Chapter 16: Betrayal

Aurora watched in awe, unable to believe an attack of hers had caused such destruction. Before being crippled, she had been a Spirit Profound Stage Artist, yet even then, she couldn't achieve something like this. She wondered if this attack was really hers to begin with.

There was nothing left of the high mountain that once stood; only a deep crater remained, with everything there reduced to dust.

"It's because of Asty's lightning that you absorbed earlier. You wouldn't be able to achieve results like this with your current strength, but once you start converting and storing your own lightning in your body, you'll be able to do things like this easily," Aadi explained.

Realization dawned on Aurora. Just as she suspected, this wasn't her own power but a borrowed one. After hearing Aadi's words, she was excited and looked forward to the day when she would truly possess such strength.

"Though you did well controlling that lightning, and I have to say, you're better than I expected," Aadi said with a slight smile.

As they conversed, neither noticed a massive, golden paw-shaped thunderbolt forming behind them. Suddenly, Aadi's eyes widened, and he quickly turned around, but it was too late.

The thunder paw struck Aadi in the chest, sending him hurtling through multiple mountains. Aadi stabilized himself after crashing into some boulders, wiping the black blood trickling from his mouth.

"I have to say, you picked the perfect time to strike, Asty," Aadi muttered, narrowing his eyes at Asty, who was levitating above him in dark golden clouds. Lightning surged around her body, and her eyes glowed a menacing gold.

"Well, this was the best opportunity to strike. You were at your weakest," Asty replied with a smile. As if reacting to her emotions, golden lightning danced everywhere, creating a sight that seemed to herald calamity.

"Heh, so what? Do you really think I'd go down without a fight? Let's see who comes out on top, then." Aadi grinned crazily and stood up.

"Show me if you're still the old Aadi I know." Asty responded with a crazed smile.

The moment her words fell, Aadi stomped his foot, making strange symbols appear. These symbols spread out to all corners of the small space Asty had created, strengthening it. They also moved toward Aurora, who was overwhelmed by how quickly things had escalated, forming a thin, water-like barrier around her.

"I was going to do that anyway, so let's begin, shall we? I'm curious to see what you'll use this time." Asty chuckled and shot thunderbolt at Aadi while activating her domain, filling the entire area with golden lightninig.

Aadi slapped the thunderbolt aside and activated his own domain. Blue flames emerged from his body and spread in every direction, pushing back Asty's domain. Now, the entire space was divided in half: one side was filled with golden lightning, while the other became a fiery inferno of blue flames with a temperature beyond comprehension.

Where the two domains collided, green smoke rose.

The space around them began to rupture from the intense clash between blue flames and golden lightning.

Aadi snapped his fingers, and hundreds of thousands of blue portals opened behind him. Out of these portals came countless blue, flaming swords.

He then launched these swords at Asty, who countered by conjuring an unending barrage of lightning arrows and firing them back at Aadi.

*Kaboom!*

The swords and arrows collided, exploding as they met in the middle of their domains. Their power levels were equally matched.

Individually, the explosions were awe-inspiring, but as thousands of collisions took place, the entire sky became a breathtaking tapestry of explosions, with arrows and swords bursting in a spectacular display.

"There's no point in this flashy battle, Asty. Just admit defeat; you could never beat me in a fistfight," Aadi chuckled, withdrawing all the swords into his portals.

"Well, that's true. To defeat you, I'd have to assume my true form, and it's too troublesome to stay like that. So why don't we settle this with that?" Asty proposed, also retracting her arrows.

At her words, lightning began to condense around her, forming a large, human-like hand.

"Oh, so that's how you want to do it? Fine, I'm ready." Aadi smirked, condensing his blue flames into a similarly massive human hand.

Asty nodded, and the two extended their hands forward, shouting in unison.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

As their colossal hands showed their moves, Aadi looked crestfallen while Asty wore a triumphant expression. Asty's hand displayed an open palm, while Aadi's hand showed a fist. Aadi had lost.

He fell to his knees in despair, but then burst into laughter. Confused, Asty tilted her head as she heard his laughter. She had clearly won, so why was he laughing?

"I knew something like this might happen, so I prepared a trump card just for dealing with you. Be ready for your defeat, Asty." Aadi chuckled sinisterly, retracting all the blue flames into his body and reaching into his pocket dimension.

Asty also absorbed her lightning, landing gracefully on the ground as she watched Aadi intently, her eyes fixed on his hand still inside the pocket dimension. She was genuinely curious about what he would bring out.

Aadi smiled slyly under her gaze, pulling out a football-sized box from his pocket dimension and showing it to Asty.

Asty's eyes widened in shock as she took a step back, stammering.

"T-this… how can you have this? It's impossible…"