Eztein sensed danger before he even saw it. He darted backward, but the attack didn’t come from anywhere conventional.

Riiiiip!!

Several deep, jagged slashes tore across his body. They hadn’t traveled through the air as they had simply appeared where he was standing.

The absurdity of it struck him. This was the deadly edge of someone who mastered space itself: attacks that didn’t follow the rules of distance or trajectory.

Pain flared along his body, but Eztein gritted his teeth, his aura exploding outward as he prepared to retaliate.

"Not enough."

Eztein surged into the air, his wounds vanishing in an instant as if they had never existed. His eyes burned with cold fury.

"The Blood Lightning Monster is gone... vanished along with the entire demon stronghold. And all of you... will meet the same fate. You’ve slaughtered tens of thousands over these past months. It won’t save you. It won’t change a thing."

It was true—the Blood Lightning Monster had disappeared after the great battle four months ago. Whether he lived or died remained a mystery. The battlefield itself had become a dead zone, a place where laws and concepts had been obliterated. Natural energy surged uncontrollably, attempting to mend the rift the monster had left behind.

No ordinary expert dared enter that space. Reality and dreams intertwined there, twisted into a chasm that defied comprehension.

"Why are you telling me all this? Do you expect me to grovel?" Eztein barked, his laughter cutting through the warped air like a blade.

He surged forward, and yet the ceiling above remained stubbornly distant. He had flown kilometers in a space that should have been cramped, but reality here twisted unnaturally, folding and bending under forces beyond mortal comprehension.

"Pathetic tricks!" he roared, veins of lightning snaking across his body.

Energy erupted from him like a storm breaking free from its bounds. Lightning coiled around his spear, crackling violently, illuminating the fractured void with harsh, electric-white light. His lightning element had reached Fusion Stage, and the raw, oppressive power radiated outward, bending the very air and sending shards of debris spinning into the emptiness.

[Dividing Heaven’s Wave]!!

Eztein swung his spear with all the force of a god’s wrath. A blinding surge of lightning tore through the warped space, screaming like a thousand storms. The very air split, jagged cracks of pure energy racing across the void, devouring reality itself. The ground—or what passed for a floor in this twisted layer of existence—exploded under the sheer force, sending fragments of rock and molten-like energy flying in all directions.

Boom!!

Space itself screamed and ruptured, splintering into shards that shimmered and twisted unnaturally. The violent resonance of the attack shook the void for kilometers, bending the laws of physics like paper in a furnace.

Without hesitation, Eztein lunged into the splintered space, diving through the fractured layers of reality as if they were nothing. His eyes, lit with cold fury, fixed on the figure in the distance.

Spatial Whisperer hovered there, suspended in the chaos, a phantom in the maelstrom. The man’s aura twisted and coiled, distorting the very air around him like smoke caught in a cyclone, his presence radiating cold precision and deadly intent.

Eztein’s body crackled with raw energy, lightning dancing across his skin in violent arcs. Every muscle coiled with tension, every breath a promise of destruction. He gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the spear.

This was no mere duel. This was a storm against the void, a clash of powers that could rend the fabric of space.

"You really can’t wait to die, huh?" Spatial Whisperer’s voice cut through the void like a cold blade, laced with amusement. He spread his arms wide, and a pulse of raw energy rippled outward, distorting the very air around him.

"Hahaha!! Kill me? You think you can do it? Try it!" Eztein’s roar echoed like thunder as he surged forward, every inch of his body radiating raw, crackling energy.

Whoosh!!

In an instant, they collided midair, the space between them igniting with sparks of sheer force. Lightning and warped energy clashed violently, searing the air with blinding flashes. The ground or what passed for the floor here shivered beneath the impact, shards of energy rocketing outward in all directions.

Spatial Whisperer materialized a red dagger from thin air, its blade pulsating with warped power, and swung it in a deadly arc. Eztein met it head-on, his spear slicing through the void, lightning dancing along its edge.

Boom!!

The collision unleashed a shockwave that ripped through the surrounding space, bending reality itself. Air roared and twisted as sparks of light and shadow exploded outward like miniature supernovas. Every ripple of their elemental power sent tremors through the void, shaking the very laws of physics.

