Astarea felt as if her body was shutting down. 'A single punch with her skill is this powerful?'
Being in the same realm as Yasenia, their strengths were just too far apart. Even if Astarea could fight Yasenia using her experience and exceptional defensive battle style, there was a difference in power.
Looking down at the ascending dragon woman, Astarea raised her hand and chanted solemnly. "[Divine Tides Of Renewal]."
Yasenia's pupils shrank as an ocean manifested in the air and fell like a blanket. 'Does it make sense to be able to summon such a large body of water at once!?'
Looking to the sides, the dragoness knew that dodging the attack was impossible. 'But, won't it hit Astarea as well? What is she planning?'
While the titanic ocean descended, the Dragoness stopped and prepared to use her defensive techniques. Even if she stopped, her eyes were fixed on Astarea, eager to see the effect on Astarea's body.
An instant later, the enormous tide engulfed Astarea, but the Divine showed no signs of being damaged. On the contrary, the purple bruise on her stomach began to heal at a rapid rate.
The dragoness was surprised. 'Water and Light with healing capabilities? How does that even make sense? Is it a concept of water that I don't understand?'
"[Orion's Shield]."
A large white shield made of starlight manifested above Yasenia, covering the area above her. When the tides impacted, Yasenia grunted, but she maintained her position. "Heavy… But I can block it. Although…" A hint of surprise appeared in Yasenia's eyes. "Is the water corroding the shield? No… It is eating away at the energy."
Seeing the effects of Divine Tides Of Renewal baffled Yasenia. 'A wide area healing and damaging ability with energy dismantling properties. Quite incredible.'
Knowing that it was not the time to be awed, Yasenia looked at Astarea's figure with a frown. After thinking, she sighed. 'I wanted to save this skill to face Ao Jiuyao, but it seems that I have to reveal it if I want to defeat Astarea quickly. Otherwise, I will have to reveal Dramel and Soluna.'
She was thinking of using her life-saving treasures. Nevertheless, unless she saw no angle to defeat the Divine, she refused to do so.
"[Heavenly Firmament Sanctuary]."
Astarea, who was looking down at Yasenia, felt a strange pulse spread from Yasenia. The pulse of energy enveloped the entire battlefield, taking over the energies of her surroundings for a second. 'What was that?'
Confusion flashed in her mind, but Yasenia was charging at her again, so she had no time to check in depth. Dodging, blocking, and counterattacking took a lot of effort for Astarea.
Yasenia swung her sword, using her martial arts skills and normal techniques one after another. At first, Astarea and Yasenia fell into the previous stalemate situation.
Even when Yasenia used [Firmament Shaking Arc], [Firmament Dividing Celestial Twilight], or [Soul Dividing Tyrannical Cleave], the result was Astarea's defense being blown apart but recovering shortly after.
Yasenia's voice gained a tinge of annoyance. "Why have you learned so many defensive and healing techniques?"
Astarea, feeling slightly playful, answered the dragon's grumble. "I want to live for a long time."
Astarea moved quickly, blasting Yasenia's sword to the side and kicking at her stomach. This time, Astarea's eyes were tremendously focused on Yasenia's reaction. At first, she noticed Yasenia's eyes gain a touch of flusteredness before turning ferocious.
Then, using a complicated move, Yasenia twisted her body and managed to place her tail in front of her own stomach.
BANG!
Astarea's kick hit the tail, pushing Yasenia back several hundred meters. Astarea was certain after this attack. 'She really hates being hit on the stomach… No.' Astarea's eyes flashed with certainty. 'It's not the stomach she is protecting. Is Yasenia pregnant?'
The first time, she took it as a bad decision. The second time, she was confused, but she didn't really think too deeply about it. Now, when she actively targeted that spot, she finally couldn't ignore it. 'If that's the case…' Astarea fell into a conundrum as Yasenia's sword rained on her shield fiercer than before. '...Do I take advantage of this information?'
Honestly, if it were any other person, Astarea would've used it to her advantage right away. She was not someone who would give up on a fight because her opponent was pregnant. To begin with, it was the mother's fault for placing the child at risk by participating in a match.
'Nevertheless… That child, Lataria, seems quite fond of Yasenia.'
Over the course of the over five thousand years Lataria had lived, Astarea had seen Lataria look at the world as if she were someone looking at it from an outsider's point of view. It was a strange feeling, but Astarea couldn't explain it in any other way.
'But… Strangely, she is quite fond of Yasenia. Why is that?'
As her shield blocked Yasenia's barrage, she couldn't help but grunt. 'My arm bone is going to break again at this pace.'
Her shield arm was numb from blocking Yasenia's constant attacks, but she didn't mind. Only if her bones broke would her blocking ability weaken.
"Yasenia."
The dragoness didn't stop attacking, but she had the decency to answer. "What's wrong, Astarea? Are you getting tired?"
Astarea would've chuckled a bit, but this time, she had a complicated expression. "I can't give up this treasure. Therefore, I will target your weak point. Sorry, child."
"Huh?" Yasenia was confused when Astarea suddenly dodged one of her attacks and lunged at her. "You want to exchange attacks? Bold…" The dragoness sneered, but as she prepared to exchange blows with Astarea, her pupils shrank.
