414 Defiant Destruction
Seeing that Law Empyrean and Justice Deity – or rather, the two Origin Incarnations of the Evil God – had settled down, apparently intending to watch the chaos unfold down below, Yaan removed his gaze from this odd pair and returned his attention to Defiance.
Likewise, Defiance shifted his gaze back to Yaan.
As for the Primordial Sage, she stood far to the side and watched silently.
When Yaan saw the smile on Defiance's face and the burning battle intent in his eyes, he narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Defiance calmly.
"You still want to fight me, Defiance? Should we not work together to find a way to break this formation of destruction, to prevent the Paragon Wills from invading so early on?"
"Indeed, allowing those pretentious ones from the Chaos Era to experience more time in the Origin Eras is not what I wanted to see…but it's too late now - this formation of destruction has already inflicted irreparable damage. Since that's the case, there's no reason to care about holding back."
Yaan showed a strange expression.
"Holding back? Since when did you ever care abut holding back to begin with?"
In response to his odd look, Defiance laughed heartily.
"If I did not restrain myself until now, how could the world have survived until this point? It's just that causing too much rampant destruction would give those from the Chaos Era a greater opportunity. But now, none of that matters…so, World Demon, it's about time that we fight. Show me just how it is that your Origin Fate will save you from me this time!"
As Defiance lifted up his fist, it was as if all light in the world was sucked away, gathering around his hand. Seeing this, the Sage opened a portal and vanished without hesitation.
Yaan was sure that she would still be watching him from somewhere, but he didn't have the luxury to care about the Sage right now. Even the Evil God and this net of destruction were swept away from his mind.
In the face of Defiance's fist, he couldn't even be bothered to care about the golden spatial tear and the impending invasion from the Chaos Era. If he was distracted in the slightest right now, Yaan felt that he would definitely lose his life!
"Fine then, since you really insist, let us fight. Defiance, I was planning to ask you about the power of will, but I suppose a demonstration would be even better!"
As soon as Yaan finished speaking, Defiance Sovereign's punch had already reached him. The world became filled with the golden radiance of Defiance as he released his Absolute Domain, just like the last time they had fought.
Back then, Yaan had already been shocked by Defiance Sovereign's raw power, and his speed which seemed impossible for his size. Now, however, as Defiance released his own restraints, his speed seemed to increase ten-fold, as did the size of his domain!
It wasn't at the level that he displayed when fighting the Heavenly Dao. That sort of power was something that Defiance could only display when facing the Heavenly Dao, with all of the hatred in his heart.
Even so, this power was truly extreme.
The immense will of Defiance weighed down on Yaan's body, dwarfing him within this cloud of blinding gold. Even though Yaan was prepared and quickly blocked with the wooden sword as he released his own Absolute Domain, he was still unable to react in time.
BANG!
The match had only just began, but Yaan's body exploded, leaving a streak of crimson and gold as his killing intent flared up during his painful attempts at stabilising himself. He couldn't hold anything back, fusing the Define Truth Divine Spell into his domain, and activating the Reveal Truth and Conceal Truth dao spells and divine spells simultaneously.
Spatial crack after spatial crack tore open along Yaan's flight path, but unlike in the past, these spatial cracks were unable to close in a short period of time. The net of destruction created by the Evil God with Shi's innate destructive nature, was continuously pouring an endless aura of destruction into the space within. This aura of destruction not only prevented the spatial cracks from closing, but even tore them open even further!
Yaan's body exploded time after time as he found himself thrown into the depths of hundreds of spatial cracks within a single second. An unprecedented sense of danger filled his heart, causing his instincts to reach their peak as he navigated these unpredictable regions of broken space, attempting to avoid falling to his complete annihilation.
By the time Yaan had finally stabilised himself, he looked up, only to see that Defiance Sovereign was already upon him once again. Behind Defiance, several planets had been destroyed by Yaan's body smashing through them, only adding to the slaughterous aura which fused with the destruction within the cosmic net.
Yaan narrowed his eyes. This battle was clearly different compared to his last 'battle' against Defiance. Back then, Defiance had only been testing him, but this time…he was fighting to kill!
Hatred filled his Defiant Aura. This hatred was not pointed towards Yaan personally, but towards the incomprehensible force known as 'Origin Fate'.
The fact that the World Demon supposedly entered the 1st Origin Era after the 2nd Origin Era, suggested that it was completely impossible to kill him in this Era, his birth Era. However, Defiance refused to accept this reality. He hated the fact that such a ridiculous thing seemed able to prevent him from killing Yaan, whom was so much weaker than himself!
As his Sea of Consciousness tumbled with Divine Sage Power, Yaan rapidly analysed the situation and came up with the best strategy that he could, given the urgency of the situation.
