Gregory's eyes widened as the ricocheted Cosmic Attack hit him in the small of his back and sent him flying into the Dome boundary.

This time, he did not try to resist the repulse and fell to the ground. Once he made contact with the ground, he rolled over quickly from fear that Hal would take advantage.

But Hal did not.

Instead, he slashed his sword again and sent another cosmic attack at the Dome.

Gregory gritted his teeth and quickly made to dodge the ricochet Cosmic attack and he succeeded...

*Bang!*

...only to be hit in the back by another Cosmic attack altogether.

Gregory was so confused that he could not help but pause and look around and it was at that moment...

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

...that more of Hal's ricocheted Cosmic attacks hit him from all sides. Such that, when one attack propelled him forward, another would knock him back.

Hal simply sneered as he stood in place and made very precise calculations to strike cosmic attacks at the Dome barrier and let said barrier take care of throwing those attacks at Gregory.

Before long, Gregory's entire body was covered in cuts and bruises.

As mentioned earlier, the Cosmic attacks become less effective upon ricochet and so one of them was not life-threatening and was something Gregory could shrug off.

However, the same could not be said for multiple Cosmic attacks.

What annoyed Gregory the most was that Cosmic attacks were from the Cultivators Cosmic energy supply and as such, they were ammunitions that were finite and could be used up.

The way Hal was making use of them, while effective could still be tagged as wasteful. After all, most of the attack's effectiveness was lost upon contact with the Dome.

As this thought came to Gregory he could not help but smile. Surely all he needed to do was wait out Hal's eventual run out of Cosmic energy or at least until his son realized how wasteful he was being and let up.

It was at such a moment Gregory planned to attack.

If only he knew that, unlike a normal Cultivator, Hal's Cosmic Pearl was quite large and as such the volume of Cosmic energy the younger man could store up was nothing to be scoffed at.

Soon, Hal stopped his Barrage of ricocheting Cosmic attacks. An act Gregory was quick to interpret as him finally at his limit.

Then Gregory laughed and unleashed the pressure of his Cultivation base, so much so that Melinda and Rita in the Valley could feel it.

So could the still-battling Payne forces who chose to ignore it and continue the struggle.

Along with the release of the full extent of his cultivation base, Gregory quickly condensed an immense cosmic attack that made use of his cultivation base in its entirety.

The condensing was so fast that it made use of the space of a second when Hal was fazed by the mighty pressure to begin its approach

So much so that Hal could not possibly dodge it. Neither did he attempt to do so.

*BOOOOMMMMM!!!*

So great was the explosion that the Dome actually distorted from its force and couldn't even completely keep the blast's effects away from Castor and Burt on the outside, who quickly took measures to protect themselves.

Even though a part of him wished to rejoice that Hal could not have possibly survived as much a blast, another part of him defied reason and told him to begin to prepare himself to attack again.

Gregory listened to that part of his mind and began to condense another Cosmic attack, unlike the one he had just released, this was not going to result in an explosion.

In analogy, the Cosmic attack he just sent to Hal could be called a bomb while the one he now condensed could be likened to a powerful sniper bullet.

Not as destructive but quite deadly in its own right.

"Amazing" called Hal's voice from within the explosion cloud.

He was not saying that to mock Gregory, he truly meant it. This sort of attack was one Hal doubted San Fidwud could have been able to accomplish despite being in the peak stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm.

That was not to say San was weak, as Gregory had obviously added his own flair to that attack.

And the fact that he could still have enough left to start condensing another dangerous attack, was enough for him to earn Hal's admiration.

That said, Hal still planned to beat him senseless.

Gregory groaned in annoyance once he heard Hal's voice and as soon as the voice sounded, the Explosive cloud simply disappeared and Hal was visible once again... surrounded by the Dark fog that had been seeping from his body earlier.

Except that this time, it was in a much larger volume and seemed to have been what had shielded Hal from the Explosive Cosmic attack.

