Chapter 7191: Dark Orb The Dark Apostle prepared his own weapon throw. He held the Dark Tooth in an increasingly familiar grip and gazed at the Divine Harpoon bracing for a powerful attack. The strategos carried his own physical shield, though it did not offer as much protection as the Dark Shield due to the limitations of his mass allowance. Those harpoons of his weighed him down considerably. The scientists and engineers working for the Phase Lord Department also possessed a lot of limitations. They lost access to the tech libraries and internal warehouses of the Red Collective and other related organizations. They had to do their best with limited means. Even so, the Divine Harpoon should not be weak. He possessed a good selection of phasewater organs, many of which fortified his strength and increased his toughness. Not every phase lord chose to prioritize speed over durability like the Fiery Axe. The Divine Harpoon should be able to withstand a few powerful blows, or else he could not call himself a self-respecting Ascended Giant! In any case, the Dark Apostle held his weapon at the unfolded mechanism at the butt of the shaft in preparation for his throwing action. Though he appeared serious, his emotions remained unbalanced due to the remark he just heard. The Divine Harpoon called his spear throwing skills mediocre. That shouldn’t be possible. Even if the enlightenment fruit did not grant total mastery, he became quite proud by how good he had become at throwing spears. Ves thought his alter ego was being ridiculous. "Why the hell are you taking pride in accomplishments that you haven’t even earned? You did not spend years or decades mastering the art of throwing stuff like the Divine Harpoon. You did not put in close to the amount of time that other warriors have dedicated to their fighting skills. You are nothing without the special gifts that I have earned through my own hard labor. Don’t forget how inept you fought when you first emerged. The mechs of our clan easily spanked you into submission. I have made sure that you will not go down easily next time." The human phase lord’s expression soured. "You could have allowed me to keep this fantasy alive. I admit that we have gained none of our fighting skills the old-fashioned way, but it is how we make use of them in practice that matters. I am... displeased that the Divine Harpoon thinks so little of my throwing form." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮 "Look on the bright side, buddy." Ves lightheartedly said. "There is still a lot more room for improvement. The skills you have gained are generic and do not take our personal conditions into account. The best techniques are often the ones that fit our circumstances the most. We have yet to do any of that. This may be the heart of the Divine Harpoon’s critique. Have you ever considered that your throwing form is flawed because it is so standard? This technique was not especially devised for us. This means that if we truly want to master it, we must change it to suit our own conditions." He may have hit the nail on the head. The Dark Apostle looked more understanding. It would have been helpful if his adversary had been clearer in his advice. It would have spared him from a lot of procrastination. The Ascended Giant eventually chose to push this matter aside. "We need to finish this duel first. Assist me in my next throw." The Dark Apostle reared back in a similar manner to the Divine Harpoon. He utilized his general spatial abilities to anchor his foot to the local space and began to execute the special technique that primed the Dark Tooth to explode. Ves was slightly worried that glitches might occur due to any number of reasons, from the damage sustained by the weapon in the previous battle to the imperfections of trying to translate a fire technique into a darkness technique, but none of his fears came true. The Dark Tooth was beginning to prime for a powerful explosion in a similar manner as before. Although darkness energy was not the best kind of energy to produce the most violent possible explosions, it at least possessed the capacity to do so in its own way. Predictably, the Minor Demon locked inside the weapon attempted to rebel against his impending doom. Of course, there was no way a Minor Demon could resist the solid hold that Blinky had over the unwilling artifact spirit. The spear began to accrue a large amount of darkness energy, though it was less than in the previous duel. Cutting down the length of the staff had made it lighter but also less potent. That was the tradeoff that Ves and the Dark Apostle made when they adopted their current loadout. Despite the smaller size, both Ves and his other personality hoped that it was amply powerful enough to breach the spatial barrier and any other energy defenses that the Divine Harpoon had at his disposal. The initial explosion wasn’t necessarily meant to do anything further, though extra damage always helped. As the Dark Apostle channeled his determination to break the Divine Harpoon’s defenses and composure, then he would definitely derive a sense of fulfillment! When both he and his ’companion spirit’ felt that they had charged their sacrificial spear to the limit, a short pause ensued. The Dark Zephyr’s dark and miasma-filled eyes stared directly at his target. His pride had taken a hit, so he became determined to earn it back! "Let us see whether your defenses can keep up with your throwing prowess! HAVE A TASTE OF MY SACRIFICIAL SPEAR!" The urge to prove himself and prove his superiority drove the Dark Apostle to hurl his disposable weapon forward with great force, speed and accuracy! A black streak instantly soared from one human phase lord to another. It only took