Abyssal Lord of the Magi World

Zatiel did not lose focus, and his power exploded as the Eros Eye and Samsara Pupil began to glow. Soul force, life force, and dark purple flames emerged from his body, manifesting a lotus-shaped shield around him.

"Samsara Eternal Lotus."

That was the most potent defensive spell of the Samsara Thearch and one that an Epoch Explosion would not even make a dent. It represented the four significant stages of Zatiel's journey.

The outer layer comprised the Human Petals, symbolizing Zatiel's beginning. It imbued the shield with the mortal's resilience and adaptability. All physical attacks would find their kinetic force and moment nullified by the power of the petals.

Moving in were Demon Petals. It represented his journey as the Incarnation of Death and Destruction, infusing the shield with infernal energy, enhancing its resilience to energy and soul forces. Curses, hexes, and soul-invasion attacks would find it nearly impossible to overcome this barrier.

The next layer of petals was the Neo-Demon Petals, full of ethereal power that surpassed the limitation of energy, soul, and body. Unlike the Demons Petals and Human Petals, this layer was constantly rotating, full of variations and changes that could redirect any physical and energy attack.

The final layer of petals protecting the Samsara Thearch was the Universal Savior Petals. There were eleven of them, with the images of the Revenge Thearch, Emptiness Thearch, and Sacred Kings engraved in them.

Those represented his path as the savior and were born out of the soul force and absolute respect and admiration of the people whose essence was engraved in the petals.

Universal Savior Petals were able to use the strength of others to enhance their power, using the power of karma and causality, granting them a defensive might capable of facing even Omnipotence.

Finally, the Eternal Flame Pupil glowed, setting the lotus ablaze with the power of justice.

The power of Samsara Eternal Lotus was incredible and took a long time to describe, but the lotus only needed a fraction of a nanosecond to materialize, protecting Zatiel from an attack that could easily pulverize a standard super universe.

Shock and awe appeared on the Guardian's face as he felt the power of that defensive spell. It was truly formidable, and the Samsara Thearch's use of Truth and Eternal Flame was superb, flawlessly combining the power of ideas and reality.

Yet, regardless of the admiration the Guardian felt for such an extraordinary spell, the only desire in his soul was to destroy it.

"¡AHHHHH!"

The Guardian roared as the power on his bastard sword increased. Celestial energy radiated from the weapon, and as he waved it down toward the lotus, it ignited with a brilliant divine light.

"BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!"

A shock wave that spread beyond the limits of the Oblivion Gate emerged the instant the Stellar Strike collided with the Samsara Eternal Lotus.

Golden flames and stellar cosmic light spread in every direction as the Guardian pushed the bastard sword down with the power to ignore space-time, breaking a fraction of the Emptiness in his path.

Cracks began to form around them as space collapsed. Normally, if those types of phenomena were to happen inside a universe, it would only lead to a pocket of chaotic energy, but it was different in the Emptiness.

Making space collapse in the Emptiness generated areas where reality ceased to exist, and even Initial Stage Fourth Realm life forms could be trapped for eons.

Despite the danger of those failures, the Guardian and Samsara Thearch did not even bother to look at them and kept their eyes on each other.

"CRACK!"

The first layer of protection, the Human Petals, was shattered under the power of hundreds of collapsing stars inside the Guardian's bastard sword, and he carried on with all he had to the next one.

Zatiel stared at the Guardian calmly and coldly as he intertwined his fingers, increasing the infernal energy in the Demon Petals.

The Guardian's eyes narrowed as he saw how the stellar energy and divine light on his bastard sword burned under the might of the infernal flames. A decisive expression appeared on his face as he unleashed a mouthful of golden blood over the bastard sword.

As soon as the blood touched the weapon, it transformed the divine light into golden flames, shining with stellar light.

"CRACK!"

Zatiel's body trembled, and blood leaked from his eyes as the Demon Petals shattered under the enhanced might of the bastard sword.

