The crane dissolved into a cloud of blood, and the camp fell into a deathly silence. Judith’s scream caught in her throat as she gripped the dagger so tightly her knuckles went white.
Just moments ago, she had admired the crane’s graceful movements. Now she watched in horror as the blood drifted on the wind, and white feathers mixed with bits of flesh fell across the grass. The sight sent a bone-deep chill down her spine, making her shiver.
“Ms. Linsor, thank goodness you stopped me. Otherwise…” she trailed off. If she had taken another step closer, she would have ended up like the crane, reduced to nothing more than a cloud of blood. The realization filled her with lingering dread.
With a grim expression, Grace said, ” That’s what makes mental confrontations between high-level experts so terrifying. Their mental energy has reached the point where it can form physical domains.
“Anything alive that wanders in gets crushed to nothing, like a bug underfoot. There won’t even be bones left behind.”
The soldiers around them no longer dared to talk, and they stepped back several paces. Their eyes were fixed on the two figures in the air, wide with a mixture of awe and pure terror.
No one dared make a sound, and even their breathing became shallow. They were terrified of disturbing the two powerful beings locked in their standoff.
By now, Dustin and Thymaleon’s consciousness had fully entered the mental realm. Inside, there was no sky and no ground. Only an endless expanse of deep blue ocean.
The sea was eerily calm, like a solidified sapphire. No sunlight touched the surface. From time to time, a low rumble rose from the depths, setting faint ripples spreading outward. There was no wind, but an invisible pressure seemed to press down on them. Each breath felt like swallowing shards of ice.
Dustin stood on a small gray-blue boat forged from condensed sword aura. Its hull was sharp as a blade, and with every sway on the waves, it carved shallow sword marks across the water’s surface.
He wore white robes that stood out starkly against the endless blue. The longsword in his hand gleamed with a cold, biting azure light. The cloud-like patterns on its blade pulsed softly with his breathing.
Thymaleon hovered across a hundred yards away. The white glow around him transformed into the form of a massive white whale.
Its body glimmered with a pearl-like sheen. With a single flick of its tail, it whipped up waves nearly 30 feet high. The crests carried sharp mental shocks, like countless tiny swords sweeping straight toward Dustin.
“That’s all you’ve got? And you dare to stop me?” Thymaleon’s voice echoed through the mental realm.
Dustin narrowed his eyes as he gripped his sword hilt. The blade let out a low hum, and a surge of cyan sword aura shot from the prow of his boat, slicing the towering wave clean in half.
But the white whale surged forward, maw gaping open. A pitch-black vortex swirled in its throat. It seemed as if it was meant to consume every trace of mental energy.
Even the surrounding seawater was dragged into the spiral.
Dustin tapped the boat with his toes and shot into the air like a streak of light. While dodging the vortex, he unleashed a barrage of sword auras that rained down on the whale.
Yet the moment they struck its body, the white glow dissolved them. Only faint marks remained, as if the attacks had done nothing more than tickle.
“Your mental energy may be strong, but it’s raw and unrefined. You lack control,” Dustin said evenly. His tone left no room for doubt.
As soon as his words fell, his mental energy suddenly spread outward. The sea erupted with countless cyan sword pillars, rising like a forest and locking the white whale in place. The sword aura radiating from them was so fierce that the water around them began to boil.
Thymaleon snorted coldly. “Lack of control? I don’t need it when dealing with you,” he retorted, forming hand seals.
The whale’s body burst into blinding white light and swelled several times over before crashing into the sword pillars.
A thunderous boom shook the mental realm. When the whale and pillars collided, seawater evaporated in an instant. Black cracks split open across the ocean floor, spewing chaotic energy that slithered out like venomous snakes.
Dustin remained calm and unhurried. He flicked his wrist, and the giant sword shattered into countless shards of sword aura. They swarmed through the chaos like bees and streaked straight toward Thymaleon.
Ruthlessness flashed in Thymaleon’s eyes. This time, he held nothing back. The glow around him tightened, and the entire sea quaked.
From the depths, a massive whirlpool rose. It spun with destructive force, twisting faster and faster until even space itself began to warp
“Go to hell!” he roared furiously.
Suddenly, the ocean eye vortex ground toward Dustin. Everywhere it passed, the seawater was completely sucked dry, leaving only a pitch-black void.
Dustin took a deep breath. All the sword auras around him gathered onto his longsword. The blade radiated brilliant cyan light and transformed into a cyan sword dragon.
As the sword dragon roared, the patterns on its scales stood out clearly. Its claws were as sharp as knives as it charged toward the ocean eye vortex.
As soon as the sword and ocean eye vortex collided, the entire mental realm seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
The deep blue seawater surged upward in reverse, forming water walls thousands of yards high. Cracks split the ocean, and countless mental fragments scattered like meteors.
A terrifying shockwave expanded outward, and Dustin’s mental boat shattered instantly. He staggered back several steps, a trace of pale gold blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. This was mental-level damage that even affected his physical body in reality.
Thymaleon’s illusory white whale also dissipated by more than half. He hovered in midair, his breathing unsteady. His chest heaved violently, and his eyes widened in shock.
He hadn’t expected this seemingly ordinary man in white robes to have mental energy strong enough to withstand his full-power strike.
Both men were thrown back by the shockwave, landing at opposite ends of the mental ocean and facing each other across the distance.
The ocean continued to surge violently, chaotic mental currents rampaging everywhere. Yet neither made another move. They simply stared at each other coldly, and the tension in the air grew thicker by the second.
