The immense amount of mana pushed Ashtel away and caused his mana control to malfunction.
This is the power of a divinity based on a legendary skill that deals with mana.
It gives the user perfect control over mana... No, it can't even be called control anymore; it's basically a mana command!
At this point, Neo can use the divinity to directly skip using world authority and can 'command' the mana immediately.
"By merging perfect divinity with a world authority, you can effectively bypass the levels of world authority in a single step!"
"You don't need to train world authority anymore! You are already at max world authority level!"
"Up until now, Ashtel Rex, you held a higher world authority level than me, but now, all of that is irrelevant!" Ahahahah..."
[Perfect divinity: Mana Command: Mana Block!]
As Neo appeared in front of Ashtel, the mana in the entire floor became rock solid; it stopped flowing and moving.
Usually, mana never stops in one place; it keeps moving like air particles that move around everywhere.
But at Neo's command, it became rock solid at that moment!
Ashtel glanced at his arm and noticed that he couldn't use mana anymore! The mana in the surroundings and even inside his body was completely immobilized.
A massive demon-like grin appeared on Liam's face while looking at Ashtel, who seemed so helpless.
"This is it, Ashtel; this is it... Now the mana will completely obey my command; not only you; no one can use man in front of anyone anymore!"
"This is the end for you; without mana, even you are nothing, Ashtel Rex..."
Ashtel sighed at those words.
"You realize that what you are doing is basically completely against the 'Laws' of the world; at this point, you have made several 'Laws' of the world your enemy..."
"The moment you get out of the spire of ascension, you are dead... Well, putting that aside, even this body that you are being so happy about is flawed..."
"Don't forget you had to stop the forbidden magic midway; it wasn't even properly completed; you are still in a state of being flawed..."
Neo shrugged his shoulders at those words.
"It doesn't matter anymore... I have divinity now, 'laws' of the world? Flaws? Limits? All of that doesn't matter to me anymore.
"I am now capable of forcefully getting rid of the influence of the 'laws' of the world on me! I am now 'Free'!!"
"After I deal with you, I will fix the 'flaws' and cool down this body overtime; eventually it will become perfect too..."
"With divinity, it's easy to heal... And after some time passes... ahahaha, I will go beyond rank SS!!"
"Divinity is the doorway to ascending beyond the realm of Demi-gods!! Now I have it! I can go beyond the constraints of a Demi-god now!!"
"At that point, not even the 'world' will be able to stop me anymore!!"
Ashtel sighed at that moment.
"Sigh, I guess talking to you is pointless now... I will need to beat some sense into you before we continue further..."
Neo burst into laughter after hearing those arrogant remarks.
"AHAHAHAHAH! Beat some sense? Into me!? AHAHAHAA! That was quite the good joke there, Ashtel..."
"Right now, you can't even move anymore, and you think you can even lay a finger on me!? Don't overestimate yourself, Ashtel; I have planned this for decades!"
"You are a pathetic fool who can't even make plans! You always charge into things head on! That method won't work on me anymore!"
Ignoring those words, Ashtel grinned at Neo.
"Don't be in such a hurry, the fun's just getting started!"
[Fool's Art: Pursuit of Unknown: World's Barrier!]
Two gigantic pals stretched out from the void and slowly wrapped themselves around
Ashtel's body and turned into an invisible shield.
"That is!? 'Protection of the world'!? Impossible!? How can you use that at will!?"
Neo was shocked to the core after seeing that scene.
Ashtel broke out of that state of immobilization easily by using the 'protection of the world' that Riya once used to withstand the bombardment of heavenly punishment!
"Ah, well, my little daughter-in-law showed me the way; as I said, she's quite the talented one..."
Just like Link and Rio, Ashtel copied that power!
In that moment, Ashtel was the closest to Riya and that power of absolute protection.
He got 'realization' in that instant and figured out how to use it for himself.
In that brief interaction, Ashtel had come into contact with the true meaning of the 'Laws' of
the world, and thus he was able to imitate that power.
Asthel's 'Fool Art' is exclusively meant for skills and abilities that can't be explained and comprehended by common sense.
The protection of the world is one such ability.
At this point, Ashtel can use the protection of the world by simply his mental power; he doesn't even need 'Mana' for it; it doesn't consume mana at all.
