Damien instantly spread his soul perception the maximum he can. He knew Valentina's soul cultivation had already broken through to the Late Soul Transformation Stage.
But he speculated that his soul should at least be comparable to hers even though his soul cultivation is only at the Peak Nascent Soul Stage.
However, he couldn't still spot her!
'Did her soul prowess increase after comprehending her ethereal arts?' Damien mused.
He concentrated harder, and his brows pulled together when he sensed a sickle shooting towards him, aiming for his wristband.
He swiftly blocked the sickle with his sword and deflected it, sending it back in a certain direction.
'Damn, this is too hard.' Damien felt that it was too tiring to fight and spread his spiritual perception at the same time.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!*
Metal clanging sounds continuously resounded. The shockwaves spread in the air as Valentina's hand scythe fiercely clashed with Damien's sword.
Damien didn't try blocking her attacks directly as it would be too difficult. Instead, he deflected her attacks towards the empty air by skillfully using his sword.
No matter which position she moved or the direction from which she attacked him, he was still able to deflect her hand scythe as if it was nothing.
He realized that he could only sense Valentina or her weapon only when it was in a range near him, giving him only a short window to react.
But outside, the audience was again startled seeing Valentina disappear. Another shocking fact was that Damien was still able to deflect her attacks without seeing her. All they saw was Damien swinging at the empty air and the sounds of metal clashing with each other, giving off bright sparks.
The audience also increased as more and more disciples came to watch the show after being invited by their fellow disciples.
After all, they had never seen such a bizarre fight between two super geniuses taking place, especially when one of them's cultivation was too inferior compared to the other.
They already found out through rumors that Valentina was the personal disciple of Alchemist Azrael and made sense how she had the azure token.
But they wondered from where a nobody like Damien was coming from and how no one knew about him despite having the remarkable Lightning seed.
It was only natural that news would spread out in the continent once someone with a Lightning seed popped up. But they did not hear about anyone remotely named Damien nor any news about his prowess.
But seeing him fight, they were sure that he must have been nurtured by at least a decent family, and news of his Lightning seed should have spread throughout the continent.
The only reason no one found out could be that whoever nurtured him kept his skills hidden. Still, they couldn't understand why, as everyone would let their doors open to take in Damien as their disciple.
Who wouldn't want to nurture a young genius with a Lightning seed?
Valentina finally stopped striking at Damien as it wasn't much effective. Her eyes glinted as she vigorously swung her hand scythe not at Damien but simply in the air.
Five beams of blood in the shape of the sickle of her hand scythe shot out from her weapon as those beams stormed towards Damien.
She had finally made use of her ethereal arts to attack and was confident that Damien would find it hard to handle them.
But she was prepared to dissolve those blood beams the moment she thinks that Damien can't deflect them.
Damien's brows pulled together, seeing those blood-curdling beams shooting towards him out of nowhere.
Purple lightning crackled around his body as he swiftly moved his hand to deflect all five blood beams.
*Tch! Tch! Tch! Tch! Tch!*
The ground behind Damien cleaved a few inches as all five blood beams struck the ground.
'So fast!' Valentina was surprised how fast Damien's movements were as she knew best the speed at which her blood beams shot towards him.
However, she didn't get discouraged and burned more of her ethereal energy as she condensed twenty blood beams using her weapon and sent them shooting towards Damien.
A droplet of sweat dripped down his forehead when he suddenly saw twenty sharp blood projectiles charging towards him at a terrifying speed out of thin air!
Lightning streaks crackled across his body again as he prepared to move towards a different direction to dodge her attacks.
But he was surprised when half of the blood beams were still following him even after moving in a different direction while the other half already curved through the air, surrounding him, making him unable to dodge them.
Forced to face those blood beams, he prepared to deflect them. However, when he tried to deflect the closest blood beam, his eyes widened.
'An illusion??'
Damien's sword didn't deflect it but instead went through it, making him lose his balance. It was too late when he realized that the blood beam was not real. But he quickly recovered and drew a slash in a semi-circular fashion with his Sword Will imbued in it.
*Rippp*
The air and most of the blood beams got ripped apart as soon as Damien's slash ripped through them, while some of them were mere illusions.
But…
*SLASH*
"Arghh…"
Damien was shocked when he felt two of the blood beams ruthlessly slashing his back, which sent him flying a few dozen meters. Even his defensive ethereal energy was completely dispersed, and his skin was lacerated by the blood beams.
"Big Brother!!!" Valentina screamed mentally to Damien as she rushed towards him, revealing herself. Tears already welled up her eyes, feeling remorse and regret what she did.
She couldn't stop all of her attacks in time as she thought that Damien could cut through all her attacks. She could only barely disperse a handful of her blood beams in that short time.
She hadn't fully gotten used to the control of her ethereal arts as it was only recently she comprehended them.
The audience was at the edge of their seats watching this unbelievable match, and they didn't even care to look at the matches of the other teams. When they saw those blood beams, they wondered what kind of elemental seed could produce something like that.
And when they saw Damien getting struck, they all thought it was over, and it was only a matter of time before Valentina removed his wristband.
But they admired him and was still astonished that he could still hold off Valentina for this long considering his lowly cultivation.
Damien seemed to be getting suppressed by Valentina as he couldn't even attack her without knowing her position. And being barraged by her attacks, which were coming out from thin air, he could only defend and deflect them in the meanwhile.
"I am fine...don't get too close. Don't do anything suspicious, remember we are being watched. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all." Damien mentally said to Valentina.
Valentina bit her lip and stopped herself. But her heart quivered as she saw the bloody slashes on his back and saw him slowly getting up. She was this close to surrendering her wristband to him and end this match. But held back in consideration of his feelings.
"But nice one Valentina, I never thought you would hide invisible blood beams among the others. Good, you are truly powerful."
Damien's eyes became firm as bright purple lightning streaks enveloped his sword and grew more intense by each second, letting out an intimidating aura.
"I guess it's time I fought you for real," Damien said as he smiled.
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