Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 563 - 191. Dimensional Slash

Chapter 563: 191. Dimensional Slash

"What’s going on...?"

Li Aozi halted and scanned his surroundings. Even with external spiritual power, he found no traces of the Crescent Moon.

Where did it go?

There was no response from the spiritual scan. Relying on elemental resonance to reveal information was out of the question—his Charm was under the Crescent Moon’s influence, so who knew if they would help him.

This was why Li Aozi retracted the talents of Zaniya and Elemental Structure.

Although both involved battling beyond his level, dealing with Liue and the Crescent Moon was entirely different.

The former was an ordinary researcher, with limited attribute suppression; the latter, a brute entirely overwhelming him. The flashier his moves, the more likely he was to expose his weaknesses.

"My trump card lies in having the White Obelisk and the same Arcane Energy as the Crescent Moon... but the opponent has more trump cards than I do."

Setting aside other factors, he had already activated the Dictator form, while the opponent had not.

Even a fool knew that for the Sovereign pathway, there was a stark difference before and after transformation. Only the combat power after transformation represented the true strength of a Sovereign pathway Ascender.

The Crescent Moon’s combat style focused on technique and tactics. For Leoz, this was neither entirely good nor bad news.

Focusing on technique and tactics suggested that the Crescent Moon itself wasn’t strong. The fact that it had been sent flying by his punch earlier confirmed it didn’t have the ability to face direct attacks.

As for skills and specialties, along with its Divinity, these required careful understanding.

The earlier battle had been far too intense, Li Aozi hadn’t dared to relax for even a moment. Now, with the opponent gone, he took a moment to glance at the other’s attribute panel:

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[Name]: ’Canyue’ Modote Kelter Husserl

[Species]: Crescent Moon Race (Canyue already reshaped his body, forming his own faction)

[Gender]: Physiological Male

[Age]: 69 years (Young)

[Template]: Advanced Senior Combat NPC, (+10% HP cap, +15% Damage Rate)

[Faction]: Crescent Moon Star Pirates (Leader: Gathers 10% wealth monthly)

[Total Level]: lv.140

——[Main Profession]: [Sovereign] Pathway——[Psychic] lv.120 (MAX)

——[Secondary Profession]: [Cosmic Pirate] lv.20

[Health Points]: 49,000/49,000

[Arcane Energy]: 67,000/67,000

[Attributes]:

Strength——120

Dexterity——160

Constitution——137

Charm——585 (crushes you)

Will——114

[Talents]:

[Personal Talent - Object Resonance]——You can focus more easily than ordinary people and discern patterns in changes.

Effect: Cancels all casting delays.

[Racial Talent - Self Salvation]——Life always finds a way. You have abandoned racial concepts, thus cannot be restrained by bloodlines.

[Professional Talent - Potential for Supernatural Abilities]——External forces and knowledge will eventually leave you; only the soul’s Arcane Energy will forever belong to you! When your Arcane Energy is below 3, your core Arcane Energy development level is considered to have increased by one stage.

[Professional Talent - Wanton Looting]——As a pirate, you can plunder more wealth and spoils from enemies.

[Specialties]:

[Perpetrator of Serious Crimes]——Brutish Canyue, accused of 277 cosmic crimes. These crimes, instead of diminishing your Charm, enhance it: the more the crimes, the higher your likability among ’evil’ characters.

[Dimensional Traveler]——You are a traverser of different realms, a frequent traveler between dimensions, possessing more future knowledge than ordinary people. Your ’spacetime’ and ’dimension’ abilities consume 30% less Mana.

[Evil Villain]——You lean more toward torture and slaughter, providing a 30% Charm boost. The more malicious your deeds, the more people will like you.

[Agile Skills]——Quick and precise movements. You know how to allocate your strength, enhancing your explosive power and precision. Cancels the pre-cast delay for combat skills.

[Skills Possessed]:

[Worldview: Social Darwinism], [Tactic Hopping], [Interstellar Navigator: Level IV], [Stock Investment Studies], [Parallel World Theory], [Four-Dimensional Space Studies], etc.

