Chapter 1191: Fists Beneath Gods
Ethan stood below the battlefield, his face going fully dark.
If they kept fighting like this, this whole world might actually get torn apart.
His breathing hitched.
High above, Lily’s power was still crashing violently against that towering figure. Snow-white lightning ripped through the phantom outline of a phoenix—only for the phoenix’s nirvana flames to stitch the wounds back together again and again. Every collision detonated another spread of space fractures across the sky. The cracks linked together until it looked like the heavens themselves were being pried open by brute force.
This was the first time Ethan had ever seen a battle like this with his own eyes.
It wasn’t just energy blasting into energy anymore. It was two forces brushing up against something close to the origin of power itself, grinding down on each other like tectonic plates. Ethan could feel how dangerous it was—and he didn’t even qualify to step into it. If he rushed in, he’d probably get shredded by the shockwaves before he got anywhere near either of them.
And in the heartbeat he let his attention slip—
Azrakar suddenly charged him.
Golden energy erupted from Azrakar’s new Powered Combat Armor, and the blue core in his abdomen flared at the same time. Nirvana power and golden light twisted together, forming a heavy tide of energy that wrapped Ethan up from head to toe.
"Your opponent is me."
Azrakar’s voice came from deep inside that gold glare, tight with suppressed fury.
"Don’t go looking around."
He drove a punch forward. The edge of his fist carried a blinding sheen as it shot straight for Ethan’s chest.
"Today, I’m going to rip you to pieces!"
Ethan forced his focus back, stepping one pace to the rear. Transparent lightning spread from beneath his feet as the energy in his body surged and gathered between his hands. Golden runes lit up along his arms. Several streams of power compressed in his palms, condensing into a massive sphere of energy.
He hurled it.
Azrakar’s golden wave slammed in at the same instant.
The two forces met midair—and exploded.
Violent ripples burst outward in sheets. Thunderous booms chained together one after another, and the surrounding energy rolled like tide after tide, forcing every nearby soldier to stagger back.
Ethan’s aura climbed to its limit.
Between heaven and earth, Primordial Core energy poured toward him without end. It was drawn out of subterranean mineral veins, out of broken space, out of the lingering turbulence of the battlefield itself—then spiraled around the surface of his body. Ethan didn’t release it immediately like before.
He spread all of it across the outside of his body instead.
A thick, oppressive defense took shape around him.
Transparent lightning ran along the outermost layer. Golden runes sank into it. Deeper still, Primordial Core energy settled like something impossibly heavy—armor pressed flush against flesh and blood.
Then Ethan clenched his fist and hammered it toward Azrakar.
Azrakar’s eyes snapped wide.
He hadn’t expected Ethan to fight like this.
Primordial Core energy in this world was brutally overbearing. No one dared absorb it lightly. Even the strong mostly only mobilized it temporarily, or guided it through weapons and armor. But Ethan didn’t care. He was forcibly pressing huge amounts of it into the surface of his own flesh—using his body to bear that weight.
He was gambling his life on his physique.
Their bodies collided head-on.
Boom!
Ethan’s fist smashed into Azrakar’s chest. The Primordial Core energy inside that heavy defensive layer burst forward like a battering ram. Azrakar didn’t dare slack off for even an instant. His Powered Combat Armor flared at full output, nirvana power surging from the abdominal core and flooding through his arms and breastplate until it filled his entire body.
He drove his physical aura to the limit and threw his punch up to meet Ethan’s.
They started trading blows at point-blank range.
Fists. Elbows. Knees. Shoulder checks.
Every time they made contact, a ring of energy shock blasted outward. The Primordial Core coating on Ethan kept getting peeled away—then replaced as new power rushed in to cover it. Azrakar’s Powered Combat Armor cracked under the hits, only to be rapidly mended inside the nirvana glow.
They fought faster and faster.
Sonic booms detonated in rapid succession, and even the space around them shivered with thin, spiderweb fractures. Soldiers still locked in chaotic combat farther away didn’t even think about getting close—they curved around this zone, because even brushing the edge meant getting thrown by the shockwaves spilling off each collision.
After one more brutal impact, the two of them finally broke apart.
Ethan retreated all the way to the edge of the sky, chest heaving. The defensive layer around him had been shattered by more than half, and transparent lightning kept snapping and crawling along the ruptured sections like exposed nerves.
Azrakar hovered on the opposite side as well. His new Powered Combat Armor was covered in fresh fist marks, and the blue core in his abdomen flashed in rapid, panicked bursts.
Both of them were breathing like they’d just barely escaped drowning.
This kind of pure, close-range brawling devoured power at a terrifying rate. Every punch had to be thrown at full force. Every block had to eat the other man’s entire impact head-on. The energy spilling out of each collision was no less violent than a direct energy bombardment.
Ethan didn’t give his body time to sag any further.
He reached into his gear and pulled out several energy cores, then shoved them straight into his mouth. He bit down.
Crunch.
The moment they shattered, a savage surge poured down his throat and flooded into his body, forcefully refilling the meridians that had been nearly drained dry.
His weakened aura rebounded fast.
Ethan lifted his head toward Azrakar, the corner of his mouth hooked with a cold edge.
"Here’s some advice."
Transparent lightning flickered back to life at his fingertips.
"Just surrender."
He rolled his wrist slowly, like he was loosening up before round two.
"Otherwise... I might tear you into pieces."
Azrakar steadied his breathing too.
He raised a hand. Golden energy gathered in his palm, compressing and hardening until it took shape as a massive greatsword blazing with gold. The blade was broad and heavy, with nirvana power flowing over its surface. Every slight movement left a scorched, burning trail in the air, as if the space itself were being seared.
"It should be you surrendering to me."
Azrakar gripped the greatsword and sneered at Ethan.
"Didn’t you see? My master has already descended into this world."
He tipped his chin up, casting a glance at the towering figure still locked in battle with Lily overhead. When he looked back down, his voice swelled with arrogance again.
"It won’t be long. Everything here will belong to us."
Ethan’s teeth ground hard enough to click.
Even while fighting Azrakar, he’d kept one eye on the sky. Lily really was terrifying—every eruption of snow-white lightning tore open the phoenix phantom, forcing that towering figure to pour out even more nirvana power just to hold the line.
But the enemy wasn’t some ordinary powerhouse.
Their forces stayed tangled high above, weaving and crashing without a clear winner. And worse—Ethan could tell it.
Lily was starting to fall behind.
She hadn’t been back in a solid body for long. Her strength still wasn’t fully restored.
Meanwhile that towering figure’s nirvana power was absurdly deep, like a fire that simply refused to burn out. If this kept going... Ethan didn’t even want to think about what came next.