The Glorious Evolution

The golden runic letters tore from the halo and shot toward Tyrese like a barrage of radiant arrows!

As the first letters struck, they didn’t touch his flesh. Instead, they slipped through and shot straight toward his subconscious barrier. Once there, the glowing runes shrank in size, circling and dancing around it like restless sparks.

Each time a word was completed, they exploded into a powerful spiritual attack based on the content of each word!

If it were a runic word of ’Burn’, the subconscious barrier was engulfed in a spiritual white flame!

If it were ’Shatter’, the word clung to the barrier and started shaking it, akin to an earthquake, attempting to shatter it.

The words were already decided by Jojo when she was uttering a Sutra with the most possible damage while still maintaining a Sutra’s holy calming nature.

Yet, despite their relentless assault, the barrier held strong!

Tyrese’s eyes flickered briefly, feeling waves of agonizing pain assaulting his soul, but he didn’t move, didn’t flinch... He closed his eyes and entered an in-tune state with his body and soul, allowing him to mitigate the pain while his barrier absorbed and nullified every rune, each strike bouncing off into harmless sparks that evaporated midair.

’What kind of animal is he? How come his subconscious barrier does not even crack? He doesn’t even seem in pain.’

Jojo’s expression turned for the worse at the sight as she continued channeling her ultimate ability. She had a feeling that her ultimate ability wouldn’t win her the battle, but at least put him in bad shape.

Yet, she was wasting insane amounts of spiritual energy each second, and the Sutra words still hadn’t broken through his defenses.

Alas... Tyrese went through a full thirty seconds of nonstop barrage on his soul, and the only thing Jojo had for show was a tiny, tiny crack on his subconscious barrier.

Jojo’s second ultimate ability wasn’t weak in the slightest as she had used it before on many enemies... even Tier 4 nightcrawlers... None of them stood more than two seconds before her Sutra’s soul barrage, their subconscious barrier failing to protect their souls.

She was left gasping in midair, sweat covering her forehead... She had exhausted most of her spiritual energy, which put her out of the battle.

Meanwhile, Tyrese opened one eye and smirked faintly, brushing a speck of golden light off his shoulder.

”Cutie, I admire the attempt to win over my soul and heart...” He said lazily, ”But that barrier isn’t going anywhere... next please.”

”Jojo... I believe you forfeit?” Feng Ling asked.

”Yes... I am done.”

Jojo gave him a slight head nod and flew back to the ground, walking towards her friends with a slightly sullen expression.

As she was walking away, she heard Tyrese’s voice from a distance, ”Shall we put a rain check on our date?”

Jojo’s brow twitched, but she said nothing... once she was defeated, anything she said would sound like a sore loser’s cry. As for entertaining his request? That was never an option.

However, Arthur saw her silence differently... with how she was sulking, he could tell that she was visibly upset.

Before Feng Ling could request the next fighter to step up, Arthur summoned his shield in his right hand and walked up in the direction of Jojo.

He crossed paths with her, but he said nothing... Jojo was surprised, expecting him to mock her like always. But when she lifted her gaze and saw the stony expression he had on, her lips pressed together while her eyes followed him closely.

”Don’t get beat up.” She said, their backs facing each other.

”It’s statistically impossible for my performance to be worse than yours.”

”I doubt you can even spell statistically.”

Jojo roasted back with a faint smile... she could tell from his voice that he was taking his next fight more seriously than anything else. For himself? For her? She didn’t know.

All she knew was that Arthur would not lose.

After Jojo returned to the embrace of her friends, she apologized for such a disappointing performance... but no one took it to heart. They could tell that Tyrese was a different breed than the other Daywalkers Jasmine fought against.

”Don’t worry about it... You made him use his gourd, and that’s more than enough.” Levi said, smiling serenely.

”Twice isn’t a lot.” Jojo sighed, ”He should still be at his peak.”

”No... I can see his spiritual aura and his blood vessels... the side effects of his aspect are starting to show.”

Levi mentioned while using his Harmonic Spine to look through Tyrese’s flesh... he saw his blood vessels expanded a bit while his spiritual aura was slightly wilder than usual.

These were the first signs of being drunk... though Tyrese’s drunkenness wasn’t like what everyone experienced.

It was a side effect of consuming a great quantity of the Vintages inside his Gourd... He was a wielder of a peculiar Aspect called Vintage Aspect, which was part of the Poison Aspect family tree.

His nightcrawler was called Zymo’fly, and Levi had seen him hovering around him on the bridge of darkness, just like the rest of the other nightcrawlers.

He was a small, wiry nightcrawler that resembled a mixture of mosquito and fruit flies... he had a flexible proboscis and wine-red translucent wings.

