Dilan was panting heavily and taking lungfuls of air.
For the first time in what felt like ages, he was truly exhausted. Even the True Undying Essence couldn't fix his exhaustion.
It might have invigorated him and given his mind the opportunity to calm down, rest, and reach his Peak condition within a single second, but Dilan could tell that his current condition was different from that.
The entire arena was shrouded crimson due to the crimson moonlight that shone down from the Blood Eclipse Moon.
It empowered Nial's dark energy and every single move of his while doing exactly the same to Kaeldur.
On the other hand, Dilan felt as if a curse was put on him. His mana circulation was much slower than before and it was difficult for him to focus on anything properly.
However, that was not the reason for his exhaustion. It was more the fact that the insides of his body were getting strangled by thousands of metal chains that drained his life force over and over again.
He might not be able to die, but the Eternal Darkness was not joking about wanting to end his life either.
Dilan was not even sure what exactly Nial did, but the metal chains were created out of compressed dark energy, some sort of stronger dark energy, a type of energy that was several times more potent and lethal, and a tremendous amount of chaos.
The fusion of the superior dark energy, the crimson moonlight's reinforcement, and chaos created an effect that allowed Nial to drain Dilan's life force when it crossed a certain threshold.
That threshold was not high, which was also why Dilan was repeatedly subjected to unbearable pain spreading through his entire body every single moment…for the last tens of days.
Dilan was actually not sure how much time had passed because he couldn't see the countdown from his position, pinned to the ground with his head almost buried in it but that was not exactly important right now.
'I guess it was a mistake to think that things would get easier after I killed Tyrant. This bastard stalled way too much time even after he was severely injured…'
The Tyrant of Destruction had been strengthened by the Blood Eclipse Moon's power, but that was still not enough to explain how he survived with a three meter long cut that severed his chest. If not for the darkness holding it together, the upper half of the body had fallen to the ground
Dilan could hardly understand the tenacity of Nial's subordinates, but the Tyrant of Destruction would definitely sacrifice his life by throwing himself in the pits of hell no matter the consequences.
Nial's words were Tyrant's command and he would follow them no matter what. Dilan was quite surprised about that even though he was certain that Rory would act similarly.
In her case, the Red Dragon would probably retaliate against his order to kill herself, but she would be forced to heed his commands. This was a big difference between Tyrant and Kaeldur, who did everything they could do to be of Nial's help.
Dilan was not sure if that was because Nial was a better leader, or due to the power of the Godly Fragment Nial, the Eternal Darkness had devoured as a baby.
There could be multiple other reasons, and none of them actually mattered because they had nothing to do with Dilan. He was just surprised about their unwavering loyalty and trust, that was it.
They wouldn't actually die in the City of Trials, either. Thus, Tyrant's suicidal action would not actually leave that much of an impact on Nial.
'It would have been interesting to see him go berserk though. This kid shows way too few emotions when fighting. He looks and acts like an emotionless killing machine…even I show some insanity and ecstasy at least!'
It had already been established that the Eternal Darkness was stronger than him, but what made things a little bit more frustrating than ever was that Nial was about to stop trying to kill him.
It looked like Nial was just trying to keep him chained to the ground, giving him no opportunity to move and with all of his traits severely restricted.
Dilan knew that Nial had a sheer unlimited amount of mana at his disposal because the City of Trials was overflowing with highly purified and dense mana. By simply pulling the mana inside the darkness domain, Nial could devour and annex the mana rather easily.
It required the Eternal Darkness to pay it some attention, but it did not distract him so much that it would decrease his combat prowess even in the slightest.
'I really have had enough of this bastard…everything is trying to drag me down, prevent me from getting stronger… I will fucking kill him!!'
Dilan needed strength the most. He couldn't care less about others because they could achieve everything they wanted to as long as they possessed the necessary prowess to do so.
Every Lesser God he faced until now was certain to be able to defeat him, crush his spirit, and to leave the City of Trials with their memories intact. However, in the end, Dilan's unbreakable will and tenacity allowed him to emerge victorious.
But that was not all.
His fighting spirit and his ignorance of the unbearable pain had been a major factor for his continued survival uptill now. He had survived numerous incidents that would have killed others or pushed them to the brink of insanity.
Most of them would have turned insane in his situation, after facing countless obstacles and the sheer immeasurable amount of pain he had to go through in the last few dozen years and in his entire lifetime.
From the day he was born it felt like he was accompanied by pain. It was like a shadow that never left him and showed clearly what it meant to be alive.
While that may be the case, Nial, his opponent, seemed to have figured that by now as well. Nial could tell that Dilan was not easy to defeat, and that he was actually getting stronger with every single defeat.
The Eternal Darkness could tell that his fellow Fate Changer was not someone, who would give up just like that. As a Fate Changer, this was something nice to hear, but as enemies, it was the worst one could be faced against…an Undying being, who would never give up, no matter what happened.
Thus, Nial had been forced to change his approach to the given mission. He couldn't hope to defeat Dilan just because he was stronger. This was something new but it was a fact he was forced to accept, otherwise, he would actually lose against Dilan and fail his mission!
Gathering his scattered thoughts, Dilan grit his teeth. He manifested the Destruction Domain all of a sudden, scattering Nial's darkness domain for a second or two.
At the same time, Dilan activated the True Undying Essence in its strongest form while engulfing his entire body with a layer of destruction. His presence changed all of a sudden and fierce determination could be found burning brightly in his eyes as he created another layer of destruction…inside his body, around all his organs, his veins, bones, and flesh.
And then…he killed himself by unleashing the power that hibernated in the depths of the layer of destruction!
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l