The two attacks clashed, pushing away the nearby fog and causing the windows to rattle slightly.
“Hahaha!” Cerberus laughed. “My skills are only half their power, and yet, we are complete equals. Aren’t you ashamed?”
Ambrose stayed silent and reeled back his sword before putting it into a thrusting stance, his shoulder tensing as he prepared to strike.
“Mortal Style, Kanone!”
Swoosh—like a fiery cannonball, the sword pierced through the layer of fog and caused the wind to howl loudly as it approached Cerberus with incredible speed and force.
“Devil’s Fortress!” Cerberus lowered his stance and put his sword in a defensive position, and then the black blade landed on his sword.
The impact sent sparks flying in all directions, creating a shower of dazzling light.
However, Cerberus only had to take one step backwards; otherwise, he completely managed to block the strike!
“Zahahahah!” Cerberus lifted his sword high above his head, then brought it down with thundering force. “You are weak!”
Ambrose blocked the strike, but his knees shook a little bit, threatening to give out under the immense pressure.
“…” He still kept quiet and took a step backward before sending dozens of sword thrusts, each deadlier than the last.
Cerberus weaved through the thrusts with graceful agility, avoiding each one effortlessly.
“The punishment only halved my offense and defense while halving my HP, but my agility is as good as before!” Cerberus shouted and nimbly darted towards his opponent.
His sword danced across the air and left behind a small cut on Ambrose’s cheek that slightly started bleeding.
Ambrose winched slightly because of the strange numb sensation, but quickly regained his composure and retaliated with a powerful swing of his own.
The black blade slammed into Cerberus’ block, causing sparks to fly and a loud clang to echo through the air.
“Is that all?” Cerberus laughed. “You have to do better than that!”
“…” With a silent expression, Ambrose took three steps backward and started doing strange footwork.
“Mortal Style, Nachbilder!”
With dizzying dance-like movements, Ambrose began circling around Cerberus, creating a chaotic amount of afterimages.
“Whoah, what the hell is this skill?” Mizuchi asked while watching the fight alongside Zahhak.
They had no intention to participate, as Cerberus wanted to fight alone with the person he had chased far and wide.
Serenity watched the scene with a heavy look.
“Interesting, very interesting.” Cerberus smirked and raised his sword high before rotating his waist, causing himself to spin around.
“The Black Direction!”
Swoosh—the sword slashed through each afterimage, slicing them in half, and finally, one of the figures stepped backwards, escaping the attack with just a graze on his chest.
“…” Ambrose narrowed his eyes.
“Like I said, is that all?” Cerberus stopped spinning, his face still bearing the same smirk.
Ambrose lowered his stance and darted forward, closing the distance within a blink.
Cerberus also lowered his stance, prepared to block every attack with his Devil’s Fortress skill.
Ambrose thrust his sword forward, extending his powerful-looking forearm all the way.
As Cerberus was about to block it with his usual smirk, Ambrose suddenly squinted his eyes and shouted.
“Mortal Style, Zuf?lliger!”
With a flick of his wrist, the blade suddenly curved like a whip and slashed through Cerberus’ nose.
Blood sprayed into the air, causing Cerberus to stumble backwards with a stunned expression.
The cut on his nose was very small, but it immediately began to bleed profusely.
Zahhak members faces fell in disbelief.
Andromeda’s eyes shook a little bit.
“You talk too much.” Ambrose said and put the black blade below Cerberus’ chin, only an inch away from his throat.
Then he whispered.
“Mortal Style, Schlitzer.”
He lifted his wrist, causing the sword to emit a low hum before making a short upward slash.
The black blade, gleaming with malevolence, barely cut through Cerberus’ flesh around his chin and cheek, making a cut with a diameter of three to four centimeters.
However, the slash was deep enough for a lifetime scar to occur.
Schlitzer was a sword version of the famous technique known as “One-Inch Punch.”
It was an attack from very close range, capable of delivering a devastating attack.
If Cerberus hadn’t pulled his head back at the last possible moment, his head would’ve been sliced in half!
It was also Talented-ranked skill.
Cerberus touched his bleeding face and smeared it over his clothes.
“…” Cerberus lifted his cold-looking green eyes, his gaze firmly locked on Ambrose’s face.
This time, he wasn’t speaking anymore.
‘He is enraged!’ SweetieHell thought, her heart pounding in her chest.
She could rarely witness Cerberus fight in his rage mode.
