The Path To Perfection

Chapter 48: Fighting Nordeline

While Al'ravee was thinking about how and who was going to beat this empress Nordeline, he heard his father's voice.

"Al'ravee boy, why don't you fight her? It would be good for you to experience firsthand just how 'wonderful' it is to fight another god"

Al'ravee "..."

"What?" Jurdelious asked, looking like he honestly didn't know why Al'ravee looked at him like that.

"You want me to fight her? What if something unexpected happens?" Al'ravee did not underestimate Nordeline, neither did he overestimate her. This was his first time taking a hostile movement against another of his kind so he had to be cautious.

"If anything unexpected happens, then I'll intervene," Jurdelious responded but Al'ravee still did not move. "What? You can attempt mass genocide but can't hit the first pretty goddess you see?"

Of course, Al'ravee could not be provoked by such words and Jurdelious knew it. It would be very hard to find someone more beautiful than this white-haired goddess, but Al'ravee couldn't give a damn.

"Oh c'mon. It'll be a good experience. Besides, it gets harder and harder to comprehend concepts as you go on. This is an opportunity to learn from her.

Right now, besides the two complex laws, she also comprehended some nice laws.

Just look at her hair. That's the manifestation of a concept right there."

Al'ravee's eyes were calm but he was agitated within.

But if he fought her and she used her concepts, he could maybe understand how it works, shortening the time it took to learn them.

"Fine." Al'ravee agreed. Even if he refused, Jurdelious would still force him, so it's better to agree and not embarrass himself.

He walked towards Nordeline, automatically raising his guard and leaving Ris, Ozia, and Jurdelious behind.

"I believe Al'ravee would receive the trashing of his life today," Ozia muttered only for the other two to hear.

"She has more concepts than him. I hope this can temper his will and help him." Jurdelious had a playful smile on his face. He knew Krene was also watching from wherever she was.

"It would be extremely hard if not impossible to engage another god in a fight without dire consequences in the future. This 'safe' battle would be good for him."

##############

Al'ravee stood before the white-haired woman, maintaining his vigilance.

He couldn't lie to himself 'Well, she's beautiful, even more than my mother.'

Of course, that thought would most likely never leave his mouth.

Nordeline's eyes opened fully, revealing the dark blue pupils to the world. She gazed upon Al'ravees' form expressionlessly. No hate, joy, or confusion. Indifferent to all. As though even if the universe shattered, she would remain uncaring.

'Strange.' That Al'ravee wasn't intimidated would be false. He felt a pressure coming from her that he didn't like at all.

'I might as well take the initiative.' With that, he punched out with ten percent energy already infused into his body. He had to conserve as much as possible.

Big mistake.

Al'ravee took this as a spar, a way to learn more. But Nordeline didn't. To her, who wasn't even in her right senses at this moment, this was a blatant refusal to bow before her majestic self, something that she always instinctively reacted to. This was treason.

In every country, the punishment for treason was always the same. Death.

*WHAM!*

The punch didn't land. The fist stopped just a few inches from her face.

No, Al'ravee was not scared. He just couldn't move forward. He was completely frozen in place, like time had forgotten about him.

*CRACK BAM PUFF*

A series of shocking sounds spread out.

As for Al'ravee, he didn't understand his current situation at the moment, he didn't even know where he was right now.

For now, all he knew was that the clouds were very close and the ground was very far from him. 'Why am I so high up in the sky?' He asked himself.

It all started coming to him. 'Nordeline took hold of my hand, and then...'. He had only seen a small dainty fist flash in front of his face and the next thing he knew was that he was in the sky.

'Damn!'

The fact that he was only just starting to register the pain would make anyone think his senses were dull. From the pain, he realized that his nose was punched into his face and his right arm was gone.

Just when he was about to stop falling, Nordeline appeared above him with her palm positioned for a very dirty slap.

*PAH...BAM*

Al'ravee shot down like a meteor, creating a wide crater on the ground.

Reacting fast, he stood up quickly. He used the law of healing to place his body back in top condition without spending much energy.

'Where the fuck is she?' He looked around but Nordeline seemed to have vanished.

*BAM*

She appeared again with a terrible knee to Al'ravees' groin. This time, she didn't intend to send him flying.

But the pain, oh the pain.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Al'ravees' vision went blank and his eyes rolled into his head.

######

"Shhh." Ris took a deep breath of the planet's air as he felt a cold breeze pass in between his legs.