If the Stellar Strike were to land on him, the Samsara Thearch knew he would be forced to use the White Sun Pupil to survive, leaving him wounded and seriously jeopardizing the survival of the Daybreak Universe.

Defeat was not an option!

The Samsara Thearch ignited the entirety of the energy held inside his Inner Universe, more energy than what a standard super universe could produce in a lifetime, and channeled all of it into the Neo-Demon Petals.

The Guardian's Bastard Sword had already clashed with the Neo-Demon Petals, and it was making a dent in them, but once the Samsara Thearch poured an entire universe of energy into them, everything changed.

Neo-Demon Petals began to rotate with much more power, generating an ethereal force field that dispersed the forces behind the bastard sword.

Blood emerged from the Guardian's hands since the Neo-Demon Petals' rotation threatened to throw the bastard sword away from his hands, forcing him to tighten his grip to the point of self-injury.

Feeling the skin and muscles on his hands tearing did not affect the focus of the Guardian. The starlight in his eyes grew mightier as a golden glow emerged from inside his heart, covering his body and making his muscles bulge.

Zatiel found it hard to believe, but the physical strength of the Guardian rose to a new level after the enhancement of that golden light.

"CRACK!"

The bastard sword managed to stop the Neo-Demon Petals' rotation before shattering them into billions of pieces.

Everything around the duo had already collapsed into a vacuum of nothingness. The only thing the clash between Stellar Strike and the Enterla Samsara Lotus did not destroy was the Oblivion Gate since it was a construct that could endure the might of Reality Override.

Zatiel could not help but puke blue due to the severe damage he received after the Neo-Demon Petals were shattered, and now he was last to his last defense. If they failed, the fight would end, and he would have lost.

There was no hesitation as he opened his mouth, releasing sky-blue blood and fusing into the Universal Savior Petals. He was using his soul blood to improve the power of the defensive spells.

The Guardian's face was pale since he had already used all the energy he had inside his body and even the inner force he had been storing for billions of years. If he failed to break the Universal Savior Petals, he would be left open for a direct attack from the Samsara Thearch, which he would not be able to survive in his current condition.

Once the bastard sword touched the Universal Savior Petals, the Guardian saw how the figures of the Emptiness Thearch, Revenge Thearch, and Sacred Kings opened their eyes and focused on him.

The Universal Savior Petals consumed the energy behind the bastard sword, channeling it into the figures of the Thearchs and Sacred Kings before the eleven unleashed a combined soul attack.

It nearly broke his soul, and the light in his eyes began to fade since the diminished pushed him into unconsciousness. Yet, even in that state, the Guardian kept pushing the bastard sword forward!

The Samsara Thearch saw how the Universal Savior Petals were about to shatter, but a decisive light appeared in his eyes as he clasped his hands with all his strength.

"BOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!"

Since the petals were about to shatter, Zatiel decided to make them detonate, unleashing an explosion that harmed him but also sent the Guardian flying away with severe wounds, saving him from facing the blunt power of Stellar Strike.

Dark purple flames, golden fire, and stellar light flooded the platform around the Oblivion Gate. They only vanished after nearly ten minutes, showing the figures of the wounded and exhausted Samsara Thearch and Guardian.

Both of them were having a hard time regulating their breathing, but it was the Guardian, the one that could only remain standing by using the bastard sword as support.

Although both seemed to be in no condition to fight, the Samsara Thearch's Eros Eye and bloodline were already healing his wound, and it would not be long before he regained enough strength to take away the energy nucleus.

The Guardian knew that, and he could not help but sight as he looked back at the Oblivion Gate.

"Oblivion Resurgence."

Those words shook the Oblivion Gate, and the next second, streams of energy emerged from it and began to fuse into the Guardian.

Strength returned to the Guardian's body as he raised his bastard sword and pointed it at the Samsara Thearch.

"Surrender or death?"

Zatiel heard those words and saw how more and more of the gate's power entered the Guardian. Instead of frustration, what appeared on his face was a smile.