After the explosion, both sides slid backward for tens of meters, creating a significant distance between them.
Yasenia's expression hardened, looking directly into Sarah's eyes. However, she couldn't see any emotion in them, just a profound calculating nature.
Her stance was utterly different, looking ready to counterattack anything thrown at her, and the aura coming from her body was increasing by the second, approaching her own even after the buffs.
'Dangerous.'
That was the feeling coming from Sarah. Unlike just a moment ago, where the feelings were one of weakness and lack of technique, the woman before her had changed so much that she looked like another person had substituted her.
'Wait, this feeling…'
Yasenia looked more than 25 years back in her memories and found the resemblance.
'Right, it happened when we took the test to enter Lost Town. At that time, Sarah's entire atmosphere changed, which is the thing that initially made me look at her suspiciously.'
Realizing that, Yasenia's attitude changed, and she crouched a little, taking her own stance. At the same time, energy circled inside her meridians at high speed, preparing as if her opponent was on Tatyana's level.
'A mistake will cost me dearly.'
Looking from the outside, it looked as if the battle had stopped for a few seconds.
Angel's attitude had changed from relaxed to serious as she spoke aloud. "Mommy Tatyana, that defense…"
Tatyana was also looking on seriously, none of her previous playfulness in sight. "Little Angel, look closely. That's the strongest enemy Yasenia has ever seriously faced."
Mirrory asked Tatyana. 'Did the system take over?'
Tatyana nodded. 'This is the first time I've seen this. Mirrory, although I don't want to pamper Yasenia, please help me keep a close eye. A single instant can decide life and death in this situation.'
Mirrory agreed, even materializing herself. 'I will.'
Seeing Mirrory appearing by her side, Angel's heart tightened.
Meanwhile, after both sides looked at each other deeply, they took a simultaneous step forward and disappeared from their standing points with resounding sonic booms.
CLANG!
BOOM!
They collided in the middle, creating a massive shockwave and clashing weapons while they looked at each other.
Yasenia's expression hardened. 'This is not Sarah. It is the thing inside her.'
"Sarah" twisted its wrist, deflecting Yasenia's weapon, and with perfect and calculated steps, it managed to dive deep while swinging its sword and aiming at Yasenia's waist.
Yasenia quickly reacted, using her tail to slash at Sarah's leg to force it to stop the attack, but as if it had predicted it, "Sarah" took three steps back to avoid her attack while spinning and using three consecutive skills.
"[Pyroforge Prowess: Inferno Chain]."
The cold and emotionless voice triggered the Fire Energy in the surroundings, summoning three wide fire arcs at extremely close range.
Yasenia's face changed. 'This attack will also hurt her!'
"[Celestial Cosmos Dress]!"
The sides of her incredibly long skirt lifted like a wall, and the three attacks landed with tremendous momentum.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
While Yasenia received the attack, it chanted. "[Sylvanweave Sorcery: Verdant Veil]."
At the same time, Yasenia took several steps back, and using her spiritual sense to locate her enemy in the sea of flames, she noticed a shadow approaching from her left.
Quickly turning, the dragoness slashed, using [Draconic Sunset] without holding back.
The pressure of her attack blew the flames away, revealing the creature coming at her. 'This isn't Sarah!'
It was a plant creature that had Sarah's shape and aura, but it was not her.
'Danger!'
While her sword cleaved the plant Sarah in half, a hidden presence materialized behind her.
"[Elemental Synergy Surge], [Essence-Infused Blade]."
Yasenia's face hardened, and her aura burst with incomparable energy. "[STAR DRAGON ROAR]!"
ROAR!
A massive white explosive sound echoed, pushing the person slashing at her back away. However, from its sword, a wide arc of multicolored energy hit Yasenia, creating a loud, explosive sound.
BANG!
Yasenia was blasted forward, rolling on the ground a few times and leaving a trail of blood. Using her tail, she corrected her stance and quickly refocused on "Sarah."
Yasenia felt her back burning and felt the trickling of her blood. "Good. Now I know."
She hadn't left her guard down for a second, and yet, she was overwhelmed by skill. The thing she was fighting felt like a senior, but not quite. 'It's as if a senior was restricted by a weak body. It's not impossible to win.'
On the other side, Tatyana's face was chilling cold, but she didn't interfere. Getting injuries was a normal part of being a cultivator, and enemies that could injure Yasenia without being many realms above were rare.
Killing "Sarah" because it damaged Yasenia was stupidity in itself. Regardless of whether Yasenia lost or won, this was an extremely valuable experience.
Yasenia spun her large sword once, and a tyrannical energy wave spread from her, engulfing her surroundings.
"[Empyrean Galaxy Domain]."
