The entire arena shook with violent energy, as the two powerful attacksnded directly onto Zeras at the same time. An explosion of astral energy, spatial energy, and death energy surged out in all directions, filling most of the arena with its power before eventually fading away.


    Watching intently from the stands, John leaned forward with bated breath, waiting to see the oue of such abined attacknding directly onto Zeras. It had been perfectly executed by Lilian, and her ability to use her spatial powers to redirect attacks surprised even John himself, as he had never seen or heard of such an ability. Clearly such a battle art was only usable by one as skilled in the spatial Dao as his master.


    While John waited to see what the oue was, Lilian was not of the same opinion. She sped forward and swung her scythe down towards Zeras''st known location, unleashing another powerful scythe image towards him.


    A guttural roar boomed out from within the explosion, louder and more powerful than the remnant explosion itself. The roar sted away the explosive cloud of energy, and unleashed a shockwave that boomed outwards in all directions.


    The shockwave sted against Lilian, who braced herself as she was knocked backwards some distance. While she was not injured from the attack, it had interrupted her follow up attack. She hovered in the air above the arena, staring down at Zeras'', whose figure was now revealed for all to see.


    His body still glowed brightly, like the shimmering of stars, from his astral armor, although cracks had appeared in the armor. Trickles of blood seeped out of the cracks, revealing he had taken some damage from thest attack. However, the extent of the damage was unknown, as the armor shrouded the condition of his body.


    The cracks quickly healed, reforming the armor anew. Zeras'' gaze, now frustrated and even angered slightly instead of calm and amused, stared up towards Lilian hovering above him.


    "Congrattions sister," Zeras said, his voice cold and unamused. "This is the first time in half a century that someone has managed tond such an attack on me, an attack that made me feel pain. Since you''ve grown to this level, then I should treat you with the respect of a proper opponent. You''ve earned that much at least."


    Lilian remained silent as she inspected Zeras'' condition, but wasn''t able to gather much information either. However, she could feel his aura and fighting spirit, both of which had grown since the attacknded. Clearly her attack from before had not impacted hisbat prowess to any measurable degree.


    After praising Lilian, Zeras'' aura skyrocketed once more, and his body began to glow even brighter than before. His body suddenly started to grow, bing taller, wider, and more muscr. In less than a second, his body exploded to over twenty feet in height, covered from head to toe with powerful astral energy.


    It was as if an astral giant had appeared in the arena, one of iparable power. The heat and energy radiating off his body skyrocketed as well, making it almost impossible to approach him. It was as if he had be a star.


    The odd-looking weapon in his hand also grew in size, matching his new form. A sh of light appeared, and another weapon materialized in his other hand. It was a long, curved saber, seemingly made entirely of astral energy. It was fifteen feet long, and glowed brightly. John couldn''t help but draw a deep breath as he saw this form.


    Zeras'' power had skyrocketed in this form, and he was now apletely different person. Even Lilian studied Zeras with a wary gaze, as his new power was something that heeded caution.


    "Let''s see how long you canst," Zeras said, his voice now sounding different. It was deeper yet more ethereal, as if someone was speaking from the other side of a void.


    With no further hesitation, he dashed forward. Despite his hulking figure, his speed was even faster than before.


    "What?" John couldn''t help but exim as Zeras appeared before Lilian in a sh, as if he had been a beam of light. Zeras'' hulking figure dwarfed Lilian, who was even smaller than the weapon''s in his hand.


    The astral de cleaved down on her without pause. The power of the de seemed to make space around it tremble, which was something only John had himself had seen done in the Heaven Tribtion Realm.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Not phased by the sudden attack, Lilian shed her scythe out towards the ster de, unleashing another powerful scythe image. The hastily made scythe image shed up onto the de and then exploded, resisting for only a second before being overwhelmed by the ster de.


    The de exploded down on her location, like a falling star.


    Boom!


    The arena trembled, and astral energy exploded outwards as the ster de mmed onto the arena''s surface. Zeras'' gaze snapped to the side, locking onto Lilian who had suddenly appeared several miles away, like a ghost once again stepping out of another dimension.


    "I already told you, little sister, that even space must respect the power of the stars!" Zeras boomed, shing towards her location once more. He appeared before her almost immediately again, and unleashed another attack on her location. At the same time, a new astral aura, different yet just as powerful, emanated from Zeras, enveloping both him and Lilian.


    Lilian''s body shifted and faded away as she stepped into space to avoid the attack. Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized something was wrong. Her spatial teleportation was taking too long, as if it was being affected by something; by Zeras'' astral aura. It was clearly making it harder for her to use her spatial powers, which was all the time he needed tond an attack.


    Lilian''s power spiked as she unleashed another scythe attack, more powerful than the ones she had unleashed previously. Her pitch-ck scythe image mmed into the ster de, and resisted it for a time before exploding again. The ster de mmed down, with Lilian barely dodging the attack in time, as she was unable to teleport away.


    Boom!


    The explosion of astral energy crashed into the spatial tempest around her, and then her body. She shot backwards like a bullet, flying through the air for dozens of miles before managing to collect and steady herself in the air once more.


    As she did so, she noticed Zeras'' pointing towards her with his bizarre weapon from their previous location; an astral beam already unleashed. The beam was almost upon her.


    The t-headed skeletal beast appeared before her just in time, blocking the attack which exploded against its head. More cracks formed on the t skull as it stood its ground as best it could to block the attack, which gave Lilian enough time to dodge.


    The skeletal beast was flung into the distance, and the beam crashed past Lilian and onto the arena wall in the distance.


    Boom!


    An apocalyptic explosion sted through the arena as the formation barrier red with power to block the astral beam. The explosion faded away as fast as it had appeared, revealing the arena once more. Zeras was once again in front of Lilian, his hulking figure mming down with his ster de already, leaving Lilian no time to react.


    She shed her scythe out with her full power, which mmed against the ster de that dwarfed her body. Another cmitous explosion sted outwards, and a figure shot out of the explosion like a meteor.


    Blood trailed behind Lilian''s figure, which tumbled violently through the air.