest. A rock the size of a small hill covered in neon light blasted toward Akata’s Astral Obliteration. It didn’t grow in size but instead grew brighter and brighter. As the light that showed off of it became brighter, it flew faster and increased its own pressure. The pressure radiating off of it cracked the arena’s ground and caused the faces of some beasts to pale.

It was even debatable to say that the Meteor Star Shot was even stronger than Astral Obliteration. But, Astal Obliteration quickly gained power with every breath that passed by. Akata was already headed in Alabasta’s direction so it didn’t have much time to power up though.

The two moves were completely astonishing by themselves, but when they were headed toward each other it was utterly shocking. In fact, some of the weaker beasts had to retreat from the crowd in order to keep from passing out from the enormous amount of pressure.

Boom!

Alabasta’s and Akata’s attacks collided together and the blast caused Akata to fly away. Even Alabasta was thrown backwards as well. What exploded wasn’t the rocks however, but the air around the two attacks. The shocking collision caused the air to burst outwards and send Akata and Alabasta flying back.

Akata’s Astral Obliteration and Alabasta’s Meteor Star Shot clashed against each other sending out blasts of air. But it wasn’t even. The Meteor Star Shot was visibly pushing the Astral Obliteration back bit by bit. Both of them were crumbling but it was easy to see that the Astral Obliteration was being destroyed faster than the Meteor Star Shot.

Akata was sent flying back but after tumbling a few meters he came to a stop. His clothes were even more torn now and blood could be seen oozing from his mouth. However, he wasn’t focused on that, he was looking straight at the clash. When he saw that his Astral Obliteration attack was being pushed back he was surprised.

“What?! How is his attack so much stronger than mine?” It was unbelievable to him that his most powerful attack would get pushed back by someone else. He just didn’t think that it was at all possible.

Alabasta’s expression was just as shocked as Akata’s was. ‘He’s able to contend against my attack? I should be able to easily break his attack apart yet it’s able to hold on for a while. Humph. No matter, he’s just a bit stronger than I thought he was.’ Alabasta was sent flying back but he quickly stabilized himself and didn’t fall down. He frowned slightly and then waved his hand. This caused the neon light surrounding the Meteor Star Shot to increase by two times.

The Meteor Star Shot then easily broke through the Astral Obliteration and headed toward Akata. It’s speed was utterly astonishing and so fast that Akata couldn’t even make out if it was headed his way or in the opposite direction. But he got a very bad feeling from it.

‘I can’t escape this attack.’ he thought to himself. Akata’s pupils constricted heavily as he first thought to defend himself. He rotated his red and gold runes furiously as well as the full power of his mortal and plant cultivation base. He held out his hand as his scythe appeared. He pointed it out in front of him and swiped ahead with an attack.

Guillotine Slice! It slashed forward producing black scythe-light that raced forward to meet the Meteor Star Shot head on in a collision. It aimed to split it in half thus dispersing its power greatly. Akata put his full power into that attack. The black scythe-light seemed as if it was able to slice through anything.

The black scythe-light hurriedly came into contact with the Meteor Star Shot and the resulting clash made Alabasta’s attack tremble vigorously. The neon light that surrounded it began to dim severely and its speed and pressure decreased immensely. But that was all, the scythe-light disintegrated and wasn’t able to break the Meteor Star Shot apart. It continued on in shocking fashion towards Akata.

“A futile attempt to stop my attack. Not even those at the Great Circle are able to stop it so easily. Humph. You can even ask Tabet there.” Alabasta gave a slight grin as he spoke to Akata. “Ha. No need to defend either, this will annihilate you either way.” He said savagely.

‘How can I get out of this. I’ve used all of my trump cards yet I’m unable to beat him. Is he really at the 10th Grade? Think… think!’ For Akata, things seemed to be going in slow motion in his eyes. He put his scythe away and held his arms out in front of his chest. He didn’t want his scythe to be destroyed in case he survived this. ‘He’s trying to kill me.’ Akata thought to himself.

“Interesting, this attack is definitely enough to kill you, just barely however. But I can’t let you die right now.” Noluck said calmly. “Can you shine that golden light as bright as you can? Make it so that nobody can see you.”

“Uhh… I guess I can do that.” Akata replied somewhat frantically and also confused. He rotated his gold rune vigorously as a boundlessly bright light showed off of him. Usually this golden light would be a result of Akata just using the power of his golden rune, but this time he was solely focusing on producing this golden light. Thus, when people looked at this light, it was as if they were looking at the sun itself.

“What a bright light!”

“What is this divine ability he’s unleashing?”

“This is very interesting.”

The light surrounding Akata diverted the crowd’s attention. It made them focus on what that light was instead of focusing on what Akata was actually doing under that light. However, even if they wanted to know, they couldn’t because they wouldn’t be able to see under that light. Every cell in Akata’s body emitted a golden luster of light that illuminated the whole arena.

The Meteor Star Shot closed in on Akata quickly. Almost as soon as that boundless golden light showed out it was upon Akata. Akata didn’t know what Noluck had planned but now, he didn’t have any choice but to trust him. He inhaled a sharp breath and held it.

All of a sudden, Akata felt his cultivation base power increasing at a rapid rate. It wasn’t his cultivation base itself increasing, as he was still at the 7th Grade of the Mortal and Seed Rank, but his battle prowess. This battle prowess felt foreign to him yet also familiar.

“I can only give you a bit of power for a short amount of time. Don’t get used to this. Now crush that attack heading toward you.” Noluck said, sounding somewhat tired and drained.

Akata was now filled with the feeling of overwhelming power and strength. His eyes showed with a golden gleam as he extended his hand out in front of him. This was a simple gesture but it made Akata feel as if utter power was coursing through his veins. He made a slow closing gesture with his hand turning it into a fist. This caused Alabasta’s attack to slow to a stop and tremble. It then shook violently and started to crumble piece by piece.

Akata stood there with his fist in the air watching as the attack crumbled, his eyes wide with astonishment. ‘Third Elder told me that retreating from a fight is alright. But I don’t ever want to do that. This kind of power will make it so that I won’t ever have to retreat or cower in the face of power. But this isn’t my own power… I need to hurry and get stronger so that I can keep this kind of power for all time.’ Akata thought to himself as he crushed the Meteor Star Shot.

‘I don’t know what level this power is at, but I do know I don’t want to rely on it anymore.’ He quietly mused.