A massive pressure increase came from Yasenia, but "Sarah" maintained an indifferent expression.
Without a single shred of doubt, "Sarah" charged forward. "[Stoneheart Stance: Quakestrike]."
Each of her steps made the land around them literally tremble, and the floor below Yasenia exploded, engulfing the dragons in a lethal attack.
However, from the aftershock, Yasenia emerged, surrounded by a silver dome created by [Draconic Full Moon].
Then, Yasenia's entire presence became oppressive, and everything seemed to fall under her control.
A galactic-blue aura surrounded her entire being, and "Sarah's" expression flickered for the first time.
"[Celestial Assimilation]."
WHOOSH!
The phantom night sky created by [Empyrean Galaxy Domain] twisted as a titanic vortex of silver, gold, and white energy spun around Yasenia and combined into a giant sphere in the sky.
The image of a mystical blue star surrounded by a black halo filled with constellations materialized after the energies converged.
"[Pegasus Gallop]."
"Sarah's" eyes flickered as she lost sight of Yasenia, who appeared at her right in the next instant.
"[Draconic Sunrise Barrage]."
Flashes of golden light manifested with each of Yasenia's sword strikes, showing an absurd consecutive use of a skill.
"Sarah" quickly changed her footwork and began dodging and blocking the powerful attacks raining on it.
While skills could be used one after another, they needed a small buffer, even if they were the same skill.
Yasenia's Assimilation skills, like Sun Assimilation, when combined with Celestial Energy, gave birth to [Celestial Assimilation]. This skill was not an attacking skill but a supporting one.
The effects? Absurd amounts of energy gathering while in combat. In short, Yasenia was in a state where she could "spam" skills at will.
"[Draconic Noon]."
An enormous golden wave of energy scorched everything in its way, and "Sarah" could only block with the lotus skill.
But even before that skill was over, the dragoness pointed at the sky, and every single celestial body created in the phantom night sky fell as if the strings attaching them to the sky had been cut.
It looked upward and coldly uttered. "[High-Grade Spirit Summoning: Earth King]."
The entire land below "Sarah" became "alive" and transformed into a humanoid creature with just its upper body sticking out of the ground. Even then, the size was mountain-dwarfing.
The enormous High-grade Earth spirit used its own body to block the literal falling sky.
Countless explosions created by the giant Sun, Moon, and countless stars ravaged the mountain-sized titan, blocking the attack but, at the same time, being destroyed.
However, Yasenia was not still during this time.
A few instants before the titan blocked Yasenia's attack, she combined her charge skills and movement technique. With nonsensical speed, she streaked through the battlefield, surrounded by colorful lights representing her elements, arriving beside "Sarah."
Its eyes widened slightly, thinking that Yasenia had quite literally appeared below her attack.
'Calculation Miss. Opponent Yasenia Dravory had believed I would block the seemingly unstoppable attack and took me off-guard.'
Yasenia's [Draconic Heart] burst with tremendous energy, and Yasenia roared as she used every single melee attack skill she had in quick succession.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Sarah" couldn't keep up with the monstrous waves of attacks, and several injuries began appearing around its entire body.
With a quick sideways strike, Yasenia managed to blow "Sarah's" sword sideways, and her tail lashed several times in an instant, surrounded in silver energies and creating tens of silver crescents.
"Sarah's" sword flashed continuously, barely blocking all of them and gaining a few bloody slashes across her body.
Then, the dragoness transformed [Draconic Heart] into a pair of dragon claws and entered melee combat.
Punching "Sarah's" sword sideways one more time with a quick strike accompanied by [Sun Dragon Claw], her other fist landed deeply into "Sarah's" stomach, exploding with [Moon Dragon Claw].
"Sarah" spat blood and flew.
Not giving her a single instant of rest, Yasenia overworked her meridians to use all her speed-enhancing skills to overcome Sarah's flying body, punching downwards at the streaking "Sarah."
BOOM!
It was hit on the side of the head and sunk deep into the ground, creating a giant crater.
"Sarah" quickly reacted, bursting with a combination of water and fire skills that created light injuries on Yasenia. However, as if she didn't see her own body bleeding, the dragoness pushed forward and used her fists, legs, and tail to deliver an absolutely devastating barrage of attacks.
[Sunrise], [Crescent Moon], [Sunset], [Sun Dragon Claw], and many other skills continuously burst from her fists, many landing on "Sarah's" body and creating heavy injuries.
At the same time, "Sarah" also used its quintuple elemental attacks to answer and try to survive the onslaught. With powerful healing skills like [Healing Ripples], [Blossom Bloom Healing], and her body-enhancing skill [Advanced Elemental Defense], "Sarah" could bear the barrage of attacks that would've killed any other participant in the tournament many times over.
