As those shadows from Second Shadow's Dark Assassination technique were approaching, they felt the air resistance getting higher and higher, until at some point in time, the air flow had turned into an uncontrollable tempest. It was like the area around Elyra was the center of a battlefield of many wind elemental cultivators, and a single step forward, required those copies to wage war against the wind.
But Second Shadow knew that he wouldn't be able to escape from Elyra's clutches, if he didn't win this battle, so instead of trying to retreat, he sent his shadows first, as a form of a sacrifice in order for him to advance.
Every single shadow of his that went forward, was able to cut a passage open in that windy area, creating a tunnel for his real body to pass. In exchange, they were ripped to shreds by that fierce gale. When the tunnel finally gave him the access to reach Elyra's body, he suddenly turned into a flash of black light, slicing space apart and instantly appearing in front of her.
A single second was all that was missing for him to pierce her heart and end the battle as the victorious one, but at that super small window of time, Elyra's blade, that was already shinning with a light green light, went past his body like a rapid and unavoidable wind current.
As her sword moved towards him, even the air itself was being sliced apart. Her Wind-Rend had been so perfectly used, that she was able to even cut Second Shadow's last secretive attempt to open a spatial tunnel up in order to escape.
His instincts as an assassin had kicked in at that last moment and he had used almost everything he had left of his life essence to teleport away once again, but that spatial tunnel was cut in half by Elyra's powers.
Second Shadow's halves unceremoniously fell down on the ground below and his dark elemental energy quickly dispersed. A single swift attack ended his life and his history.
Elyra suddenly undid her transformation and her body slowly hovered to the ground as well. She was not as strong as the Elf Queen and was not able to support the backlash of her own ability as easily as Arwen. So right after she landed, her body suddenly fell flat on that grassy area.
Only after ten to fifteen minutes had passed, that she was able to stand up once again. Her life and health were in a relatively safe condition, but she had spent a lot of Mana in that battle and wouldn't be able to fight against another enemy anymore.
'Seth, I hope you have already escaped.'
.
.
.
Fwoosh!
First Shadow's body suddenly reappeared some hundreds of meters away from Lilian and looked directly at her face. She was annoyed that this battle was taking a lot more time to finish than what she had expected.
The entire area was completely destroyed, with many burning spots and places that were drowning in darkness. The situation was so severe, that Lilian and First Shadow were using the sky as the main battlefield now, since there weren't many spots where they could stand properly on the ground anymore.
As First Shadow observed that gorgeous lady with red hairs, she was getting more and more enraged by her presence.
"I have no clues about how a youthful lady like you, was able to acquire the power you've been demonstrating so far, but if there is one thing you wouldn't ever be able to get, is mastery. I'll show you what is the real difference between us..."
Lilian kept hearing all that bullshit without making a single reply. She knew that the real motive behind her father's death was that group of people entitled as the Twelve Shadows. First Shadow was none other than the strongest one among them and Lilian wanted just one single thing from her. To see her dead body.
There was no need for words, just the need of a battle that went on until one of them stopped breathing.
First Shadow had lost her patience as well and was now going to release her full cultivation, creating one of the skills she loved the most.
"Night Fall!"
Just as her voice reverberated through the environment, her Mana suddenly expanded, transforming everything in darkness. At that moment, the entire concept of day changed to night and all the light was swallowed away by that thick darkness that was spanning to the horizon.
Inside that dark and obscure place, the only visible thing now, was Lilian's fiery silhouette. Apart from her, everything else was just darkness.
At a certain point in time, she felt the darkness trying to crawl up to her skin and swallow even her sacred body, but with a single thought, Lilian's flames intensified, warding First Shadow's powers off.
What had happened, was just the beginning of First Shadow's real prowess, but just that tiny bit, would have been enough to wipe out a whole army of Profound Mana Realm cultivators from the surface of the planet.
The darkness being released by her technique was not only strong, but it was super aggressive as well. While Seth's dark techniques were more destined to support him on his battle, creating opportunities for him in the battlefield, First Shadow's abilities were meant to overwhelm her enemies.
If Lilian hadn't received not only power, but knowledge and experience from the Lord Phoenix Spirit as well, she would have been done for. While standing in the middle of that obscure abyss, her lack of experience would probably have made her lose her cool, feeling forced to do incorrect choices. However, her current proficiency was over even the proficiency of those old powerhouses that had lived for more than centuries now.
Her flames suddenly intensified, creating a bright dot on that endless lightless area, but just that wouldn't be enough to counter First Shadow's skill.
Suddenly a Phoenix Cry echoed throughout the entire valley, but instead of materializing a phoenix spirit, just his image had appeared behind Lilian's back.
But with that strange cry, a very powerful flaming aura started to circle around her, creating what seemed to be a flower petal. A single petal made of cleansing flames had been created, expanding and covering an area of a few dozens of meters around Lilian's body. But just after the first one appeared, another one followed.
"Phoenix Cleansing Burning Lotus."
Lilian mildly pronounced those words and very quickly, more and more petals started to appear around her. Those petals were not very aggressive-like, but they seemed to be like huge wings made of phoenix fire, encompassing everything.
Just like that, eight petals were the first ones to complete the first stage of a burning lotus flower. They bloomed in flames, incinerating even the darkness elemental particles in the air. After that, eight more petals opened up, increasing that flower's size and consecutively, burning a greater area inside that endless abyss of darkness created by First Shadow.
More petals kept appearing and when a hundred twenty-eight petals had bloomed, there was a ten kilometers long lotus, endlessly burning inside that lightless area. Her flames had transformed into the new sun that illuminated everything, creating a new dawn.
First Shadow felt her ability being swiftly consumed, burning with a cleansing energy that was practically nullifying the attributes behind her darkness energy. Her overwhelming darkness swiftly decreased, being consumed by her enemy's flames.
When Lilian felt it was the right time, she willed and that huge burning lotus exploded, destroying those invisible walls of darkness that were sealing that area, like they were made of glass.
"Ahhh!"
First Shadow Night Fall technique broke apart and a severe backlash hit her body. She spat a mouthful of blood, realizing her ability had been destroyed. A young Mana Sovereign cultivator had thoroughly torn her special ability apart, like it was a thin sheet of paper.
"Impossible!"
First Shadow recomposed herself, but the shock she received by what Lilian had done wouldn't be something so easy to overcome.
Night Fall was a skill that would consume everything, swallowing anything that was inside of its area into endless darkness. Lilian's Mana and flames should have been suppressed by her dark elemental strength, yet she was able to release it normally and even break that ability apart.
When she looked at Lilian again, her eyes were trembling and there was an inexplicable feeling swelling inside of her chest.
Lilian on the other hand, was building up momentum. It was time for her to go on the offensive, since those descendants from the Huo lineage, were never passive individuals to begin with. There was an unruly gene running in their bloodstream, that was super compactible with the Phoenix Flames.
Now that she had destabilized her enemy's morale and beliefs, she could finally start pressuring her down.. However, she knew that even though First Shadow had just lost the first round, it didn't mean it would actually be an easy thing to defeat her now.
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