Heaven's Greatest Professor

Calling them mere illusions was a huge understatement. Visually, without interpreting their aura, he could discern no difference between them. Moreover, they weren't just illusions.

From what his senses were picking up, and from what he had experienced a moment ago, everything screamed that he would be in deep water if he underestimated them. They were like highly functioning, yet temporary, clones that utilised the aspect of radiance essence and the concept of illusion.

The four avatars of Ariha circled around him as seconds ticked by. They wasted no time, finding him prepared for their attack. All the avatars lunged at him simultaneously, though they did not reach him at the same moment.

The restrictive power she had inflicted on his left arm made it more difficult for him to wield void essence, but he persisted, drawing in tendril after tendril of essence and concentrating them. Thankfully, with these techniques, he didn't need to wield as much void essence as he had previously.

His blade cut through the air and plunged into the avatar that arrived first. His mind chilled, finding the blade cutting through her form without any obstruction. A fucking clone...

The avatar showed no expression of pain or hesitation. It plunged the golden spear into his [Void Shroud]—thankfully, he had already pushed it to maximum capability. The golden spear could not penetrate his defence as easily as it had done before.

He also enabled [Radiant Empowerment], an enchantment of [Maya's Protection], which he hadn't used much as it required radiance essence like [Wings of Radiance]. He didn't particularly know what exactly it did, but he was intrinsically aware that it empowered most of his celestial aspects.

But just that wouldn't be enough; three more of her were coming at him in a fraction of the time. He triggered [Mystic Ward], trying to devour the essence of the attack before it could inflict any damage on him again. He gave up on absorbing her essence for his own, as it would be more trouble than it was worth.

The way already supplied him with more essence than his radiant heart managed to synthesise. There was no need to make it more difficult by handling another thing when he was grappling with so many challenges.

Two of the avatars had already tried to penetrate [Void Shroud] from his rear, piercing the spearhead into it. Thankfully, with the pairing effect of [Void Shroud] and [Mystic Ward], he was able to withstand that.

However, the balance shifted significantly in her favour when the final—the original—avatar attacked him mercilessly. Her spear easily pierced through the shroud, aiming for his midriff. He stared at her, her eyes blazing with golden light, while the other illusory figures became bleak, with a halo of golden light oozing out like smoke from them.

Realisation dawned on him about how those illusory figures inflicted damage on him. For one thing, they weren't completely illusions; they had a temporary corporeal form, made entirely out of essence and the Way, bent by the sheer will of Ariha of the Dawn. However, they were not perfect. Perhaps because of the suppression she had placed on herself, these clones weakened whenever they attacked him.

The attacks likely drew essence from their existence, damaging their whole construction.

However, that meant he would have to withstand their power for them to disappear—not really a solid plan. Not to mention, his opponent would likely create more of those clones.

Void light had damaged them, dissected them, but even in the fraction of their existence, they managed to weaken his defence enough for the original avatar to inflict damage.

Her spear dug into [Maya's Protection], unable to pierce it completely, but somehow the coercive power infected him through the connection. It moved towards his void core, trying to render it obsolete for the remainder of the fight. She really must fear void essence, as she only worked proactively to render his ability to wield void essence obsolete.

She had nothing to fear from radiance essence, considering his own radiance essence came from her.

If only it were so easy to restrict void essence. It was the most destructive power for a reason. His core spun frantically, surging with void essence. It broke through all the web-like restrictions pushed towards it.

Ariha might have comprehended a higher form of aura and intent, but even for her, it was impossible to restrict his void core in the fraction of a moment she had.

Regaining control of himself, he spun, utilising one side of [Wings of Radiance] as inertia, while the other wing circulated on that inertia. While doing so, he swung his blade in full arcs, cutting through all three dimming presences on him, as well as the mastermind behind them.

The elder avatar of Ariha was relentless, having gained access to his system... If she succeeded, victory would be hers with ease.

He couldn't allow that...

Releasing all the scripts engraved on him, except for the Hybrid script, his power surged exponentially. He screamed, feeling a wrung intensify in the back of his mind with each moment he held onto all the power.

His mind was a tumult with everything he was managing to control. If not for his peculiar spirit aspect, he likely wouldn't have been able to withstand it. He was juggling two kinds of essences, maintaining patterns of the Way, and drawing power from them. Thankfully, his soul relic didn't demand much attention, much to his great relief. But those scripts...

they imposed a terrible stress on his body... Enjoy more content from m-v l'e|m,p| y- r

[Void Vanquishing Physique] thrived on stress, but there should be a breaking point even he might not withstand the cost of pushing this far. With each passing moment, he was edging closer to that point, and he feared he would reach it if he released the Hybrid script.

The bell rang for the third time, but this time Ariha didn't falter as she had before.

He had plunged his sword into her, and she was finally showing signs of struggle, yet she was not willing to withdraw. Her jaw was clenched, and, as he feared, she drew in more power.

Ariha thrust her spear into his gut as they reached a stalemate. Neither was prepared to concede an inch. Her feathers struggled to completely withstand the void light, and the same could be said about him. But if she managed to restrict his void core, most of his attack power would become obsolete as he would no longer be able to manifest void light.

"I'll acknowledge you if you can withstand this for thirty seconds," she said, her gaze cold. "Don't worry, I haven't reached for the realm of transcendence power yet... This is about one two-thousand five-hundredth of my power."

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A/N:

I failed to edit or submit the priv tiers in time, and the system is a real bitch. It does not let me edit them in real time... So the only thing I could do was put a new tier and SLAP A 99% DISCOUNT on it, with one additional chapter...

Tier-5: 26 chapters - 701 coins, and 99% Discount.

Take it as an apology for the fucked up updates last month...

More below...