Athea's offensive grew stronger and faster as the three avatars worked in perfect synchrony, but even then, Aion was able to dodge all of their attacks.
The avatars attacked Aion for over an hour, using superb martial skills and exploiting blind spots, but nothing worked.
Aion dodged the blows at the last second, leaving no opening at all. The young man's technique was the definition of supreme, and one could describe it as perfect, but it grew better with each attack he managed to evade.
Athea's felt great frustration since she could not touch Aion no matter how hard she fought. Just after performing over ten thousand unsuccessful strikes, the silver flame in her eyes grew sharp as a flash of enlightenment appeared in them.
The avatars performed a triangle strike, with two taking the front and the last attacking from the back, using the opponent's blind spot. Athea had used that tactic countless times, and it failed again and again, but things were different now.
Aion easily dodged the blows sent by the avatars in front of him, but then his eyes widened, and surprise appeared on his face.
"?BOOM!"
Silence reigned, and a sense of utter shock filled the heart of the people in the coliseum as they saw how one of Athea's avatars sent Aion flying away with a right punch to the face!
Someone had finally managed to land a direct blow on Aion for the first time since the finals started!
Noah, Beelzebub, Sirik, and the other geniuses stared at Athea with shock and confusion. They were amazed by the fact that the young man made what Zaphirox and Lith could not do, yet they did not know how she did it.
There was no sudden improvement in the avatar's speed or strength, so they did not understand what changed and why Athea finally managed to hit Aion this time.
Aion regained control of his body almost instantly, and his eyes narrowed as he stared at Athea's avatars. He felt the blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth, and a profound light appeared in his eyes.
The silver light in Athea's eyes burned with even greater strength as she smiled and dashed toward Aion. Once again, the avatars unleashed a barrage of strikes that the young man dodged until the aura on one of them changed.
Aion could not dodge the punch, but he raised his arm and used it as a shield to defend himself this time. The battle carried on like that, with him evading most of the avatars' strikes easily, but there were some he could only block.
Noah's Samsara Eye was bleeding as he pushed it to the brink of collapse, but after a few seconds, a flash of enlightenment appeared on his face as he understood how Athea was doing it.
"She is cutting her connection to the world!"
The geniuses turned toward Noah with inquisitive gazes when they heard those words. Aion's secret was something all of them wanted to understand.
Noah felt those eyes but did not answer right away since he needed a moment to order things in his mind.
"Athea's Lord of Emptiness Lineage gifts her the ability to commune with the world at a superb level, granting her control over World Strength. Yet, now she is doing the opposite, cutting her connection with the world around her. That weakens the avatar severely, but it seems to hide her from Aion's perception!"
The eyes of the geniuses widened when they heard that, and everything made sense. The way Aion seemed capable of knowing everything they sent to him might be his ability to communicate with the world around him.
That was also why Aion could disperse the World Strength outside Athea's body and take control once it lost its master.
The geniuses were amazed by Aion's skill, but there was an even greater sense of awe in their hearts as they turned toward Athea.
She figured out Aion's unique skill from the little information obtained during the battle. Even more impressive, she cut an avatar's connection to the world.
All life forms were connected to the world as they were part of it, and those gifted enough to commune with it could harness World Strength. However, cutting that connection must require a level of effort and focus that pushed Athea beyond her limits. It made sense she could only do it for a few seconds and had to rest before doing it again.
"?BOOM!"
Despite all the difficulties, it did not change the fact that Athea had found a way to overcome Aion's defenses and was able to harm this one!
"?BOOM!"
Every blast was a strike that an avatar managed to land on Aion. While they did not carry much power, the combined power of those attacks slowly wore down the young man, and people could see bruises appearing all over his body.
"BOOOOMMMMMM!"
An even mightier blast echoed across the arena when one of Athea's avatars managed to land an elbow strike right on the center of Aion's chest, sending him crashing into the ground.
A cloud of dust covered Aion's crashing site, but Athea did not care, and all three avatars flashed down at full speed, ready to unleash a devastating onslaught.
The energy of two of the avatars exploded, and one of them silently began to fade as Athea was ready to strike, but then Aion emerged out of the cloud of dust.
Athea saw how Aion's smile had vanished, and a cold light emerged in his eyes. Her instincts began to scream danger, warning her to pull back, but it was too late.
Aion appeared in front of the avatar that had cut her connection with the world. An aura that embodied absolute doom emerged from his palm as he used it to touch the avatar's chest.
There was no strength or energy of any kind in that palm, but the moment it touched the avatar, this one shattered into a billion pieces in less than a nanosecond!
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