Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1516: Creature

"I am surprised that you managed to reach me. I honestly thought that this would be beyond anyone aside from the machine gods, but you proved me wrong once more. Beings of flesh like you are probably just a mass of confusion and nonsense."

"Thank you very much for your high praise."

Arel rested calmly in front of a dark portal, seemingly unfazed by the intense energy emanating from the apparent core of the red start. The portal appeared to be a significant drain on the star’s energy, hinting at its importance. Rather than concealing herself, Arel boldly presented her form before Rain as if showcasing her core was the most natural thing in the world. Her demeanor suggested a confidence born of power and certainty.

"It seems that our roles are reversed now," Rain said. "Are you waiting for your friends to come and help?"

"It seems that you are getting ahead of yourself just because you survived until now, even though I never tried to kill you that much."

"Yep, that is right, I am getting ahead of myself," Rain said and then used Origin Punch.

From his distance, Rain tried to destroy the Arel core, but a blast of energy came from the portal and stopped him... Rain looked at his fist and then saw a hole in his hand.

"So that you know, I chose not to have a real body here since I don’t need it. Soon enough, you will understand why."

"I imagined that you wouldn’t choose a bad place for you to fight as the core of your territory," Rain said as he healed his hand. "Anyway, we don’t have all the time in the universe for this."

"You don’t have, but I do have that."

Rain used Origin Punch a few more times, but nothing happened... he was always stopped by a blast of light from the dark portal before he could land any hit. It was almost like the portal was responding automatically to the danger that targeted Arel.

"The skills of the energy aspect didn’t show anything like this..." Rain thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "What is going on?" ƒrēenovelkiss.com

The sight of the dark portal intrigued Rain, its form defying the conventional understanding of spatial manipulation he had come to master. While his own abilities with the space aspect typically manifested as distortions in the fabric of space, forming gateways between disparate points, this portal presented itself as something altogether different. Its spiraling motion and spherical shape bore a resemblance to the theoretical concept of a wormhole, a tunnel through spacetime connecting distant regions.

This departure from the norm piqued Rain’s interest, prompting him to delve deeper into its properties and potential implications. As he observed the portal’s movements and structure, he couldn’t help but wonder about the mechanisms behind its creation and the purpose it served. The presence of such a unique phenomenon hinted at a deeper understanding of cosmic forces beyond his current comprehension, leaving him both intrigued and apprehensive about what he might uncover.

"A higher level Portal Conjuration?" Rain asked. "Where does that portal lead to? Another timeline?"

"I will leave that to your imagination."

"Jackpot, huh?" Rain asked while smiling.

Rain didn’t think that his first guess would be right, but the perfect place to put such a thing where no one would be able to find it would be there, truly... He had no idea what Arel was planning with such a thing, but it shouldn’t be something good... perhaps it was a countermeasure for the machine gods to escape if things turned sour for them. Still, Rain never heard of an escape route that could attack enemies like that.

While Rain was thinking about that, he realized that his surroundings were changing. The void in the middle of the star was expanding, and he could only assume that it was because the dark portal was absorbing the energy of the red star. If that were true, the dark portal probably was created recently or had a very slow speed of energy absorption.

All of a sudden, the portal glowed several times, and while Rain readied himself to block the attacks, he was immediately hit. His senses didn’t even have time to warn him, and his limbs exploded. After being severed, they turned into dust and disappeared thanks to the massive heat.

"It looks like your limbs aren’t as sturdy once they separate from your body. That is good to know. What else can I learn about you?"

While groaning in pain... Rain tried to heal himself. Even though Limit Breaker and Apex Fury protected him from the heat of the star, it didn’t protect him from that kind of attack... things were getting crazy once again.

When Rain’s limbs were half healed, he felt the danger once again, and this time, he reacted to it by using Time Dilation to its limits. Rain opened his eyes widely when he saw something transparent crossing the air at insane speeds toward him... it seemed something like countless skinny claws attached together, and they moved toward his neck... he moved to the side with Light Speed at once, but a chunk of his neck was still ripped apart... even though the claws just scratched him.

"Not something physical..." Rain said. "It looks like you found a weird pet beyond the confines of this universe."

"Really? I wouldn’t known."

"You are a poor liar. Trying to copy me to make yourself look more convincing won’t change a thing," Rain said.

The atmosphere changed since it looked like Arel didn’t like Rain reading her like an open book. As such, she caused several solar flares to fly toward him. The solar flares looked like blades trying to converge on Rain, but he repelled them with palm strikes. His hands were back to normal.

"I knew that from a long time ago onward, the battles wouldn’t be as simple as me punching the enemies to death, but this is quite something..." Rain said.