If both of them were placed next to each other, no one would guess that he was Tyrese’s contracted Nightcrawler, as it was a known fact that Nightcrawlers usually reflected their partners’ style of fighting.

Yet, despite their appearances mismatching as day and night, these two created a monster... the nightcrawler’s powers were related to Fermentation Manipulation... he could ferment any liquid within him into drinkable elixirs that could either provide a buff or a debuff, depending on Tyrese’s unlocked innate abilities or self-learned techniques.

However, such powerful amplifications didn’t come without a cost... the fermented elixirs had high concentrations of alcohol. How high? A single sip from the gourd could send a citizen into the ER with alcohol poisoning!

Yet, Tyrese chugged it twice, and it just made him feel a little tipsy... this was due to his amazing genetics, which weren’t related to physical strength, but just having an abnormally high alcohol tolerance!

When evolved and boosted by his Shadowlife seed, it became much more potent, allowing him to benefit the most from his Vintage Aspect.

”Let’s hope for the best... I know Arthur is strong, but Tyrese’s strength gives me the creeps.”

Shia knitted her eyebrows as she gazed at Arthur and Tyrese, who were standing ten meters away from each other.

”Ponytail... Care for a drink?”

Tyrese offered his gourd with a sleazy smile.

”Are we doing this?” Arthur ignored him and asked, his eyes affixed on Feng Ling.

”Fight!”

The moment he was given permission, Arthur rushed in the direction of Tyrese while having his shield in front of his chest, attempting to ram him!

”This will be fun.”

Seeing this, Tyrese put away the gourd and cracked his knuckles and neck... then, he rushed in Arthur’s direction while having both of his arms extended in front, wanting to take the ram straight out!

Baam!

Just like two wild bulls smashing their heads against each other, both Arthur and Tyrese held strong during first contact. However, Arthur knew the truth... Tyrese was physically stronger than him!

’If it wasn’t for the shield absorbing the excessive kinetic force, I would have gotten thrown away.’ Arthur frowned, not pleased with such findings.

Both of them were around two meters in height... however, Tyrese’s muscles looked more developed, like he was drinking steroids for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in celebrations.

It made sense... his powers allowed him to continue enhancing his strength to its theoretical limit as long as he put the work in... it was the same as taking a much more potent version of steroids.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s powers gave him the right to manipulate the absorbed kinetic force depending on the chosen gemheart... if he chose the black Brag’s Gemheart, his strength could be amplified immensely, but temporarily.

While his powers gave him more utilities, they also made him not a pure Enhancement Specialist like Tyrese... at least, not with the sort of abilities he had shown.

”You’re tough, ponytail... but sadly, you can never beat me physically.” Tyrese grinned, his diamond tooth flashing.

Then, he swung at Arthur’s face with a wide punch, forcing him to take cover behind the shield.

Ting!

Brag’s gemheart flashed white, absorbing most of the kinetic force, which kept Arthur on his feet. Yet, this was just the beginning of Tyrese’s ferocious barrage.

Ting! Ting! Ting!...

Tyrese descended on Arthur like a raging typhoon, fists raining down in a ruthless barrage... strike after strike, each one accompanied by Tyrese’s exuberant laugh.

Arthur held his ground, shield locked in place, leaving the watchers to appreciate the sound of impacts thundering through the air.

Seeing that his punches were not breaking Arthur’s defenses, Tyrese pressed harder, mixing in brutal kicks and driving knees.

He might look like a powerlifter, but his fighting style was fluid and experienced, having a street-fight flair... a fighting style expected from someone born and raised in the slums, knowing nothing else but to throw a punch and eat it.

The moment Tyrese figured out that Arthur’s fighting skills were just decent, he flashed a cunning grin and slid low across the dirt, his leg sweeping into Arthur’s footing and throwing him off balance.

’Shit!’

Thud!

Before he knew it, Arthur found himself lying on the ground with Tyrese jumping a couple of meters in the sky with his knees tucked in.

”Ponytail! Admit it! I am the strongest!”

With a growling roar, he brought his knee crashing down from the sky as sharp as a guillotine, aimed squarely at Arthur’s chest!

Arthur’s reflexes snapped into action, his expression turning colder.

’Heavens Breaker Arts: Rebound Engine.’

All the absorbed kinetic energy from Tyrese’s barrage was swiftly fed into Arthur’s body, making him shimmer with vermillion light... feeling the insane force coursing through him, Arthur bounced off the ground akin to a rabbit.

Then, he tightened his fist and held it next to his waist, gazing at the falling Tyrese’s knee with a narrowed, cold stare.

”The strongest is... ME!”