Despite the powerful fluctuations emitted by her movements, the woman's steps were light and airy. Her small frame made it hard to imagine how she put so much weight into the ground so effortlessly.

"Now entering: the rising star's final challenger! Not many know her name, but many know her power! Bianca Weiss, the Earthshaker!"

The woman's name, Bianca, was truly unknown within Hidden Death Valley. Even on Heaven's List, she didn't stand out much.

But the title that followed that name was more than just well-known.

One of the strongest enforcers working under the Bloodlock Clan's Hidden Death Valley influence, a genius who surpassed even Reavus Bloodlock in talent, the Earthshaker.

The Earthshaker's gender was never known before this day, but due to her reputation, everyone assumed she was instead a gargantuan man. Reports of her actions listed the way she brutally tore opponents apart, how she could use a single stomp to cause a civilization-destroying earthquake.

Seeing the face behind that horrifying title, the crowd was especially stunned. Rather than a grotesque man, she was actually a beautiful woman!

Damien, unlike the crowd, was of no mind to pay attention to these small details. He could see her level with his eyes, and he could sense her law comprehension with his perception.

This woman was truly strong. She wasn't like those wastrels he'd fought before.

Bianca soon reached the center of the arena floor, standing a few feet away from Damien.

"Mm, you have to at least be this strong to make the young master send me." She commented nonchalantly.

A vein bulged in Damien's forehead. The immediate dismissal didn't feel good at all.

But..

His blood was boiling. Just as she thought of him..

'Right, I need someone of at least this level to challenge me.'

As the two faced off, the crowd finally registered what they'd heard. People ran about to rapidly change their bets or alter the amounts. The announcer smiled as he saw this.

He wasn't the same announcer Damien almost killed last time, rather, he was the replacement. And unlike the previous announcer, he didn't care about Hidden Death Valley's political drama at all.

He only cared about money.

And considering the fact that Damien's matches always raked in insane amounts of money, how could he not be excited?

After all, he got a cut of that betting pool as his payment.

The battle was delayed another ten minutes to accommodate these late betters. The entire time, Damien and Bianca didn't speak a single word to each other.

Bianca stood quietly with her eyes closed. Meanwhile, Damien poured mana into the All-Seeing Eyes to see through as much of her as he could.

'She only has an earth affinity..but this affinity doesn't feel as weak as the other earth affinities I've seen.'

The mana passively swirling around her body was simply too powerful for her earth affinity to be as simple as controlling rocks.

Damien started thinking, just what could one do if one expanded an earth affinity into the conceptual stage?

Minutes passed as both challengers fell into a silent lull. The arena soon filled back up, the millions of spectators returning to their seats and waiting for the battle to start with utmost anticipation.

The announcer smiled and opened his mouth. "Challengers, are you ready?!"

Damien and Bianca opened their eyes. They succinctly nodded, not taking their attention off each other.

With a wide grin on his face, the announcer raised his arm into the sky.

"Battle..Start!"

BANG!

A fist impacted Mirage. In that instant the announcer called for the start of the battle, both Bianca and Damien moved.

Dark yellow mana coated Bianca's fists as she moved. Her speed wasn't particularly fast, but she was adept at attacking perfectly to counter this weakness.

Despite being much faster than her, Damien couldn't find an opening to attack. He was stuck using Mirage to block the immense force of her punches, all the while being gradually pushed back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The punches continued to rain down. Damien immediately activated teleportation and made distance, reappearing tens of meters away.

'Void Sword Art Second Form: Horizon Break'

His sword angled parallel to the ground and shot out like an arrow. The distance separating him from his opponent became negligible.

Bang!

Bianca raised her arms in an X to block, but the force of the attack still managed to push her back. Narrowing her eyes, she waved her arm through the air.

'Earth, rise.'

Rumble!

The earth quaked as countless pillars sprouted from its surface. These pillars were massive, and numerous, enveloping the entire arena in their shadows.

And as they rose, they specifically targeted Damien with a heavy impact force that made his bones rattle and his organs shake.

'Shit!'

Damien teleported constantly, avoiding the rising pillars. He knew that getting hit by them would only hinder his progress.

He needed to get close to her. The entire arena was her weapon, so long ranged combat wasn't a viable option anymore. Unless he could touch her, he wouldn't be able to win.

Material Shift would be the most convenient ability to use at the moment, but its main limitation was the necessity of a second target to shift with. In Bianca's vicinity, even the rock on the floor was connected to her mana. He didn't have any targets to lock onto.

'Then..!'

He immediately moved to enter the spatial layers and teleport. But at that moment..

"Keuk..!"

A strong repelling force pushed him back and disallowed him from doing so.

Damien's eyes widened. Right, he'd forgotten about this possibility.

The battle arena was mostly fair, but it had its loopholes. For one, artifacts were allowed.

Including spatial locking artifacts.

'This isn't some easy spatial lock..I can't unravel it easily.'

Damien's face turned dignified. His most useful movement ability had been locked away. With space still being his main method of attack, this limitation was genuinely severe.

Luckily, he'd spent time learning how to adapt to battling within a spatial lock after his previous encounters.

Even without teleportation..

'Seven Stars Encircling The Moon!'

Damien's fist immediately turned into a shining moon. Seven stars of spacetime essence and flame-lightning essence formed around the shining moon, chaotically spinning around each other.

'I've never tried this, but it should work!'

Damien's fist shot out. The seven stars collided with each other one by one and exponentially multiplied the force of the attack. The rampant energy finally centered on the moon after all seven stars collapsed, and when Damien's fist reached the end of its path, completely outstretched..

VOOOOM!

He directed the energy in a straight line, disallowing it from exploding outward. A fearsome beam of shining white chaotic light burst through the air, shattering space and turning the rock pillars around it into powder as it rushed at Bianca.

'Earth, shield!' Bianca shouted inwardly. The earth around her body condensed and pressurized, turning crystalline as it rose from the ground and created an eight-point barrier around her.

This barrier wasn't just made of earth, but of the powerful minerals hidden within it. Even those above her level would have an extremely difficult time breaking through her turtle shell.

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CRASH! BOOOOOOOOM!

Damien's chaotic light beam impacted the crystalline shield almost the exact second it appeared. An ear-piercing screeching sound rang out as the blazing mana tried to pierce through the shield. Rays of light were reflected all over the arena, destroying the rock pillars and even forming cracks in the arena barrier.

But Bianca already knew the attack wouldn't pierce her defense. Her opponent was weaker than her. How was he to accomplish something even those above her level couldn't do?

'Pierce him!'

Her arm waved through the air like she was conducting an orchestra. The debris from the destroyed rock pillars rose into the air and shot through it like a group of shooting stars. The yellowish-brown mana lighting up the atmosphere became active, attacking Damien fiercely!

He flew into the air, dodging with everything he had. Time mana circled around his body and sped up his own personal time, increasing his speed.

Bang!

Freya appeared in his hand, bullets leaving its barrel and shooting down as many of the rock bullets as it could.

And as a final touch on his defense, vector control activated. Any rock projectiles that appeared too close to him were redirected and shot back at their owner.

Still, Bianca was too powerful.

How could she allow her own attack to harm her?

She poured mana into the crystalline barrier and reinforced it. Even with the doubled strength the rock projectiles gained through Damien's vector control, they couldn't pierce its surface, exploding as soon as they made impact.

Seeing this, Damien gritted his teeth.

It seemed he'd need far more power than he was currently using if he wanted to defeat her.