Tai Yang looked at Yasenia's figure and hummed. "Not bad. It seems that your soul cultivation skills are quite developed. Still, you do not think that's enough to deal with us, right?"
Yasenia spun her giant sword, her lips tightened in a straight line as she looked at them closely. "Perhaps it is not enough. However, you are sorely mistaken if you two think I will just accept you into myself. Come, I didn't want to drag things out longer than now. My first step when crossing into the immortal realms will be dealing with both of you once and for all."
The Moon Goddess stepped forward, speeding toward Yasenia elegantly. "My sweet child, that's impossible."
Yasenia prepared the phantom Draheart and clashed with the Moon Goddess' attack.
Clang~!
The melodic sound of metal colliding echoed in the empty void they were fighting in. The Moon Goddess, unflustered by her repelled attack, moved her arm again and clashed with Yasenia once more.
The silver broadsword collided with the phantom Draheart one after another. The power behind each strike pressed Yasenia as if they carried the weight of the Moon. Yasenia's body was pushed back, one attack after another. Thankfully, the place they were fighting in was virtually infinite, so being pushed back was not a problem regardless of how far they moved.
Change'er asked with a cold smile. "Is this all? This is your resolution? I have yet to show anything fancy, and you are already being overwhelmed."
Yasenia's face was calm, though. Even if the Soul Strand's raw strength was higher than hers, she was not unhappy. The reason was that she could feel the other party's strength for the first time. 'No wonder their inheritors died during the Sixth Tribulation. Their Soul Energy is just not high enough to deal with a Peak-level Transcendence Realm cultivator that's about to enter the Seventh Realm.'
As Yasenia clashed with the Moon Goddess, she kept an eye on Tai Yang. This was her advantage. 'They are arrogant. Tai Yang won't attack me together with Change'er during the first few moments.'
As she clashed with the Moon Goddess, she parried, blocked, sidestepped, and even used her own tail to deflect the tail strikes from the Moon Goddess. Form-wise, Yasenia had inherited the dragon tail of these two. So, their reach was on par.
After a few minutes of exchanging blows, the Moon Goddess finally started frowning. "Why are you not using any of your skills?"
Yasenia blocked the descending sword with a powerful upper slash, creating distance between them. "Why should I? You are not in a hurry, and neither am I." Yasenia spun the phantom Draheart, her lips arching. "Shall we continue?"
The Moon Goddess floated with a straight back, her black dragon tail flicking behind her with slight annoyance. Truthfully, she expected to completely overwhelm Yasenia in terms of sword skill. Nevertheless, she was wrong. Yasenia's sword skills weren't as good as hers, but they were good enough to clash with her. Moreover, her instincts were sharper than those of a cornered beast. What she lacked in raw skill, Yasenia made up for with ridiculous reactions and speed.
Thinking that she wouldn't be able to deal with her without using some skills annoyed her. It felt as if she was losing to a mortal. Tai Yang spoke from a distance. "Love, should we deal with her together?"
Those words made her feel even worse. She glared coldly at Tai Yang. "Why? Do you think I will lose to her?"
Tai Yang frowned. "Of course not. If you fought for a while, you'd end up as the winner. However, we need to deal with her quickly, or her damaged soul will recover enough to create a strong backlash when we take over."
Change'er observed Yasenia's soul. Yasenia's soul was in the shape of her dragon form, and currently, the dragon form had a massive part missing on its left side. At the edge of the destroyed parts, invisible tendrils were tangling slowly to reform her injured soul. Those tendrils were different in energy signature from the rest of the soul as well, making Change'er frown. 'What is she doing?'
Yasenia spoke at this moment. "Moon and Sun Gods are only this much."
Change'er refocused on Yasenia and glared at her coldly. "Child. Even if I've been trying to practice patience, I have my limits. Stop mocking us."
Yasenia blinked repeatedly, as if she couldn't understand her words. That gesture made the Moon Goddess snort with dissatisfaction as she rushed forward once more, clashing with Yasenia in another cacophony of sword strikes.
Their dance was elegant, becoming two streaks of light that constantly moved in serpentine ways and clashed with each other, creating sparks everywhere.
Tai Yang observed the battle with a solemn expression. 'Yasenia has grown too much. We might've needed to act during the Fifth Realm tribulation, even if that would make the Sixth ridiculously difficult to overcome.'
He was honestly impressed. For someone of a little over 100 years of age, Yasenia's proficiency was truly otherworldly. Even some geniuses of the high sects were lacking in comparison. The reason was quite self-explanatory. Yasenia had grown until this point through sheer combat. Her biggest rest was during the few decades when she watched over her children. And even then, she was battling almost daily with Tatyana, Valeria, or Mirrory.
