The battle began!
Zavia vanished then reappeared instantly above Rector with the Yamato held horizontally at his waist in a classic iaido stance.
Vergil's signature fighting style was iaido, the art of drawing and striking in a single, fluid motion. Having inherited Vergil's power, Zavia had naturally adopted the same style, favoring iaido for his first strike after sheathing his blade.
His eyes were cold and his movements quick. The crimson mist swirling around him rushed towards Rector. Before the man arrived, the wave of killing intent preceded his attack.
The blood-red mist enveloped Rector and constantly assaulted his mind, attempting to instill fear.
However, Rector remained unfazed as if the killing intent that could terrify an entire nation was a mere breeze.
He opened one eye, glanced at the crimson mist, and snorted.
A surge of purple lightning crackled around him, dispelling the killing intent in an instant.
(What the—?!?)
Though fleeting, Zavia's enhanced vision, honed by a year of training, meditation, and the Legacy of the Demon God, allowed him to glimpse the exchange.
Without these advantages, capturing the movement of lightning would have been impossible.
The purple lightning flickered around Rector, and the crimson mist vanished in less than a tenth of a second.
Clang—!!
The Yamato sang as Zavia drew it and silver light flashed. The blade was pulled out of the scabbard at an extremely fast speed, so fast that even the air was vibrating faintly.
Though momentarily surprised by the dissipation of his blood mist, Zavia quickly recovered.
Having his techniques countered was nothing new. There was no such thing as an invincible move. If a technique seemed unbeatable, it simply meant its weakness hadn't been discovered yet.
While his initial attack had been countered, Zavia wasn't discouraged. He had more than one trick up his sleeve.
'Heavenly Blade: Iaido'
Puchi—!
The silver blade slashed across Rector's massive body, just fifty centimeters from his head. Blood oozed from the wound.
Zavia landed on the ground and sheathed the Yamato with a click.
"Impressive. To think you could cut my scales. Besides that person, you're the second to achieve such a feat. Though you used spatial power, the depth of the wound suggests considerable physical strength, in addition to your blade and spatial abilities." Rector, instead of roaring in pain or humiliation, spoke with detached calmness, as if injury was commonplace.
Zavia was stunned. He had aimed for Rector's neck, intending to decapitate him with a blow enhanced by spatial power.
He had expected the dragon's head to be cleaved from its body, along with the surrounding space.
Instead, he had only managed to inflict a ten-centimeter wide, five-centimeter deep gash. It was as if he had merely grazed the dragon's thick hide.
"Surprised, are you? Wondering why your spatial power didn't cleave through my head along with the surrounding space, leaving only a superficial wound? Emmm… the answer to your question is quite simple, but I'll tell you after you defeat me." Rector spoke slowly like an old man recounting a tale over a cup of tea, though he wasn't drinking tea.
As he spoke, the wound on his body began to close, the flesh knitted itself back together with visible speed. By the time he finished his sentence, the wound had completely healed.
Zavia stared, dumbfounded. This creature could regenerate? And without any trace of magic?
(This isn't good. This level of regeneration is beyond what I anticipated.)
"Well then, here I come." Rector's words seemed to taunt Zavia, as if to say, "Even if I tell you, you can't defeat me."
As his voice faded, purple lightning exploded around him, its intensity kept on growing. The energy radiating from his body felt capable of destroying an entire island.
Bang—!
A sonic boom echoed as Zavia vanished, leaving a deep footprint in the dust where he had stood.
He had moved the moment Rector's body began crackling with lightning. He wasn't foolish enough to stand still and wait for his opponent to attack, like some protagonist in a cliché story.
Clang! Clang! Clang—!
He swung the Yamato, unleashing two fifteen-meter wide, azure-colored energy waves that hurtled towards Rector at supersonic speed. Trailing behind them, hidden within the fabric of space, was a Dimensional Slash.
Puchi! Puchi! Boom!
The Azure waves sliced through Rector's body, leaving two ten-centimeter deep gashes. The Dimensional Slash, upon contact, exploded into hundreds of smaller, deep blue blades that tore into the dragon's flesh.
However, Rector seemed unfazed. The purple lightning continued to crackle around him, converging towards his mouth.
(Don't tell me… he's going to…!) Zavia's eyes widened as he realized what Rector was about to do. It was a classic dragon attack, the most basic and primal of their abilities.
Rector opened his jaws, aiming directly at Zavia. The purple lightning within his mouth intensified, swirling and compressing, the energy building to a level Zavia estimated could blast a hole straight through Mary Geoise and down to Fishman Island, 10,000 meters below.
Of course, that was assuming Rector wasn't holding back.
Boom————!!!!
Less than a second later, a massive beam of purple lightning erupted from Rector's mouth – a dragon's breath attack.
It struck Zavia mid-air, engulfing him in a blinding light. A sizzling sound emanated from within the beam, and the faint smell of burning flesh reached Zavia's nose, assuming one could get close enough to smell it.
A dragon's breath attack had a wide area of effect.
The beam slammed into the ground, its power so immense it pierced straight through the island.
It continued into the ocean below as the sizzling sound intensified. It wasn't the sound of electricity dispersing through water, but the sound of seawater vaporizing from the intense heat.
Two seconds later, the beam faded, and Rector closed his jaws, white smoke escaped from between his teeth.
"Cough… cough…"
Fifty meters from the impact site, Zavia knelt on the ground, coughing violently, his hands gripped the Yamato, which was embedded in the earth, trying to clear the blood from his lungs.
"Roar… impressive reflexes. You used Spatial Teleportation just before my breath attack hit, didn't you? Quite agile." Rector spoke calmly.
"Ha… ha… ha…" Zavia gasped for air and opened one eye to look at the hundred-meter-long Eastern dragon in the sky.
That attack had been dangerously close. If he hadn't reacted in time, he would have been incinerated. That lightning beam was no joke.
(This isn't good. He's not just stronger than me, he's far stronger. He's almost at Valona's level.)
Using the Yamato for support, Zavia slowly stood, looking at Rector, then at the thirty-meter wide crater fifty meters away. He felt a sense of helplessness, a feeling of weakness he hadn't experienced in a long time.
For the past year, he had been virtually unstoppable. His smooth sailing fostered a sense of invincibility.
He believed he was the strongest in this world. Anyone who disagreed would be swiftly decapitated. Tough skin? Spatial cutting would take care of that.
He had believed that any problem could be solved with a swing of his blade. If one swing wasn't enough, he'd add spatial power and swing again.
This year of smooth sailing had lulled him into a false sense of security, creating the illusion that even the guardians couldn't match his strength.
He had envisioned himself as the protagonist, initially struggling against a powerful foe before unleashing his full power and emerging victorious. A classic trope.
Reality, however, had delivered a harsh wake-up call.
Rector's incredible regenerative abilities and nullification of spatial attacks had shocked him. Then, the dragon's overwhelming display of power, the sheer force of its lightning, had left him severely injured. And Rector hadn't even broken a sweat. It was as if these feats were effortless.
He had lost, completely and utterly. And the battle hadn't even lasted five minutes. While he hated to admit it, he had no chance against Rector. Fighting him would be suicide.
Truly, in the face of absolute power, all strategy and power-ups were meaningless.
This was the impression Rector had left on Zavia. This was the absolute dominance he had displayed. This was the overwhelming power of his lightning.