The fairness Bradley spoke of was the absolute fairness ingrained within his convictions.
Since he had already mobilized the entire Cloud Bat Legion to form the Concentrated Cloud Bat Formation at this very moment, his opponents naturally included both Zoran and Shendu.
In this world, Bradley, blessed with the amplification of the Concentrated Cloud Bat Formation, believed himself second to none against any opponent. Even if Hades were to resurrect, he would be unable to break through his defense.
That statement was no idle boast. When Bradley's protective energy reached 5.5 black hole levels, it was arguably the strongest defense across the entire Seven Parallel Universes. He had walked to the absolute pinnacle of defense.
Of course, this assumed it was the Hades of one hundred thousand years ago. Back then, Hades's hetero-energy was only at 6 black holes. As for the present, one hundred thousand years later, Hades was undergoing enhancement in the Netherworld Coffin; upon his resurrection, his hetero-energy would surge to a staggering 10 black holes.
Therefore, when the Concentrated Cloud Bat Formation combined with his power, he had every right to possess this confidence.
Beneath the inverted pyramid, the eyes of the Cloud Bat War God controlled by Bradley condensed with brilliant luster as he stretched out a hand to gesture toward the two demons opposite him.
"Come, strike together. I will not evade."
He intended to use the methods of the strong to conquer his opponents.
Opposite him, Zoran and Shendu exchanged an amused glance.
To the two demons, hetero-energy at the 5.5 black hole level was already the limit for Bradley and the Cloud Bat Legion. Compared to the Third Parallel Universe, the numerical value had grown immensely.
Yet, it was still not enough.
Zoran originally had no intention of making a move. However, coincidentally, the name of Bradley's ultimate technique did not quite align with an elder's tastes, and his opponent had arrogantly assumed such a posture.
Under the circumstances, he had no choice but to act.
Zoran and Shendu shook their heads in unison.
"I still remember the last time we joined forces; it was a trial of nine deaths and a living chance," Zoran smiled as he said to Shendu. "Times have changed, and you have grown as well."
"It is all thanks to my elder brother's guidance," Shendu replied with utmost modesty.
"It seems we have no choice but to satisfy you." The two demons spoke as one.
"Nebula of Burning Fire."
"Moon-Devouring Nebula."
The breezy words slipped effortlessly from their lips, as casual as tending to some trivial, insignificant affair.
The very next second, the pressure skyrocketed!
The two Nebula Bodies drifted straight up into the firmament. Soaring upward, they crowned the pale purple full moon above; reaching downward, they linked directly with the somatic entities planted upon the ground.
Zoran and Shendu shifted in an instant from an unassailable, restrained, and plain state to bursting forth with their full, unreserved hetero-energy.
A force dizzying enough to leave one spellbound swept roaringly across the world, washing fiercely over the surface of the earth.
Two Nebula Bodies, their hetero-energy surpassing 10 black holes, fully revealed their majestic grandeur.
From top to bottom, they looked down with supreme condescension upon the Concentrated Cloud Bat Array and Bradley, who stood as its leader at that moment.
After the tempest of hetero-energy swept past, a dead silence followed.
No matter how deep Bradley's composure was, it could not withstand the dreamlike, illusory reality before his eyes.
A Nebula Body, and two of them at that!
Within the Cloud Bat battle formation, Owen, positioned second from the bottom of the pyramid, also froze in place. He had originally intended to stage a rebellion at this exact moment, cutting off the supply of hetero-energy to Bradley's Cloud Bat Formation to snatch back the position of commanding general.
However, the situation before him vastly exceeded all expectations. Right now, he needed to seriously consider how he could possibly survive in this secondary position while two Nebula Bodies, each with hetero-energy exceeding 10 black holes, joined forces.
"Bradley..." Owen suddenly spoke, his wings vibrating as his figure slowly shifted.
He was going to flee. Without a shadow of a doubt, surviving here was impossible.
