Even in this desert, with no plant life to call on, Alex showed no signs of fear, and his eyes blazed with the intent to do battle.
As he watched Alex heal himself, the Diabolic Wolf King narrowed his eyes and puffed out his chest. Then he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and blew out a white frost that formed an arc in the shape of a rainbow.
The frost froze the air as it moved through it, emitting a bone-chilling cold that was much worse than in the depths of Siberia.
Has he reached the divine stage? Alex wondered, considering the implications. Is that a divine ability?
When some beings attained the divine stage, they could access natural abilities without having to be taught. Although these innate abilities were not as developed as the acquired abilities that the immortals practiced, some of them were still quite powerful.
Faced with the king's innate ability, even Alex didn't dare underestimate it. He could tell that the extreme cold had the power to threaten his life, and he wasn't willing to take any risks. He stretched out both his hands and quickly gestured, shooting out rays of brilliant golden light. The light turned into countless runes in the air and combined to form a golden wall that blocked the ice.
The watching werewolves raised their heads and looked at their king with anticipation. When he had evolved to the level of Diabolic Wolf King, he had received this gift from the Wolf God. The power of this divine skill was awesome; the werewolves had just seen their king create an arc of ice with only his breath.
As for the human warriors, they felt a chill in their hearts. Even though they were some distance away, they could still feel the bone-piercing coldness of the frost, and they felt their belief in Alex slipping away.
Louis remembered reading the records of divine-stage warriors in the ancient books of the Demon sect.
There were accounts of warriors performing feats such as stepping into the void, catching wind, exhaling air to form thunder, and other extraordinary tales. Louis had read these stories like they were fairy tales, legends that he had never believed. But now, after seeing Alex and the Diabolic Wolf King, he finally believed them.
The fight continued. The frost smashed into the golden wall of light, but the wall of light, formed from countless runes, held strong. Everything froze, forming a wall of ice.
"How is this possible? Even the spells are frozen?" Like Louis, the Fool was flabbergasted. The scene in front of him had completely overturned everything he had thought he had known.
With a sound like a stick snapping, a crack appeared in the ice wall, and then more and more cracks appeared in quick succession. Finally, the entire golden wall of runes burst open, and frozen runes fell from the sky. As they hit the ground, a clanging, metallic noise rang out.
"How many more times can you use that spell now?" The king grinned at Alex. "Was it a one-off special? That's unlucky. I, however, have an innate ability that I can use endlessly. This is my gift from the Wolf God. A mere human like you will never be able to match it."
Finished talking, he opened his mouth again. Cold air quickly gathered inside his body, and then he blew out an even thicker white frost.
It looked like silk as it streaked across the sky, rushing toward Alex with a surging momentum, and even the wind froze.
Everyone looked at Alex, waiting to see how he was going to defend himself.
Asher sighed and spoke his worry out loud. "Alex isn't a true divine-stage warrior. Compared to a veteran like the wolf king, the gulf between them is enormous, and I can't see how Alex can win this fight."
He knew that Alex's physical body, martial arts, spells, and spirit were all greater than his own. But it didn't seem like there was any sign of the divine stage merging all Alex's power into one, which meant he was vulnerable against the king. Asher held his breath as he watched.
At that moment, although he was facing the vast and mighty frost energy, and even though the Diabolic Wolf King was laughing at him, a smile unexpectedly appeared on Alex's face.
He called to his opponent, "Do you think you are the only one with divine abilities?"
As he spoke, two golden flames slowly emerged from Alex's body. At first, the flames were only the size of a needle tip, but then they became more and more vigorous, eventually turning into golden flames so bright they could burn the sky.
Faced with the Diabolic Wolf King's innate ability, Alex had finally revealed his trump card.
Dazzling gold flame filled the entire Valley of the Buried Heart, turning into two bright beams of light that shot into the sky. Soon, the entire sky was burning. The enormous flames converged into a ball and charged toward the Wolf King's white streak of cold energy.
"What's going on?" asked Asher and the others, dumbfounded by what they were seeing. They had expected that, eventually, when Alex faced the king's innate divine skill, he would be defeated on the spot. But, somehow, Alex had released flames from his body.
Could this be Alex's true strength? Asher wondered. In our previous battle, was he really not using his full strength?
It was a wild thought, but he felt it must be the truth. In all his previous fights, Alex had never revealed his trump card, because he had not needed to do so.
The dazzling golden flames were so powerful that they could burn the void itself. Even though he and the other onlookers were some distance away, Asher could still feel the overwhelming heat the flames produced. What would have happened if Alex had used this power earlier?
While Asher was puzzling it over, the golden flames finally collided with the white frost.
The flame that could burn steel collided with the ice that could freeze air. As they met, a white fog erupted. The two entities were completely different, but each represented the extreme power of their respective master. Somehow, they canceled each other out.
For a moment, the white mist filled the air, and it was as if the entire Valley of the Buried Heart had turned into a vision of purgatory.
After the impact of the collision, the frost seemed to be weakening. Unable to withstand the force of the flames, the king was forced to retreat step by step. No matter how the Diabolic Wolf King pushed, no matter how hard he tried to stimulate his divine power, he was still unable to hold on.
In Alex's hands, the flames were one of the most powerful weapons ever seen. How could the Diabolic Wolf King's innate ability compete?