Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The voice sounded feminine and Hal knew already that it belonged to the leader of the Sensual Guild.

"You say it like you know me... Like on a personal level or something" Hal said as he picked himself up from the ground and look at his attacker.

"Never met you in my life but I won't be from the Doxon Duchy if I didn't know who you were." said the lady as she finally showed herself and Hal could truly view her.

She was dressed according to Doxon customs (so it was scanty as possible) and she was held a large rod that she now had in her shoulder which Hal suspected was what she had used to strike him.

The lady smiled at him and Hal could sort of see two different expressions being expressed in her smile with one being an utter drive to destroy him and the other just admiring his looks.

The drive to destroy him was however stronger.

"So how do you want to go down? You can stand still and let me smash to bits or you can struggle and that will just make it more fun for me" the Lady said and hefted the rod off her shoulder to slam against the ground with a heavy *Thud* sound.

"How about an introduction? You know my name so at least let me no know yours before you 'smash me to bits'" Hal said with a relaxed smile.

"My name is Atricia. Atricia Evgeny" the lady said while flicking her black hair back and did not give Hal time to process the information before she swung her rod at him.

Hal leaped up to avoid getting hit but his eyes widened when a second-hand force spread from the rod hit him and sent him smack-dab against a wall.

***

The Jade Foxes Headquarters...

The battle had already begun in earnest the moment that Hal pulled off his disappearing act but Melinda was only just about to face the Leader of the Jade Foxes Guild.

"Were you seriously hoping to win... Against me? How Foolish" the Jade Foxes Guild leader, Cornelia Akene said with a smile while she marveled at the ridiculousness of such an attempt.

"I'm not just hoping to win, I'm going to absolutely brutalize you" Melinda said and her golden eyes glowed as she released the golden flames of her Bloodline as well as the white flames of her Flame Ordinance.

She had her Cosmic Armament in hand as the golden veins glowed and became lined with a mixture of gold and white flames that Melinda sent towards Cornelia but the Guild leader met with Cosmic aurora backed by her four-floored pagoda.

*BOOOM!!!*

The explosion was incredible but both attacks mostly canceled each other out and neither Melinda nor Cornelia were forced to take steps back and away from the explosion.

"Such power," Cornelia said in awe of Melinda's output of flames.

Never in all of their studied reports of Melinda's previous fights had she displayed full might of her flame Ordinance and while Cornelia was not about to surrender and claim Melinda was better than her, she was stunned.

"Bitch, you haven't seen the half of it," Melinda said as she was enclosed in Divine hue and quite verily seemed a goddess as she boosted her speed with a mixture of her Bloodline flames and her Flame Ordinance.

*Clang*

Cornelia reacted to Melinda's speed and blocked her sword strike with a sword Artifact that she quickly retrieved from her spatial ring

As their swords held each other's at bay, Cornelia used her other free hand to use a skill but before the skill circle could appear, Melinda sent her white flames against it to burn the skill circle into non-existence.

Cornelia furrowed her brows and then she pushed Melinda back with the contact of their swords to put distance between them both but the distance did not last as Melinda's form seemed to vanish which represented a significant boost in her speed.

All thanks to her flames.

*Booom!*

She grabbed Cornelia's neck as before the Guild leader could react, she was using her Dominant Dao to gain the upper hand.

*Bang!*

Melinda kept her tight hold on Cornelia's neck as she slammed through a wall and as they did, she charged the flames of her Ordinance and was more than ready to burn through her opponent.

Before she could though, Cornelia's pagoda appeared, and with its appearance and sudden boost in cosmic energy that it granted the Jade Foxes Guild leader, she was able to overcome Melinda's dominance and pull her hand off her neck.

As she did, she did not fail or forget to kick Melinda in the stomach and send her smacking against the ground.

"Nghhh" Melinda groaned but her eyes widened when Cornelia revealed her Cosmic Armament which was a large hammer.

The hammer was the largest Melinda had ever seen and was overall the largest weapon she had ever seen anyone wield.

There was something about how Cornelia swung it that told Melinda the hammer was hardly ever used as a weapon and more as an executioning tool.

She did not wield it too often and probably only ever pulled it out to end a battle in the most damaging way possible.

Melida was not about to let the monstrous thing hit her but she knew she could not roll away fast enough to avoid it.

The hammer was moving even faster downward to smash her on account of its weight.

"Just Die" Cornelia found time to shout just before the hammer made contact with Melinda but in the split second before there was actual contact between Melinda's face and the large terrifying hammer being wielded by a Peak stage Cosmic Pagoda expert, a shield appeared.

The shield was golden and made with a mixture of Divine energy that Melinda had inside her from stealing from the scrolls written in Divine scripts as well as the flames of her bloodline that she had been trained to shape however she wished by her grandmother.

*BOOMM!!!*

The shield, as well as the hammer, exploded upon contact with one another, and out of the explosion charged Melinda with her sword trained at Cornelia who easily deflected the attempted strike.

"You have tricks and strength, I'll give you that. But you are literally way out of your league in regards to fighting me" Cornelia said while she and Melinda battled sword against sword.

Melinda just smiled at her words before she released her Aura of dominance but Cornelia grinned and leaped away from Melinda before she could be affected.

"I've felt that ability of yours. I won't let you use it on me again. As a Peak stage cosmic Pagoda realm expert, my senses are much sharper than yours and I can react to your implemented ideas before they are truly implemented" Cornelia said and snapped fingers.

The moment the fingers were snapped, a Cosmic Aurora suddenly appeared in front of Melinda's face and it promptly exploded at point-blank range.

*BOOM!!!*

It was clear at this point that the Officials, who had been watching the battle since it started, were no longer tasked with preventing crippling damages and were merely waiting for a clear and decisive winner.

They wondered if this was the end... But how could be it?

"Hahahahahaha. I admit you almost got me there. You are truly a Peak Cosmic Pagoda realm expert. Had your opponent been some other rando in the peak of the Cosmic Aurora realm, you would surely be won with that stunt you just pulled.

It happened so fast, I could not even properly about it... But who needs to avoid it when it literally has no effect."

The explosion cleared and Melinda remained where she had been before but her entire body was shrouded in white flames.

Her comprehension of the Ordinance of Flames was already past insight and was nearing Harnessing as she had been using the Divine scripts in the Empress' study to do things faster than should be possible.

She was not at Harnessing Comprehension yet but she was close enough to coat herself with her Flames to this extent.

Before she could move though, Skill circles appeared in front of Cornelia who had preactivated them in preparation for this sort of reveal.

The skill trapped Melinda in place and then their attacks burst out but Melinda had no trouble with letting them get close to her as any close contact with her flames caused them all to disintegrate.

And then she closed the distance between herself and Cornelia and engaged her opponent in a fistfight that the Jade foxes Guild leader tried to avoid as she knew what could happen in close combat with Melinda but it was too late.

Melinda's Dominant Aura spread and she finally caught Cornelia in it and was quick to deliver successive hits,

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

Cornelia wrenched herself from the oppression of Melinda's Dao and made to regain the upper hand but no matter how much she tried, including the appearance of her Pagoda, there was no escaping or avoiding getting punched by Melinda.

The best she could do was avoid getting burned almost to a crisp by Melinda's Flames but even that was easier said than done...