a very short amount of time before the Dark Tooth collided against the Divine Harpoon’s spatial barrier before exploding! Everyone who observed the battle suddenly felt their heart racing as they perceived a vague and illusionary threat in the field. This was a threat that was so powerful and so frightening that practically any observer became afflicted by the instinctive desire to flee or attack! "What is this?!" "No other attack has ever made me feel this way!" For just a short interval of time, a black orb of darkness briefly engulfed the Ascended Giant, causing many people to fear the exploding pear had done its job a little too well. It was only after much of the power of the explosion receded that it became clear that the Divine Harpoon managed to resist the attack with his formidable defenses. He clearly looked worse off than before, though. His spatial barrier and azure energy shield had failed to withstand the blows, just as many people predicted. The shortened spear still possessed enough punch to accomplish at least this much. What most people wanted to know was whether the Divine Harpoon suffered any real damage, and it definitely looked as if he did. His raiment remained intact for the most part. The initial explosion had failed to breach the Divine Harpoon’s raiment, but it did leave a huge amount of dark miami behind. This was the lingering corruptive substance that could weaken or corrode nearly anything when given enough time to do its work in peace! The Divine Harpoon was anything but willing to let the dark miasma do its part. He shook his body and began to use his armored limbs to rub off the corruption as best as possible. His methods may be crude, but they were working. The dark miasma had yet to sink too deep into the Divine Harpoon’s raiment. It was doing its best to eat through the armor layers, but the materials proved too thick and resistant to succumb so quickly. The darkness eventually faded. The man’s raiment still bore the scars and stains of the ominous force that attempted to compromise his raiment. It looked a lot uglier and less functional than before. "Interesting." The Divine Harpoon uttered. "The power you command is certainly frightening. If I was a lesser Ascended Giant, I would have felt more disturbed by the illusions brought about by these dark energies. The direct power of your explosion is not as strong as you have shown the first time. Is it because of the smaller size of the spear and moving away from using fire energy?" The man was quite astute. "Yes." The Dark Apostle plainly admitted. "The size of the spear determines how much mass you can convert into explosive stuff. The method was originally designed to work with fire energy, but we managed to make it work with darkness energy with a lot of improvisation. This is the first time we have tried it out to be honest, and I am glad that the explosion is still powerful enough to strip your defenses. If we had more time, we could have improved our techniques a lot more." "I have no doubt you can do so, but that is a matter for the future. It is my turn again." The Divine Harpoon did not let his damaged raiment affect his purpose. He calmly retrieved his second harpoon from his back and made an identical stance as before. As he began to ’align’ himself with the phase whale bone material that served as the core of his harpoon, he once again managed to ’fool’ reality into treating it as one of his limbs. The harpoon soon behaved as if it was a living extension of the Ascended Giant’s body. It gained multiple different augmentations that turned the weapon from a serious threat into a bane to all phase leaders! Ves and the Dark Apostle made their own preparations. The Dark Shield and the Dark Bulwark received a powerful infusion of darkness energy as both of them tried their best to raise their defenses as much as possible. The two felt a lot more naked now that their spatial barrier and azure energy shield were down. There was no feasible way to restore them in a short amount of time, so they could only count on their physical defenses for the time being. "Get ready." "Bring it on, old man!" The Divine Harpoon launched his weapon forward with great power and technique. Before everyone could properly track the harpoon, it slammed into the Dark Shield as if it teleported across the entire stretch! The heavy and powerful harpoon pierced through the dark miasma that covered the surface layer and moved far too quickly to let the corrupting energies weaken its structure. Armor layer after armor layer succumbed to the tip that had been especially designed to not only penetrate tough materials, but also hook into place so that it could be used as an anchor to restrain the target in question! Although Ves and the Dark Apostle did not have to worry about the latter, they still had to defend themselves against the former as the Dark Shield gained an expanding hole as the kinetic energy of the harpoon proved too much for the D-arm! The harpoon eventually went on to strike the frontal armor of the Dark Bulwark, but by then it had lost enough power and momentum for the heavy raiment to do a proper job. After punching through multiple layers, the harpoon finally lost all of its momentum and ended up stuck halfway through piercing through the chest armor. Though the harpoon ultimately failed to draw blood, the Dark Apostle still shivered for a moment as he imagined that it could have gone a lot worse. He looked at the condition of the Dark Shield. Its damage was extensive. The initial impact subjected it to a lot of force, causing it to gain a very sizable hole that could easily let another harpoon pass without encountering any material resistance. "That... is a problem." Ves uttered.