Chapter 439: A Duel of Secrets

Stella stood upon an unassuming rock formation. It was a shade lighter than the brown of dirt, with tufts of grass and little yellow flowers peeking through the cracks. The fresh smell of nature was carried by a calm but cold breeze as the sun began to set. To her side, at the base of the rock formation, was a tranquil lake giving way to a dense forest of green-leaved trees.

In fact, for as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but untouched wilderness. It was strangely peaceful, considering these were monster-infested land. Not that Stella had to be afraid, as nothing around here could harm her or her opponent, who stood on an equally high rock outcrop some distance away.

They had chosen this peaceful, untouched land as the stage for their duel. While it was a rare chance to let loose and try out their new techniques or fighting styles in a non-life or death situation, Stella also had another objective—to beat answers out of Diana regarding what she learned and gained in the Mystic Realm.

Diana smiled, "Shall we get started?" The fading sunlight backlit her form. A sight Stella hadn't seen for a while due to the thick clouds and raging storm over Red Vine Peak, which thankfully wasn't present out here yet.

Stella's Star Core began to hum in her chest as she met Diana's gaze, "Ready when you are."

Diana didn't move an inch, but the battle had already begun. The air stretching between them shuddered as an invisible force exploded out from Diana—she'd unleashed her 9th stage Star Core Realm soul pressure. Such force would be enough to make any cultivator below the mid-stages of the Star Core Realm kneel at her feet.

But Stella matched Diana's cultivation level. They were both at the peak of the Star Core Realm, preparing to step into the Nascent Soul Realm, where a cultivator became able to escape the fate of aging by fostering an infant soul.

Stella answered Diana's spiritual assault with her own soul pressure. The air began to shudder and bend under the strain, and an intense gale ruffled Stella's hair and robes, yet she remained utterly composed. To an outsider from afar, it wouldn't look like much was happening, but if they switched to a spiritual view, they would see two giant stars overhead pushing against each other, neither willing to budge an inch.

"It seems our souls are evenly matched," Diana mused but still refused to make the first move. There was a good reason, as casting a technique required some concentration and Qi, which would briefly weaken her soul pressure, giving Stella an advantage. Fights got weird after a certain realm of power, even more so if the two fighting were evenly matched and hiding their powers.

"That may be so," Stella replied before smirking, "But what about our bloodlust?"

Spiritual standoffs between two cultivators like this involved more than simple soul pressure, which was wholly based on the strength and size of one's Star Core. The other aspect was a test of one's will, which involved unleashing and defending against an opponent's bloodlust. Unlike soul pressure that could be cultivated in the safety of a sect and gained through pills, bloodlust wasn't something as easily obtained. It was forged through the cultivator's experiences, such as how many times they faced death and won. It was the raw manifestation of a cultivator's dedication to the art of survival and slaughter carried by the weight of what they had accomplished.

Some might call it a weaponized ego sharpened by the blood of fallen foes.

Diana grinned at her suggestion, a single sharp fang glinting in the evening light. "I know your bloodlust is quite strong, but I went through hell recently, so I'm curious to see how I compare now."

Taking the initiative to go on the offensive again, Diana's bloodlust seeped into the air like a creeping chill that spread through Stella's oppressive soul pressure with unnatural ease. It washed over her like a flood and pressed down upon her. As Stella's soul fire struggled to resist, the bloodlust dug into her skin and bones like a parasite before condensing around Stella's soul, whispering promises of death.

To others, they may be intimidated by a demoness's bloodlust.

But Stella did not yield.

Instead, she dug deep, reaching into the wellspring of her tempered malice. And then—without restraint, while looking Diana dead in the eyes—she unleashed it.

A tidal wave of pure, unfiltered bloodlust erupted from her like a thousand jagged blades of pure spite, each sharpened by life's cruelty. It didn't merely resist Diana's encroaching chill—it annihilated it. Having effortlessly freed herself from Diana's bloodlust, Stella directed her weaponized bloodlust toward the demoness.

