Chapter 2560 - Might of the Imperator Firmamenti

Fortunately, Tianming’s soul had transformed and he had much better protection for it in the form of the Skysoul Tower. Though, while he had more streams of order, his opponent was more familiar with his single eye and also had a hexagonal forbidden zone, making it hard for Tianming to suppress him on that front. It was quite a balanced matchup, with neither side being able to gain huge ground.

"His soul isn't affected?" Xiaque Ming furrowed his brows. Then the ink sparrow on his shoulder finally took flight. Despite only lightly flapping its wings, the tiny sparrow caused black ink to rain over the entire battlefield, even on Lan Huang, Xian Xian, and Meow Meow! The sky itself completely changed from the sudden weather shift. It was an ability called Soulburn Inkrain. Regardless of whether it was Lan Huang's powerful body or Ying Huo's blazing flames, the inky raindrops caused them to audibly yelp in pain. The ability seemed able to burn away at one's soul, and that was especially threatening to Xian Xian's spiritform. It had no choice but to hide deep inside the tree, which still suffered from the rain's burns.

The ink sparrow had finally made a move and managed to impress the audience who’d just witnessed Tianming's beasts. Its Soulburn Inkrain had managed to shift the scales and allowed the army of warbeasts the chance to retaliate. They began breaking out of Xian Xian's bindings and leapt all over Lan Huang's body, using their abilities at point-blank range! Yet none of it did much to shake Tianming.

"Striking at the ink sparrow won't do much. It can just turn into raindrops and hide. The rain might be annoying, but it's by no means fatal. Let's ignore it and focus on Xiaque Ming." Tianming decided to use the wisdom of his master, who had been fighting the Gladean ebons for years on end. He trusted that Lan Huang, Xian Xian, and Meow Meow would be able to hold their own. The souls of Primordial Chaos Beasts weren't to be scoffed at, after all. They should still be able to buy him enough time.

Ying Huo ignored it and charged at Xiaque Ming with a sword strike while Tianming let his two cosmic impulses surge around his sword. Both of them completely ignored the ink sparrow, causing it to grow anxious at the fact that its master was being attacked. It immediately stopped using its ability and flew back to help. It gathered its Soulburn Inkrain into one huge lump and flew toward Tianming in an effort to coordinate an attack with its master.

Tianming's astral brain felt a huge tremor from the blast as the Skysoul Tower shook nonstop. Since his soul and brain had fused into one when he reached the third astral phase, his soul had a solid form. The benefit to that was that as long as Tianming's astral brain wasn't destroyed, his soul wouldn't be destroyed either. As such, he could weather any kind of shock to his brain no matter what.

As Tianming took the attacks of the two of them, Ying Huo struck Xiaque Ming with Redsky Unistrike, sending him flying off. The hand he held his brush-sword with shuddered from the force, causing the pressure of his spirit eye to relax, thereby restoring some combat capability to Tianming.

Then Ying Huo used Infernal Haze and Sixpath Infernal Lotus against the ink sparrow that was behind Tianming. While the sparrow was nowhere to be seen, it wouldn't be able to easily avoid the wall of flaming attacks. It was weak against fire, so it had no choice but to evade the barrage, leaving even more of an opening for Tianming.

"A tiny ink sparrow like it definitely has its advantages. However, even that pales against the perfection of Primordial Chaos Beasts!" The ink sparrow had never been anything more than a tiny obstacle to him. Xiaque Ming had nowhere else to run now.

Ying Huo fully engaged the ink sparrow. While the sparrow packed quite a punch, it wasn't able to deal fatal damage to Ying Huo. They were all depending on Tianming to take out the leader to end the duel. He charged through the concentrated Soulburn Inkrain, weathering the storm that beat against his soul while he let his Imperealm Sword Formation and cosmic impulses surge.

"Let's give this a try! Imperator Carnage, guide me along the path!" Lightning crackled in his black and gold eyes as his cosmoforce flowed into his genesis spleen, generating tens of thousands of lightning bolts in an instant that resonated with the Vapor Lightning Impulse inside his sword! Then he executed Carnage Imperatoris! His genesis order guided everything he had endured in the Lightning Carnage Hellscape into his Grand-Orient Sword. His white hair rose straight up and formed into the shape of a lightning bolt as his entire body crackled with electricity. Like a god of lightning, he radiated an air of domineering explosiveness!

The manifestation of Imperator Carnage surfaced from Tianming's sword, seemingly replacing Meow Meow as the ultimate arbiter of lightning and electricity. Lin Xiaodao had said that this was a destructive sword strike completely unlike the spacetime moves he had learned. As Tianming zipped toward Xiaque Ming with both hands wielding his sword, he felt the strong, unbreakable will of Imperator Carnage urging him to forge ahead, stopping for nothing!

His hair flailed about with immeasurable power as he slashed, the lightning congregating into a sword condensate that stretched thousands of meters away and wrote a gigantic 'Carnage' symbol in the sky that was clear for everyone to see!

The strike was far too impressive and explosive, to the point that Xiaque Ming himself was completely taken aback. The large symbol in the sky looked like a proud astral giant that released so much power that even his cosmic spirit eye couldn't take it. He forced himself to ignore the respect and awe the sight of the sword strike generated in him by gritting his teeth really hard and recalling the hate he felt for the Lin Clan.

Then he waved Inkfall Snow around as he executed his next move: Inkstar Sword Compendium, Soaring Ink Soulblot! It was a signature sword art of the ebons that contained a soul component to the strike. Countless drops of ink multiplied until it filled Tianming's vision. Each blot of ink was a sharp sword containing boundless profundity and beauty. It was as if he was drawing up an ink painting with the brush-sword. Normally, the crowd would be ecstatic to witness the move, but the ink painting appeared humble in comparison to the electrifying grand mural of Imperator Carnage! Tianming's sword strike cut through the ink painting like it was nothing, breaking Xiaque Ming's cosmic artifact and slashing into his head!

An explosion of lightning erupted, completely enveloping Xiaque Ming before flooding the entire Skysteep Gladean Battlefield, vaporizing every tree and stone within. Amidst the rising fumes, Tianming thrust his heavy sword into the ground, sending yet another wave of electricity crawling toward the inner walls of the battlefield's formation.