Seeker and Lynd approached each other. They did not use any of their powers to fight each other. They had to use their corresponding means to contain such great energy in their bodies. But these energies could not be contained for long. And it would even diminish if both of them would use their corresponding means of using the Paths and Skills of others.
As such, this battle which would be drawn out for possibly a long time, was a battle of attrition and physical fighting was the means that both chose. Whoever held more physical might would determine this battle.
Seeker and Lynd both threw out punches at the same moment. Lynd was copying Seeker's movements, and it was as if Seeker was fighting a mirror of himself.
Both fists connected.
BOOM!
The force of both fists that contained so much power ended in a stalemate.
Seeker smiled as he glanced at Lynd, who was observing every minute detail.
"I see. You want to directly copy my movements to bring out more of my hidden abilities so that you can copy them? You've already gained so many Paths. You're too greedy!" Seeker smiled, and with great whirling speed, his body shifted as the waters around them were blown back.
Yet the surprise kick of Seeker met a foot delivered at the exact same time. The two suddenly went into a brawl of kicks and punches, where both delivered the same attack with the same force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions rang out left and right as the fist and kicks struck each other. But Cliff, who was watching from afar, could see ice slowly forming on the further regions of the battle. The temperature around Seeker and Lynd was constantly dropping.
"What's going on? Why is the ice forming? What's Lynd doing?" Cliff asked.
"Lynd is making a huge energy reactor that employs cold fusion. That way, his entire body can keep increasing the energy that is in his evolved cells." Lennox answered.
"But won't that also increase Seeker's energy?"
"No. I can hear it. Lynd can gather energy because he is using Rosa's Path of creating cold fusion from the air or water. Seeker only understands the foundation of Cold fusion. He cannot summon ice out of thin air, just as he can't use any sound to make my Peals of Thunder. In short, if Seeker was to use Cold Fusion to create energy, it has to happen in his body."
"Then Lynd is draining Seeker's energy?"
"Yes. That's Lynd's current strategy. Even his fists and kicks are perfectly estimated. Lynd doesn't want to break this delicate balance. If his attack is any stronger or weaker, then this mirror match would end. So he's copying Seeker to the exact decimal point to drain Seeker. If any of his hits even managed to overpower Seeker, it would force Seeker to use other attacks, and he's avoiding that."
"Then how can Seeker win? Why is Seeker complying with this match." Cliff wondered.
"See the difference between the Overcomer and the Hero here, Cliff. It will greatly benefit you."
The fight between Seeker and Lynd continued as Lynd perfectly copied Seeker's movements.
The glow around Seeker's body, which was his power, was slowly dimming.
And then, the moment finally came. Seeker could see that Lynd's confidence was building.
As a punch was thrown, Lynd countered with his own. But suddenly, the punch changed its trajectory.
While it seemed that the punch's changing trajectory seemed simple, there was a strange power that began to affect the laws of the four dimensions. For some reason, the punch was something that Lynd couldn't anticipate.
BOOM!
A powerful punch exploded out as it met the shield of Lynd. The ice cracked, and the sound armor was crushed. Typical's repelling molecules were made void, and the punch propelled further, striking Lynd on the face.
BOOM!
Another explosion occurred.
Seeker laughed and moved once more. Lynd was already recovering from the strike and immediately copied Seeker. But at the last moment, it happened again.
BOOM!
A kick struck Lynd in the stomach. This time, the kick changed directions once more and did not hit the part of Lynd's stomach, which had a powerful but small shield.
Lynd created a powerful explosion. It was as powerful as a Nuke Emitter's blast. Up above, Lennox made King Naga and the Lingkaran deploy various weapons to hide the exploding Nuke underwater.
Seeker was thrown off and sent several hundreds of meters back.
Seeker gave an arrogant laugh as he observed Lynd, who had quickly created an Ice field to recharge his body.
"You made me crush one of Richie's balls. And here I thought I'd be able to beat you to submission with just my fists!" Seeker coldly glanced back at Lynd. His aura, his tone, and his playfulness all changed.
"That must be the Adult. Kid Seeker would be embarrassed to say that…" Richie sighed.
"You! You're that Seeker from the future! You're finally out! Is that how you landed those blows? Seeker's been switching personalities?"
"I'll tell you this, but consider my debt to your alternate future self, paid in full." The Adult answered seriously.
"Switching personalities is not enough. It helped to throw you off guard, but we both know you could have employed other means to adjust and fight back. The reason is because of my Path?"
"You're Path?" Lynd was confused. He had observed Seeker and could not see anything strange. Lynd's eyes suddenly widened as he noticed it.
"Your Path has changed!"
"I was a Ranked Hero back in my time Lynd. Do you know what my Path was? It was a Pseudo Path. Much like Arthur's Chaos Order, I had a Path that was ranked. Of course, it was less than Arthur's. Arthur's Pseudo Path was proven. Mine wasn't." The Adult extended his hands, and his suit was glowing brightly. Suddenly, a sword was created and formed before Seeker.
Lynd's eyes watched closely, but the tech was too confusing to copy.
Lynd frowned and even shook his head to stop his Path from trying to copy it.