Gregory looked into Hal's Dark eyes and still shivered, so much so that he had to look away.

Hal sneered and raised his Cosmic Armament to point it at Gregory and then slashed diagonally.

The slash sent a crescent-shaped dark fog attack at Gregory who was shocked by the speed it traveled and quickly attempted to dodge.

Even then, the attack still grazed him and left a deep wound behind.

"Kek" Gregory made a frustrated sound as he felt the graze.

Still, he managed to toss the newly condensed Cosmic attack at Hal who simply waved his Cosmic Armament which was now veiled thinly by Dark fog to deflect the attack and smack it into the ground, where it left a large crack.

The manner of ease Hal had used to deflect the attack made it seem as though, at that moment, he was untouchable.

Gregory's eyes widened but he refused to accept that this was how it would end.

Quickly he retrieved Rank 3 Runes from his spatial pouch, which must have been from his secret stash and tossed them all at Hal.

Hal narrowed his eyes. Gregory was surely not stupid enough to believe this was enough to stop him.

He created a shield purely out of Astral Energy and negated the effects of the Runes (which had all being explosive),

"What is it with you and Explosions?" Hal tsked before he noticed Gregory was no longer where he should have been.

The whole thing had been a Distraction!

And the Payne Patriarch had used it to sneak up on Hal from behind... Or so he thought.

For when Gregory came out with his Purple Broadsword raised and ready to strike down at Hal, the younger man turned and grinned at him like an old friend,

"Oh there you are" He said and every skin on his body that Gregory was privy to, turned Scarlet as he grabbed Gregory by the Jaw and smack him into the ground...

"Bang!*

*Crack!*

...so hard that it cracked the ground.

Then, with his hand still holding Gregory's jaw tightly and the older man still struggling, Hal lifted and released him, only to put enough distance between them and kick Gregory's midsection...

*Multiple cracks!*

*Bang!*

... So much so that the man could feel several of his ribs fracture from the impact while the kick smacked him all the way to the other side of the Dome, right into the Dome barrier.

He lay crumpled on the ground, his hands holding his midsection tight, struggling to breathe and occasionally spouting Blood.

It was while he lay there, awaiting the sweet release of death that he had some sort of Epiphany.

Here he was laying in the ground, very much alive and struggling to stay that way and yet Hal did not make a move.

He chanced a look and saw that Hal's skin was back to normal and he was just watching Gregory on the floor with his piercing sapphire blue eyes.

Hal did not want to kill him!

That was the only explanation that made sense to him, except if Hal simply wanted him to suffer.

Either way, Gregory saw an opportunity to strike at Hal and take advantage of his complacency.

He managed to rise to his knees and bear with the pain when he realized that Hal was already right in front of him.

"Oh, Greggy. By now, you should have realized, I have no real interest in killing you. If you want to take advantage of that, then think again, because from the very start, you were going for the kill and I wasn't,

And yet it still ended up like this. If you try to take 'advantage' now, it won't change the outcome..."

Then Hal lowered his voice to a whisper that made him sound eerie, but all those at the Cosmic Armament Realm could still hear him.

"... So give up"

It was as though Gregory deflated and lost all his will.

Somehow, those words crushed him more than Hal's blows.

Here he was, the Lord of Payne Estate and Patriarch of the Payne Family, beaten to a pulp and being told to... give up.

And yet, what other choice did he have other than to give up?

"So I can't avenge Rad?" he couldn't help but voice out in despair.

Hal shook his head without an ounce of pity in his eyes,

"No, you can't. Besides, we both know that while I dealt the final blow, deep down, you don't believe I killed him" Hal said.

Gregory gulped,

"Yes. It was me. I killed him. If I want to avenge him. There is only one thing for me to do..."

He said and made to kill himself with his Broadsword when a Rune (Bind) slammed into his chest and forced him to freeze in place.

"Who said you could kill yourself?

I'm not done with you yet, Gregory Payne"