Mane's hair turned red, and so did his eyes. A pitch black aura engulfed him, but unlike before it didn't carry the dread of darkness; it expressed a different kind of dread. It carried the dread of war and battle, and it smelt of unbridled power. As if that wasn't enough, blue flames engulfed Mane's entire body, intermingling with the black aura. The temperature of the flames was so high that the walls of the cave began to crack and burn!
*Vroom*
Mane's aura climbed up steadily. His strength crept up the hill of power with indomitable will and desire, and as his aura grew stronger, the cave began to shake. When he told Hildegarde he could possibly fight against a 7th Stage Heaven Realmer, he had done so in consideration of all his skills. Without Takeover or True Flames, he was incapable of handling even 6th stage Heaven Wielders. With them, everything was very different.
Silver's mother furrowed her brows in surprise and doubt. Techniques that could increase a person's strength so were forbidden, and they took a huge toll on a person's body. Unless it was a skill that was inherited like hers, the price to use it would be too steep. Why would this boy resort to such a method for her son's sake? Did he truly value her son as a precious comrade? Or was she just thinking too much. As she thought about this her eyes remained glued to the figure of the boy engulfed in flames so blue that it was almost as if Mane was engulfed in a watery flame.
The Monkey Queen had no idea that Mane didn't need to pay the huge price she thought he did to experience such a vast increase in strength. Takeover increased his strength to three times his original power, but it was a Glow; a glow he inherited from his mother. Although he was left weary to the point of over exhaustion after using it, he didn't receive any detriments to his foundation or energy. If it was such a costly move, there was no way he would have used it. For although he liked Silver, he had known him only a few days. It was unreasonable to make that kind of sacrifice for someone he had just recently befriended.
Of course Silver's mother didn't know this. She stomped the ground lightly, and several pillars of earth rose up and fastened themselves to the roof of the cave. Some bound themselves to the caves walls, and the shaking ceased. A battle of this caliber shouldn't be fought here. After all, a Heaven Realmer was capable of levelling a city if he/she went all out. She was a powerful Heaven Wielder with her battle prowess at the 8th Stage of the Heaven Realm. And Mane certainly had the abilities of a Heaven Wielder even though he was not. So their fight was bound to be destructive. If it wasn't because of the special properties of the cave that allowed it to withstand such grave impact, she would have moved out without hesitation. But that didn't mean that she wasn't worried. After all, even if it was special, how much could it possibly take?
"His fire is different," Lily who was watching stated. She had moved to the entrance of the cave, into the passageway that led to the outside. The passageway was long and vast, and it typically took a person about 30 minutes to walk from the passageway to the outside. She had no choice but to move here due to the fierceness of Mane's fights. And this last one was going to be more savage than the others.
*Roar*
Next to her was Silver who had moved also for that very same purpose. The large monkey looked on with awed eyes. His eyes particularly travelled to Mane's figure more often than it travelled to his mother's. He agreed with Lily that Mane's flames were different. He could feel the power of the flames even from here. They cackled and hissed and scotched him like the sun itself. He knew that this fire was vastly superior to Mane's former flames. If this was the fire Mane had used against the Earth Realm Crystal Monkeys, there was no way any of them would have survived!
*Boom*
The ground Mane stood on developed new cracks, and slightly caved in. His eyes were fully focused on the figure of the Emerald Crystal Monkey. Once he felt the familiar power fill his entire being, he knew that he was ready. He couldn't use more than two Glows at once, and could only handle a Breath per time. But it was enough. At least he felt it was. As to whether it would be good enough to deal with the beast before him, there was only on way to find out. And he set upon doing just that.
*Whoosh*
Mane's figure flashed as he moved towards the Monkey Queen. His fiery figure left a huge trail of light when he moved, and he seemed to have stolen the spotlight from the Light Tree, becoming the brightest existence here.
But he wasn't the only one who moved. The Monkey Queen wasn't idle either, and she moved almost immediately Mane moved. She was large, but that didn't negatively affect her speed. She was big, but she wasn't sluggish at all. She moved with the grace of one who controlled the lives of millions; with the poise of a ruler; and with the majesty of a Queen. Although she was heavy, her steps were light and refined, and so well controlled that the cave ground didn't even realise that she was treading upon it.