As they fought, Yasenia's eyes absorbed the Moon Goddess' battle style and adapted very slowly to it. The process was almost unnoticeable. However, as time passed, the Moon Goddess noticed that it was becoming strangely tricky to slip past Yasenia's defense. As they clashed weapons, she couldn't help but look at Yasenia's golden slit eyes. Those gorgeous eyes were fully open, looking at her with such intensity that it made the Moon Goddess feel slightly uncomfortable. Even when she was clearly winning, she didn't like her face. 'You should be looking frustrated. You should be feeling overwhelmed. Why are your eyes so full of life? Why is your soul beating with such vitality? Why can you look like that, even while your body is experiencing excruciating pain?'
Her sword became faster, her feelings straying very faintly from her calm and elegant bearing.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The barrage of attacks made the dragoness's arms tingle as if the Moon Goddess was hammering her down instead of trying to slash at her. The strikes were much more ferocious, making her phantom Draheart push against her own body. 'Heavy… Her attacks are so heavy, and fast as raindrops…' Yasenia was feeling pain, each strike made her soul tremble from the pressure. Yet, she wasn't feeling down. Instead, she was barely holding back from smiling. 'This pressure… I can use it to temper myself.'
Tai Yang looked at Yasenia's figure attentively. He heard quite clearly what the [Shadow of the Sun and Moon] told them. This was probably their last chance. So, they needed to deal with Yasenia thoroughly. 'I should intervene. Even if Change'er gets angry, I can placate her in the future. But I can't allow Yasenia to grow comfortable and deploy her own plans.'
He tightly grasped his spear, and then, looking at Yasenia's back, he streaked forward. He was as fast as a beam of golden light, reaching Yasenia's back in the blink of an eye. His lips arched. 'I got her.'
The golden spear approached Yasenia's back. If he hit her, the battle for Yasenia would be over. The tip approached enough that Yasenia was feeling a tingling sensation from the heat and strength behind the spear thrust.
However, before that occurred, a sword identical to the one Yasenia held descended and struck the body of the spear from above.
BANG!
Tai Yang's expression changed as the tyrannical strength of the attack threw his spear downward. Yasenia and Change'er separated and looked over, the former with a mocking smirk and the latter with a dark expression.
"What's the meaning of this, Tai Yang?"
"Heh. I didn't know that He who represents the Sun would choose such a shadowy method to deal with me. So much for your title as a Sun God."
Tai Yang didn't bother with them, though. His eyes were locked onto the new arrival. The woman was actually quite short, yet she had the areas that needed to be filled extra stuffed. Her petite body and curvaceous figure didn't lose to Angel's at all, while her face carried an aloof expression.
Yasenia looked at the new arrival with a subtle expression. "Um. Draheart? Why did you change your outer appearance once again?"
The woman, who was the manifestation of the actual Draheart in Yasenia's soul, looked over with a pair of large and adorable blinking eyes. She answered seriously. "I know you like girls who fit snugly in your arms. So I made myself a petite, womanly body you'd love. I am a soft and cushy woman, 145 centimeters tall."
Yasenia was quite speechless. 145, compared to her 187, looked somewhat criminal. Angel was 155, and she was already quite small! Not to mention these two, who were half a head smaller! Still, it was true that she loved cute and adorable girls the most. After all, she wanted to pamper those she loved and cuddle them forever in her arms. However, she didn't expect Draheart to actually change her outer appearance to match it.
A melodic voice reached them. "Hehe, big sister's idea is quite a good one~."
They looked to the side and saw someone who looked like a twin of the other woman. The only differences were the expression, hair color, eye color, and dress color. This new arrival was Dramel.
Yasenia's hands twitched. '... Cute. I want to hug them and squish their cheeks.'
Draheart was wearing a loose, blue, scaly dress that resembled her sword form. In the middle of her chest, right above her pair of prominent breasts, she had her sword's red core shining softly, giving her an otherworldly charm. Her eyes were deep red slit eyes, while her hair was bright, deep blue color, following the color scheme of her sword form once more.
Meanwhile, Dramel had a similar loose jade green dress, matching her hair color. The dress had the images of pink flowers, dragons, and phoenixes, resembling her main body. Her eyes, following the color of the details, were also gorgeous, pastel pink eyes that could charm anyone with a glance.
They were truly adorable. Blue and red, and green and pink twins with quite opposite dispositions. Draheart looked serious and calm, even with her adorable face with big eyes, and Dramel looked playful and charming.
Suddenly, Yasenia realized something. "Huh? Wait, I can understand you both?"
Dramel and Draheart looked at Yasenia and floated over, hugging her with a smile. Draheart spoke softly, "Yes. You are finally strong enough, Master."
Dramel giggled. "Master! Let's beat up these bad guys. Continue fighting that black and silver dragon; we'll keep the golden one in check."
Tai Yang hummed. "Are they our future spiritual weapons? Not bad, they have quite a lot of potential."
Change'er also looked interested. "I like the green-haired one. You take the blue-haired one."
Yasenia patted the heads of the two adorable weapons, and she spoke chillingly. "Let's kill these two silly gods, okay?"
"Okaay~."
"Yes, Master."