Seeing Keith so confidently rush at him, Azdaar did not take any risks or waited for his Aura Soul to return by his side to shield an attack for him. He utilised his Aura to construct a shield, empowered it, and then took the attack head-on.
A loud explosion sounded out in the vicinity as the shield and the sword collided with each other, and then spectators watched Azdaar conjure up a battle hammer in his free hand and swing it at Keith with all his strength.
Instead of blocking it, Keith jumped in the air to dodge it, but when the hammer changed its trajectory and chased him, he stepped in the air, jumping up even further, which allowed him to safely dodge the attack.
To Azdaar, he looked defenceless, and he was not going to waste this opportunity. Grinning madly, he prepared himself to jump up with his hammer, all ready to crush Keith, but his ear soon registered a strange chiming sound, and then he felt his feet and legs being bound by crystalline shackles.
For a brief moment, his heart thumped against his chest when he realised what was about to happen, but then he unleashed his Aura from his body, trying to destroy the crystals binding his body. To his horror, he found them unusually strong.
The Amethyst sword cut into his Aura Shield as Keith attacked him from above, and just when he tried to parry it away, it provided his enemy with an opening that he happily capitalised on.
A strong and resounding kick connected Azdaar in the back of his head, and he was uprooted from his crystalline shackles as he was sent rolling on the ground dozens of metres away.
"Ahhh!!" The Inheritor of Nergal angrily bellowed as he felt humiliated, but his heart thumped hard again when he felt another kick connect the back of his head.
Keith was fast, alarmingly fast, and Azdaar was beyond relieved that he had his Aura Shields up when the second kick connected.
However, the force still rattled his mind, and he felt a little dizzy.
The black Aura Soul Beast disengaged its battle with the wolf and rushed to return to its Master's side, making it in time to shield another attack from Keith, but then the Amethyst wolf lunged at the lion and chipped a good chunk of Aura off it.
Azdaar's rage brimmed once again as he sensed the chunk of Aura that he had lost just now, and his eyes turned grim.
His lips moved, whispering some verses in the Divine Language of his Pantheon, and soon his body started exuding a reddish brown miasma, which was followed by a terrifying pressure that swept the valley.
Keith smiled when he watched the Inheritor of Nergal utilise his godly powers.
"What is he doing?" Abuzar frowned when he watched Keith recall his Aura Soul inside his body, now standing in his place as Azdaar and the Black Lion glared at him.
Neither Volos nor Poseidon had an answer to his question as they were just as surprised as him.
They watched in curiosity as Azdaar rushed at Keith at a speed much faster than before, and his Aura Soul was faster too, but then their eyes widened in surprise as Keith effortlessly dodged the attack.
An explosion sounded out and a crater was formed where Azdaar smashed his Axe Kick, and then a series of such sounds and destruction followed.
The onlookers felt their hearts palpitating in fear and excitement as they watched Keith showcase speed that they had not seen before in a battle.
With every passing minute, Nergal was only growing stronger and faster, but Keith was constantly managing to stay a step ahead of him in agility and speed, only focusing on dodging his enemy's raging attacks, not even bothering to block some.
It was a feat that everyone realised they were incapable of emulating, at least, in the Realm of Strength that Keith was displaying, and they wondered how he could be so fast that even their eyes could not keep up with his speed. It was outrageous.
Unbeknownst to almost all of them, Keith was not just utilising his superior speed but also his Spatial Powers in a very discreet manner, which enabled him to successfully dodge even those attacks that were impossible to evade.
"Erebus!!!" Azdaar's outraged shout made Keith smile. "Fight me!"
"Catch me." He playfully said and did not give in to any provocation that Azdaar threw at him.
Being unable to even land a hit on his enemy made Azdaar feel more humiliated, and despite gaining speed, he was still unable to even harm a hair on his opponent's body.
