76 A saint?

Pained cries rained over the area, confusion was abundant, people caught on the south side of the conflict rushed to the leave the province through the open gates and flooded out like ants running down the road towards the Hagley province, the people trapped on the north side of the battle rushed further north into the Cassia province like displaced refugees along the roads that led anywhere but here.

A dozen men wearing silver armor trimmed with gold, inched forward to find out what was going on, four of their strongest and most skilled soldiers had left earlier along with their master who was the captain of all guards in the province, the earth had shook several times and there were loud explosions that shook the slates loose from the roofs of buildings around them, sending black slate tiles crashing against cobble stones. They had made their way halfway down the main road whena bright flash of yellow erupted and temporarily blinded the men, after staggering around for few seconds their visions slowly cleared. Sitting in the middle of the street was a bright yellow sphere shining like thesun had fallen to the ground, the men shied away and shielded their eyes in as much panic as the civilians, a wave of heat swept over the land immediately, the heat was tremendous, making their lungs burn as if they had inhaled fire, gasping desperately for air they felt like they were about to be cooked in a casket of iron armor if they took a single step further forward.

They wanted no part of what was going on up ahead and retreated in unorganized chaos just like the civilians had done before them.

After dispatching the two enemies,Hartley was only ten meters away from the man lying prone in the deep crater when there was bright flash of yellow and orange, the surroundings changed into a yellow inferno trapping him inside a sphere that seem to have descended from the depths of hell itself, in response Hartley's whole body immediately turned to abright glowing blue from head to toe asthe heat bathed his body, his fluttering silk robe burnt away and disappeared without a trace, every strand of his beautiful raven-black hair turned to ashes, leaving a bald blue figure stood in a backdrop of vicious molten yellow and orange

Hartley felt uncomfortbable tingles of heat surging through his body as if it was traveling in his bones, the space ring on his finger turned to a glowing red like it was about to melt into his blue skin, the swords in his hands were protected by a coat of blue aura but even those seem to be making a sizzling noise and emitted white wriggling steam, at this point the star tattoo on his chest shone brightly giving his body an angelic glow. His eyes shone brighter than ever and a comfortable feeling returned to his body bringing the ring back to its normal appearance and his swords once again turned solid blue with a white glow around them.

The middle age man inside the sphere could not believe his two eyes, he had used this trump card to fry his unsuspecting enemies like a strip of bacon over the years, he couldn't fathom that someone who had appeared mortal in his eyes, could not only withstand the heat but also wasn't running in panic. trying to leave the vicinity of his sphere. This was a martial scripture from the capital that not many had access to and over the years he had honed his skill with it to a high level. The youth was using some type of element he had never seen before, and it looked it was effective against the fire element. He had a scowl of disappointment on his face, he had wanted to kill this noble and his group as a lesson for everyone to see because they dared to show up with the token of that traitor but he had instead tasted the power of the youth who could destroy a rank 3 spiritual armor with one strike. The last thing he wanted to do now was engage this youth in close combat, when the youth was about to come at him he took precautions and activated his flame armor.

A Bright blue shining silhouette of a human figure streaked across the yellow inferno creatingmore rumbling sounds and sending magma splashing in all directions behind him in his wake. Before he could reach his target, a field of fireballs the size basketballs intercepted him directly and also spread out to cover his predicted escape routes, two from the left, two from the right, and two directly aimed at him. The fireballs seem to have doubled in speed and made a warbled sound as they blurred towards him.

Even with his advanced state of focus active, Hartley was having a hard time getting out of the way of these projectiles.

The half dressed man whose hair was somehow still intact was whizzing around inside the sphere like a humming bird on steroids, insta-casting fireballs at will from awkward angles. Hartley realized the glaring deficiency in his own battle style, it was the lack of long range techniques. Once he had reached a certain level he had totally abandoned the use of his throwing knives and evolved to be a close combat specialist.

Now he was mostly on the defensive, dodging a swarm of fireballs from an opponent who had felt his power up close and chose to keep the battle at long range. Each fireball dodged, flew out of the sphere like a bullet and decimated a building with a huge boom, turning it to rubble as Hartley pushed his minute movement technique its limits and after the fourth volley of fireballs that came at him from every conceivable angle, he broke through that limit. Hartley was now utilizing advanced minute movement technique.

