Emery's eyes widened for the first time as he watched the sword approach him. But he wouldn't just stand there for the weapon to pierce through him. Though his muscles experienced continuous spasms, disallowing him from moving, he could still circulate his Essence. His Umbra Essence escaped his core and materialized before him as a shield that defended against Noah's thrust. Sparks originated from the point of impact but the shield managed to hold despite its hasty creation.
"Tch." The transmigrator clicked his tongue and Flickered, moving to his opponent's back but Emery had already regained his ability to move by then and he rose his blades before slashing downwards and releasing an Essence cross slash that swiftly reached Noah.
The Half-dragon teleported once more, appearing behind the Half-vampire and making a grasping gesture with his left hand, executing his Pull and dragging the latter backwards. His right hand and sword were quickly coated by his Essence before he launched multiple sword slashes at breakneck speed, launching about 30 Essence slashes at his opponent.
Emery grit his teeth, the sudden gravitational pull that acted on his body had left him massively disoriented. Even so, he managed to create the same shield of darkness. But unfortunately, the shield couldn't do much, it could only block about half of the slashes before it broke apart.
The Half-vampire could only tank the rest with his body, allowing deep gashes to appear on his dark membranous skin, letting buckets of blood seep through the injuries. Still, no sound left his lips despite the pain. Instead, a smile appeared on his lips. "Soul skill: Exchange." At that moment, a strange energy surged out of his body and washed over his wounds.
"Motherfu- Urgh!" Noah cursed as he watched the wounds wriggle and close themselves, but he was cut short as he felt a tiny amount of Umbra Essence that had snuck into his body, seep out and wash over his body, sucking on his vitality before exploding with a stupidly large amount of energy.
It happened so fast that the transmigrator could do nothing but watch as the same wounds that afflicted Emery's body appear on his body. But as someone who practiced the torture that was the Azure Dragon Exercise, his body was stronger than most who only relied on the passive enhancing effect that Blood Essence and Essence had on the body. The same wounds that seemed grievous on Emery's body were only slightly threatening on his, still it was enough for him to cough up a bit of blood.
The Half-vampire narrowed his eyes at that sight. As the user, he of course knew how his first soul skill worked. Exchange would hide a tiny amount of his Essence within the body of his enemy and feed upon their vitality. And on his command, it would send that vitality towards him before recreating 80% of his injuries on his opponent's body. Of course such a broken skill had many limitations. One of such limitations was that, if the opponent possessed a formidable enough Internal Sight, they could catch on to the foreign Essence within their body before cutting off the link between him and his Essence, thereby canceling the skill. The second limitation was that the opponent practically knew how his skill would work after dealing with it for the first time, so he could only use it once.
But even though 80% was not the full extent of his wounds, he was surprised to see that Noah only suffered such a mild wound compared to him. This meant that his opponent had really dedicated a lot to his physical training.
"That's a nice Soul skill." Noah commented while he executed Dragon's Vitality. His Blood Essence surged, flowing through his body and healing his wounds, making the gashes on his skin close up. Then his legs tensed up once more, indicating his use of the Flowing Partial Embodiment on that area.
"And you have a terrifying physique." Emery reciprocated. His short blades found their place in their sheathes while he prepared for another attack.
Noah dashed forward, covering a large amount of distance within a short time with the use of Dragon Step and launching a Drill Thrust forward. Emery responded with a terrifying reaction time, he crouched and slashed forward with Quick Draw, his short swords quickly getting dangerously close to his opponent's neck.
The Half-dragon responded with a Dragon Roar that, stopped the dark haired boy, albeit for a second. Yet that was all he needed. The transmigrator rose his sword and slashed downward with his Gravity enforced sword while executing Vertical Cleave.
By now, the Half-vampire had already recovered control over his body and was quick to executing his Shadow Jump Battle skill, appearing behind Noah with his swords once more aiming for the neck. The transmigrator responded, using the last of his Essence to blast Emery away with the Push Battle skill.
Seeing the dark haired boy landing on his feet like an agile cat, Noah cursed. His Essence Core had been thoroughly drained. It couldn't be helped, the Void Steps and Gravity's Will Battle Arts consumed way too much Essence. He was sure that his opponent's Battle Arts were also like this but with his use of the Execution Flow, he had managed to leave a bit of Essence untouched.
Of course, Noah could use the fake version of his Limit Breaker as he had used within the Devilsoul master Evan's inner world but that would barely help, his Blood Essence which was already running low due to his continuous use of the Flowing Partial Embodiment would immediately empty itself and he reckoned the little time he would have would never be enough to defeat the genius that stood before him.
The true Limit Breaker was also not an option, his barely healed body would break down and he wouldn't even last a second before his mind would drift into darkness.
"Hehe, fuck all that." Noah smiled and held his long sword with both his hands. His aura surged while the ambient Essence around him flowed into his body and strengthened his bones, sending him straight to the 6th Level of the Intermediate Stage.
Still that barely improved the situation, his Essence Core had only been restored to about 20% of its full reserve while his body still hurt like hell. In fact, his newfound strength was frighteningly close to regressing once more as he had broken through under really absurd conditions. Still, Noah smiled and channeled the rest of his newly recovered Essence into his sword.
At that moment, a whirlwind appeared around him before condensing above his sword, brimming with frightening power. "Violent Storm Sword, 3rd Sword: Crescent Moon!" He swung down, releasing a frightening Essence coalesced slash that destroyed the stage as it quickly made its way to Emery.
The Half-vampire clicked his tongue and stabbed his short swords into the ground, using them as a medium to channel his Umbra Essence into the ground. "Dark Shadow: Dark Tribulation." His shadow suddenly enlarged, then tendrils stretched out from within it before spinning with frightening speed and attacking the incoming Crescent Essence slash.
The collision sparked an explosion that blocked both the audience's sight and those standing atop the platforms. But the result of the clash soon appeared for everyone to see as the dust cloud cleared.
Noah could be seen coughing out blood and on his knees, his ever shining silver eyes were dim, a condition that the others recognized as an overdraft of the Essence within his body. Emery was also in terrifying shape, but he could at least keep his Battlesouls in existence, showing that he still possessed some energy left within him.
Noah had lost.