While Yasenia's sword was moving in a descending arc, Astarea's spiky mace was swinging horizontally straight toward her stomach.
Usually, Astarea's actions would be ridiculous. A hit to the stomach in exchange for Yasenia decapitating her? Those spectating thought that Astarea had gone crazy.
However, something strange happened. Yasenia's movements shifted. Twisting her wrists and body, her tail and even sword moved back to block.
CLANG!
Yasenia's posture crumbled, and the badly positioned wrists cracked while she was thrown to the side. The dragoness quickly retreated, landing on the ground with a flap of her wings.
Her gaze, looking up, burned with anger as Astarea slowly descended. "Child, give up. You can't defeat me."
Astarea stepped forward, pillars of light and light lances flying together with her. In an instant, the attacker and defender had changed.
Moreover, Yasenia couldn't maneuver Draheart accurately since her wrists had been damaged. Even if she swallowed her pain, her hands didn't respond as quickly.
'She noticed? How?' Yasenia frantically blocked Astarea's barrage as she jumped back. 'Did Lataria tell her?'
A trace of resentment bloomed in her heart. But, even if she was angry, she could only bite her lips. After all, if she were in the same position, she would've done the same as Astarea was doing.
'I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.'
All the attacks were directed not at her vital points but at her stomach. As time passed, her agitation increased as her motherly instincts took over her calm reason.
Astarea continued her attacks, doing feints targeting her stomach to injure Yasenia's arms, legs, and other body parts. Exploiting the weak point, she could target other locations and weaken the overwhelming dragon woman. 'It's like having her reverse scale wide open and easily targetable. The battle is decided.'
She noticed Yasenia's temper darkening, but Astarea didn't stop. Sadly, even when she took everything she knew into account, she miscalculated one thing: Yasenia's limits.
"ENOUGH!"
BOOM!
With Yasenia's roar-like scream, a shockwave blasted Astarea backward. Astarea was confused as she looked at the Dragon woman standing on the ocean. Yasenia's face was twisted with murder, a bloody mist surrounding her figure.
"Since you are so eager to win, I will shatter you! Either way, your attacks are already a tenth weaker, so you are not a threat anymore."
'What?' Astarea quickly analyzed her body, and she noticed something strange. 'What is this energy? When did my energy erode to this point!?'
The effects of [Heavenly Firmament Sanctuary] were already affecting her deeply.
"[Celestial Intent Domain]! [Tyrant Warlord Intent Domain]!"
Astarea was confused when the sky suddenly rippled and targeted the ocean below them. 'That's futile. They are at the same level… Huh?' Unlike the first confrontation, Astarea noticed something terrible. "She is pushing back my two Domains? How?"
Her energy surged, feeding her domains to resist the pushback. Yet, the strain when manipulating her energy became clear. Astarea's mouth opened with confusion and bewilderment. "What did you do? How did you erode my Intent Domain? That shouldn't be possible!"
Yasenia took a step forward, a star appearing below her foot. "I wanted to fight with you as fairly as possible."
She took quick forward steps, each step summoning a star below her foot. "You are a great opponent to practice my skills and get stronger. I also didn't plan to humiliate Lataria's elder."
Astarea wanted to stop whatever Yasenia was doing, but the sky suddenly became alive as countless Celestial Objects descended and targeted her. 'Oh no! Her Intent Domain has gained enough advantage to be active!'
Astarea used her shield and skills to dodge the planets, suns, moons, and stars attacking her, her eyes moving towards Yasenia. 'Is that constellation… An eastern dragon?'
She had noticed Yasenia's peculiar movement technique, and she was impressed by it. Nevertheless, the constellations she formed were almost instantaneous and never really gave her a feeling of danger. This time, it was different.
'I must stop her!' She quickly tried to get rid of the barrage of attacks coming from the Celestial Intent Domain, but it was futile.
"Astarea." Yasenia's voice was heavy and full of anger. "Surrender or die. [Heavenly Constellations Steps…"
Yasenia twirled, her dance manifesting the stars necessary to complete one of the constellation's wings.
"...Sixth Sky…"
While Astarea hastily dodged and moved closer, Yasenia successfully completed the last steps of her beautiful dance.
"...Draco's Descent]."
BOOM!
The draconic constellation surrounding Yasenia moved and shot to the sky with a giant shockwave. Astarea was pushed back and quickly looked up. There, she saw that the stars in the firmament were rearranging themselves to form the contour of a creature.
Those in the spectator stands looked up at the sky with trembling hearts.
"W-What's that?"
Lataria's trembling question was answered by someone nearby, who was stepping back as if something that shouldn't exist had manifested.
"That's impossible… That figure…"
From the void, a being that dwarfed Moons manifested. Using Yasenia's Celestial Intent Domain as a source of strength, the dragon's body was more complete.
The winged eastern dragon formed from the cosmos' stars looked down, its presence sweeping their surroundings with a feeling of omnipotence. The eyes of the dragon, black voids filled with two spiraling galaxies, seemed to contain part of the universe within them.
That person shouted. "...[Primordial Constellation Dragon…!"
Yasenia pointed at Astarea, exhaustion filling her face, and called out his name. "...Draco], destroy her."
ROARR!!
Draco opened his maw, his roar shaking the cosmos around them.