"Hmph, hold the formation!" Bradley suddenly shouted in a low voice, unleashing a surge of hetero-energy to forcibly lock Owen in his original place.
His gaze toward Shendu and Zoran also grew blurry with haze.
"If one were to tuck their tail and run simply because the opponent is too formidable, how is that any different from a coward?!"
"I will not permit my subordinates to become such spineless wretches!"
His voice suddenly grew passionate and high-pitched: "Better to die standing than retreat half a step!"
"Shield capable of withstanding all things, block this offensive that threatens to annihilate everything!"
Bradley thrust his arms forward, a shield constructed of hetero-energy, so dense it was nearly physical, materializing before him. He had originally planned to use the Fading Moon Calamity for a direct head-on clash. But under the current circumstances, defense was his only remaining chance to grasp at that ethereal thread of survival.
Opposite him, the two Nebula Bodies reached out their fingers from left and right toward the Cloud Bat battle formation and toward Bradley, striking as one.
A force capable of breaking rotten wood and reducing everything to dust obliterated all in its path, the earth, stone pillars, everything was decomposed into drifting, powdery fragments under the irresistible hetero-energy.
The distinct hetero-energies belonging to Zoran and Shendu entwined and twisted around each other, forming a horizontally swirling abyss vortex. Everything was swallowed into its depths and ground into dust.
Finally, in the next instant, the hetero-energy abyss collided with Bradley's defensive shield.
In a split second, Bradley's eyes sharpened.
The anticipated penetration and death he had braced himself for did not arrive. The moment the abyss touched the Cloud Bat Shield, an overwhelming gravitational pull descended abruptly.
Like a maw of world-ending destruction, it counter-swirled all the hetero-energy from the Concentrated Cloud Bat Formation straight into its gullet.
At the edge of Bradley's vision, one Cloud Bat soldier after another lost control, tumbling backward helplessly into the abyss. This had long since surpassed the limits of the power he could comprehend; it looked precisely like a colossal beast feeding.
Beginning from the base of the pyramid, the Cloud Bat soldiers comprising the Concentrated Cloud Bat Formation began to disintegrate, tumbling one after another into the mouth of the abyss, vanishing without a trace.
Nearly ten thousand Cloud Bat soldiers vanished from this world in the blink of an eye.
It was not until the soldier right behind him, Owen, let out a panicked, out-of-control cry and vanished into the abyss as well, that Bradley finally caught a glimpse of that single streak of pitch-black extremity deep within the abyss.
In an instant, his eyes widened wide, blank and helpless.
That streak of pitch-blackness resembled the eye of an abyss, carrying the terror of the unknown as it silently gazed back at him.
"When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you," Bradley murmured softly.
This was by no means a destructive force; it felt far more like a sealing mechanism. It was sealing the entire Cloud Bat Legion away into some specific location, some unspeakable, ultimate realm.
These two Nebula Bodies had long since pushed the application of power beyond the bounds of his imagination.
Bradley closed his eyes, allowing the abyss to swallow him whole. Feeling the pitch-black envelopment, even his thoughts ground to a standstill.
"I lost," he let out a negligible sigh.
The abyss slowly receded; the Nebula Bodies reverted.
The Earth of the Fourth Parallel Universe suddenly grew utterly desolate and empty, as though no trace of life had ever existed there.
That streak of pitch-blackness within the abyss was simply the dark side of the moon. Its source was the full moon Zoran had commanded to manifest its radiance moments prior. He was far too powerful now; with merely a slight thought, he could command the moon and manipulate its phases.
And Shendu was more than happy to cooperate with him.
In doing so, Bradley's wish had essentially been fulfilled. He had truly, genuinely witnessed the outcome of a fair duel with the strong.
It was just that this Fourth Parallel Universe had suddenly grown terribly lonely.
Moonlight cascaded down from above, leaving the two demons standing alone. Heaven and earth were clear and pristine as washed glass.
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