(Level difference too large, some skills not displayed)

[Arcane Energy]:

Core Arcane Energy——[Sequence 56: Canyue]

Development Level: Dominance Level

(Development levels: Perception, Contact, Mastery, Proficiency, Dominance, Sovereign, Usurpation)

[Divine Power]:

[Source of Calamity]——When you and your followers prefer to plunge the world into chaos, your followers (including: Spiritual Bodies, Magical Summons, Growth-armored Vanguards, Mechanical Units, Biochemical Vanguards, Pets, Framework Entities) will gain level upgrades based on the degree of chaos.

You can control the behavior of your dominion units anytime, and there’s no unit cap.

"We sing on the ruins, dance by the corpses, and roar growing in the chaos."

Current Benefit: 60 fixed points of Charm (specialty bonuses not included)

[Deceptive Words]——You and your followers gain more deceptive skills, making people more likely to believe your performance and disguise.

Your followers can obtain your ability marks and randomly inherit some of your attributes.

Current Benefit: 30 fixed points of Charm (specialty bonuses not included)

[Hierarchy]: Zeta Rank (about to advance)

——————————

Pure.

Extremely pure.

Canyue’s belief was incredibly resolute. His sense of self and purpose crystal clear. Such a pure specialization in his Arcane Energy, someone so confident, was rare even in the Starry Abyss.

Everything about him—knowledge, skills, specialties, even his name and species—revolved around his Arcane Energy [Canyue].

It was clear that Canyue’s main attribute was exceptionally high, while other panels were relatively average; only his Charm surpassed even Li Aozi’s.

"This is a typical Extreme Path playstyle... exceptionally strong early on, but lacking diversity later and easily countered."

Also, he had chosen mediocre Divinities... otherwise, his actual gain would be nearing seven hundred.

But what Li Aozi truly cared about was his Talent.

"Object Resonance!"

To become a [Bishop] and maintain his advantage, he must possess top-tier Talent. For a long time, his impression of Yawen remained solely about this Talent.

"Originally, I just wanted to beat him up, save Lucite and Hobbs, and get out.""

Now, it seemed they wouldn’t rest until one of them was dead.

Missing this opportunity meant taking Yawen’s Talent instead.

Resolving firmly, Li Aozi was about to continue searching for Canyue’s whereabouts. By now, he fully understood Canyue’s capabilities.

[Canyue] Arcane Energy could achieve fascinating operations in later stages: like randomly summoning other-dimensional creatures, traveling into fictional lower cosmos for amusement, or exiling people into decaying dimensions without a future, or even summoning other-dimensional counterparts—another self from a different dimension.

Based on his Dominance Level understanding, Canyue currently couldn’t switch dimensions at will, far from being a true dimensional traveler.

However, the Dominance Level Canyue provided an 80% physical damage reduction passive.

[If I were Canyue... I would maximize avoiding direct confrontation. I hold an absolute advantage in strength. Without that passive, my punch earlier would’ve sent him to the afterlife.]

Li Aozi thoughtfully deliberated.

His Intelligence wasn’t significantly lower than Canyue’s, so he could likely deduce tactics the opponent might use.

The best way to avoid direct confrontation was hiding in other dimensional planes for long-range attacks, lowering his health, then emerging for a kill strike.

Simple, crude, yet efficient, rendering himself untouchable.

But [Canyue] should be a close-range Arcane Energy; how would Canyue strike from afar?

As Li Aozi mused, he suddenly sensed something amiss.

His right hand... was slowly flying away.

To be precise, the space around his right hand and his wrist had fractured.

As he regained his senses, his entire body was split into dozens of segments.

No blood, no dismemberment, just like a shredded portrait, fragmented yet maintaining his basic physiological system.

[This is—Dimensional Slash!?]

Arcane Energy-derived skill, this guy utilized [Magic Warrior] techniques.

Li Aozi’s body instantaneously shattered, scattering into pieces, and Canyue’s slashes continued, reducing him to a diced jelly-like state.

Completely defenseless, Canyue exhibited the perfect form of veteran suppression.

However, he seemed to have overlooked something.

"The Calamity is still latched onto you!"

Time Stop persisted; no matter how Dimensional Slash sliced, it couldn’t harm Li Aozi. Besides, his health was ample, with abundant mana recovery.

"Then let’s see if your Mana depletes first, or if the Calamity strikes first!"