Ambrose pointed the sword at Cerberus and opened his mouth. “Was that enough for y—”
Before he could finish, he snapped his head to the side as an incredibly quick sword grazed past his cheek, leaving another tiny cut.
“Whoo…” Cerberus let out a cold breath and began sending a barrage of attacks.
“Mortal Style, Nachbilder!” Ambrose started using the dizzying footwork, evading the thrust attacks, but his afterimages continued getting annihilated.
At last, one of the swords pierced through the last afterimage and began chasing his real body.
As the sword approached him, Ambrose suddenly spun the sword around, switching to the reverse grip, and shouted.
“Mortal Style, L?wenklaue!”
Swoosh—the reverse blade deflected the thrust attack, giving him much-needed space to breathe.
‘He is must faster now. His agility is indeed a problem.’ Ambrose thought and saw Cerberus charging for another attack. ‘He completely abandoned his strength-based attacks and focused all on his agility.’
Cerberus wrapped his fingers around the sword and jumped into the air.
While in the air, he spun around, his head almost colliding with the ground, but he then sent a sword strike from a very awkward angle, using the momentum from his spin to enhance the power of the strike.
“The Gravity!”
Swoosh—the sword descended with incredible force, the impact causing the fog to scatter, and finally, the blade smashed into Ambrose’s shoulder.
The blade cut deep into the flesh, and it was as if the world were frozen as everyone watched with paused breaths.
Arsenal, holding several different weapons, watched with an excited gaze.
‘In this state, no one can defeat Cerberus, no one!’ He thought in excitement. ‘I once challenged him and managed to push him fairly well, but when he entered this Formless Mode, I could barely lay a scratch on him.
‘All his attacks turned very random; I don’t even think this was a skill he had before, and he must’ve just created it now.
‘With Formless Mode, he can create even a dozen skills as long as he has enough skill scrolls.
‘His imagination is unparalleled, and he has enough athletic capabilities to do the impossible feats.
‘He is already a monster in real life, but in here, where his athletic capabilities are enhanced, he is virtually unstoppable!’ 𝗈𝓥𝗅xt.𝒞𝗈𝑀
Serenity looked away, thinking it was over.
The sword finished traveling, the blade nearly touching the ground, and Cerberus stood silently with a cold expression.
“How…” Cerberus whispered, his voice filled with astonishment as he dropped his gaze to see a large sword wound on his chest.
He turned around and saw Ambrose standing there, holding a bloodied sword like a warrior god.
“Slash of the Six Worlds…” He whispered quietly under his breath.
“What?!” Arsenal and everyone else exclaimed loudly.
They were certain that Cerberus was going to win, but now this impossible scene has happened!
They completely missed what Ambrose did because they were so preoccupied with Cerberus’ victory!
“Hahahaha.” Cerberus laughed, not minding the wound on his chest. “You fucker.”
“Noticed?” Ambrose smiled. “Took you long enough.”
“Hahahaha.” Cerberus grinned and laughed loudly.
He had never laughed this much before.
“B-brother, what happened?” Andromeda opened her mouth.
“Haaah…” Cerberus stopped laughing and pointed his sword at Ambrose. “This bastard handicapped himself. Since the start of this fight, he has also fought with only half of his power!
“This fucker wanted to fight me on equal footing!”
“What?!” The Zahhak members shouted in unison, absolutely flabbergasted.
They couldn’t understand how Ambrose could act this calmly and still fight with a clear mindset.
Anyone in his shoes would just use all of their strength to try to kill Cerberus, who had been weakened by the punishment.
Yet, Ambrose had intentionally only been using half of his strength!
“I hate to admit it.” Ambrose sighed. “You are still stronger than me. For that split moment, you forced me to use all of my power.”
“Heh.” Cerberus wiped the blood off his lips and grinned. “You fucker.”
Zahhak members turned serious as they realized that Cerberus wouldn’t be able to defeat Ambrose when he was under punishment.
Therefore, they prepared to lend a helping hand, even if it hurt Cerberus’ pride.
At that moment, everyone felt their senses turn numb as an unknown presence began approaching beyond the fog!
Ambrose and Cerberus turned to the fog, their faces slowly turning pale.
A silhouette walked through the fog; his form continued to grow taller and mightier with each step.
They could feel the air grow colder and the fog thicker; it was as if this man controlled the strange weather.
“I heard swords clashing…” Reinhardt slowly opened his blood-red eyes. “And it intrigued me enough for me to consider wasting time till dawn. Be humbled.”