The collision of their attacks left deep marks on their surroundings, and their bodies moved across the Treasure Land, closely followed by Tatyana and the others.
Everyone was in awe, the seniors included, not realizing that Yasenia had grown so much since she had not really encountered equals until now to showcase her growth.
Tatyana couldn't help but feel proud that her young, fifty-year-old daughter was the one fighting hand-to-hand with an absurd existence like a System.
With a quick combination of tail and leg attacks, Yasenia created a small opening that she didn't miss.
"[STAR DRAGON CLAW]."
Her fist, surrounded in glittering white light and the blue-colored [Draconic Heart], streaked like a shooting star, deeply and firmly landing on "Sarah's" stomach.
BOOOM!
The ground sunk because of the shockwave, and "Sarah" spat a mouthful of blood, becoming a comet that flew across and smashed against a large rock in the distance.
Then, Yasenia's body exploded with even more energy, her meridians shrieking in pain as the absurd amounts of energy roiled inside of her, and she activated [Star Dragon Body] and [Starfall].
The next second, the phantom black night sky turned white.
Thousands upon thousands of five-meter-wide white stars were summoned by Yasenia, blotting the sky with their absurd majesty and beauty.
Yasenia pointed her hand at the sky as if she was grabbing the firmament, and then, with a throwing motion that looked strenuous, she flung the white river of stars toward Sarah.
"Sarah" looked at the incoming attack that would quickly kill a middle-level Epoch Core, and it began calculating counterattacks at inhuman speeds.
'Analyzing odds of survival. Unknown. Analyzing the strength of the attack. Too little time. Analyzing optimal path of attack. Done. Further analysis will be made during the attack. Using 100% of computing power.'
"Sarah" took a deep breath and then exhaled while relaxing its body.
As air left its mouth, a multicolored aura shone around it.
'Unlocking body's maximum potential, unlocking innate skill evolution via potential burning, secondary effects guarded by using 20,000 Shop Points.'
BOOOM!
"Sarah's" hair blew wildly, the five-colored glow around it exploding upward like a pillar of energy.
"[Primordial Element Mastery: Endless Spirit Slaughter]."
Then, the [Elemental Spirit Splitting Sword] in its hands blurred as it hacked at the endless stars raining at it.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
As the stars streaked and approached "Sarah," they were cut in half once they entered within a one-hundred-meter radius of "Sarah," stopping their momentum and making them explode outside a dangerous radius.
"Sarah's" body moved so accurately and precisely that even the slightest muscle reaction was calculated before making it.
Efficient, ruthless, precise.
Those were the adjectives that described "Sarah's" assault.
As its body moved, it looked like a person in the middle of torrential rain, cutting down all the water drops before they could enter a certain radius, creating a strange, dome-like area where nothing happened.
Yasenia was constantly summoning stars and looking over with cold, calculating eyes.
'While she isn't showing fatigue, I can feel her energy reserves lowering. It seems that it will be an endurance battle or something decided in a single moment. I can't use [Day and Night], or my meridians won't last. I need to wait until [Celestial Assimilation] ends, which will happen in about six seconds. I should go all out with all the energy I've gathered.'
[Draconic Heart] changed back to a giant broadsword shape, and she used her charge skills and movement technique to flash forward and approach "Sarah."
This time, it was alert, and even while cutting down the thousands of stars, it sensed Yasenia approaching.
Its emotionless eyes flashed and suddenly stopped cutting down the stars. "[Elemental Warding Lotus]."
An enormous five-colored lotus surrounded Sarah, twice as big as the first one it summoned, and the stars that previously couldn't advance suddenly fell onto them.
From the outside, it looked as if Yasenia and "Sarah" were about to be swallowed by the monstrous attack, and Tatyana's heart tightened.
Meanwhile, Yasenia's face remained unchanged. "Did you think I wouldn't predict something like this?"
"[Celestial Field Master]."
With a profound ripple, all the stars stopped unnaturally, as if someone had hit the pause button.
Then, Yasenia stomped the ground and placed her sword back, instantly lunging forward as she swung her giant sword.
"[Empyrean Star Collapse]."
All the stars that stopped became light streams and rushed toward Yasenia's sword, exploding with radiance comparable to a thousand Suns.
"Sarah's" face hardened because an aura that felt threatening descended, pressuring everything, as a white Sun seemed to envelop Yasenia's sword.
Then, her attack collided with the lotus, but unlike their first clash, the result this time was very different.
The massive white shockwave from [Empyrean Star Collapse] ripped through the [Elemental Warding Lotus], and a cold-faced Yasenia managed to get face to face with "Sarah."
"Die."
BOOOOOM!