People fled. They had no choice.

The battle in the sky was still not far enough away! Lind and the Bastard were now trading blows at a level the world could not fully contain!

The Divine Lords present used their Divine Authority with support from True Lords to reinforce the Divine Lands.

Not a single drop of vitality was taken from them. Heaven and Earth were fully behind their choice!

All defensive arrays, weavings, and structures were just barely holding on at 1500 kilometers away from the center at the ground level.

Anything above 500 meters was just gone in a 10,000 kilometer radius! The clouds had vanished entirely to reveal the sky completely!

The stars and moons danced but were the only thing unaffected by the battle.

Days turned into months, then years but there was no sign of either side giving in. Lind had a stunning reserve of stamina for a freshly ascended Master Tier.

Even with whatever advantage his Mystery gave him, it could not change his body’s status that much. Only the work he had done before on his long cultivation journey allowed the miracle now.

The Bastard, unfortunately, was no slouch. He clearly had not rested solely on his laurels nor his vast Fiend array to gain his powers. He had carved a path over whole worlds of corpses to arrive where he stood now.

Many were reminded of how terrifying the Great One had been in their hearts for so long. It was not without a damned good reason it seemed.

No one there could even contend with what they saw. The fact Fey had been able to drive him off only impressed them more.

It also told them there was a weakness in numbers somewhere. The Bastard could have tried harder but he had retreated both times when the numbers were against him.

Yet, none could approach now! The storm of Qi would rip anyone apart! Lind was alone!

Could he win? Would he die in a one on one battle?

No one had answers but Lind and the Bastard.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Lind had never dreamed about the depths of the Bastard’s power and resilience. A spider in a web was how he had come to think of his enemy.

Powerful on his home turf with his web all around him, but weak when knocked out of it and at the mercy of others.

He had forgotten, spiders had far more weapons. There were species that simply bit their prey and the game was over, web or no.

Still, he had long since consolidated his new foundation and his understanding of his new Mystery had expanded by leaps and bounds.

It was only by that grace he had not died several times already. The Bastard truly was not a slouch nor a weakling in battle. He had fought though bloody oceans to become the most horrifying being in all the Divine Lands.

It made the thought of the original grow in his mind. That was a far older and more experienced monster yet to face him.

Lind focused. The fight had fallen into a kind of stalemate.

Ephemeral emerald dragons would lash out as his limbs and will moved them while the Bastard would retaliate with vile waves of Fiend Qi.

The simplistic conjuring was quite devastating. It also cost less than Lind’s attacks. Yet, the harmonic Qi was a danger to the Bastard. It could exhaust him far more than Lind was draining himself.

The Bastard would also try to use his skill to hide every now and then to catch him off guard. While it could fool just about every sense he had, time was not to be trifled with. No matter what the Bastard chose, he would have to make one.

At that moment, his Mystery warned him.

It was getting close, however. The Bastard was learning the limits of Lind’s skills and Arts. Lind was doing the same, yet it was clear he was not as good as the Bastard.

The once cautious and pained face on the ashen figure was replaced by a calm and dark joy. He was plotting and understanding.

Lind kept calm but his heart was chilled. He had wanted more time to truly learn what he could do. Battle was not the answer! The grenades had actually been far more effective at unsettling the Bastard than anything else he had tried!

Lind wracked his brain and of all things, George popped into his head. He was wearing some ridiculous scarf in the middle of summer that was far too long while forcing Lind to watch some old show.

He had been bored to tears through most of the cheesy effects but a concept from it seemed worth trying now.

His dantian flared as he imagined what he wanted. Unlike predicting or changing future moves, that choice severely drained him and made him stumble.

The opening was not missed!

"FINALLY MINE!" A massive black spear appeared in the Bastard’s hands. He blurred as he shot towards Lind.

It was over. Lind was going to die!

The wind whistled and the dark from moved closer but then something odd happened.

It was like the distance never closed. No matter how fast the Bastard flew, he could not seem to actually get there. He tried to back off but that also failed.

Space was not acting up so he tore through it. He did move slightly closer, yet not as much as he should! What was going on?!

The Bastard carefully tried to sense his surroundings yet all was fine. There was nothing wrong so why was he unable to get closer?!

"Something wrong?" Lind smiled as he teased the Bastard. "You seem lost?"

"What did you do?!" The Bastard was now hysterical and using his full force to try and shatter space to reach Lind. It failed again. There was no feeling of resistance nor of any barrier. It was as if that was as close as he could get!

That was not possible! Master Tiers could not alter the rules of Heaven and Earth while staying in the same space!

"AAARRRGGGHH" Black blood poured from his eyes as he burned half his power to send the spear flying. Whatever was applied to his body could not affect his weapon!

Indeed, the spear flew away at speed, but then something odd happened to it. It very quickly began to unravel. It was like it was losing energy at an accelerated rate but no one sensed anything wrong at all. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The Bastard narrowed his eyes as he began conjuring flames, stones, and various objects. They all flew forward at incredible speeds. They vanished at varying rates but the Bastard finally went pale.

"What have you done to time?" Lind smiled and just shrugged. There was no way he was revealing a single bit. The longer the current conditions went, the better. He had already recovered quite a bit.

The Bastard suddenly summoned a tiny black rod with a golden crystal embedded in one end. It flared as the Fiend closed his eyes.

Lind felt his new layer react instantly.

Shock flashed over the Bastard’s face as he stared at Lind.

"That’s impossible! You have made it so time is infinitely compressed the closer I get to you or try to move away!" Lind smiled but neither confirmed nor denied. The calm allowed other Master Tiers to overhear and they were stunned.

Tearing through space required several factors but no one had considered time to be part of it really. It was just assumed the flow of it would be relatively the same. Yet, if the flow was shifted so drastically in any direction, there would be no way to know!

The tear would reach as far as it could in the stable flow of time! The Bastard could never reach Lind!

Yet, it also held the reverse true. Lind could not reach the Bastard! So why was Lind smiling?

The Bastard was annoyed but no longer concerned. He too was about to recover when he froze. The smile on Lind stretched ear to ear.

"Problem?" The issue was not clear at all save to the pair of them. The Bastard suddenly summoned many artifacts and activated them all but they had no effect that did not dissipate the farther it got from the Bastard.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! I WILL NOT END LIKE THIS!" Confusion spread.

End? What did the Bastard mean, end?

Laughter suddenly came from Fey. She had returned and been brought up to speed.

"Don’t you all get it? He can’t escape. His attacks can never reach. So long as my Father’s effect holds, all the Bastard can do is die." Fiends need souls! Even if they kept some in reserve in their dantian, they could not use normal Qi to stay alive!

The conversion arrays just gave them Qi, their longevity and vitality were tied to the souls! The Bastard might have a few people stored away but he had been lying low and had not planned for such an unexpected situation!

Had Lind won?