Published at 13th of August 2026 6:57 am

Chapter 990: Acknowledged

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The next moment, she vanished again, her body even faster this time. It seemed as though reality itself was dragging behind her, as though it couldn’t keep up with her speed. The moment she appeared, she unleashed a high knee strike toward Azaron’s chest with mind-boggling power.

But Azaron remained indifferent. He simply raised a hand. He knew that Threshold I had poured even more strength into this attack to prove her point. He casually lifted a palm to meet the incoming knee strike, moving to block it as though it were the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.

As knee met palm, another wave of collapsing wind pressure tore outward as space itself cracked and fractured between them. Azaron’s body shot backward again. The moment his body crossed over a hundred meters, he immediately regained control of himself and skidded to a complete stop.

Azaron’s golden eyes shifted toward his palm. Something he hadn’t felt in ages coursed through the nerves within it, a faint throb of pain that vanished in less than the briefest instant. Although it disappeared almost immediately, Azaron had undeniably registered it. Even Valentine and Zolthemir, the last people he had fought, hadn’t managed to achieve this.

His eyes shifted toward Threshold I, who was now standing where he had originally been, as he spoke, "It seems I’ve underestimated you... I apologize." His tone remained calm, while his expression, as emotionless and unmoving as though carved from stone, gradually softened into a smile before slowly stretching into a grin. "It seems that because I haven’t fought anyone of true strength, my senses have dulled," he stated as his battle intent finally began to stir in true earnest.

Yes, his battle intent had flickered before, but that was simply because he wanted to toy with his prey before ultimately killing it. But now... this was different.

As Azaron himself had said, indeed, his instincts regarding this particular matter had dulled. Normally, whenever someone fought an opponent vastly stronger than themselves, they could usually tell, depending on their experience and perception, and more.

However, recognizing someone capable of matching you, or even approaching your level in raw power, was an entirely different matter. Since Azaron hadn’t encountered such an individual since Azazel, whom he hadn’t fought in well over a century, he simply hadn’t recognized Threshold I for what she truly was.

His heart pounded violently within his chest, his dormant instincts awakening and surging like an erupting volcano as Azaron realized he had finally encountered someone capable of genuinely pushing him. At this very moment, he truly saw Threshold I.

Azaron’s hand moved as he removed his breastplate. Although he normally wore it, it had always been little more than decoration, for Azaron was never truly a man of armor. Whenever he fought someone worthy enough to injure him, he would remove it as a sign of acknowledgment and respect. His vambraces vanished next, followed by his greaves, both disappearing into his own independent space, as he didn’t usually wear space rings.

With that, he settled into a martial stance as a broad grin spread across his face. Every fiber of his body had now entered combat mode.

Seeing this, Threshold I smiled, that smile gradually widening into a grin as she flexed her muscles. Instantly, the entire upper portion of her clothing was torn to shreds, leaving behind only a woman’s tube top that covered nothing more than her chest.

"Apology accepted," she replied with a grin as she settled into her own martial stance, her battle intent soaring toward the heavens.

They both stood like apex predators, staring into each other’s eyes like two great jungle cats preparing to wage a territorial war to determine which of them truly deserved the title of the strongest, the unquestioned ruler of the mountain.

Although neither of them had drawn their weapons, they intended to first test the sharpness of their own bodies.

Suddenly, a single leaf appeared between them from nowhere, as though reality itself had deliberately placed it there. The leaf drifted downward ever so slowly as the tension between them rose with every passing moment.

The instant the leaf touched the earth, they both vanished from their positions, as though that falling leaf had been their signal from the very beginning.

Their bodies seemed to disappear from existence itself, as though flickering beyond the Known and into the Unknown, before snapping back into reality as they appeared upon the same axis of existence. Their fists tore toward one another like two colliding planets. The instant those fists met, time slowed to a crawl, as though they had shattered the very flow of time itself. The concept of sound was drowned into nothingness, colors smeared into one another, and everything turned into a blinding sea of pure white.

Then, in the very next instant, everything snapped back into place once more. Time resumed its course. Colors returned. Silence came back, only to immediately transmute into deafening noise as an imploding wave of devastation swallowed the entire battlefield.

Azaron and Threshold I remained exactly where they stood. Neither took a single step backward. Neither was thrown away this time, as though they had become perfectly equal in power. But no... that was far from the truth. This wasn’t even close to the greatest physical strength either of them could produce.

They both vanished from where they stood, one becoming a streak of gold, the other a streak of red. They thundered into one another again and again with relentless ferocity, as though they intended to bring about the destruction of the entire planet itself.

Those who had been anywhere near them had no choice but to immediately flee the area, whether comrades or enemies alike. Besides, everyone else needed to find their own battlefield and begin their own rampage.

Azaron and Threshold I never stopped. They simply continued staring into each other’s eyes, as though one was merely the male version of the other and the other the female counterpart of the first, identical grins stretched across both of their faces. In less than a single second, they had already exchanged well over a thousand attacks, yet every single strike had been blocked, redirected, or parried with flawless efficiency and absolute martial precision.

There wasn’t a single wasted movement, nor were there any flashy or extravagant techniques. There existed only cold, machine-like precision and brutally efficient high-caliber attacks that sought not merely to kill, not merely to incapacitate, but to grant certain death.

In a single blip, as though reality itself had blinked, they appeared atop a towering mountain, their legs crashing into one another with cataclysmic force. They vanished again, their bodies instantly reappearing upon the surface of a vast lake, their forearms colliding once more as the entire lake was erased from the face of the planet.

They vanished again, their speed escalating with every passing instant as though the very concept of acceleration had ceased to apply to them, each movement drawing ever closer to the speed of light itself.

Their strength mirrored that same escalation. The intensity of their destruction became increasingly insane with every passing exchange as well over one hundred thousand kilometers of land were reduced to absolute nothingness. Yet neither of them seemed remotely aware of it.

They saw only each other. To each of them, the other had become their entire world, their sole existence. Their hearts pounded in unison, beating with the exact same rhythm, while their blood surged faster and faster through their veins. Their once-dormant instincts awakened completely, mapping every movement, every feint, every shift in muscle, every minute change in posture as they continuously reacted to one another.

If Emperor Zolthemir Lux Vanthelmor were present, he would immediately understand that Azaron Wargrave had been holding back by an insane margin all this time. If that man were here now, he would cherish his own life above all else before scrambling away with his tail tucked firmly between his legs.

After all, one had to remember that these two were unleashing this unimaginable scale of devastation through nothing more than pure physical strength. There wasn’t a single trace of Astra Energy augmenting their bodies, no weapons had entered the battle yet, none of their individually created techniques had been brought into play, and, most importantly, neither of them had displayed a single ability.

And yet... they still weren’t fighting at the true peak of their physical prowess or destructive capability.

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