“WHAAT?!” Alabasta couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He had clearly been dominating the match and his Meteor Star Shot was definitely enough to end the match and destroy Akata, but it had literally been crushed by him. Akata couldn’t even stand up to his might before and now, after he had used all of his trump cards, he was able to produce enough strength to destroy his Meteor Star Shot?

“Just what did he do? That golden light obviously had something to do with it but I couldn’t tell exactly what. From my perspective it was as if that light didn’t do anything, almost as if it was just ordinary light that was super bright. Bt clearly it brought him a sudden increase in power.” Alabasta looked calm on the outside but inside he was actually a bit shaken.

He wasn’t the only one that was at a loss for what happened. Many of the older generation had suspicions of their own as well. They could sense that the golden light radiating from Akata didn’t hold any kind of power but what they saw happen in front of them proved otherwise. It was conflicting to their knowledge and made them want to get closer to Akata to find out.

“Maybe this is a technique that mortals have come up with?”

“Do all mortals have this ability?”

“He was able to increase his strength far above the level he had showed so far… This technique is utterly terrifying.”

“If I could use such a technique I would be able to become stronger by leaps and bounds.”

Many thoughts and conversations arose amongst the crowd. Some just had the basic curiosity about what Akata did, others had much more evil plans in their heads. Either way, all of them were intrigued to say the least.

The sudden burst of power left Akata feeling weak and timid. Even though it wasn’t his own power he felt as if he had used it. His body wasn’t able to comprehend the amount of power that had just blasted through it. It was a totally new sensation for it and Akata.

Akata took in a deep breath and slowly slumped to the ground. The effects of the increased battle prowess were wearing off and he was now feeling very much so fatigued. He took in a couple deep breaths and forced himself to stand straight back up. His face was pale and he was gasping for air. He clearly looked as if he was exhausted. This exhaustion ,however, cast aside any suspicion that the older generation had about Akata’s ‘divine ability’. This was because they could now tell that Akata had used a powerful ability and that there were repercussions for it.

However, even though Akata forced himself to stand straight, he wasn’t able to stop his senses from becoming muddled. Even his nature sense was losing focus, and this is what he used to see. If it went away then he wouldn’t be able to do anything anymore.

Alabasta looked on with wide eyes but then immediately focused them on Akata. Although he was astonished, he was still a veteran fighter and therefore recovered rather quickly. He waved his hand in the air as he caused a neon light to shine out. He then threw this neon light out toward Akata. Within this neon light was another rock that started to glow brighter and brighter.

‘He actually casted another Meteor Star Shot?! Not good! Akata definitely won’t be able to withstand this one.’ Tabet thought to himself. In fact he wasn’t wrong in the slightest. Without Noluck’s help, Akata wouldn’t have even been able to withstand the last one, to say nothing of this new approaching one.

“HEY! Get up faster he just casted the skill again! Urgh! To think he is so battle tested at such a young age. This is only a light duel yet he fights so seriously. Tsk. I’m sure he aims to kill you here since he is going this far.” Noluck said to Akata. But there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t control Akata’s body after all and therefore he could only try to arouse him.

Akata’s senses were fading away at a fast rate and therefore he was only able to make out a bit of what Noluck was saying. But it wasn’t enough to get any kind of clear message. With his remaining stable nature sense, Akata felt an energy approaching him. It felt the same as the energy before but now it was much more overbearing due to him being in a weakened state.

The pressure from this new Meteor Star Shot caused Akata to kneel down on the ground. He looked up in the direction where he felt the energy was coming from. ‘How is he so strong? Just what makes him so strong at his low cultivation base? Could it be because of his beast race or is it something different?’ Right now, Akata wasn’t thinking about the harm that was about to be inflicted upon his body but was instead focused on how strong Alabasta was.

‘Hehe. I’ll definitely reach his height if I don’t die from this.’ A smile ran across Akata’s face. He could tell that Noluck wasn’t able to give him any more power otherwise he would’ve been done so already. That’s why Akata accepted his fate and prepared himself to take on this attack. He rotated both his cultivation bases as best he could to withstand as much of the attack as possible.

Bang!

The Meteor Star Shot slammed straight into tens of wooden branches. Passing by them quickly but obviously moving slower and losing much of its power. Tabet suddenly appeared in front of Akata and waved his hand causing an orange and green rune to appear in front of him. The Inner Elements of Fire and Wood mixed together. The two runes merged together and caused a striking pressure to emanate out. The merged rune flew forward at top speed quickly making its way to in front of the Meteor Star Shot.

“Cindering Forest.” Tabet spoke calmly as he balled his hand into a fist. This simple motion caused the orange-green rune to tremble uncontrollably and burst apart into many orange-green motes of light. These motes of light fell to the ground and sprouted orange trees in the blink of an eye. The trees entangled the Meteor Star Shot and brought it to a stop midair. Not only that, but then the Meteor Star Shot started to… melt away!

The trees weren’t on fire but they clearly exuded a searing heat that caused anything that it came into contact with to experience enough heat to actually burn so hot that it would melt away. The sight was utterly shocking. The Meteor Star Shot, which was said to be one of the supreme attacks within the Docile Rank for any beast was stopped with a wave of a hand from Tabet. This clearly demonstrated the difference in power between the two.

Alabasta’s eyes went wide. They were even wider than when Akata stopped his attack earlier. “Since when did you become this strong Tabet? Hehe it seems you have some strength to you excellent. Let me be the first to test it out.” In the past they were evenly matched in strength even though he had the slightly lower cultivation base, but now, it was clear to say that Tabet was much stronger than he was.

Alabasta raised his palm in the air and his body started to emit a wild neon glow. Neon light started to form above his palm and it became so bright that the weaker beasts had to look away. The light grew smaller and smaller until it looked like a speck of dust. Then another bright light sprang up beside it and did the same. Then another one. In total three small bright lights floated above Alabasta’s palm. All of this happened in less than a breath of time. A savage smile flitted across Alabasta’s face. “Take my attack! Starsun Dance!” He yelled and threw his hand forward in Tabet’s direction. By now he had completely forgot about Akata.

“Humph.” Tabet gave a cold snort and glared meaningfully at Alabasta. He raised his palm toward the direction of the approaching attack. A soft sparkling rune appeared that caught the attention of the everyone. There was nothing they could make out about it besides the fact that it sparkled. “In truth… I’m not that skilled in the elements of fire, illusions, or even wood. I just so happened to have this skill that lets me understand them faster. I’ve never even gone all out with you before. So how about you… take my attack!”

The sparkling rune suddenly blasted out an unbelievable power that made everyone’s faces fall. It was a power that most didn’t even understand or know about. But the one’s that did felt their minds reeling and shock battered them.

“An… An Outer Element! He can control an Outer Element!”

“Which element is this?”

“From the fluctuations coming off of it, it has to be the Outer Element of Time!”

Tabet didn’t listen to any of this as he swiped his hand forward to the incoming attack. This sent the sparkling rune toward the three balls of neon light. “Reverse. Forward.” He spoke only two words but this caused a truly shocking scene to occur. The crowd practically jumped to their feet in astonishment and confusion.