Ascension of the immortal Asura

"Come," she said to Zeras as she beckoned with her outstretched hand, like a parent calling for their child. It was as if she was saying, despite everything you've done, it had all been for naught. It was as if she were saying she didn't even see him as a threat.

Zeras' cold gaze turned angry, and a deep roar of anger boomed out from him, his frustrations voiced aloud.

"So, you can transfer your wounds to your skeletons? Impressive, but I only see four more human skeletons remaining. How about I just destroy them first, and then deal with you?" he said as he turned around and charged towards one of the skeletons standing a distance away from both of them.

As if expecting such a thing, Lilian's figure flashed towards Zeras, renewing their battle. She unleashed another powerful scythe image towards him, powerful enough that he could not ignore it. Zeras turned and slashed his astral blade outwards towards her, parrying the attack which exploded in the air. He used the explosion to propel himself towards the skeleton, and sneered as he slashed towards it with his full power.

"Die!" Zeras roared as his astral blade crashed down on it.

A swirling portal of blackened spatial energy appeared below its feet, and the skeleton sunk into the portal as the attack landed on its location.

Boom!

The arena trembled with violent energy as the astral blade slammed down onto it. Zeras' angry gaze snapped to the side, locking onto Lilian who stood calmly a few hundred yards away. The skeletal figure rose up from another swirling portal of spatial energy, reappearing next to her.

Zeras' plan to destroy the skeletons first had been shown to be impossible, since Lilian could summon and unsummon them before he could destroy them. Another roar of frustration boomed out of Zeras.

"Fine! Since I can't destroy them, I'll just destroy you four more times, and then you won't have any more skeletons to protect you," Zeras roared, and rushed towards Lilian with frustrated rage.

He arrived before her in an instant, and resumed their awe-inspiring battle. Zeras' hulking figure once again moved through the battle with perfect efficiency, fighting both Lilian and her army of skeletons without losing out at all. In fact, he was in control of the battle, and was constantly pushing Lilian to her limits.

Boom!

An attack pierced through Lilian's defenses, slamming onto her body and launching her into the air. She recovered in an instant, while the sound of distant cracking appeared, and one of the four remaining human skeletons crumbled.

The battle continued, Zeras like an unstoppable astral god of war.

Boom!

Crack!

His astral blade cleaved out with murderous desire, precise and unstoppable. His bizarre weapon unleashed attacks as well, sometimes ranged and sometimes physical, accounting for Lilian's redirecting ability and using it to his advantage on occasions. He had even managed to destroy two of the six beast skeletons, turning the battle even more in his favor.

Boom!

Crack!

Another attack landed on Lilian, and another skeleton crashed to the floor. Only one remained.

"I wonder, can you summon more skeletons? Or is this your limit?" Zeras asked mockingly, confident of his victory. "You only have one left. You might as well summon the others now, or you'll be down to your last life!" he roared, resuming his assault.

Lilian remained silent as she fought against Zeras, and did not summon any more human skeletons, silently confirming his guess. The fight between the two intensified, with Zeras unleashing more frenzied and powerful attacks on Lilian and her skeletal army, his battle lust fully ignited. A large smile was plastered on his astral face as he fought with unmatched ferocity.

"I wonder, if I cut off your head, would you be able to transfer that damage?" Zeras mocked, although he would not dare to try such a thing. He wanted to beat Lilian, not kill her, and such a wound would most likely be beyond her ability to transfer.

Lilian fought back with her full power, her gaze still seemingly distracted. John watched on with growing worry.

'Why does she still appear distracted? How can she afford to not fully focus on this battle?' John couldn't help but wonder. He knew his master wasn't stupid, and knew she wouldn't do something like this without good reason, but he still couldn't understand. She was losing, and she needed to fully focus on the battle or her defeat would be certain.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The arena trembled violently as the battle raged on, and after another barrage of attacks, another stellar blade landed on Lilian, piercing through her right shoulder. Zeras flung his astral blade outwards, launching Lilian into the air. She tumbled through the air for dozens of miles before coming to a stop in the air, her figure unhurt.

Crack!

The final human skeleton cracked and then crumbled.

Zeras' smile widened. John's worry grew. Lilian's expression remained calm. Her distracted gaze cleared up, and her focus finally returned fully to the battle. Zeras' smile faded. John's hope grew. He could instantly tell that something had changed within Lilian. He could feel a lethal threat growing from her, his instincts flared fully.

"It's finally ready," Lilian whispered softly, almost inaudible for the others to hear.

"Finally ready? Are you finally ready to conced-" Zeras mocked, and then froze mid sentence.

Boom!

Lilian's aura exploded outwards, filling the entire arena with a storm of spatial and death energy. The tempest swirled through the arena, with Lilian the eye of the storm. The storm circled faster and faster around her, growing more powerful by the second. It began to recede towards her, becoming smaller, but more concentrated, more powerful.

It was as if she was re-absorbing the energy she had unleashed, and then using it to do…something. The storm around her heightened in power, until it was like a cocoon of pure spatial and death energy, ten feet in diameter. It swirled with apocalyptic power, making even John and Zeras' feel instinctual fear. Something was happening within the cocoon. Something was changing within. It was as if Lilian was a chrysalis, about to become a butterfly.

Zeras' snapped out of his stupor, and rushed towards the spatial cocoon, astral blade in hand.

"As if I would let you complet-"

Boom!

The cocoon exploded outwards, its apocalyptic power slamming against Zeras, throwing him through the air through the arena. He slammed against the formation barrier over fifty miles away, shaking the surrounding area from the collision.

Zeras quickly recovered, and stood up. His gaze locked onto Lilian, who had emerged from the terrifying cocoon. His, as well as everyone else's eyes widened as they stared at her.

Lilian hovered in the air, her appearance completely different from before. Her icy-blue hair had turned completely black, as did the dress she wore. No longer was she wearing her white and gold dress, but instead wore a long, shoulderless black dress. The dress started at her upper chest, and flowed down below her feet, and hugged her figure tightly. The black dress seemed to shimmer, as if space itself was woven into it as well.

The skirt of the dress flowed freely like blackened mist, a mist made entirely of death Qi, but as was the rest of the dress that she wore. The same misty death Qi flowed off the pitch-black scythe in her hand, which shimmered as well, as if it were both real and fake.

John's eyes widened with absolute shock as he stared at his master, which now looked completely different. She had clearly transformed into something else, and it was as if she had turned into a goddess of death.

A goddess of death, which had managed to fuse the Dao's of Death…and Space.