The world around Yaan twisted into a painting. He struggled to form his domain with the Defiant Domain surrounding him, but he refused to give in so easily. He redefined the truth within himself, and suddenly, in Defiance's eyes, Yaan completely transformed.
Defiance Sovereign paused, holding back from attacking again, as he stared at Yaan and snorted coldly.
He stared at Yaan, but what he saw was not the red-robed child, but a woman of unparalleled beauty.
"Taking Kiwi's appearance to make me hesitate? It seems that in this Era, you're only capable of these cheap tricks."
Indeed, Yaan was nowhere to be seen. From the perspective of everyone in this world secretly watching their battle from afar, the one facing Defiance was no longer the World Demon, but Love Empyrean!
This was an ability of his Conceal Truth Spells - complete and perfect concealment! Paired with Define Truth and his Absolute Domain, it became impossible for anyone to tell the two apart, it was as if Yaan had truly vanished, leaving Love Empyrean in his place!
'Love Empyrean' looked around with a shocked expression, before moving her gaze towards Defiance with a complex look.
Once again, Defiance paused.
"Defiance, what's going on, why am I here?" The woman asked, clearly looking confused by the situation.
"What a good impression!" Defiance suddenly laughed loudly, shaking the unstable space around them. "You think that I will stop, just because of this? Whether you are Kiwi or the World Demon doesn't matter, the mere fact that you're standing in my way, makes you my opponent!"
Yaan continued to act, up until the moment that Defiance struck out again, sighing in his mind when he saw that this wasn't enough to dissuade him. He had noticed previously that Defiance's attitude towards Love Empyrean was quite strange, so he wondered if this method might distract him. Although he did pause, Defiance wasn't dissuaded in the least, he merely stopped to comment and mock Yaan for resorting to this type of trickery.
That said, the fact that Defiance had paused at all was enough. Yaan maintained this form as he fought back, clashing with Defiance again, and once again causing destruction to spread out in waves from their battle.
Defiance fought barehanded, as he always had done. According to the Primordial Sage, this man disdained all forms of external power, including treasures of any type.
Yaan didn't doubt it. Perhaps, in this madman's mind, treasures would only weaken him; Defiance Sovereign's body which he had cultivated through his force of will, and his will itself, were the strongest treasures in this world!
The first strike came so quickly that it had caught Yaan off guard, but he soon adapted to Defiance's non-stop intensity. Punch after punch rained down on him, like stars compressed into mountains pushing him back time after time. Yaan was only barely able to hold out using his wooden sword, his domain, his dao spells and his divine spells. Every single exchange saw him thrown back by billions of miles, often ripping open space and leaving unimaginable devastation in his wake.
However, the more Defiance fought, the more will he revealed, and the more hatred that seeped into his attacks. Defiance found that he was actually unable to defeat Yaan, despite maintaining the upper hand throughout!
It was like a battle of absolute power against absolute resilience, it annoyed Defiance to no end!
Yaan felt like he was beginning to understand something.
Defiance used no treasures, nor any spells. In fact, as Yaan battled his way through Defiance Sovereign's Absolute Defiance Domain, he started to comprehend something interesting…
Yaan's domain was based upon his dao heart of fate, and was strengthened by various other daos, but also his will. Defiance's domain seemed to be the opposite; his domain was formed by him forcefully imposing his will upon the world, an act so defiant that it gave rise to the dao of defiance within its bounds!
As Yaan defended against each strike, and countered whenever possible after reforming his body which was torn apart time and time again, he realised something else.
'The core of Defiance's cultivation…is not body tempering! On the surface, it looks like the body tempering path, and whilst it's true that his body has grown via the body tempering path of the 2nd Origin Era, this is not the true core of his cultivation. His personality, his fighting style, and even his cultivation…everything about him is entirely based upon his will! Could it be that in his birth Era, the 3rd Origin Era, Defiance actually conceived a 6th path - the Will Path?'
The more he battled against Defiance and fought back against his will, the more Yaan felt that this was the case.
'The vast majority of the Origin Gods came from the 1st Origin Era. All of those outsiders, upon entering the 2nd Origin Era, adapted to the nature of this Era's cultivation, following one of the four paths. Supposedly, myself and Shi will be the only natives of the 2nd Origin Era to transcend the Origin and become Origin Gods, and we both conceived our own paths, the Dao Path and Origin Path. It stands to reason that Defiance, as the only 3rd Origin Era native to transcend, would also follow a different path, a path born from the circumstance of someone native to a different Era!'
Yaan knew that even if he did transcend the Origin and then go on to enter the other Origin Eras, where he would need to cultivate again according to the laws and principles of that Era, at his core, he would still be following the Dao Path. The same should be true for Shi with the Origin Path.
Defiance Sovereign - no, the God of Defiance - cultivated the Will Path!
Suddenly, Defiance stopped. Yaan was in no hurry to continue this battle. Instead, he took the time to quickly recover his body, which had been continuously suffering from grievous wounds ever since the start of the battle.
