Armipotent

Irnus's feet entered the ground, around his ankle level from the impact. His sword blocked the battle-ax. He tried to push away the battle-ax, but he realized that the pressure on him was stronger than he expected. Deep inside, he was surprised that the Demi-God Rank in front of him had a higher attribute him who God Rank. This alerted Irnus, making him realize that he could not continue playing with Tang Shaoyang. He must kill this man or else this man would become their disaster in the future.

For God Ranks, attributes rarely mattered because most of them were supposed to have similar attributes. It rarely mattered in the fight, but it was different when his opponent was just a Demi-God Rank. He was supposed to have superior attributes, and yet, he was getting suppressed by the raw Strength.

Irnus lowered his sword to the right, causing the battle-ax to slide down. Then he spun, hitting Tang Shaoyang's belly with a spinning kick. He did not use a skill, but just a pure raw strength in the kick. He was testing something, checking the man's attributes. The kick just sent Tang Shaoyang a few meters back, and his kick had no effect aside from a force that pushed the man backward. If his kick did not hurt Tang Shaoyang, at all, that meant Tang Shaoyang also had a high Vitality and might be higher than himself.

'He's also fast,' Tang Shaoyang was right in front of him, swinging the sword toward his neck. That also surpassed the speed and reaction of the God Rank. On the same level as him, at the least. He raised his fire sword, blocking the sword. Then Tang Shaoyang raised his battle-ax, swinging it down.

Irnus noticed the deep red energy covering the battle-ax' blade, Slayer Energy. The God Ranks of Nirvana told him about how dangerous Slayer Energy was. He was not going to try to block the Slayer Energy when he was advised to dodge it. He leaped backward as the battle-ax hit the flaming ground. The golden-crimson fire burst out, but he realized that Tang Shaoyang had found a way to fight against his True Flame.

Tang Shaoyang went through the True Flame and rushed toward him. From skills exchange, they got to the close combat. This was Irnus' first time, fighting someone with a battle-ax and also a sword. There was no pattern in the attack with each strike, but he noticed how smooth Tang Shaoyang was with the sword. From a few exchanges, he could tell that Tang Shaoyang was more proficient with the sword than the battle-ax.

Tang Shaoyang launched a flurry of attacks while Irnus was in a defensive position. Irnus blocked and avoided the attack flawlessly, and Tang Shaoyang could not find an opening.

Boom!

His battle-ax once more hit the empty ground as the True Flame burst out of the ground. His fire and other elements did not work on Irnus, and Irnus easily avoided his fast attack. That was why he chose close combat, but it did not work either. He had Slayer Energy that could hurt and kill the God Rank, but it was useless if he could not land the hit. The fire sword was a real sword, an artifact, not a sword made of fire because Energy Destruction Touch and Slayer Energy could not destroy it.

Tang Shaoyang should be happy about the outcome because he was one rank lower than Irnus. The fact he could fight against Irnus tow in tow was amazing already. However, he did not feel happy, at all. That just made him frustrated. If he could not kill one, then how was he supposed to kill the other five God Ranks?

Irnus also did not attack, standing twenty meters away from him. He also contemplated how he ended the battle because he realized that his skills did not work on Tang Shaoyang. The fight in the close combat made him realize that Tang Shaoyang was superior to him. He felt that way because he was not given a chance to counterattack. All he had been doing was to block and dodge, nothing else.

Third Heavenly Gate: Heavenly Steps - Heavenly Illusionary

Tang Shaoyang left behind an illusion as his figure moved so fast toward Irnus. Again, Heavenly Illusionary failed to trick Irnus. Irnus noticed his movement, and he raised the battle-ax in the air. He covered the battle-ax with the Slayer Energy and used [Thousand Blasts]. He expected Irnus to block his battle-ax just like what Irnus had done before, and it worked as he planned.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Before it reached the thousand blasts, the Abyssal Bone broke apart. The blade was broken, and the following blast broke the shaft. That showed that Irnus had a superior weapon than him. He tossed away the broken weapon, tossing the sword to his right as he used Nine Heavenly Gate consecutively.

Ninth Heavenly Gate: Heavenly Beast - Heavenly Azure Dragon!