The world itself protects him in this state; that's why he's immune to the effects of the 'divinity' that Neo is using to block his mana and skills.
Ashtel was lucky in that moment that he got to comprehend such power; if not for Riya, he would have never been able to make such immense progress in such a short time.
"You might have more mana control now, but does that matter? Right now, the situation is equal; let's settle this now for all time..."
Ashtel cracked his knuckles, and Neo smirked too. At this point, it doesn't matter what the other party has learned and has achieved; it was all pointless.
Talking and discussing was now pointless.
Only a battle can decide the outcome now; the person who's stronger will have the final say
now.
[World Authority: Shockwave!]
[Cosmic Law: Shattered Star: Sage's touch!]
Ashtel punched right through the void, forcefully opening a wormhole, and his fist appeared
right in front of Liam's face and hit him directly!
*BOOOM!*
The power of the fist was so strong that the void itself trembled and powerful spatial
fluctuations spread everywhere!
[Divinity: Cosmic Façade: Mana Enchantment!]
Neo commanded the mana to cover his entire body and give him immensely powerful
protection; the power of that protection was so huge that even Ashtel's punch couldn't go
through it!
The mana dispersed the punch's power in all directions, preventing it from ever reaching his
face.
But Ashtel didn't care.
[Sage Art: Flowing Void: Fist of the Blessed Void!]
Ashtel directly teleported in front of Neo and punched with all his strength; he directly
bypassed the restriction of the void, imbued the punch with the blessing of the world, and
directly hit Neo in the face again!
*BOOM!*
This time the mana wasn't able to scatter the power of the fist, as it was blessed with the
power of the world that Ashtel had summoned with his fool's art before.
It bypassed the mana mobilized by the divinity and hit Neo in the face.
*Crack!**SHATTER!*
Neo flew away like a rocket, and the void cracked and shattered like glass!
Even the Spire of Ascension couldn't properly bear all this damage, and its entire floor
hundred started to crack down and collapse!
But Neo and Ashtel didn't care about all that.
At this point they both had lost their reasoning; it was just do or die now.
[Cosmic Law: Martial Supremacy: Blessed Rhythm of Death Barrage!] Ashtel immediately used that momentary opportunity to his advantage; he aimed in the direction and punched into the void to create powerful shockwaves blessed with the world's
favor!
The powerful shockwaves traveled right through the space-time fabric and headed towards
Neo in distance.
But Neo was ready this time.
[Divinity: Cosmic stretch: Slingshot beam!]
Neo pointed his finger toward Ashtel's attack, and an extremely powerful beam made of
dense pure mana was fired.
*BOOOM*
The mana beam was so powerful that it ruptured the space-time fabric and forcefully dispersed the powerful fluctuations coming his way in all directions! Easily neutralizing its
power.
[Divinity: Cosmic Stretch: Carpet Flip!]
Neo grabbed the hole that the previous mana beam made with his hand and imbued it with mana and flipped it like he was flipping an ordinary carpet in his house!
The space-time fabric was flipped, and the attack traveled faster than light; in a normal circumstance, it would have been impossible to avoid for even Ashtel.
But right now, he is blessed by the world itself!
[Cosmic Law: Shattered Cosmos: Mirror Hit!]
Ashtel waved the back of his hand and imbued the flipped space-time fabric, directly making
the attack deflect and go in some other direction!
The flipped space-time fabric attack hit, and that attack shattered the three floors below
them into complete oblivion.
All the mithril and adamantium were reduced to powder in a mere instant! If not for the Spire
of Ascension to interfere with its own power, it would have damaged more floors! Although it was for only a split second, that attack smashed a large hole in the wall of the
spire of ascension, which Neo and Ashtel could have used to go outside.
But the two of them didn't care about it!
The hole healed in a matter of an instant, and the two SS-rankers continued fighting!
[Fool's Art: Cosmic Death: Cosmic Decay!]
Ashtel punched the void, and the entire space-time fabric started to shatter.
In response to that attack, Neo immediately mobilized his divinity.
[Divinity: Cosmic Patch: Void Solidification!]
Neo forcefully solidified the broken space-time fabric and healed it back to as it was before,
thus easily nullifying Ashtel's attack.
But that wasn't the end of it; he even increased the solidification of the void so that Ashtel would need more mana to shatter another hole in it.