How many times had Lind dreamed of the current moment? Lanbao was not the first loss to the Fiends but it was the most personal.

The Bastard before him took her. He treated it as a simple act, one not even worth considering who he took. It was only later that Lind would learn the truth.

The Bastard enjoyed making him writhe in pain. He was never the target to begin with! So long as Lind was below the Divine Realm, the Bastard enjoyed his fun!

Even after he became an Apprentice Tier, time was not on Lind’s side. If the pattern followed like always, there were no real concerns. It never occurred to him until far too late that his current incarnation had no ties to the old ones.

Lind was himself alone. He had benefitted from the guidance and the perseverance of his other selves, but the path he walked was his alone, not theirs.

"You cannot circumvent the rules of Heaven and Earth without repercussions. How did you manipulate time when in Divine Enlightenment?" The Bastard finally spoke. His plain features made it hard to even see him.

It was like the even Divine Aura would just slip over him unless someone really focused. Lind had no such problem anymore.

He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Explaining it would only give more ammunition to the original Bastard. While benefits of the Fiend network had been severed, he highly doubted the original connection to the current Bastard was broken.

Besides, the original Bastard likely already knew the answer. Lind did not waste breath. He moved.

His staff snapped into existence but its power was horrifying. The world distorted around it completely and whirled towards the Bastard.

His vile eyes went wide but he deftly dodged smoothly. It looked elegant and Lind had to admit, it was not false power or any kind of cheat. He had enough experience to recognize shortcuts over honest training.

The Bastard showed the latter. He may have planned to consume the entirety of the realms, yet he had to be weak at one time. He had to struggle to survive when all the refined techniques and Arts had not existed.

The Void of Heaven was the most recognizable but it had not existed at first. The Fiend Qi alone made them dangerous and very difficult to kill but not impossible. Thus, the Bastard had to survive.

Someone who so feared death would not lax on their training. Any skill, no matter how trivial, could allow them to survive. Chief among those skills, was clearly the ability to hide so completely that nothing could find him.

It was clear it was always on as even as they fought, the audience looking on could not lock onto the Bastard. Only Lind seemed immune.

Despite the deep enmity between them, it was rather clean and professional close range fighting. Lind’s staff work was at a peak few could imagine ever beating.

He smoothly transitioned from defense to offense without a pause. Any opening if he over extended seemed to fade into mist only to have the emerald shaft appear before the Bastard could strike.

Equally, however, the bastard had clearly honed his skills to make his body the ultimate weapon. A Fiend’s touch was lethal. It was the most effective way to extract the soul at first. Arts came later.

Thralls did not even exist until much later, Lind was sure.

The battle continued but neither side was going all out. It was clear to all that whoever was exhausted first, would die. Physically, they were on par with each other in power, but what about stamina?

Fiends had longevity yet their physicality was not that different from any other race. Some could be stronger, faster, etc just as anyone else. Their longevity did give them the advantage of pushing the edge and refining their bodies even further with treasures or souls.

Finally, after days of close range combat, both pulled back. They were hardly breathing more than at rest, no blood, and hardly any damage to their robes.

The power and skill both had demonstrated were so amazing that even Fey, a warrior incarnate, doubted she could walk away unscathed.

The Master Tiers were no better. The power had been fully controlled and focused on the foe in front of each person. There was no wasted effort nor loss of control.

Lind Frey had not just ascended to the Master Tier, he had fully controlled it! No one could recall ever seeing such skillful use of the Master Tier freshly ascended!

"HOW?! I have billions of years and you only ascended a few days ago!" The Bastard asked the question they so badly wanted to ask. Lind smiled gently at that moment.

He simply raised his hand and for a moment, thousands of him appeared.

"I already told you what my first Mystery was, how do you not understand?" Lind was having fun. It was not that he was all powerful but one facet of his Mystery dealt with the future and the past!

They were ever changing and he could now see them all once he had chosen a path. It was not every possibility, but the most likely.

He was far from a master of his new abilities. Further, there were limits. The more broadly he tried to see, the greater the drain.

In combat, however, it made him deadly and cost next to nothing. Again, he did not give details.

The Bastard’s ash grey skin darkened. His rage was clear. Vile energy suddenly coursed from him. Lind matched his own harmonic Qi.

The clash between the 2 energies fractured the world briefly. Lind sneered as a crystal sphere appeared in his hands.

No one had seen it before yet the Bastard’s eyes went wide. Lind tossed it and a metal pin clinked as it was extracted from it. The sphere lit up before shattering into thousands of pieces.

Liquid harmonic Qi scattered with it.

"A grenade?!" The Bastard tried to dodge but was only partially successful. His left hand and his neck were caught!

The Master Tiers cheered! It was over!

Lind, however, did not dare to lower his guard. The Bastard screamed in pain but the spots soon turned to steam and his flesh healed. He stared at Lind in astonishment and anger.

"When did you make that?!" Lind shrugged his shoulders as suddenly the air rippled. A lot more of the grenades appeared!

"You can shake off one, but how many more?!" It was not a direct clash but an artifact that only Lind could think of. A mix of his recent application of harmonic Qi from the war and knowledge of old Earth!

The Bastard waved his hands in an arcane manner. The grenades vanished into a dark blob. It was violently shattered but the liquid harmonic Qi was consumed as well.

Still, the Bastard was not happy. He had consumed a lot of his power to negate the deadly weapon. The question now was how many Lind had?

They were small, highly effective against Fiends, and had no other purpose. How easy were they to make? What grade was needed to make them? No one had that answer save Lind, himself.

His smile was calm as he held up his hand with the black ring. Haro suddenly appeared with a bulging bag of the grenades.

"My Master, I wish you luck." The bag was then tossed into the sky and Haro smirked as it was blown apart. The bag itself was an artifact!

The ring spirit had been a distraction that worked on just about everyone! The grenades were fakes! Lind had already closed in with his Mystery Weapon whirling right for the Fiend’s dantian!

Reveal a dangerous new weapon, increase it, and then distract with the possibility of being cornered between 2 people with them!

It did not matter if it was real or not, the threat could not be ignored! Yet, the Bastard summoned dark blades.

They were not Mystery Weapons, but they still blocked the staff as he deflected it away. The dance of death began with greater intensity.

"Tricks! You just have tricks! I have orchestrated the fall of entire worlds! You are just a child playing at war!" Lind did not falter as his sneer increased.

"Remind me, how is your army doing?" The strike hit true as the smooth attack was disrupted. Lind slammed his staff into the soil.

A shockwave of emerald Qi slipped through but once more, it only inconvenienced the Bastard.

Still, Lind did not let up. The staff flew true and all heard bones crack that healed just as quickly. The advantage was broken as the Bastard screamed and shot into the sky.

Lind did not pause and followed.

The strikes only intensified but the Bastard had regained his footing. The sky began to shatter as the crowd became grave.

The Master Tiers instantly erected barriers and took measures to try and contain the battle.

They failed.

Lind could have told them but he was now fully focused as the testing was over. There was only one thing left.

One of them was finally going to die.