Fifth Heavenly Gate: Heavenly Swords - Severing the Heaven!

He was borrowing the Heavenly Energy of the Heavenly Azure Dragon, making his Heavenly Energy purer before using The Heavenly Swords. He slashed the sword forward as the Azure Dragon appeared behind him.

Roar!

Irnus responded with a swing as well, but then he realized that was more than just a mere slash. The sight of the Azure Dragon told him it was more than just a normal slash. He imbued more energy in his sword at the last moment as the sword met in the air. The result was obvious as his sword flung into the air as Nightfall reached his chest.

However, that was still not enough to kill Irnus. The sword slashed his chest, cut his chest open as his figure flung backward from the impact. That was the first wound Tang Shaoyang inflicted on Irnus, but the Flame God Rank returned to his feet immediately after receiving such a strike.

Tang Shaoyang thought that was enough to kill Irnus when the fire sword went into the air, but that was not enough. The slash left a deep cut on Irnus' chest and his blood flowed out from his elemental body. The blood evaporated immediately because of his flame, but the wound did not close up despite having a high regeneration body as a God Rank.

This made Tang Shaoyang realize the gap between him and the God Rank. The gap could not be closed even though he had the attributes of the God Rank. Afi killed one of the God Ranks easily, but his sword failed to kill one, and the strongest strike failed to kill Irnus. The frustrating part was that he could not use his Slayer Energy when he used the Nine Heavenly Gate. When he performed the Nine Heavenly Gates technique, he must use the Heavenly Energy.

"This is embarrassing. I almost die to a Demi-God Rank? This is the most humiliating moment in my life that I almost die to a Demi-God Rank!" Irnus said that to himself, looking at the wound. The throbbing pain kept reminding him of the humiliation. He thought the same when he lost his grip on his sword. He thought his body would be sliced into two by the sword too, but the technique was not strong enough to kill him in one strike. However, if he got hit by the same strike repeatedly, he might die.

"The playtime is over," Irnus raised his head slowly and met with Tang Shaoyang's eyes, "I will show you the despair. I will show you why you can't kill a God Rank!" The fire on his body burst out and flared up to the sky.

Then Irnus and Tang Shaoyang disappeared from Earth, or to be more exact, Irnus brought Tang Shaoyang to another dimension.

"Welcome to the God Domain!"

Tang Shaoyang felt like he was using the teleportation gate. The feeling was similar when he used a teleportation gate. Then he felt the increasing heat around him. He stood in the middle of a flat island, an island surrounded by the sea. It was not just the normal sea but a sea of fire. Then he heard Irnus' voice in his head. That was right, he felt like Irnus talked directly into his head just like the spirits.

"This is my God Domain, a separate realm. Here, I am a God, and I can do anything I want here. For example this."

The island where Tang Shaoyang stood suddenly disappeared and below him was the sea of flame. Those might be the True Flame, and Tang Shaoyang immediately stabilized himself from falling by suddenly losing his ground.

"And also like this."

Hundreds of fireballs appeared around Tang Shaoyang, giving him no space to escape. What happened next was obvious, the fireballs moved toward Tang Shaoyang, squashing Tang Shaoyang instead of exploding. But when all the fireballs gathered in that same spot, it exploded. The raging flame filled the space where Tang Shaoyang was until the fire subsided. Tang Shaoyang was fine as he managed to block all the fire with his two barriers, The Heavenly Tortoise Protection and the barrier made of Slayer Energy.

It seemed Irnus also expected that his fire would not be able to hurt Tang Shaoyang. Irnus was trying to intimidate Tang Shaoyang.

"Or I can also do this."

The sky above Tang Shaoyang was replaced by another sea of fire. Above and below was fire, and they slowly came toward Tang Shaoyang, getting sandwiched by the sea of fire. Soon, Tang Shaoyang was drowned in the fire for a few minutes. After a few minutes, the fire disappeared.

The realm returned to the state when he first arrived. He stood on the same flat island, and Irnus was now in front of him, "It's embarrassing to use my God Domain. This is a disgrace for a God Rank like me to use my God Domain to kill you. But you should be proud that you force me to use my God Domain."

"I will be proud when I kill you and your five friends. I will be proud when I destroy the Federation of Allurion and the Divine Church."