In no time, both had narrowed the large gap between them to only a few meters.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon Butterfly"
With swords in hand, Mane could apply the much more convenient Dance of the Half-Moon Butterfly. His figure that the Monkey Queen was able to follow all this while turned illusionary and he disappeared, much to her dismay.
Mane reappeared right next to the Monkey Queen. Without any hesitation he sliced his fiery blades at the huge figure of the Emerald Crystal Monkey.
"4 Way Cut: Perfect Square"
Sword lights flew from Mane's swords and formed a perfectly large square. The square was burning with blue flames, and its heat was several times greater than the fire that surrounded Mane. It was the largest square Mane had formed just yet and was comparable to the large arm of the Monkey Queen. It was so large that it was bigger than him, and it drained quite a bit of his energy.
In a fight like this not only was her huge size a disadvantage in terms of mobility – since the cave wasn't large enough so that she could move freely – it also provided Mane with a large surface area to strike. But there was also an advantage: which was that every attack had to be large and strong enough to threaten her. A perfect example of this was the huge flaming square that was flying towards the Monkey Queen's leg.
The fiery square was quick. In less than a second it had already reached its target. But before it could strike the Monkey Queen, one of the earth drones flew into its path and blocked the attack.
*Boom*
With a resounding roar several chunks of earth were blown away as the earth drone was destroyed. Mane had an ugly expression on his face. He rapidly retreated as the large fist of the Monkey Queen descended upon his previous location.
*Bang*
A new hole joined the many others that had been formed today, as the giant fist of the Monkey Queen caved out its own pouch in the ground.
"Disappointing," Mane mumbled while finding his footing again. "It disappeared after destroying just one drone," he continued. Whilst Perfect Square wasn't his strongest attack, it was disappointing to see it take down only one drone and disappear. Mane had considered the drones when he struck. But he thought that his attack would be able to break through a drone and find its target; weakened, but capable of doing a little damage. He had vastly overestimated his capabilities and underestimated his opponent's. Then again, those drones were not only big, but had great defenses. After all, they were born of the earth element.
"She surely doesn't think that way," Hildegarde who was flying above Mane said and pointed at the annoyed Emerald Crystal Monkey. Even she was uncomfortable with Mane's flames. It couldn't threaten her, but it made her feel like she was in a hot and uncomfortable room. So she took off.
*Roar*
Silver's mother wasn't best pleased that she had lost a drone. Those things weren't easy to produce, and stole a huge chunk of inner energy. If they were recalled that energy was returned, but if they were destroyed it was lost. So there was no way she was happy. The seven earth drones around her readjusted their positions to compensate for the loss of one, and each one opened up to reveal a small hole in the middle. Small lights gathered within these holes and prepared to fire at Mane. As if that wasn't enough, the cannons on the Monkey Queen's shoulders also lit up, as violent torrents of energy formed within them.
"Are you kidding me?" Mane exclaimed seeing that the drones could not only defend, but attack.
"Dance of the Half-Moon Butterfly"
Mane activated his technique quickly once the energy blasts were fired at him. His figure moved seamlessly between the blasts as though he was dancing. And though he came close to being struck a few times, he was never hit. But the walls and ground weren't so lucky.
*Bang*
*Boom*
Serving as testimonies to the destructive abilities of the turrets were several new deep holes on both the ground and walls. Smoke escaped from these holes and rushed to the surface, and Mane could tell just how destructive the turrets were from the sights around him. He didn't dwell on that though. He reckoned that a skill like that would need time to cooldown. So he struck.
"Prideful Sword: Dance of the Half-Moon"
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King"
Activating two techniques he was vastly proficient with, Mane crashed into a drone. Since they were going to be blocking his attacks, he might as well destroy them now. Two fiery sword lights sliced through the drone without much issue.
*Crack*
And without any true suspense, the weaponized flying machine was cut into two. Yet Mane's sword lights weren't fully depleted. They were thinned out, but still capable of one more attack. And Mane knew this. Both skills were stronger than 4 Way Cut: Perfect Square, and he was much closer to the drone than he was before. After all, the first time he wasn't even planning to hit a drone. And that was why Mane hadn't aimed for one, but two drones!
*Boom*
This time both sword lights were exhausted and blew up with the second drone. Including these two, Mane had taken care of three drones in total, leaving him with five drones to deal with. But now that he had made his intentions clear, the Monkey Queen wasn't going to make it easy for him to achieve them. Besides, she was far from her usual 'chirpy' self.
*Roar!*