The blades of spite lost their restrained form, turning into warped spikes of raw killing intent that shot forward and effortlessly pierced through Diana's soul pressure, tearing it apart like a flailing sheet of fragile silk caught in a storm of blades. Reality itself trembled from the force of her rage, the ground between them fissuring.

Diana staggered—for the briefest moment, as the rock formation she stood upon faltered, and she was forced inward, shielding her soul from being consumed by Stella's overwhelming fury.

And that was the moment Stella had been waiting for.

She stepped into the aether, the very fabric of space folding around her like a second skin, and in an instant, she reappeared behind Diana. Her spatial ring flashed with silver light as a dagger materialized in her grasp. With inhuman speed and unwavering precision, Stella struck. The blade wreathed in soul flames and, guided by her bloodlust, shot forward but altered course away from the demoness's neck at the last second. Instead, Stella aimed at one of Diana's lungs. A less vital organ—a wound meant to incapacitate her, not kill as Stella managed to reel in her bloodlust and remembered this was a duel.

Diana took advantage of Stella's hesitation to kill.

A single shadowed wing unfurled at the last possible second, its obsidian feathers shrouded in a demonic mist functioned as a defensive wall. The dagger's edge met the feathers with surprising resistance, its momentum skidding harmlessly along them, causing a few stray ones to be severed.

Diana countered instantly. She spun, her silhouette a blur of darkness, claws streaking toward Stella's throat without hesitation. Razor-sharp and wreathed in demonic mist, they tore through the air, intending to decapitate Stella.

But all they met was air—Stella was already gone.

She had retreated into the aether, her body dissolving into the in-between before Diana's attack could land. Half a second later, she reappeared in Diana's blind spot, her dagger poised for another perfect strike. This time, she aimed for the kill, having learned from her past hesitation.

Yet, once again—Diana barely reacted in time.

Her wing twisted unnaturally, intercepting the dagger in a last-moment parry. However, Diana's movement was rushed this time—not as flawless as before. The impact forced Diana to take an unwanted step forward, momentarily disrupting her balance.

A small opening.

And for someone like Stella—that was all she needed. Summoning a dagger into her other hand, she rotated her whole body to drive it into Diana's wing with all her might. Aiming for a piercing attack rather than a slashing one seemed to work as Diana let out a small yelp as the dagger dug deep into her wing. The force of the attack was carried through Diana to the environment below, obliterating the rock outcrop they had been fighting upon, causing a meteor shower to rain down upon the nearby lake and sending up a plume of dust and rustling all nearby trees.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Stella continued on the offensive as birds for a hundred miles took to the skies in fear. The pair exchanged a flurry of attacks, sending sonic booms across the land with each parry. While Stella had speed, Diana had surprisingly good reaction times and raw strength that let her weather the onslaught. In fact, her reaction time was improving no matter how fast Stella tried to go.

Feeling something was wrong, Stella retreated a few steps away and analyzed the situation. Diana was good but shouldn't be this good at countering her attacks. There had to be some trick to it.

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As it turned out, there was.

It hadn't been evident among the swirling dust and destruction, but a thin layer of demonic mist drifted around her feet. Narrowing her eyes at the dust cloud, she saw traces of demonic mist Qi.

Diana is surrounded by an aura of demonic mist Qi, so it's no wonder she can react to my attacks in time.

Having figured it out, Stella smirked. "Is this cheap trick all you learned during the Mystic Realm?"

While she could use her aether Qi to disperse the mist, that would be terribly Qi inefficient. She had to come up with a better solution, and the only thing she could think of right now was to draw Diana out of the dust cloud where she had control.

Laughter echoed out of the dust cloud as Stella could make out Diana's silhouette—a tall, slender figure exuding lethal grace. Hair that cascaded like a cape down her back, claws extended, ready to decapitate, and, most importantly, a single unfurled wing. A true demoness.

Stella frowned as she raised her hand. Her spatial rings flashed, and a storm of swords manifested above her head in a rotating circle. Since Diana refused to come to her, she would attack her from safety. With a mental command, the blade storm shot through the air, tearing through the dust storm and also Diana.

