Phainon no longer dared to hold back in the slightest! The Golden Descendant bloodline within him erupted like a volcano, a golden aura shooting skywards!
Facing this overwhelming, multi-attribute sea of skills, Phainon displayed the terror of being a "stats monster"!
No flashy techniques, just ultimate power and speed!
He was like an enraged dragon weaving through stormy waves, his figure so fast it pulled countless golden afterimages!
At times, he met the Searing Barrages head-on, shattering them with his fists;
At other times, he narrowly skirted the edges of the Incinerating pillars, the scorching heat waves curling his hair ends;
The erosion of Light Degradation was forcibly pushed back by his thick aura; the Matter Separation force field was violently shaken apart by his brute strength;
The dizziness from Arcane Suppression was suppressed by his beast-like will!
"ROAR——!!" Phainon let out a battle cry, enduring the grazing wounds from several Tempering Embers, and charged out from the sea of fire like a golden meteor! Though slightly disheveled, his aura only intensified!
"Brilliant! Too damn brilliant, ya!"
"Worth it! This lifetime is worth it! To witness such a battle of gods!"
"Long live the Golden Descendant! That other guy is awesome too!"
"Open the bet! I want to raise my bet! On the guy opposite! That wave of attacks are too cool!"
The audience went utterly wild, the massive sound waves threatening to lift the dome.
Trianne was so excited her little face was crimson, her voice nearly gone hoarse: "Little Little whitey! Go! Burn his butt! Little Snowy! Charge! Smash those fireballs!"
On the arena, Phaethon eye twitched as he watched Phainon "bathed" in his sea of attacks and still managed to force his way out.
Absurd! He's still fine after that?! Eating attacks directly and still bouncing around? These stats... are they over-tuned?! He raged internally: *Can you even play this game if the Deliverer's stats aren't nerfed?!*
Meanwhile, Phainon, who had just burst through the fire, his aura slightly diminished, felt his rapidly depleting strength and the stinging pain from the Tempering Ember grazes. His heart was also pounding.
Damn! This skill casting speed, this precise coverage, this attribute combination... It's like a machine gun!
Did Phaethon freaking cheat?! He roared internally: *Can you even play this game if these mechanics aren't changed?!*
One was all stats—tanky, high defense, immense strength, and speed, trading blow for blow!
The other was all mechanics—skill spam tactics, control, debuffs, burst, flashbangs, using every trick in the book!
Phainon's thoughts: *If I let him kite and whittle me down like this, I'll lose once my stamina runs out! Must end this quickly! Get close! Finish it in one blow!*
Phaethon's thoughts: *While dragging it out gives me better odds, his gap-closing ability is too strong. If he finds an opening, it's over! I need to end this fast too!*
Their eyes met mid-air, instantly understanding the other's intent! Almost simultaneously, both prepared to end the fight directly!
The golden aura around Phainon condensed like molten metal, compressing back into his body. His muscles bulged, golden magma seeming to flow beneath his skin. A destructive force gathered on his fist!
The solid stone tiles of the arena beneath his feet silently turned to dust!
Phainon: *No, I can't use the sword. I might hurt Phaethon if I use the sword. It will be better if I use my fists!*
Phaethon: *No, I can't fully unleash the 'Radiance Oath'. Not sure if Phainon can take it, but my wallet definitely can't. Guess I have to use that then.
Phainon, like a burning golden meteor, compressed his power to the extreme at his fist. It tore through the air with destructive force, crashing down towards the nearby Phaethon! This punch could split mountains and shatter rocks!
However, just as the fist's wind pressure was about to touch Phaethon's face—
*Hum—!*
A strange, incredibly precise spatial fluctuation instantly enveloped Phainon!
"Huh?!" Phainon felt the scene before him distort and spin violently, like water struck by a stone!
The intense spatial disorientation made him instantly lose all sense of direction and balance, his gathered power wavering slightly!
Before he could even react to the dizzying spin, a terribly familiar object, carrying wind pressure and a whooshing sound, rapidly enlarged in his vision!
That was... a knee?! Phaethon's knee?!
*THWACK—!!!*
A sickening, dull crunch!
Phaethon's knee landed squarely, perfectly, right on Phainon's high-bridged nose!
"Ugh—!" Stars instantly exploded before Phainon's eyes. Excruciating pain mixed with a powerful, numbing sensation shot straight to his brain!
Warm liquid, dotted with faint golden specks, shot out uncontrollably! The impact sent him reeling backward!
But it wasn't over!
In the moment Phainon was dizzy, vision blurred, and body off-balance, that bizarre spatial fluctuation descended again!
*Whoosh—!*
Phainon felt the world turn upside down once more. When he barely stabilized himself, with his vision blurry with tears, he suddenly found himself standing at the opposite corner of the arena, a good hundred meters away from Phaethon!
Even worse, his body's instincts screamed danger from all directions! Those were the slower-tracking but more powerful skills Phaethon had cast earlier!
They seemed to have been waiting. Sensing his appearance, they instantly locked on, homing in with deadly screams!
"YAY—!!!" Trianne shot up from her seat, her little voice already hoarse but still screaming with all her might, "Little Little Whitey used Trianne's Infinity Gate! Little Little Whitey is so amazing! Trianne is amazing too! Hit him! Burn him! Blast him!"
"ROAR——!!!"
"He's going to win! The other guy is going to win! My 5x odds! Hahaha!"
"A battle of powerhouses! This is a true battle of powerhouses!!"
"Worth it! Worth the admission price!!"
The entire coliseum erupted like a powder keg being lit, completely boiling in fervor and excitement! The sound waves threatened to shatter the ancient some!
*On the Arena Floor*
Phaethon remained standing in place, holding the cool pose of having retracted his knee after the strike, appearing calm and unruffled on the surface.
But upon closer look, his supporting right leg was shaking uncontrollably and violently! A fine layer of cold sweat even beaded on his temple!
*Damn! Damn! Damn!* Phaethon roared internally, his face contorting in pain he had to mask. Whose skull is that hard?! It's like a block of alloy!
I wanted to copy the movies, do a cool knee strike into a close-combo and look badass!
Look badass my ass! I almost shattered my kneecap! He was immensely grateful that spells like *[Heal]*, *[Life Blessing]*, *[Pain Dulling]*, and the like had never stopped running, silently repairing him.
If it weren't for those "skills" propping him up, the recoil from that knee strike would have been enough to make him roll on the ground clutching his leg.
He wouldn't have had the strength to stand there looking cool, let alone teleport Phainon away!
In his agony, he without hesitation chose the "safest" tactic—toss Phainon into the pile of skills and let him fend for himself!