The Dawn of the New World

Having devoured twice as much energy as his body was able to store Hao Xuan's every step was discharging raw power in the form of Chaos Qi that in turn quickly turned into fire and lightning.

He looked like a ball of miasma moving at breakneck speed. His mind raced with numerous thoughts most of which were questioning whether or not his plan would work.

He had never tried to use both of them together. Hell, he had barely used them to begin with.

Finally giving in to the pressure Stasa activated the Great Ice Blade moments before it was supposed to have been completed. He might not be able to control it very easily but its deadly 'firepower' would not be affected at this late of a stage.

There was one last Mind Palace still left floating in the sky. Stasa took a deep breath and calmed himself as much as he could before taking aim. This time he aimed for where was going to be instead of where he was.

Hao Xuan also saw the attack coming but it was a little too late to do anything about it. His only option was to either keep going and get hit or fall back to the ground. He chose the latter.

He pushed against the piece of dirt nearest to him and went back down. The energy beam fired, missing him completely but successfully sending him right below the blade.

Stasa thrust his hand forward in a straight line and made a grasping motion. The ice blade shook lightly, flinging off shards left and right.

"Ohh its coming! Finally!"

"Who do you think will win?"

"What do you mean who? How could Lord Stasa lose now? That other guy has no option but to take it head-on. He is not surviving that."

"Ah, that's a shame. I hoped it would last a bit longer."

The people within the viewing stands talked amongst themselves quite animatedly as if they were watching a tv show rather than matters related to actual life and death.

They all knew how this was going to end but no one other than Monk, Ensis and Ceni were concerned with the outcome.

The first two couldn't do anything even if they wanted to do, while the last one would want nothing more than to run to his rescue if her own cultivation wasn't completely sealed.

All she could do was helplessly watch him die. Still, she looked over her shoulder towards Dai Zhi and begged for him to intervene.

"Stop this, please. I will do whatever you want, just let him go."

Dai Zhi who was already incensed didn't even bother looking in her direction.

"You will do what is necessary with or without him. This has nothing to do with you anymore. Shut up and sit down before I cut off your tongue, filthy half-blood," he said without trying to sugarcoat the words.

Almost everyone within the domed hall heard him clearly but none reacted. Xue Meng just shook his head in annoyance as if it was getting in the way of him enjoying the fight.

Weak-kneed, Princess Ceni fell back in her seat involuntarily. Tears streamed down her face and all she could hear were her mother's voice echoing in the back of her mind.

'Look what you did, silly girl. I told you didn't I? You will always be alone.'

"No, that's not true!" she tried to cover her ears while mumbling to herself like a crazy person.

Tian Zheng's smile widened even more upon hearing her talk to herself.

Princess Ceni hadn't realized it but there was a thin worm-like creature coming out of Tian Zheng's ears and going into hers. It was the reason she was hearing such things. Whispers that made sense only to her, that would diminish her spirit and will to live until she was nothing but an empty shell for him to play with.

Back on the battleground the cyclone had almost completely turned into solid ice, entrapping Hao Xuan within. Even his fire couldn't melt it one bit. There was nowhere left for him to go, not that he was planning on it anyway.

Having cast an incorporeal grip around the blade, Stasa raised his hand by a few inches and the blade moved with him. Only it rose almost fifty meters.

The air suddenly became light and the slight pressure that Hao Xuan had been feeling all this time vanished completely. Stasa had recalled every inch of power back into his body.

Hao Xuan tightened the grip around the glaive. He also had his own 'ultimate technique' to try. But somehow he knew deep down it wouldn't be able to stop that blade, at least not entirely. So he needed to use it with something else to maximize the output.

He regulated every iota of Qi at his disposal and directed it towards the glaive, making it brighter in the process. He looked up and waited with bated breath for the sky to fall, like everyone else.

Having brought it up as much as possible Stasa suddenly loosened his grip and watch the blade fall straight down.

Hao Xuan saw the blade getting bigger and closed his eyes. He didn't want to see how this ended either way.

"Last Strike of Samsara: Sunder!"