"Interesting," Stella mused as Diana's form dissipated into the mist and the swords exploded the ground behind her. "So, during the Mystic Realm, you figured out how to make more realistic illusions, or have you become the mist itself?"

"A bit of both," A voice replied out of the haze with amusement. The fog shifted and rose before solidifying into one, two, three... Stella counted ten identical versions of Diana. They simply lurked in the fog, watching and waiting. "You know, I wouldn't have even needed a cheap trick to counter your attacks if you didn't have that amulet masking your cultivation. It makes tracking your presence nigh impossible, leaving me only the time it takes you to attack to react."

Stella blinked as she touched the Phantom Veil Amulet hanging from her neck that Ash had made her. "Really? I didn't know it gave me such an advantage. Should I take it off?"

"No," Diana replied, "While it may be an artifact, and you shouldn't rely on it too much, this is serving as great training for me. It's rare someone gets to fight an aether-jumping assassin, and it's not a fight to the death."

"You're holding out on me, aren't you?" Stella said, narrowing her eyes. From how Diana spoke, it was as if she treated this like a fun warmup.

"So are you," the multiple clones replied. Diana's voice came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. "Don't expect me to reveal my secrets if you look down on me, thinking you don't have to give me your all. Sometimes, your unintentional arrogance is quite amusing."

"Fine," Stella said, rolling her shoulders and letting out a breath. "I suppose it's only fair I use my bloodline if I want to see yours." Her gaze turned tranquil, and her focus sharpened as the most basic form of the Crestfallen's bloodline activated: hyper-focus. She recalled the swords with telekinesis and closed her eyes.

Entering the aether plane to determine which was the real Diana, Stella almost lost her composure.

Diana hadn't lied earlier—she had really become the mist itself and also learned how to make realistic illusions.

Actually, to call these illusions is wrong. They are more like extensions of herself or clones. Stella pointed her finger at the one with the strongest presence. Her mind strained a little as she independently controlled each sword and sent them through the aether to bring the travel time to almost zero, overcoming one of the largest drawbacks of ranged attacks.

As the swords tore through the aether and reached their target, Stella watched from the aether plane as the presence of Diana's soul in the clone she had targeted retreated into the mist before it was destroyed.

So those clones are an extension of herself, but should they be destroyed, she could suffer soul damage. Stella furrowed her brows. What a risky but powerful technique.

"Have you figured me out already?" Diana asked, the heads of every clone tilting in unison. "That's a shame; I had hoped to keep you guessing a little longer."

"How did you do this?" Stella asked with genuine curiosity. Senior Lee had told them that the body was merely a vessel for the soul and nothing more. But Stella had thought this was something she would encounter further down the line, yet Diana had done it? Her body was no longer bound by the weakness of flesh and blood.

One of the clones stepped forward out of the fog, and Diana met Stella's questioning gaze with a look that carried an indescribable weight. "The price was more than you would think," she paused, "I died that day, Stella."

"You died?"

Diana nodded, "Ambushed by one of my own—a member of the Ravena Clan. He showed me an impossible-to-beat fighting style that left me utterly helpless. I was killed and woke up in hell. A body that looked and felt like my own but was also different. Rather than made of flesh and blood, it had been birthed and forged from the mist."

Raising her hand, she showed how it turned from flesh and blood into nothing but mist that fell to the wayside. "The Ravena Clan isn't a group of human cultivators; we are mist demons. I kept it a secret back on Red Vine Peak after returning from the Mystic Realm as I wasn't sure how everyone would react to learn I died and was no longer human at all." She paused as she seemed to study her reaction, "Stella... what do you think about this?"

"What do I think?" Stella blinked, "I'm freaking jealous, that's what I think. You were turned into a mist demon? That's so cool!"

Diana's expression relaxed, "It looks like I was worried for nothing."

"Oh no, you should be worried." Stella stepped forward, aether soul flames igniting her form, "Now that I know you are nothing but mist, I have no reason to hold back."