#######

Never in his life had Al'ravee ever received a hit to that area. Now, he was infuriated, but his wrath was in vain.

*BAM*

Nordeline delivered a backhand slap to Al'ravees' chest. The latter watched as his body dug through the hard ground, creating a long ditch in the process.

One had to know that with the concept energy making up Al'ravees' body at the moment, he weighed several more tons and was very tough. Yet Nordeline was able to give him a knockback effect with every hit effortlessly.

'So that's how it is.'

Nordeline leaned forward and dashed towards her opponent with mad speed, her fist positioned for another punch.

'Fifty percent.' Al'ravee was ready for her. He stood up from the rubble and threw his fist to meet hers.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*

The resulting sound was like that of thunder. The shockwave blew away the small rocks and dust for over a hundred meters, creating a wide space with the two gods at the center.

They both stood their ground, seemingly equally matched physically.

*BIZZT* Electricity sparked around Al'ravee. He decided to try something new.

'Body, Electricity. Concept of Fusion.' Just like other concepts b, this one came easily.

Al'ravee burst with speed and power. Doing a spin, he allowed Nordeline's momentum to carry her forward. Reaching for her shoulder, he sent a firm electricity-coated fist to her face.

*BAM*

The dust was pushed away. Al'ravee had always been one to take gender equality very seriously and was always a strong supporter of equal rights.

Nordeline herself didn't even flinch. It resembled a mortal who had just punched an iron wall.

Electric sparks danced around Al'ravee, enhancing his movements further as he and Nordeline exchanged moves rapidly.

Punch, block, kick, slap... Every hit was enough to bring down an entire building. Their high-speed movement back and forth would be very hard to follow with normal eyes.

The dress Nordeline was wearing and her long hair didn't hinder her movements one bit.

Al'ravee wanted to grab her hair and yank her away, he really did. But his calculative gaze deducted that he would just put himself in trouble by doing that.

Al'ravee blocked a punch from Nordeline, using the opportunity to create more distance between them. With a wave of his hand, electric arcs rushed to the empress with the intent to destroy.

Of course, that wouldn't do anything to her. If he wanted to seriously hurt her by using raw brute force, it would cost a lot. It was truly expensive to fight any god. 'I wish I had a spaceship like Ozia. This fight would be over long ago'.

A flash went through Nordeline's eyes. She was subconsciously becoming more serious.

Al'ravee stared in bewilderment as Nordeline grew in size, reaching a height of fifteen feet.

She disappeared again, only appearing with her knee in Al'ravees' gut. Al'ravee's eyes opened wide and he buckled over like a shrimp. He was about to fly backwards but Nordeline grabbed the back of his head with her large hand.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*

Floating off the ground with elegance, Nordeline broke the sound barrier, disappearing along with Al'ravee.

Al'ravee found himself eating dirt as his head was pushed through the ground again and again. They reached the battlefield field in a single moment before Nordeline stopped flying.

*PAH*

Al'ravee was slapped away like a fly. After setting himself upright, he got up to see the weirdest thing ever.

The soldiers that were previously supposed to be dead, were alive and well, fighting each other. Some of them noticed Al'ravee but didn't approach him.

'Was the slap that hard', Al'ravee scratched his head, he honestly didn't know what was happening.

*PAH*

Nordeline appeared again to give him another heavy slap before he could react.

This time when he got up from the crater and looked around, he saw that everywhere was filled with dry bones and some plants.

*PAH*

The third slap and everywhere was filled with green grass and sparse trees. It looked like this place hadn't been touched by humans before.

Each slap, along with its ability to change time, was also extremely painful. Al'ravee could feel it, if not for him being a god and resisting the power fiercely, then he would have grown older or younger, maybe turn to dust.

This type of slap could take him out of existence if he was not powerful enough.

'This is too weird,' Although he thought that, he was starting to comprehend some things.

*SWOOSH*

With a timely dodge, he evaded another of Nordeline's slaps. There was a flash and everything went back to normal. The battlefield returned with fallen soldiers everywhere.

*BIZZT*

Al'ravee didn't wait for anything, he quickly ran. Electricity coated his body as he turned into a speedster, leaving trails of electricity behind him. His legs nearly blurred out due to the sheer speed.

Alas, Nordeline wasn't planning on letting him go so easily. She pursued him fervently. To Nordeline, he had to kneel before her or he could forget about leaving this place.

