Fwoooooosh!
Bright red blood burst violently from Sophia's severed neck. It was a deep and fatal wound that had sliced straight through the main arteries.
At the exact same moment, Sophia's sharp shining blade carved through nearly half of Dan's torso diagonally from his right shoulder all the way down toward his left waist. Flesh was torn apart. Bones were shattered.
Two attacks exchanged in the same instant both perfect and lethal.
Both executed with terrifying precision in a final dance balanced on the edge of death.
"I think this is enough for now."
Dan spoke calmly despite the horrifying wound across his body as he slowly stepped backward, creating distance between himself and Sophia. At the same time, the two solid blue daggers in his hands gradually began dissolving into particles of chakra while a powerful glowing green aura suddenly spread around Sophia's entire body.
Fwoooooooosh!
Dense healing chakra overflowing with immense vitality rapidly covered all of her injuries. Bruises faded away. Deep cuts closed one after another, especially the deadly wound across her neck. Within moments, it vanished completely as if it had never existed at all.
As for Dan, his heavily damaged body returned to normal through an entirely different process. It looked as though time itself had begun reversing around him alone.
Craaack… Fwoooosh…
The shattered bones moved back into place and fused together perfectly. Torn organs regenerated and reconnected. Severed flesh regrew. Split skin closed itself smoothly, like watching a broken recording play backward until his body completely returned to its perfect untouched state as though nothing had happened.
A moment later, six beautiful glowing blue circles appeared floating above his head.
Fwoooosh!
The six seals restricting his power melted back into his body once again, releasing the restraints completely. At the same time, the black sealing lines spread briefly across his face before disappearing as well.
The sealed sections of his brain returned to normal activity, allowing his natural emotions to flow back again.
"Thank you, Father."
Sophia spoke in a quiet relieved voice filled with deep gratitude before suddenly throwing herself into his arms and hugging him tightly with obvious affection.
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Father!"
Her voice now sounded completely different from the cold emotionless tone she had earlier. It was full of warmth and life once again. Her gentle and caring expression had returned. The beloved older sister was back, while it seemed the dark side inside her had finally fallen asleep for now.
Dan gently patted her head and replied softly, "Don't worry about it, my little girl. Even though it was extremely dangerous and truly close to real death…" He looked directly at her before continuing, "I can't deny that it was genuinely enjoyable for me as well."
In truth, after experiencing this kind of brutal close-range battle himself, Dan could now deeply understand people like his daughter who carried such strange bloodthirsty desires. A real fight to the death where your life hangs on the edge every second, where your own blood and your enemy's blood continue spilling endlessly while both sides tear each other apart without mercy or pause truly carried a dangerously addictive thrill. The overwhelming surge of adrenaline was real.
But understanding it did not mean Dan himself preferred that style of combat. Quite the opposite.
For him personally, the ideal battle was one where his enemy never even had the chance to resist or counterattack in the first place. He preferred crushing his opponent instantly beneath absolute overwhelming power that left no room for retaliation.
That was why Dan always preferred to stand far above his enemies in strength. And if he ever felt he lacked that overwhelming advantage, then he would rather retreat immediately until he possessed enough absolute power to erase his enemy with a single decisive attack.
No foolish pride or fake courage and no unnecessary risks only logic and survival that was Dan's true style.
"Well then, now all that's left is dealing with this defensive seal."
He extended one hand toward the ground, and instantly an enormous and incredibly complicated network of seals covering every inch of the massive hall became visible once more. Every wall, every corner, every layer. Then all of those countless seals slowly began gathering toward him.
Fwoooosh… Fwoooosh…
The sealing lines flowed toward his open palm until they condensed into a beautiful glowing yellow sphere that floated quietly while rotating slowly in the air.
"That looks like a terrifying amount of accumulated energy," Sophia said with visible surprise in her voice.
"Yes. It really is," Dan replied while staring carefully at the glowing sphere before continuing, "An enormous amount of energy gathered inside the defensive seals during our battle. Every strike, every explosion, every attack was absorbed and stored by the formation."
Then with a movement of his other hand, the space in front of him suddenly split open like a crack in reality itself, revealing a strange gray dimension behind it. Black chains shot outward from the opening, wrapped themselves around the glowing yellow sphere, and dragged it inside before the dimensional crack closed once again.
For now, Dan decided to seal the energy away inside a separate dimension since he had no immediate use for it. But perhaps in the future, he might find a way to use it somehow. Maybe as some kind of devastating bomb or weapon.
Then he turned toward Sophia and spoke in a final calm tone.
"Alright then. Let's head back up now."
And in the very next instant, both of them vanished from the underground hall at blinding speed.
(Sophia walt pic is available to everyone on my Patreon page even if u r not member)
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