Chapter 257: Sword vs Axe

John activated the second form of his Immortal Asura Transformation Art, pushing his power to its peak state. His aura exploded wildly off his body, clashing against the aura of the mysterious youth. 

The creature narrowed its eyes as it stared at John. Before it had been his strong suspicion as to the origins of the power, but now there was no mistaking it.

"There's no doubt about the origins of his transformation now. Just what is he thinking allowing such a dangerous power to be wielded by this boy?" the creature mused.

John's hands gripped his battle axe powerfully as he stared at the youth before him.

"I don't have much time in this state, so why don't we speed things up a bit," John said to the youth. 

Although he knew it was a formation and couldn't respond, it still felt natural to talk to him. 

Boom!

John pressed off the ground, causing it to quake with every step as he instantly reached the mysterious youth. His axe cleaved outwards, the power of it causing the very air to ripple and boom.

Peng!

Sword and axe collided, and the mysterious youth was the one knocked backwards. The creature's eyes once again widened in surprise.

"Just how strong is his body to be able to do such a thing?"

What the creature didn't know was that John's body cultivation was at the Middle Core Formation Realm, and so it was only natural that he would win out in power when fighting someone with a lower cultivation than him.

The youth landed on his feet and slashed his sword out towards John while skidding backwards.

Peng!

John slashed his axe against the sword image, the power of which was enough to cause him to sweat slightly. Every casual sword attack from the youth was like an overwhelming battle art.

'Just a casual sword attack from this youth, if landed on my body, would cause me great harm. And he's technically a lower cultivation than me. How terrifying.'

Che!

Che!

Che!

The youth slashed his sword out repeatedly, so fast that John could hardly keep up. Countless sword images suddenly pierced towards John, reaching him in an instant. His battle axe slashed out continuously, doing his best to keep up with the growing number of sword images.

Lightning continued to crash down from the lightning nodes, exploding against the revolving swords. John frowned, as no matter how much essence power he put into his lightning domain, it was countered by the boy's sword domain. Its profundity was at a much higher level than John's, once again showing their vast difference in Dao comprehensions.

'I have to change my fighting style up a bit. His sword attacks are too fast for my heavy battle axe to keep up with, and without a battle art, I cannot overpower them either.'

Thunderflash Steps!

John augmented his speed to his greatest level, combining his Thunderflash Steps with his Limiter of Speed. His body shot forward like a blur, appearing directly in front of the youth in an instant.

His axe cleaved sideways, slashing towards the youths waist. The youth slashed his sword out as well, the power of the Sword Dao emanating from it.

Peng!

Weapons collided, resulting in the youth being knocked back slightly. John immediately dashed forward, gripping his two handed battle axe in one hand, while keeping his other one free.

Despite it being a two handed battle axe, John's immense strength was barely able to wield it with one. However, the attack power would be greatly weakened, but John was not worried about that.

His axe cleaved down once again, piercing towards the youths head.

Peng!

Sword and axe collided, resulting in a stalemate. John's free hand thrust forward, catching the youth off guard. 

Boom!

John's hand slammed hard against the youth, but the youth was completely unaffected. 

"What?"

His hand quickly withdrew, and John was able to see what had happened. A small sword from the sword domain had materialized between the youth and John's hand, blocking the attack. The sword disintegrated from the force of the attack, but quickly rematerialized due to it being made from Qi.

'Fine. If speed won't do, then I'll just go back to full power attacks.'

John decided to retreat to his full power attacks. While they had not managed to pierce the youths' defenses yet, it was the only type of attack that John was able to win out on.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Lighting and swords continued to explode in the sky above, while John and the youth crashed against each other time and time again. They exchanged dozens of blows in the blink of an eye, causing the arena to shake with the power of their attacks.

Every time they collided, John would knock the youth backwards due to his overwhelming body power. However, the youths ultimate sword defenses allowed him to remain relatively unharmed.

Meanwhile, several attacks from the youth had managed to pierce John's defenses, slowly chipping away at his body. Several thin sword cuts could be seen on John's body, and blood slowly began to soak his robes.

However, he ignored the wounds, as he continued to press forward.

The creature watched the battle unfold, becoming more and more impressed by John's performance.

"His comprehensions are incredibly low, and his battle arts are either weak or non-existent, but just with the power of his body transformation and overwhelming essence power, he is able to keep up with that man. Impressive."

The battle raged on for several more minutes, with both sides managing to land blows on the other. John's body was covered in sword wounds, making him look like a blood demon, while the youths arms were shaking, and his attacks slowed down slightly.

Clearly, having blocked so many powerful attacks from John's battle axe, the attacks were starting to add up.

John's soul space suddenly trembled, and before he could react, Kirii appeared out in the open. It immediately began to charge up a lightning attack, intent on helping John against the enemy he was struggling against.