Valentina waved her hand scythe upwards and fiercely struck it towards the ground.
*BOOM!!!*
An ear deafening explosion sounded out as an overwhelming blast of ethereal blood energy from her weapon and body channeled outwards, towards all sides, and even dissipated Damien's lightning vortices because of the pure force behind her blood blast.
Craters formed on the ground as shockwaves passed through it, and he felt the ground shaking fiercely.
Purple lightning streaks danced on Damien's body as he quickly moved hundreds of meters backward. But the enormous thrusting and explosive force rammed Damien flying.
However, he somehow regained his balance while protecting himself from the shockwaves with his defensive ethereal energy. But he still felt as if his head was rammed and felt a bit dizzy as he couldn't completely avoid the shockwaves.
'God damn...what sheer power!' Damien was astonished, experiencing the oppressive force behind Valentina's blood blast. He also saw that his lightning vortices, which he had sacrificed a lot of his ethereal energy for, had already been dispelled.
"Luna, just what kind of ethereal arts did you give her? Why don't I have something like that?" Damien asked in a sulky tone, pretending to be hurt that his ethereal arts didn't have an area of effect type of attacks.
Luna harrumphed, "Hmph, don't be too hasty. You have only comprehended three stages of your ethereal arts, and you don't know what the rest of them can do. Besides, don't forget the difference between your cultivation and hers. You both are able to suppress each other so far even though you wouldn't have stood much chance had she assumed her ethereal beast form."
"Wow, she is that powerful, huh." Damien was glad that Valentina was more powerful than he imagined.
He saw how the ground was completely wasted from the blast, and he was sure that without his movement skill, he would have been knocked out, suffer internal injuries and have his ethereal energy scattered.
But what surprised him was that the blood on the ground was sizzling as steam from it escaped into the air.
'She can make her ethereal blood energy hot?' Damien didn't dare to imagine what would have happened if he made contact with the blood directly.
He knew that he wouldn't even be qualified to face off against her if it weren't for his ethereal arts, especially his ethereal skill - Mirage of Myriad Phantasms. Without his insane speed, he wouldn't have been able to dodge her dreadful blood beams nor deflect them fast enough.
Valentina knew about Damien's shocking speed and wasn't worried that her blood blast would injure him. Her true purpose was to disperse Damien's lightning vortices and regain complete freedom of her body.
However, Valentina already started feeling tired, and her chest was heavily heaving as she took deep breaths. She had used a significant amount of her ethereal energy to release that terrifying blood blast, and it was an ethereal skill that demanded heavy usage of her ethereal energy.
Damien's condition was worse than hers, especially with the two bloody slashes on his back. He felt as if he could hardly keep up his Undying Wrath any longer and knew that using one more ethereal skill was out of the question.
Valentina never thought that it would be so exciting and thrilling to face off against Damien. She thought that she had grown more powerful than before but was still surprised that Damien wasn't easy to face despite the difference in their cultivation levels.
Valentina and Damien looked at each other with faint smiles on their faces as they stood more than a hundred meters apart.
The audience was almost on their feet as the match was too nerve wracking for them to sit relaxed in their seats. They had lost count of the times they had got shocked seeing Damien's and Valentina's astonishing abilities.
They literally felt terror in their hearts when they saw that terrifying explosive attack and wondered if Damien would even survive. However, they were shocked at the staggering speed at which Damien escaped from the blast.
They were 100% sure that if any of them were in Damien's position, they would be lucky to even have one of their bones left intact.
The audience, including the proctors, wondered what kind of ethereal skills they were using and from which prestigious family they got them from. They speculated that Valentina got hers from Alchemist Azrael but wondered where Damien got them from, especially when Lightning ethereal arts were so rare than even Blue Spirit Stones.
Damien and Valentina both nodded at each other in understanding. They charged towards each other, with Damien brandishing his sword and Valentina twirling her hand scythe fiercely.
Valentina jumped and spun her body in the air as she hurled her long hand scythe towards Damien.
*CLING!*
But before her hand scythe could even travel further from her, Damien had already zoomed near her. He caught her hand scythe with his Knighfall as the chains of her hand scythe wound around his sword.
Valentina's brows raised as she didn't expect that Damien could be this fast.
Damien smiled as he swiftly circled her, binding her with the chains of her hand scythe. Just as he bound her, he pulled her towards him as she fell back on his chest.
"Next time, always maintain a long-distance when fighting speedsters like me with a long-ranged weapon," Damien smirked as he wound his arms around her neck with his sword held near her neck.
Valentina felt her blood prancing around as she was held so close to him in such a situation. No matter how many times he embraced her, each time, she would feel a sense of happiness that made her feel as if she could lie forever in his embrace and not realize the time passing.
However, she quickly cleared her thoughts as she knew this was not the time to get cozy in his embrace. The chains around her body dissolved into liquid blood suddenly. A blood-red katana manifested from the dissolved blood, which immediately came in between Damien's sword and her neck.
She forced her way out of Damien's hold by using her katana to push away his sword.
Damien wasn't surprised that she could use a katana as he had taught her how to use a close-ranged weapon in case she found herself in a tight situation.
But his hand moved like lightning and swiftly wrested out her katana from her hand, using his Knighfall. How could Valentina possibly contend against Damien using just her sword at close range?
The tip of his sword pointed against her neck, but Valentina smugly smiled at him.
Damien furrowed his brows as he felt a warm liquid wrapping around his body.
*CLANG!*
"Damn…" Damien's body got tightly bound by the blood that was lying on the ground. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by blood on the ground, making it a perfect playground for Valentina.
His limbs were now tightly bound by thick strands of blood, and fortunately for Damien, Valentina cooled down the blood to not scald his skin.
His wristband also got removed by one of the strings of blood, and he saw it getting carried over to Valentina as she caught it in her palm.
"I won." She smiled proudly as her eyes gleamed.
*DING*
The bell resounded in the field, but Damien playfully winked as he said, "Is that so? Indeed, I cannot bear to defeat a charming fairy like you, but that doesn't mean I would let you defeat me. I may not always win, but I never lose."
Valentina frowned and looked at her wrist. Her eyes became round as she saw that her wristband was missing!
"When…" She muttered and looked at Damien's left hand, and she saw her wristband being tightly held in his hand!
"Bi-You took it earlier…" She said as she pointed at him with an incredulous expression. She couldn't believe how she didn't even sense her wristband being snatched away while Damien held her.
She wondered if it was because Damien's moves were smooth enough not to let her notice or because she got distracted for a moment.
Damien got free as Valentina retracted the strings of blood from his body, and he chuckled, "I guess there is no winner or loser among us."
Valentina smiled, feeling satisfied with how things ended up.
Their bodies flashed as they got teleported outside.
Most of the people in the audience who were standing fell back on their seats as the electrifying match finally came to an end, and their nerves were finally able to relax.
But their faces had an incredulous expression as they found it mind-boggling that a face-off, which logically should have ended with Valentina easily beating Damien black and blue, ended in a draw!
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