Just like the Grand Elder had requested, Nial kept some distance from the city to make sure that nobody would be pulled into his fight with the Minotaur Demihuman. It was a little annoying but he ended up fighting more than twenty kilometers above the surface, and a few dozen kilometers away from the city's outskirts.
There was hardly any chance that their battle would affect anyone over there, not as long as he could keep the upper hand in the battle.
Milo was already charging at him mindlessly. Darkness manifested from his elemental affinity mantled his smoking body. Retaining the heat of his body allowed Milo to stay stronger for a longer period. He even enhanced his physical strength by further expanding his body.
The Minotaur Demihuman was now close to four meters tall, and his strength had increased considerably as well. This included Milo's speed which had increased drastically. He could fly through the air with a ridiculous tempo. Milo was almost as fast as Nial. That was rather troublesome because Nial was already in his Ancient Devilization.
Thus, Nial chose to start with his attacks while continuing to back off. He didn't really feel like facing Milo head-on. After all, his close combat talent was not exactly noteworthy when it came to fighting without the intention to severely injure someone. In most cases, Nial fought with the intention to kill. His weapons always found their target, ending the life of his miserable opponents. However, that was not exactly helpful right now.
He had to restrict himself from crippling, let alone killing Milo. That was also why he had intentionally transformed his hands into the Devil Roc's claws, restring himself from wielding any kind of deadly Runic Weapon, in the first place.
However, he still used his dark energy, enhanced through the Essence of Darkness, crimson moonlight, and the Power of Chaos. Combined, the lethality of his dark energy might as well exceed the power of his Forgotten Broken Runic Weapons, but that was something Nial could hardly be bothered about right now.
He knew that he had to restrict the darkness elemental affinity of the Minotaur Demihuman, and the easiest way to do so was to insert his own dark energy, enhanced to the limit, inside Milo's body.
That way, he would be able to control Milo's elemental affinity to a certain extent, restrict its circulation and prevent it from actually enhancing Milo's strength.
Nial did exactly that by creating more than a thousand darkness needles. They were less than a centimeter long and only a single millimeter in width. The needles shot toward the Minotaur Demihuman the moment they materialized around him.
Milo roared out thunderously when he perceived the tiny darkness needles that shot toward him. He swung his arm around in a long arc while releasing his darkness element outside his body. The darkness was released with the intention to swallow and devour Nial's needles. But little did Milo know that his elemental affinity was not even close to being potent enough to rival his dark energy, even less the fully reinforced version of his dark energy.
The tiny needles burst through the mass of the darkness element that ought to be used as a means of defense.
With a thumping noise that rang through the surroundings hundreds of times, the tiny needles pierced through the darkness element of the Minotaur Demihuman. They couldn't cause tremendous damage because their lethality was not high enough. However, Nial never intended to use the tiny needles to directly injure the Minotaur Demihuman severely.
He used the needles to spread his energy through the Minotaur and make him feel what true terror was!
There was no need for Nial to hold back the moment some of his needles pricked the Minotaur Demihuman. Milo didn't even feel a sting when hundreds of needles pierced through his fur. Only the tip of the needles was able to reach through the Minotaur's fur and hide, in the first place, but that was already enough to cause a terrific aftermath.
Nial changed from backing off into the offense. This astonished Milo, who had continued to charge ahead. However, the Minotaur welcomed Nial's sudden change in fighting style. He materialized a blue bat half his size in his right hand and swung it around with all his might.
The attack was bound to hit Nial, just before the trajectory of his swing was altered slightly. Milo's eyes widened in shock and a severe pain spread through his head as Nial's lips moved without a word coming out of them. For a moment, Milo wondered if he had turned deaf, just to note that he could hear other things, just not Nial's voice.
That was probably because he was not saying anything in the first place. Nial used the Dominion ability with the use of the reinforced dark energy without uttering a single work. He didn't intend to reveal his hidden trump cards to the Demihumans just yet. The efficiency of his Dominion ability was bound to be much higher as long as nobody knew what he was capable of, in the first place.
By doing slight alterations, nobody would start doubting him either. Milo missed Nial by a hair's breadth, and that was also only the case after Nial had twisted his body, evading the altered bat swing.
Thus, despite his head aching and the slight alteration of his attack, Milo didn't think too much about it.
He was too focused on Nial's movements that kept accelerating as darkness began to ooze out of his body. The darkness shrouded Nial like a tight set of combat armor. The air resistance was voided and his movements became even smoother in the air.
Milo liked fighting on the ground better than anything. That way, he could generate more strength and execute a better series of combos. In the air, none of that was easily possible. That was what forced Milo to change his fighting style, while Nial didn't seem to be forced to do the same.
It was almost as if Nial was born in the air and that there would never be an issue no matter whom he would have to fight mid-air.
Of course, that was not true. However, it was a fact that he was training to fight more in the air. After all, Gods would rarely fight on the ground because of the destruction their fights caused.
And Nial was planning to fight Gods in the near future. He was ready!
Mentally at least.