Perhaps it was her arrogance, but she aether stepped right into the middle of Diana's clones. Brandishing her many floating blades, she had them surround her in a fluid formation. Since she could reorient or maneuver a sword instantly by passing it through the aether, a death dance followed as she seemed to effortlessly fight off all nine of Diana's remaining clones simultaneously.

Yet it was anything but effortless. Despite having her eyes closed and smiling, Stella's consciousness was strained to its limit. Tracking a dozen swords and nine enemies while also fighting herself was all she could manage.

"Have you really not learned any other new techniques since we last fought?" Diana taunted, "If not, I'm not going to let you see my new ultimate move otherwise."

Stella frowned. She hadn't used it yet against a foe, but she had devised a technique of her own. I suppose there's no better time to practice it. She thought. Igniting all of her swords with aether Qi, she began randomly slashing at her surroundings.

Diana laughed as she easily dodged the flurry of attacks, "What is this supposed to be? A toddler has better aim than this—" one of her clones perished suddenly, fading back into the mist below. "What happened?"

Stella smirked, "You're not the only one with secrets, you know?"

When I figured out how to have my sword phase through a person and attack their soul directly, I devised this technique, which I've named Aether Rend. After seeing how delayed their death was compared to the slash, I figured out that attacks done through the aether take a moment to affect reality. A drawback that I realized I can actually use to my advantage.

Aether Rend was a shockingly simple sword array. All she did was have her swords slash at the air around her, leaving nearly undetectable slashes in reality that wouldn't appear until a moment later.

So when a cultivator thinks I missed them and moves into that presumed safe space as the weapon has already passed through, they will find the attack delayed and will be unprepared for it. However, the main drawback is it's ultimately a cheap trick, so should the opponent figure it out, the array loses a lot of its lethality.

That's why Stella remained tight-lipped to Diana's questioning and went on the offensive. It took another hour of intense battling until Diana finally conceded as she was down to her final clone and seemed ready to reveal her trump card.

Jumping back, she made space between them.

Stella paused, not daring to approach.

Diana's other wing finally revealed itself, unfurling with eerie grace. She then raised both arms and the surrounding mist, which had grown quite thick during their battle, pulled in toward her. It solidified into another set of arms, four different weapons, and battle armor. Diana also seemed to grow in size, and the promise of rage was in the air, reminding Stella of their last duel when Diana had lost control and gone berserk.

"Uhm, Diana?" Stella called out, "Are you still in control?"

Diana took a step forward, the ground obliterating underfoot as if she had the weight of a walking star. Her wings spread out further, blocking out the final strays of sunlight.

Stella had to admit Diana was rather intimidating but did not falter. She had yet to activate the higher stages of her bloodline and had been holding back.

It was supposed to be a duel, after all.

But if Diana was going to go all out like this...

Stella grinned, the thrill of battle taking over. Her earrings activated, and her eyes turned to swirling pits of darkness. Diana's gaze, full of madness, faltered. Stella used Diana's moment of fear to go for the kill.

Her dagger, with a razor-thin edge of condensed aether Qi, reading to cut through flesh and strike the soul, went straight for Diana's heart—only to be stopped by a foreign hand.

"That's enough," Ash said through Anubis. Having emerged from the shadows, the Lich towered over Stella and was still a little taller than Diana in her complete mist demon form. However, what set him apart from them was his mid-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivation, leaving Stella no room to fight back.

As she stared into Anubis's flickering eyes that carried the weight of the Ent's soul pressure, the thrill of the duel faded, and rationality returned. While the Lich maintained his unwavering two-finger grip on Stella's dagger, he restrained Diana with tendrils of shadow that wrapped around her four arms and legs.

The Lich then turned to glare at Diana, and Stella saw the light of consciousness return to the demoness's gaze.

"Are you two done?"

They both nodded, so the Lich released his suffocating pressure and hold on them.

"Good, because it's time."

"For what?" Stella asked, surprised at how short of breath she was. Her head was also pounding with a headache due to her bloodline relaxing.

"As night falls," the Lich clicked his fingers, and a desolation rift tore into existence. "The grandest funeral this world has ever seen is about to begin, and I desire your attendance."