Whoosh!
Levi used Aetheric grasp on himself to pull himself away before sliding back up with the Judgment’s staff summoned again.
However, Yanhuan was nowhere near where he left him.
"No one can run faster than teleportation." Yanhuan whispered the instant his form materialized next to Levi, already in a swinging motion.
The moment Levi evaded the attack and tried to go for a counter, Yanhuan vanished into a wisp of azure haze, only to reappear behind him, at his side, or sometimes above, leaving the air somewhat trembling with residual traces of spatial energy!
Each strike came from a different angle, each movement a blur of blue mist. One moment a pillar of smoke rose from underneath Levi’s feet; the next, a hand-shaped construct shot forward, aiming straight for Levi’s chest!
Levi was forced to focus on defense, using whatever to evade the blue smoke from putting him in a closed circle!
He could go through it and his barrier would protect him decently, but he knew the moment he was touched by the weapon or the smoke made a circle with any part of his body... Yanhuan could sever it instantly regardless of what barrier was in place!
As mentioned, his Immersive Cloud was limited in spatial manipulation... hence, he couldn’t use it to do whatever. However, he adapted and created his own techniques that delivered what he had in mind while still respecting his Aspect’s boundaries.
His most infamous technique was Spatial Severe... Anyone who had the smoke manifest into a circle around their neck, limb, or whatnot... Yanhuan could sever that body part with a single snap of a finger!!
You see, he wasn’t using the blue smoke to attack directly, no, no, no... instead, he was creative with it, activating the spatial properties of his smoke and enhancing it to the limit the moment he got his target where he wanted... then, the severance was nothing but a byproduct of spatial disturbance he created in that small area!!
Levi knitted his eyebrows as he darted across the arena... whether he took off to the sky or stayed on the ground, Yanhuan was always there.
This made him understand that his teleportation range must include hundreds of meters, which turned this arena into his personal dominion.
Unfortunately, Yanhuan wasn’t going to keep repeating the same strategy all the time. Once he noticed that his attacks were being evaded, he changed his approach.
’Immersive Cloud Arts: Razor Fold.’
The smoky whip transformed into a misty blue blade... No hesitation, Yanhuan started swinging his Briar left and right rapidly, each swing sent off a blue misty blade in Levi’s direction from a short distance.
’Twin Fang Style: Sound Cutters!’
In retaliation, Levi released his crowns and started swinging them rapidly, each full circle sent off a sound blade!
Slice! Slice! Slice!
Some sound blades crossed paths with the misty blue blades, and most met head-on... the winner? Both!
The sound cutters went through the blue misty blades without disturbing their form, like they were traveling in a different spacetime!
Yanhuan could have let his blue smoke drift naturally through the air, but after realizing Levi’s powers could counter it, he had no choice but to pour more of his solar energy into reinforcing its innate spatial power.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
This left both sides to focus on evading each other’s attacks... however, Yanhuan didn’t bother. In a blink, he teleported and evaded all the sound cutters, reappearing above Levi’s head, who was evading the blue blades the normal way.
’Escape this... Shred Tower!’
He took a deep breath of his Briar and exhaled a massive blue cloud above Levi... the misty cloud broke into multiple tendrils and moved rapidly to manifest a giant sealed tower with Levi in the center!
What was a tower besides a circle in a three-dimensional sense?
Everyone held their breath as they watched Levi being forced to focus on the storm of blades, which weren’t attempting to cut him in half, but constrain him in a circle, following the same principle of Yanhuan’s battle arts!
At the same time, the blue smoke tendrils were rapidly connecting in a massive circle with the occupied Levi in the center!
Alas, before Yanhuan’s smile could widen, Levi evaded a blade with a crouch. Then, instead of standing back up, Levi activated Combustion Leap, which he had been creating on the side!
BOOOM!!
Levi’s form pierced through the blue smoke, arriving next to Yanhuan in a second! Before he could react, Levi swung his empowered shimmering green staff with Aetheric Resonance in his direction!
He knew a single hit from it was enough to blow one’s soul off if it was weak... but Yanhuan had no intentions of testing his soul against it.
Poof!
His body exploded into blue smoke, and he reemerged behind Levi, who was still in a swinging motion... with a cruel look, Yanhuan swung his Briar in a half circle around Levi’s extended arm while simultaneously blowing smoke off his mouth in the shape of another arc!
In a split second, the two smoky arcs connected as a circle with Levi’s arm in the center.
"Severe."
No hesitation, Yanhuan gave the order, and the blue smoke shimmered intensely with a bluish hue. Then, under Levi’s team’s stunned eyes, their captain’s arm was gone... eaten by the spatial disturbance in less than a millisecond, leaving a clean area with no bones, flesh, or even a drop of blood.
It was like Yanhuan teleported Levi’s arm somewhere random; he had no control over it since the spatial disturbance was uncontrollable with his current level!
Yet, all he cared about was the damage it could do, and so far... he was more than pleased as he stared at Levi holding his bloody shoulder while groaning in pain.
"See what one’s big mouth gets them?" Yanhuan said as he teleported away, still not satisfied with teaching Levi a lesson.
"You think this is enough to defeat me?"
Levi uttered coldly as he summoned his staff again, holding it with the other arm while using aetheric energy to seal up his wound.
"I knew you would say that." Yanhuan smiled nonchalantly while placing the Briar over his shoulder... then, he gestured with his index finger for Levi to come, "Give me your best... so, once I put you down, you will never speak out of place again."
"As you wish."
Hearing this, Levi unleashed his aetheric grasp to the limit and captured Yanhuan in place, leaving him incapable of moving an inch.
’What a powerful spiritual containment... it feels like every inch of my body is chained up.’ Yanhuan frowned.
He wasn’t pleased with being caught, but Levi’s spiritual prowess seemed to be on a different league compared to his. Although he knew it was going to be high, he didn’t expect his body to be constrained even when he used his spiritual prowess to free himself.
Seeing that Levi was aiming the shimmering green staff in his direction, he recalled what happened to the nightcrawler in Heliodor’s Raiders’ first raid.
Yet, he waited for Levi to hurl the staff at him.
’Come on... do it, I will finish you off right away.’
As he narrowed his eyes at the staff, the moment he saw Levi’s fingers letting go of it, he instantly activated his ultimate ability.
’Immersive Cloud Arts: Azure World.’
Without warning, Yanhuan’s form exploded into a blue cloud, making the shimmering green staff fly away with nothing to show for.
When Levi and the others were expecting him to reappear as one, instead, tens of bluish smoky clones emerged around Levi, putting him in the center of their world... At first glance, Levi felt dread creeping up his spine at the sight of the clones’ formation resembling a giant sphere!
Giving him no time to think, the clones’ arms and legs began releasing streams of blue smoke, connecting to the closest ones to them midair!
This created a network of blue smoke in an instant, but the danger arrived when the smoke started thickening, creating a massive, semi-solid sphere that enveloped Levi entirely!
"Spatial Maelstrom... show him what the world is like outside his well," Yanhuan uttered coldly.
Within its bluish walls, the world was no longer the same before Levi’s... the atmosphere started bending like someone held it and twisted it with their bare hands.
Slice! Slice! Slice!