Then, gone.

Their forms flickered and vanished, appearing in another point, another instant, only to clash again. Flicker. Clash. Boom. Flicker. Clash. Boom. Each collision splintered space, sending jagged fractures of energy tearing outward.

Eztein’s senses strained to their limits, his heart pounding like a war drum. Every fiber of his being screamed to anticipate, react, survive—but Spatial Whisperer bent the very fabric of space with every movement. Speed was meaningless here; prediction was impossible.

The air around them warped and twisted like liquid, glowing with the aftermath of their clashes. Lightning arcs scorched the void, sparks hissed and died midair, and every impact left the faint smell of ozone and burnt energy lingering in the space around them.

Eztein’s eyes blazed with fury. Every strike, every clash was a test of will, strength, and precision.

Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!

The very air trembled with each impact, cracks of energy spider-webbing through the void. Sparks hissed as they ignited the warped space around them, twisting reality into jagged shards.

Eztein thrust his spear forward, lightning arcing violently along its shaft, slicing through the void toward Spatial Whisperer. But the enemy was enveloped in overlapping layers of folded space, each one warping the air like heat over molten rock. Eztein gritted his teeth, every fiber of his being straining as he forced the spear through the layers, the effort sending shivers up his arms. Without this, closing the distance was impossible.

Snap!

Before he could reach him, Spatial Whisperer reappeared behind him, a shadow folded in on itself. Eztein spun instinctively, swinging his leg in a lightning-fast kick, retracting his spear with a fluid motion—but dozens of invisible slashes raked across his body in an instant. Pain exploded through him, scorching muscles and shredding the edges of his lightning-infused armor.

’Quite a troublesome opponent...’ Eztein thought grimly, tasting blood on his lips as the sting of energy tore across him.

Even now, he was channeling his Elemental Drive, lightning coiling around his body in brilliant arcs. The Fusion Stage had granted him devastating power, but here, against an expert who bent space itself, even that was barely enough. Every strike he delivered was met with a counter through twisted dimensions, each attack threatening to rend his body apart before it could land.

The void around them crackled and groaned, a chaotic symphony of energy and destruction. Eztein’s heart raced, each beat syncing with the flashes of lightning and rupturing space, every sense straining to anticipate the impossible. Spatial Whisperer wasn’t just fast, he was a force of nature warping the fabric of space itself, and Eztein could feel the scale of the fight expanding beyond the limits of ordinary combat.

Spatial Whisperer was already at seventh enhancement, while Eztein had only completed the second enhancement. A late-stage versus an early-stage Seventh Shackle Realm expert—the difference was a chasm that could swallow worlds.

Each enhancement in the Seventh Shackle Realm didn’t just raise strength, speed, and defense; at the seventh enhancement, one’s very essence and characteristics were heightened, warping how their energy interacted with reality itself. This was why most seventh-enhancement experts towered above the average Seventh Shackle Realm practitioner.

Swoosh!!

Eztein and Spatial Whisperer clashed in a storm of speed and energy. Lightning and space bent around their strikes, colliding in bursts that shredded the air. Eztein’s attacks were relentless, but he couldn’t avoid the majority of Spatial Whisperer’s blows. Each movement was precise, almost preternatural, as the master of space warped the battlefield to his favor.

Eztein’s energy flared, trying to shatter the shifting layers of space, but each strike required immense effort—and the more he forced, the more exhausting it became. This was a duel designed to drain him, a trap within Spatial Whisperer’s spatial arena. One misstep, and the young Seventh Shackle Realm expert would be annihilated.

"You’ll die, and it’s the inevitable outcome of all beings in this realm," Spatial Whisperer’s voice echoed, each syllable bending the air like a knife. "Do you even understand what this place truly is?"

With a spin that distorted the surrounding air, he unleashed a torrent of slashes through space itself. The blades didn’t just cut the ground or the air—they cut the very coordinates of space, each one aimed with deadly precision, forcing Eztein to react instinctively.

Eztein’s body surged with lightning, his Fusion Stage roaring to life, but even his elemental power felt like a candle against a raging storm. The battlefield itself was alive, reshaping with each movement of Spatial Whisperer, and every step forward threatened to consume him whole.