Chapter 1832  Playing Go V

The little Nas, who could not even come up to the length of Dragon-Lex's chest when standing up straight, suddenly started to grow in size. The original difference wasn't because he was short, but rather a result of the fact that Dragon-Lex had grown in height when he transformed, almost reaching 10 feet (3 meters) in height.

But now, with his body covered in some kind of synthetic, skintight suit, Axios' size began to grow larger until he was the same height as Dragon-Lex. The Nas race, able to absorb all kinds of energies, actually cultivated slowly because increasing the size of their energy shard was far from easy or simple.

Comparatively, they could saturate their bodies with a lot of energy very easily, drastically increasing their temporary strength and energy pools proportional to their original strength - all without any drawbacks.

"Infinity Vortex," Axios muttered, as if the incantation would trigger something, and it did. The Blue hexagons on his face began to shine brighter, changing color as they slowly turned darker until they were almost black.

At the same time, the entire Go board started to turn dark as well, as if all light were absorbed by those dark hexagons on his face - because that's literally what had happened. Infinity Vortex was an ability unique to the Nas race which allowed them to temporarily put their ability to absorb energy into overdrive. It was almost like… what Lex could do in his Lotus form.

The difference was, in his Lotus form, absorbing energy was not the main ability itself. Instead, he absorbed energy to utilize the main ability of the Lotus, which was creating matter directly from energy. It was just that since Lex wasn't powerful enough to actually use the main ability itself, it appeared as if absorbing all energy was what his form did best.

But the Nas race was not near the peak of the universe simply because they had the ability to suck in energy. No, while they used Infinity Vortex, they could even selectively steal energy from laws, meaning they could prevent their opponents from influencing laws entirely! This was literally one of the best ways to disable an opponent's Domain, not to mention any other abilities.

With the white territory limiting Dragon-Lex's body and internal strength, and Infinity Vortex shutting off all external aid, he was in his weakest state. Against someone at a higher cultivation level, that was a severe disadvantage.

Not giving Dragon-Lex any time to react, Axios attacked. He had changed the effect of his katana so that now it was no longer a tool for debuffing. Instead, it dealt devastating physical and soul attacks.

Lex blocked the attack using a barrier, but as fate would have it, Lex's ordinarily powerful defenses were nullified because the katana had a special enchantment specifically negating that very type of barrier.

The sword slashed Dragon-Lex's chest, but despite all its strength, and despite Lex's weakened state, it could not cut through Lex's scales, though it did throw him back.

Axios did not relent, taking advantage of the situation to strengthen Infinity Vortex and attacking again. Now, even when the katana touched Lex, Axios could steal the energy within his body. With his increased speed and strength, Axios fell upon the dragonoid like a predator upon helpless prey.

Every hit, every single strike fell upon Lex's body, for each and every one of his attempts to block or dodge would, through some twist of fate, fail. He was beaten like a ragdoll, completely unable to retaliate at all under the fearsome might of the legendary Nas.

Axios was at a clear and decided advantage, but the more he attacked, the more a subtle fear and dread began to build within his heart. Hundreds of strikes fell upon the dragonoid's flesh, yet not a drop of blood was drawn. Countless attempts to defend by Lex were thwarted, yet there was no helplessness or defeat in his eyes. Axios was clearly winning the fight, so why didn't it feel like it?

Maybe it was because the more Axios beat the dragonoid, the more the dragonoid smiled. Was he some kind of masochist?

How could Axios know that his feeble attacks not only did nothing to harm Dragon-Lex, but they were quickly building up all the karma that Lex himself wanted to build. Soon, the connection between them would be so vast that even with Lex's inexperience in attacking with karma, a sure-kill was all but guaranteed.

Sensing that there was something amiss, Axios trusted his instincts and immediately activated his trump card - one that he had received through a system quest, and didn't want to waste since he couldn't get it again. Yet the situation was developing beyond his understanding.

Weakened, restricted, practically crippled, and in a lower realm than Axios to boot, how was the dragonoid still standing entirely unhurt? Were dragons really so legendary? Then why weren't they an Elder race, or even a Sage?

Axios couldn't get an answer, but he didn't need one. A white bead fell from the sky right atop the dragonoid, and melted, wrapping around his body like liquid wax.

"It's over," Axios said, sighing in relief, finally realizing just how much pressure he was under. He raised his sword high and gave the dragonoid one last look. "Feel honored to fall at the hands of a future Dao Lord."

Without waiting for a response, he slashed the katana downward, transferring 90% of all the energy in his body into the blade so that it would cut through the dragonoid, ending this farce once and for all.

Yet just as the blade was about to touch him, Axios discovered that his hand froze. The dragonoid, despite the white wax restricting his body, had raised his hand casually and caught Axios' hand.

Then, he looked up, a wild grin on his face, and a faint excitement in his eyes.

Within Axios' soul, the Mark of Ownership began to ache, almost as if to remind Axios… that his role was that of prey, not of the hunter.

"That was good. But now it's my turn."