Chapter 1304: Chapter 1304:- An Unbeatable Opponent?

"I will tell you something, Aditya." Ren suddenly spoke while looking at his younger cousin with a confident smile. The black tentacles behind him continued moving slowly, almost as though they were waiting for another opportunity to attack.

"You see, the more I absorb from others, the stronger I become. My strength, speed, stamina, and other stats continue increasing. Even the overall power of my abilities grows stronger with every bit of energy I absorb."

Ren slowly spread his arms as he continued speaking. "Do you understand what that means? The longer this battle continues, the stronger I will become."

"Meanwhile, you will only continue getting weaker. Every time those tentacles touch you, they’ll absorb a portion of your Mana, health, vitality, life force, and stamina. And all that energy will eventually become mine."

A creepy smile appeared on Ren’s face as he watched Aditya’s expression. "There’s no weakness in my abilities that you can exploit to defeat me. We can continue fighting for the entire day if you want, but the result will remain the same."

"You won’t be able to land a single meaningful strike on me. And with every exchange, the difference between our strength will only continue growing."

Hearing those words, Aditya’s expression gradually turned grim. Although he did not completely believe Ren’s claim that his abilities had no weaknesses, he could not deny that everything he had witnessed so far supported at least part of what his cousin was saying.

Ren’s strange powers were making it extremely difficult for him to fight normally, and the longer their battle continued, the more dangerous the situation could become.

’How am I supposed to defeat someone like him?’ Aditya wondered while carefully observing the black tentacles moving behind Ren. He had fought many powerful opponents before, but this was the first time he had encountered someone whose abilities seemed to be designed specifically to counter almost every method of attack he possessed.

His elemental attacks were practically useless against those tentacles. Whether he used Crimson Lightning, wind attacks, or the abilities of Raiketsu, the tentacles could simply absorb the incoming Mana before it reached Ren. Even worse, some of those absorbed attacks could be released back at him, forcing Aditya to defend himself against his own abilities.

’That means my best option is to get close enough to land physical attacks.’ After all, he had already managed to injure Ren through direct punches earlier. Unlike his elemental attacks, physical strikes did not appear to be something the tentacles could simply absorb and make disappear.

However, getting close to Ren came with its own problems.

Those black tentacles were extremely fast. In fact, based on what Aditya had witnessed, they seemed capable of reacting to incoming attacks even faster than Ren himself. Whenever Aditya launched an attack, the tentacles immediately moved to intercept it, sometimes before Ren had even shown any sign of reacting.

This meant that even if Aditya managed to approach Ren, there was a good chance that the tentacles would stop him before he could land a proper strike. And if even one of them managed to wrap itself around his body, it would immediately begin draining his strength.

But that was not what worried Aditya the most.

’Those tentacles can probably turn invisible as well.’ Aditya thought while remembering how one had suddenly appeared around his left leg during their previous exchange.

At the time, he had been fighting Ren hundreds of meters above the ground, with nothing nearby that could have hidden the tentacle’s movements. Yet somehow, it had managed to reach him without his noticing anything.

Although Aditya had not personally witnessed a tentacle turning invisible, it was the most reasonable explanation he could think of. Otherwise, he could not understand how something so large had managed to appear beside him without being seen.

Even more troubling was the fact that his powerful senses had failed to detect it.

Under normal circumstances, Aditya could sense approaching attacks through the changes in Mana around him. However, these mysterious tentacles seemed capable of hiding their presence completely. Until one of them actually touched his body, he could not feel anything unusual.

’So even if I keep watching Ren, that doesn’t mean I will be safe. One of those things could already be approaching me without my knowing. And by the time I notice it, it might already be wrapped around my leg or arm.’

This was an extremely dangerous situation for someone who relied heavily on his speed and teleportation during battle. Although Aditya could instantly move away from an attack once he detected it, that advantage meant very little against something he could neither see nor sense.

Meanwhile, Ren continued watching him with an amused expression. Seeing Aditya hesitate seemed to make him even more confident in his new abilities. For the first time since the battle began, Ren felt that he had finally gained a clear advantage over his younger cousin.

However, Aditya was not ready to accept defeat.

’No ability is truly perfect. There has to be some kind of weakness. I just haven’t discovered it yet.’ Although Ren’s abilities were extremely troublesome, Aditya refused to believe that his cousin had somehow become completely unbeatable. Every cultivation technique had its limitations, and every powerful ability came with certain conditions..

While Aditya was busy trying to figure out how to deal with Ren’s strange abilities, Ren’s body had already begun showing signs of serious damage. Small cracks had started appearing on his Mana heart, which was the first part of his body to suffer from the terrible effects of the forbidden cultivation technique.

As time passed, those cracks gradually spread from his Mana heart to his chest and back. From there, they continued spreading across the rest of his body. Although the cracks were still relatively small, their number was increasing at an alarming rate. However, because most of Ren’s body was covered by his clothes, Aditya had no way of noticing what was happening underneath them.

Ren briefly lowered his head and looked at his chest. Through the opening of his clothes, he could see several dark cracks spreading across his skin. Some had already reached his shoulders, while others were slowly moving upward toward his neck.

’It’s already reached this point.’ Ren thought as he carefully examined his condition. He could clearly feel that his body was reaching its limit. The enormous amount of corrupted Mana he had absorbed was slowly destroying him from the inside, and even with his current strength, he could no longer prevent the damage from spreading.

Ren understood that he would not be able to continue fighting for much longer. If he delayed things any further, there was a good chance that his body would completely break apart before he could accomplish his real objective.

However, instead of becoming worried, a strange smile appeared on his face.

’It’s time.’ Ren thought while slowly raising his head toward Aditya.

’I have already wasted enough time keeping him occupied. Everything I’ve done until now was simply to distract him and prevent him from realising what I was actually preparing.’

From the very beginning, Ren had never intended to defeat Aditya through an ordinary battle. Although he had exchanged blows with his cousin and demonstrated several of his new abilities, all of that had merely been a way to keep Aditya busy while he prepared to use the final ability of his forbidden cultivation technique.

And now, with his body approaching its limit, Ren knew that the moment had finally arrived.

Without giving Aditya any warning, Ren suddenly rushed toward him at an incredible speed. His expression had become completely crazed, and the black tentacles behind him moved wildly as he approached.

Seeing Ren suddenly charging toward him, Aditya immediately became cautious. He had already learned how dangerous those tentacles could be, so he had no intention of allowing his cousin to get close enough to use them against him.

Without hesitation, Aditya activated his teleportation ability and disappeared from his original position. In the next instant, he reappeared approximately twenty meters away from Ren, believing that he had successfully avoided whatever attack his cousin had been preparing.

However, just as Aditya was about to move again, something suddenly wrapped itself around his right leg.

’Not again!’ Aditya immediately realised what had happened. Another black tentacle had appeared without any warning and wrapped itself tightly around his leg. Having already experienced this situation twice, Aditya reacted almost instantly and raised Raiketsu to cut himself free.

Unfortunately, this time, Ren had prepared something different.

Before Aditya could bring his katana down, the black tentacle suddenly began splitting into several smaller tentacles. These new tentacles immediately spread across his body, moving so quickly that Aditya barely had enough time to understand what was happening.

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