"If you want to understand the concept of 'will', then stop using that form." Defiance spoke plainly.
Yaan pondered for a moment, before reverting to his original appearance. He wasn't sure why Defiance said these words to him, perhaps he just found it irritating, not being able to see the true face of the one he was fighting. Regardless…
Right now, Yaan truly did want to comprehend the concept of 'will', even if he had to take some additional risks. Anyway, he didn't feel like Defiance was the type to use trickery to defeat him, he was actually famous for never telling a single lie, though who knew if that was really the case, or if he was actually just such an incredible liar that nobody could see through him.
The moment Yaan revealed his true face, his expression changed. Defiance's aura soared into the sky, apparently released from yet another restraint, now that he could see the true face of his enemy.
However, when Yaan looked into the giant of a man's eyes, he felt like Defiance was not actually looking at him, but at the power that prevented him from finishing this battle.
Origin Fate.
"Defiance, why do you believe that this so called 'Origin Fate' is some sort of law of the world? Is it not just a term used to describe the reality of the past and future, both of which you have already experienced? There is no law preventing you from killing me…you are just unable to do so."
Yaan's words were both reasonable and provocative, causing Defiance to show a strange smile.
"I don't know if the Origin Fate is a law, or the simple reality that you speak of. Regardless, I hate it."
"I see…" Yaan nodded slowly, before looking around, his gaze piercing through the world as he scanned the destruction all around them.
As their battle laid waste to the inside of the cosmic net, and as more and more destruction seeped into the region of space confined within those borders of destruction, the world continued to descend into a state of lesser stability. As the stability of the world broke down, Yaan felt like he was being less restricted, less hindered, and as such, he had the feeling that his own strength was also growing by the second, just like Defiance.
His gaze briefly lingered on the golden spatial tear in the Four Divine Star System, and the unstable form of the prophet, who was stood there, preventing any of the destructive aura from leaking in.
He could even vaguely see all across the inside of the net, throughout the seven star systems!
Because of this, he could also see now that this net, this formation…was actually Shi herself.
Indeed, even though he tried to destroy Shi's Dao Soul, in the end, he had failed. Whether this was because of the Evil God's interference, or something else, Yaan didn't know, but it was a fact that she was still alive. Her form had changed, she had lost her intelligence and now only existed as the net of destruction itself, but her dao was still intact, she was not yet truly dead.
"If your goal is to overcome the Origin Fate, then why me, why not Shi?" Yaan couldn't help but ask.
He wasn't trying to dissuade Defiance from fighting, such a thing was clearly impossible. He was simply curious.
"That was indeed my original intention, but now I see that she has already reached this point…destroying destruction only gives it more power, and I have no wish to help that girl cultivate."
"So you admit that you can't defy her Origin Fate, you admit that you're not her match?" Yaan asked with a smile.
Defiance Sovereign smiled back, but his aura erupted to a new level once again. The fabric of space all around him collapsed, but his Absolute Defiance Domain actually pushed those spatial tears away from him, preventing any of this destruction from harming his body!
"Using deceptive illusions to throw me off, and provocative words in an attempt to shake my mental state…this is indeed your style…but you cannot comprehend will like this."
"What, you want me to fight you fairly?" Yaan laughed and shook his head. "We all have our own strengths, I would be a fool not to utilise mine when facing you."
"Strengths can also become weaknesses, World Demon. You insist on grasping every power within your reach, thinking that the more you branch out, the stronger you will become…but in the end, everything outside of your dao will become your limitation. On that note, interestingly, to this day I am yet to discern the truth of your dao. Human? Illusion? Painting? Sword? Karma? Faith? Creation? All of these are possibilities…I even once thought that you might be cultivating a heart of origin."
"A heart of origin? You think too highly of me." Yaan chuckled, shaking his head.
He wondered why Defiance would think that he cultivated a human, faith or creation dao heart, until he realised that Defiance had most likely connected him to his other supposed identity in the 1st Origin Era. Most of the outsiders had identified him as the World Demon, but it seemed that the 1st Origin Era's 'World Demon' and 'Progenitor Yang' were viewed as two different entities by most, when the reality should be that both were him.
Although they had seemingly stopped fighting, in truth, as they spoke, their daos and wills erupted outwards, fusing into their domains and pressuring the other.
Yaan could feel that if he spoke one wrong word, or one simple doubt arose within his heart in the midst of this argument, he could very well die on the spot.
Even so, something that Defiance said had actually struck a chord with him. It wasn't a doubt as much as a vague feeling that there was some truth behind his words…
Strengths could become weaknesses, limitations due to straying from the core of his dao…
Was this really the case? He had cultivated until now by pursuing every form of strength that he could get his hands on, but perhaps, eventually, he would need to let some things go, in order to focus on his true path.
