Chapter 1128: One Peerless Strike
Fate was one of the highest-order principles, and even the king of keys himself couldn't comment on it. Perhaps he would be able to sense it after he became the personification of the third realm as a whole, but at least for the moment, the king of keys had no power to steer or even read the threads of fate.
No one knew what would happen to Fang Yi in the future if he were to keep using this technique—perhaps a blessing, perhaps a curse.
This was why the king of keys called Fang Yi a madman. To recklessly use a power that he had no mastery over… Fang Yi was staking his own future as collateral each time he activated this technique, no, worse.
Collateral implied that it could be paid off, but no one knew how to pay off the hefty price of fate. This was the danger inherent to dealing with karmic power, but Zhang Lie didn't stop Fang Yi.
"Only a thin line rests between genius and madness." The cost of invoking fate might be dropping dead one day, but that was just one among many possibilities. Even the king of keys couldn't be certain.
Perhaps Fang Yi would become unlucky, or a crucial turning point in his fate would be distorted. No one could be certain of what would happen; turning this future uncertainty into present power was a trade that Zhang Lie would also have made if he had the opportunity to do so.
Zhang Lie believed that man could triumph over fate. Compared to imminent death, sacrificing a future fate was far more worthwhile.
Fang Yi's skin began to bleed. His capillaries burst, and blood gushed out of tears in his skin. The disaster-grade spear was splintering bit by bit.
Another disaster-grade spear shattered in Fang Yi's hands. Each time he launched this attack, a spear would be irrevocably ruined.
Ghroth's massive body began to move.
"[Birth of the Holy Dragon: Arclight Slash]!" Li Feng lifted his sword high above his head. A silvery-white dragon emerged from behind him, merged with the sword, and sent a beam of light piercing the skies. Li Feng struck, and the sword slash morphed into a dragon.
The sword struck and pierced into Ghroth's massive body, but was unable to resist the momentum of his advance.
Sun Mengmeng, Zhang Hanxiang, and Sun Xiaowu struck simultaneously, but even their efforts couldn't cause Ghroth to slow.
"[Heaven's Judgment: Godbane Strike]!" Fang Yi howled and sent the unstable mixture shooting forward, causing all that energy to erupt in an instant. The entire world seemed to come to a standstill at that moment.
A howling storm, void lightning, mysterious temporal charge, the wind of ages—the mishmash of elements exploded. The eight different energies formed a huge vortex, piercing through Ghroth's body and disintegrating it.
The tremendous explosion illuminated the void, but there were no subsequent shockwaves. Instead, a black hole formed and devoured the remnant energies, killing Ghroth.
The king of keys watched on as Ghroth perished. "It looks like the battle over there has concluded. It's our turn now."
Zhang Lie asked, "Aren't you going to save your companions?"
The king of keys countered, "Will you give me that chance?"
Zhang Lie smiled as he quietly considered the king of keys, his answer left unspoken.
Neither Zhang Lie nor the king of keys had begun fighting seriously. They were waiting for their companions to eke out a decisive victory, each worried that their indiscriminate attacks would strike their allies and hoping for their victory.
If either of them were to help out their companions, then the other party would take the initiative and seize that opportunity to strike.
Now that their companions' matches were over, there was nothing to worry about.
"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" Zhang Lie clenched his fists tightly as blue genetic energy gathered around him. Ripples of genetic energy emanated from his arms. He flicked his wrists, spawning a frightening aura.
The skies suddenly darkened as a fish the size of a whale materialized in the air. A howling gale swept over the battlefield. As more and more genetic energy gathered around Zhang Lie's arms. It looked as though he were at the heart of a whirlpool.
A huge wave soared into the air. As Zhang Lie punched forward, the fish slammed its huge tail on the ground and sent a torrent of water surging into the air.
Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, warping the space around him. The towering waves looked like enraged black dragons, flooding the battlefield.
The king of keys absorbed the attack, sucking it into the myriad worlds he controlled. The attack exploded in the galaxy that formed his body, destroying thousands of worlds in a brilliant flash of light.
"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" Zhang Lie extended his pointer finger like a sword, and water-attuned genetic energy gathered around it. As he waved his finger, sword energy erupted like a wave, accompanied by a giant shark.
The king of keys sprayed out a huge number of world fragments, the aftermath of absorbing Zhang Lie's attack.
The countless fragments formed a frightening flood, smashing apart Zhang Lie's raging sharks. Zhang Lie counterattacked with sword energy, but the king of keys absorbed that too.
The king of keys' body consisted of countless worlds, and was essentially a miniaturized version of the third realm. It was incredibly large, and the king of keys was like a portal that connected one world to the other.
All of Zhang Lie's attacks would pass through that portal and enter the universe within. That universe was a vital part of him, but one that even the third realm couldn't support. His presence in the third realm was only a projection, a physical manifestation of sorts.
"[Ninecarp Transformation]!" A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.
The countless worlds glowed with light, and the resulting world's energy was emitted from the king of keys' body in a thick, dense pillar.
Only someone like the king of keys could use pure, concentrated world's energy as an attack. No superior king would be so wasteful—it was the equivalent of crafting weapons out of gold.
However, the king of keys could easily bear this cost.
"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent behind him shot forth into the pillar of energy. The serpent's natural corrosion was able to erode the pillar, but it was so large and so dense that the greater part of it struck the serpent unscathed...
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