"Tsk. He can't copy cellular steel creation yet!" Lennox cursed hatefully.
Cliff was shocked. He never ever seen Lennox voice out such disgust and disappointment.
"Hey, I've been playing that Pokemon game you placed in my head, Lennox. But seriously, you gotta stop it, man. Besides, creating Pokemon out of our cells and make it pop out of a Pokeball isn't needed in this war! Geez! If I hadn't known better, I'd thought you'd be an Aragarian with your crazed obsession!" Richie cursed.
"Shut up, Richie. It's not like I've got a choice in this! The Tyrant Empress awakened this obsession and desire. Although I've removed the lust, the obsession remains! Isn't it better that I've used it here?"
"Gee, I don't know. Why not put your obsession to your kids?" Richie argued.
"If I did anymore, Egypt wouldn't be standing now, Richie."
"… Alright. Fair enough. I apologize for that accusation."
"Forgiven. But you have to perform and create living sounds of all Pokemons."
"…"
Seeker had finally crafted a glass-like sword through his suit. The sword used his cells, and he gazed at Lynd with a cold expression.
"They called me, He that Treads and Passes Over. This is my ability to Passover, whatever obstacles there were before me. Back then, they only called me this because I succeed in doing this on several occasions. Occasions that were deemed impossible to complete. But it was real then, and it's stronger now! So get yourself ready, boy. I asked the Kid me to fight you. You always made me win in our fights. I've always hoped to fight a Lynd that really wanted to kill me." The Adult gave a strange smile.
"Then let me oblige you!"
Lynd shouted as he gathered several Paths that appeared.
His appearance had changed. He did not have the same bright golden hue as Meryl. Instead, it was a fiery red heat that contained bits of desolation. His body sparkled like burnished bronze.
Lynd's entire likeness was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro the dark ocean. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth red lightning, bolting out randomly from the center of his body.
"There it is… He is merging the Paths." Lennox watched with anticipation.
"We have long wanted to combine the heat of Meryl and the Desolation of Meng. But we could never figure it out. Gardo's Path was different, but we knew that it was the missing link. We've never had a working framework of how it works, but now we finally have an idea." Lennox began to rant with great obsession.
"So this is why we haven't had progress in any sciences other than the ones we've already developed. You were waiting for this battle…" Richie realized.
"Of course! This battle holds the understanding of what many sciences we have can do. Seeker and Lynd's body will create the miracles that transcend our understanding, and through their merging of these Paths, we can now reverse engineer it and create more weapons!"
"But Lynd's form… it's very biblical."
"He's following the vision described in Ezekiel 1. That looks like the living creature of Ezekiel. The Cherubim! Seeker's challenge of being the Truth triggered him. He's showing Seeker that he is still the real Messiah of this world." Lennox analyzed.
"No. It's more than just taunting Seeker… Lynd… he believes he's the Messiah! This is one thing that Lynd never showed. It makes sense now!" Cliff spoke as he recalled the various expressions and reactions of Lynd.
"Lynd had thought in his heart that he was the key to victory. He was secretly proud and arrogant of this. That was why he was so angry when Seeker did that to him! This isn't something Lynd thought of at the moment. This is a vision of himself!"
"Ah. A display of arrogance, eh? No wonder Seeker did this… I guess we all needed to knock Lynd off his pedestal."
Seeker sneered as he watched Lynd's body completing its transformation.
"What is this? An anime where I would wait for you to complete your next transformation?" Seeker charged.
"Pass over this!" Lynd roared.
A powerful sound wave exploded out as ice and needles shot towards Seeker.
Seeker moved forward and began to harness the energy on his sword to clash with the sound.
As a Horn was crushed, Meng's desolation burst forth, and Seeker wielded power on his blades. The sword smashed and broke through sound and ice alike.
Cliff was surprised as he saw the power that Seeker wielded. He knew that the power of Desolation being contained was so strong that even their current tech couldn't imitate it.
"Maw of the Dragon! But how?!" Cliff was shocked.
"He that Overcomes isn't easily limited by science, Cliff. Though the Horn of the Dragon contains a very small portion of Meng's true Desolation, Seeker managed to raise up its level on his own."
"Sword of the Dragon Slayer!" Seeker boasted his blade as he fought off the approaching attacks and moved towards Lynd with incredible speed. The distance which the explosion caused was quickly being crossed.
"It looks like Lynd isn't about to give up just yet. So this is a World Champion. It is impressive." Richie commended.
Right above Lynd was a miniature sun the size of a bowling ball.
Lynd's right eye was having a bright white glow while his other eye maintained the same color.
Immediately, the sun shot out beams of yellow and greenish lights. Red lightning began to crackle out and bolt towards Seeker's location.
Seeker fought against the incoming attacks and began to slice the approaching powers, but somehow, several attacks managed to reach and wound Seeker.
"Lynd's right eye is copying Seeker's movements. To be more precise, he is trying to predict Seeker's movements, and the other half of his body is aiming at attacking Seeker!" Cliff was amazed at what he saw.
"Correct. He has managed to split his thought process forcibly. Now how will Seeker counter this?" Lennox wondered.