The long white hair on Nordeline's head elongated and stabbed into the ground. Each strand burrowed through the hard ground and chased after Al'ravee like heat-seeking missiles.

*DADADADADADADADADADADADADADADAD....*

As he ran, Al'ravee had to dodge and jump out of the way to avoid being turned into a sieve by the continuously protruding hair strands. He would have used his concept of force but figured that it would be very useless against her unless…

"Ah fuck this. STOP!" Out of frustration, Al'ravee shouted. He suddenly lost a lot of concept energy

'Huh?' All the stones that were previously flying around from the eruption of the hair strands stopped in mid-air. Even Nordeline and her waving hair stopped moving. He left her behind and continued running away.

He only tried that out of desperation and the fact that he was learning a few things from Nordeline's slap.

"VOID BREAK!"

For the first time since Al'ravee met her, Nordeline spoke. Her voice sounded like that of the whispers of a multitude of people.

*BOOM!*

Space around her cracked and shattered as she pulled herself out of the hold. The spatial cracks converged into a pitch-black ball that floated just above Nordeline's palm.

*SHUASHUASHUA*

The black hole started sucking in everything within its vicinity, the gravitational force continued to increase as every millisecond passed by.

'Oh come on!', Now Al'ravee was convinced that if he didn't spend anything, this fight would drag on. 'I might as well end this quickly.'

A silver halo appeared behind him as he started absorbing all the souls of the dead soldiers on the battlefield nearby.

His eyes turned mirror-like again and his body became covered with thick strands of electricity.

*CRACK CRACK*

Nordeline slowly floated into the sky, her right arm in front of her with the ever-growing pseudo-blackhole before her. Her hair had already reduced to its original length.

All the rocks within a hundred meters radius were pulled off the ground and sucked into the bottomless hole. The suction radius kept increasing and soon it reached Al'ravee.

Al'ravee had no intention of resisting the suction force, he allowed himself to be carried forward while gathering as much newly converted concept energy as possible.

The one that happened in the city was done with around eighty percent of his remaining reserved energy. Now he was going all out, using everything all at once.

Who was he? He is Al'ravee, the chosen son of two ridiculously powerful gods, a former dictator, a martial arts master, and a defiant crime lord. He was not prideful for the word 'shame' did not hold meaning to him.

But how could he agree to lose his first god-level fight so easily in front of three gods?

############

On top of a black, stormy cloud, Jurdelious watched on with a calm demeanor, his smile holding deep meaning to many things yet nothing at all.

Just as Al'ravees' body neared the growing pseudo blackhole...

*BIZZT... BOOOOOOOOOOM*

A flash of electricity and Al'ravee exploded into a fantastic work of dazzling sparks. The rocks floating towards the black hole got blown away and the ones near the explosion got turned into fine dust.

"It's a close draw. The concept and intent of space and time are not combat specialties. If Nordeline knew how to absorb the souls from the battlefield, it would be a different matter." Ozia spoke up.

The blackhole disappeared as the wielder could no longer support its expense and existence.

"At least, she didn't get the concept of war or the concept of combat. If not, we would be carrying him out of here in pieces". Ris had a solemn look on his face as he said that. He once fought with a god with the concept of combat and the result wasn't anything to talk about.

"Let's pick them up, there is a journey ahead of them," Jurdelious said, already floating down the clouds.

"To think that he would gain another concept so easily,"

Jurdelious eyes narrowed dangerously, the intent to destroy encompassed the entire planet. A lot of unsuspecting mortals suddenly turned to dust, shocking the nearby inhabitants.

"I'm more worried about that thief who stole the Pathfinder and now has easy access to the concept of reality. That is an extremely complex concept that even primordial gods might not have control of. This is also the first time I'm hearing of a pathfinder possessing the concept of reality

How come we had it all this time?" His eyes had a flash of purple in them as he continued heading downward.

Ris and Ozia, even though they were strong gods themselves, could not help but shiver in fright. Ozia in particular had his glowing red eyes dim a bit.

They naturally understood what Jurdelious was trying to convey. On one hand, he prevented Al'ravee from choosing an impossibly complex concept, so complex that it could have been the end of him.

On the other hand, whoever has that particular pathfinder has easy access to that concept of reality.

But who stole it?

Jurdelious was angry, very angry, he was just acting calm. Fortunately for that person, both Jurdelious and Krene were planning to enter a deep slumber.