Having had enough and finally realising that Keith intended to tire him out, Azdaar burst out his Aura and then created a wave of raging fire, which engulfed the area around them and shielded them from the eyes as well.
Keith curiously allowed the fire to engulf him as well, letting his vision get hampered, but he could still sense and hear Azdaar, so it was not much of a problem for him.
The Aura around his body kept him safe from the heat, not allowing the fire to touch him. A constant sizzling sound emanated from around him as the fire tried to burn through his defences, and then Azdaar came cruising through the flames, flinging his flame-covered fist at Keith.
Keith sensed a few torrents of flame approaching him from above, the Black Lion from behind, and he was quite impressed by Azdaar's use of brains.
The Inheritor of Nergal grinned when his fist was about to connect with his enemy who was trying to side-step, but then his heart skipped a beat when Keith suddenly disappeared from his position.
A loud explosion once again sounded out as the fist and the torrents of fire smashed the ground where Keith had been standing, and shockwaves spread all around, which doused the people present in the valley in the heat of the flames, forcing them to protect themselves with their Aura.
A huge plume of smoke reached for the sky, and everyone squinted their eyes as they searched for Azdaar and Keith through that veil of smoke.
Suddenly, their eyes caught a bright flicker of Amethyst Aura, and then they watched in dismay as Azdaar and the Black Lion were flung out of the smoke, making them crash on the ground and roll rather inelegantly.
Azdaar got back up on his feet, seemingly unharmed, but his pride was in tatters right now.
He hideously glared at the veil of smoke, which was clearing away slowly, and then clenched his fist as Keith leisurely walked out of it, wearing that insufferable smile on his lips.
"That was impressive."
Azdaar felt like Keith was praising himself rather than him, and in his heart, he was still shocked at how his enemy had managed to evade the last attack.
"You are fast. I will give you that." The Inheritor of Nergal smirked. "But you lack strength."
"Is that so?" He smiled and then curiously watched as the miasma around Azdaar's body started darkening and the already barren ground under his feet started dying even more.
The Black Lion was soon exuding the same dark miasma, and just when the two rushed at Keith again, a binding gravitational pressure descended on him.
"I see."
Keith's eyes turned serious as he realised that Azdaar was going all out now, and with how he was running in the air now, not even stepping on the ground, it was clear that he intended to use his Cultivation Realm to his advantage.
Every advancement in the Martial Realm allowed the person to fly higher with more ease and better manoeuvrability, and Azdaar was not just a normal Auror but a Mortal God, who was much faster, stronger, and agile in the air.
The Inheritor of Nergal squinted his eyes as he watched Keith summon thousands of shards of crystals in the air around him, and as he tried to force his way past them, he felt them scratch his Aura, which tensed his heart and slowed him down a bit.
Taking advantage of the dip in Azdaar's speed, Keith broke free of the gravitational pressure and erected a crystalline dome around him to shield himself against the enemy's attack.
Once again a deafening explosion sounded out, and Azdaar put everything behind the attack as he smashed into the Crystal dome. However, the moment he broke into it, a wave of Darkness enveloped him and the surroundings, devouring all the dust, debris, and even the sound.
Everyone watched with bated breaths as half the valley was soon enveloped in the dome of darkness, hiding both Keith and Azdaar from their eyes.
Abuzar, Caspian, and Ian turned to look toward the west, and soon everyone followed their gaze.
A golden serpentine dragon was headed towards the valley, and then it came to a stop atop a hill far away from their location.
"So he did come, after all." Hermes lightly smiled, and the lady by his side frowned before walking over to her paramour.
Rebecca curiously looked at the Inheritor of Hades who had arrived at the scene, but then ignored him and looked back at the dome of darkness.
She put her hands inside the cloak she was wearing and then infused her Aura into the back of her hand, where the Sacred Rune of Marriage bore Keith's name.
The veil of Darkness prevented her eyes from looking inside it, but she could still sense Keith and his well-being without needing to look at him.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