Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

A lot was running through Hal's mind at that moment and while he was bound to eventually table them so that he could better focus on the situation at hand, it would still take him a few seconds to get his act together.

Alas, the clawed fist that was about to make contact with his head was sure to hit him before those seconds were up and he knew it.

As yet, even as he tried to muster any aspect of his battle prowess (cultivation, bloodline, or even Dao) he found himself crippled with worries about how exactly his state of mind and body was.

Not even his ability with Astral energy answered his call.

Sassy could not help as she was still recovering from getting slammed against the wall and was now in her small serpent form and wrapped around his wrist.

Luckily, he was in the midst of fellows who were on his side.

The Doxon scions especially did their best to intervene even if they were quite a few meters away.

They took a break from focussing on their opponents to send numerous attacks towards the Dystopian who was about to strike down their Lord.

This shift in focus came at a cost for the Doxon scions as quite a number of them were unable to defend properly against their opponents as a result of their negligence but they survived and were quickly back in flow with their battles to avoid further incidents.

The barrage from the scions was not as damaging to the Dystopian as they would have looked but they did slow him down enough to give Hal some time to recover.

Once he did, Hal summoned Executioner and used it as a shield against the clawed fist that the Dystopian still attempted to bash his head with.

Even as Hal forced the Dystopian to a stalemate and slowly returned to his feet, he was not yet a hundred percent and his ladies could tell.

Amelia raised a brow at how sluggish he was and how so obviously preoccupied his mind was.

Hal said nothing as he started into his opponent's eyes and once he regained the ability to use Astral energy, he was projecting Runes to form a Rune circle that he used to freeze the Dystopian in place.

With him now incapable of moving, Hal attempted a definitive strike with Executioner as he had no interest in letting this battle go on for any longer than it had to.

Alas, trapped the Dystopian might have been but powerless he warms not...

Right before Hal could thrust Executioner through his midsection, the Dystopian's eyes turned a flamy red before a flash of light shone from his body and slammed Hal with a force that sent him flying multiple meters away... immediately putting him at even more of a disadvantage.

Hal groaned and looked up from where he had fallen at everyone in the room with every one of his ladies as well as every Doxon in the hall being preoccupied with thief battles.

Intense battles that barely allowed them to have cast that gaze at anything and anyone that was not their opponent.

Karmen's skin was now red and she had horns of an even darker red color thrusting out of her forehead as she was in a true Fiendish form while swinging Executioner in complete oneness with the Armament, and both Lillian and Olivia were following her lead.

Amelia was fighting side-by-side with Elora who was as ever still an expert with her chain skills while Ivan and Artyom were sort of in charge of the Dicoj scions... Talking commanding roles despite fighting their own separate opponents

All in all, Hal found the sight of them all fighting together to be quite nice.

Up till that point, he was still not yet right in the head as he had felt that his current lack of ability was because of something the monk had done to him and that was still true but now he felt it was more psychological than it was a physical remnant.

Even now he could still feel connected to every aspect of hue battle prowess, he just was not yet mentally capable of implementing it...

"Priorities" he mumbled as he slowly returned to his feet.

There was so much going on with him... So many questions he needed answered but he was not going to get those answers if he slacked off and got himself killed.

He could no longer access his connection to the monument to leave as even if he could, why would he?

Hal's skin turned scarlet as he took on the Mid-World Devil form and his forms and claws began to thrust out inappropriate areas of his body.

His wings capped off his transformation just as the Dystopian, who was free the moment he had blasted him away, closed the distance and retried his strike...

Hal used his wings along with his incredible speed to get out of the way and countered with a large hammer he formed with Devil Energy.

The Dystopian raised a scaly arm to protect himself against the oncoming strike but the brute force of the hammer still smacked him a good distance from Hal who quickly followed up...

Hal had shaken off whatever metaphoric cobwebs that had been affecting his ability to fight and the Dystopian was, for the first time treated to the true him.

Hal shrouded his entire body with his Sovereign Dao even as he pursued his enemy but he was already aware that, while it would help his offense, his Dao would not have too much of a debilitating effect on his opponent because this Dystopian was sure of himself... This Dystopian had already comprehended his Dao so his Dao heart was less susceptible to the effects of Hal's sovereignty.

That said, the effects still exist and still impacted the fight.

The Dystopian easily stopped his backward notion to anchor his legs on the hall ground before quickly swinging a recently retrieved Ax Artifact at Hal who caught the strike with Executioner.

*CLANG!*

The contact of Ax and Broadsword wielded by two powerhouses was loud and ringing but it was just the first of the many exchanges that the two would have.

The more their weapons met, the more imposing and dominant the Dystopian realized Hal was.

Both men had their Daos active as they fought...

The Dystopian's Dao being especially for battle.

As they fought, Hal found the time to engage in a conversation with the Dystopian to the point where they exchange names and he discovered that the Dystopian (whose name was Zeke) belonged to the Wyvern clan which was mostly considered a branch family of the Dragon clan.

The scales that he now had covering his body and the claws he was making use of were available to him because of his Wyvern bloodline but there was a sort of anger to his tone when he spoke about his connection to the Dragon clan.

Anyway, while Zeke usually answered the questions Hal asked, his intensity never lessened and neither did Hal's for that matter.

But in all honesty, even Zeke was finding it hard to believe that he could win this battle and who could blame him...?

For every move he made, Hal always had a counter and an attack of equal or stronger impact.

Zeke had energy revolving all around him and it was the same energy that he had used to blast Hal away before but now he was finding it hard and almost impossible to reproduce that effect and to be honest, that was to be expected;

Zeke was at the Early stage of the Semi-Transcendent beast realm and while his bloodline and abilities were a step above the ones Hal had killed before, it was still not at a level that could trouble Hal.

The only reason his attacks had been effective and landed the previous hit on Hal was because he had been going through his issues.

When serious and actually fighting to win without being encumbered by thoughts of a monk who called himself the Primordial Principle of Order, there was no way Hal could lose.

But Hal was no longer going for the kill... Why would he?

Zeke had connections to one of the great clans of the Dystopian continent and was at the very least, good enough to be Hal's anchor on the Dystopian continent.

Newly discovered and adamant issues aside, Hal still had his plans and he very much still wanted to go through with them.

He had no idea what to do about the Monk... And he hated how clueless he was and how- powerless he felt.

It was a situation he could not control... Not yet at least.

But plans that he had had before this recent encounter were events he could actually manage.

That said, Zeke could barely detect a change in Hal's moves and attacks because to brand him, Hal still needed to deliver a crumpling and debilitating beat-down which was getting easier to do the longer they fought.

Gone was Zeke's previous superiority on account of a few (One) successful strikes and now he was at the receiving end of Hal's punishment/retaliation.