The bald headed figure of Hartley blurred with ghost-like movements, he was making subtle adjustments so fast that it didn't seem like he was moving at all and yet still the fireballs just zipped past him to end in an explosion and most likely wrecking a building somewhere off in the distance.He finally began to close the distance but as soon as he made any progress the man would just zip away even faster, expertly controlling the distance of the battle. Hartley knew battleslike a girl knew her mother's best cooking recipes and he realizedthat within this sphere the man was fighting way beyond his realm, he was a sixth layer xanthian just like Hartley but his speed was so fast within the sphere that it would be next to impossible for Hartley lock him down manually.

It was time to rectify the situation with brute force.A titanic invisibleforce of 50x gravity fell down from the heavens and slammed onto the earth around the sphere, sending lava splashing up a meter high, the blindingly bright yellow and orange sphere dimmed a couple of times like it was about to collapse but a dull diluted version of the original remained standing. The surprised man lost most of his speed as his foot dug deep into the lava like he was a nail being hammered from above, he stumbled around in confusion for a couple of seconds before turning to face the blue streak that was coming straight at him.

The man's dark irises bulged to the size of pigeon eggs, he couldn't comprehend how Hartley was so fast under these restrictive conditions. Hartley did lose a bit of speed but his physique had recently been upgraded to the 4th layer of xanthian realm and he just seconds ago had a breakthrough in his minute movement technique, the speed he lost in these conditions was insignificant.

The glee in Hartleys eyes could not be disguised, he wanted to slice this asshole to ribbons and he was going to enjoy every single second of it, there was a searing hatred in his heart for this man who he didn't even know and had only met minutes ago and yet it felt like he had a lifetime of hatred stored up in his chest that was going to burst him to pieces if he doesn't violently vent it out.

Hartley reached him a flash, The man stumbled around like there was concrete in his shoes, and a weapon appeared in the man's hand, it was a metal umbrella about a meter in diameter in its open position, without pause Hartley unleashed a flurry of attacks with blows so fast and heavy that the sparks went dancing and skittering across the surface of the twirling umbrella like a blacksmith beating iron into shape on an anvil, the man staggered back, looking like a rat caught in a trap by its tail. He wanted to say something but there was no room for negotiation and he could tell just by the look on the youth's face. The man knew he was outmatched, it was like he was playing tennis on a court the size of a football field.

Hartley pulled back and recomposed himself, the struggling man counter attacked by pitifully thrusting the umbrella forward, blades opened up around the outer edges of the unorthodox weapon that begun to spin rapidly clockwise with a whirring sound, he tilted it forward at the end of his thrust hoping that he could catch Hartley by surprise and cut him in half like a chainsaw.

Hartley stepped left and swatted the spinning umbrella with his long blade in his right hand, blue and yellow sparks gashed out like a spring shower, the man over rotated and with a blue flash of light, Hartley's short blade in his left hand came crashing down with a barbaric swipe on the man's right hand holding the umbrella . The stupid umbrella went flying away with half of the mans right hand.

SSSSS... The man's blood turned to steam that floated up as it gushed out against his flame armor,with another slash, the mans left hand went flying, this time his screams could be heard half a mile away, the flame elemental sphere collapsed exposing the two combatants but the man was still trapped in Hartley's gravity field, there was no escape. Hartley savored the moment and made more slices through the mans flesh as if he was a 3 star chef filleting a tuna fish. The blood that gushed out turned to steam that went straight up as soon as it fell into the lava pools or came into contact with the flaming armor. Hartley finally quieted the man by lopping off his head and felt satisfaction to his bones.

Hartley released his gravity field as the man's body was boiling in the pit of lava and was about to leave to go check for Zhi Ruo and Qin Li when they sky suddenly went dark like a solar eclipse, he heard a voice, "you vicious evil creature, you will not leave here alive." Hartley's head swiveled around frantically, he couldn't see who the speaker of the voice was. After the voice sounded reality cracked in front of Hartley's eyes, it was like a tv screen had cracked open and one could see the inner workings of it. Hartley saw a man's eyes as plain as day, it felt like the man was miles away and yet still he was right there in front of Hartley, he shivered and sweat ran down his back, was this a saint level opponent?