Chapter 1057: No Path To Victory

Helaranth looked at his weapon at his feet, then back to John, eyes still wide. That weapon took much of his strength to wield, and yet his opponent had tossed it over to him like its weight of six hundred thousand pounds was a trifling matter.

He picked it up a moment later, the weight manageable since his Roaring Heart Body Art was still active. His body surged with incredible power at the moment, which usually made him feel invincible when using its true might. At the moment, he felt only disbelief, and would have felt fear had this been a real battle to the death.

"Good," John nodded, then burst alight with lightning.

Helaranths eyes went wide as John appeared before him like a ghost. John hadn't used any fancy movement arts, and instead just used his physical power to speed towards his opponent. The arena trembled and a loud thunderclap followed after as John punched forward with all his might.

Helaranth managed to raise his hammer shaft in time to partially deflect the blow, but was unable to fully guard against it. John's fist slammed into Helaranths shoulder, who flew backwards immediately after, unable to withstand the punch.

Boom!

Helaranth slammed against the arena barrier formation after soaring through the sky. The formation flared with powerful Qi, defending those on the other side. Helaranth bounced off the barrier and fell to the ground, landing on his feet.

He looked at John who was a dozen miles away, shaking slightly from the pain of that attack. Helaranths heart beat rapidly, shocked by the sheer power of that simple punch. Had he not been a body cultivator, that punch would have ended the fight immediately.

John stared at Helaranth for a moment, a slight frown on his face as he looked at Helaranths shoulder and saw some blood there. It was only a surface wound, and it was healing quickly, but the damage was visible.

As he saw John's frown, Helaranth breathed a sigh of relief, mistaking John's frown for disappointment in how little damage he caused. If that was the case, then he must have overestimated John's strength due to how shocking his defense was.

"Haha," Helaranth laughed nervously. "If that's your strongest attack, then..."

"My strongest attack?" John interrupted, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Why would that be my strongest attack? I was merely testing out the durability of your body. It's not bad, but I'm not sure if you can handle my actual attack without dying."

"Your...actual attack?" Helaranth said hesitantly, fear appearing on his face a moment later as he watched a weapon appear in John's hand. He just now realized that John had yet to take out a weapon. He had been so shocked by the previous exchanges that he had failed to notice something so simple.

"A weapon! John has taken out a weapon! This is the first time we've seen him use a real weapon!" The announcer exclaimed, making many in the crowd realize this truth for the first time.

John had used 'weapons' before, but those had not been weapons. This was truly the first time he had used an actual weapon, shocking all who finally realized this. A weapon easily doubled the combat strength of most cultivators, and yet he had gotten this far without even using one.

John's scythe, pitch black and emanating a slight death aura, seemed to suck in the light around it. It caused many to hold their breath in instinctual fear, as the weapon's aura itself was enough to kill the weaker members of the crowd.

As for the stronger cultivators, they were surprised at something else; the scythe itself. John had shown himself to be a body cultivator, which excelled when using heavy weapons. A scythe was supposed to be light and nimble, the opposite of what a body cultivator wanted. While they questioned the type of weapon, they didn't question the weapon itself. Just from a glance, they were able to tell the quality of the weapon, which was incredible.

"Where did this boy get such a weapon?" The Mage-Sovereign looked at the Prime Shadow and asked. "Its quality is remarkable, and I've never heard of such a scythe existing in this world before."

"It is truly a fine weapon," the Yang-Sovereign agreed, nodding in approval. "But it's an odd match for a body cultivator such as him."

While John has used some simple essence Qi abilities, none of them had been powerful enough to make anyone think he was a dual cultivator. As such, the weapon choice was truly odd.

The Prime Shadow smiled and remained silent, focusing on John below. The others would see the answer soon enough.

John felt the same energy as before descend, only on his weapon this time as opposed to Helaranths hammer. It vanished a moment later, immediately followed by the crowd and announcer roaring in unison.

"One and a half million pounds! His scythe weights one and a half million pounds!" The announcer exclaimed, almost unable to believe the number. "And...John is holding the weapon with such casual ease. What is going on? Is he using his Qi to support the weight? Or perhaps some sort of gravity art?"

While that is what many thought might be the truth, the lack of Qi emanating from John revealed that it's weight was almost entirely supported by his physical strength.

John ignored the roaring crowd and rambling announcer. He rested his scythe on his shoulder as he looked at his opponent, who looked even more stunned than before.

"Prepare yourself," John warned, taking his scythe off his shoulder and holding it slightly to the side and above his head. "You'll die if you don't defend with your full strength, and I'd rather not be disqualified."

That comment would normally cause Helaranth to explode with rage at being looked down on in such an embarrassing way, but that was not his concern right now. Instead, it was the growing feeling of impending death.

Bang!

Lightning flickered into existence, flowing over John and the scythe itself. A profound spatial energy appeared a moment later, as did several profound Daos.

Helaranth went pale as John raised his scythe ever so slightly. His instincts were screaming, 'if that attack is unleashed, it's over. It is not something I can defend against.'

Scythe steadied, John waited patiently for his opponent to fully prepare himself. Helaranth looked at John as if he were the incarnation of death, eyes wide, face pale. He remained like this for a moment, then...

Bang!

Helaranths hammer smashed against the ground, falling from his grip. A look of haunting defeat appeared on Helaranths face as his shoulders slumped and he fell to his knees. Even if he could defend against that attack, he would be near death's door afterwards. The gap in their power was just too great.

Against this monstrous opponent he was facing, there was no path to victory. The aura, the impending feeling of doom that scythe Art made him feel made that as clear as day.

"I concede!"