It didn’t take long before the mist fully dispersed to reveal the complete image of the figure that was within it. It was fully three meters tall and was completely made of bones. It wore a black robe and had a hood on its head that covered its face. Its bony feet and hand could be seen and within its hand was a dark metal scythe. Although its face was covered, within the darkness where the face was, red crimson eyes were clearly visible.

Tabet stared in shock at the figure that was in front of him. He could still sense Akata’s aura within the figure and knew that it was an illusion technique probably caused by that mist earlier. But even still, it was an amazing technique that utilized illusions to strike fear into the opponent. And considering Tabet’s sweat ridden face, it clearly worked.

The crowd was also gaping at the sight of the hooded skeletal figure. To create a completely new body through the use of illusions was a popular idea but most people weren’t able to do so. This was because it required tremendous insights to accomplish. You needed to be able to alter your whole persona, creating your features, changing your aura, it involved huge insights into the Inner Element of Illusions. Akata even went one step further to increase the pressure in the area, creating a false sense that he was a powerful being.

“His skill in the Inner Element of Illusions is utterly amazing. Ah. It may be a good matchup indeed.” One elderly figure in the crowd said.

All of the other elder figures nodded their heads in agreement. At first they were doubtful that Akata would have the skill needed to compete with Tabet, but now they were certain that he was capable of at least holding his own for a while.

Tabet took in a huge breath and slowly let it out. He cleared his mind as he waved his hand to produce multiple purple runes in the sky. He flew up into the air with his wings and went above the runes. He waved his hand downward toward Akata and smiled. It was a smile of enjoyment.

When he waved his hand it caused the purple runes to begin to rotate. At first it started out slow and then began to pick up speed. Soon they were rotating at a speed that made the runes look like discs in the sky. The discs then expanded in size to cover the whole sky in a purple barrier of light. It was a domain of illusions. This was an area that would be fully controlled by Tabet as long as it lasted, and he would be able to do anything he wanted.

“Is that… an Illusion Domain?! He actually can create an Illusion Domain at such a young age?!”

“Ahaha! He truly is worthy of being called the genius of the younger generation. Lord Tafei is an expert at illusions but it seems as if Young Lord Tabet will even surpass him.”

“Just how deep are his insights into the Inner Element of Illusions for him to be able to create an Illusion Domain?”

The crowd spurred with joy as they saw Tabet make an Illusion Domain. This was a skill that only people who had the rank of an Elder would be able to do. Only people who had broken through to the level of Beast Rank were able to create Domains. Yet Tabet, who was at the Great Circle of the Docile Rank, was able to break that general knowledge. He was a true genius of illusions.

Tabet smiled while he was in the air looking at the work he had just done. Although he had the insights to create an Illusion Domain, he wasn’t necessarily able to do so all the time. But, he happened to be successful today. He was also happy that he was able to make it as with each time he did he would learn something new about it and thus have a better chance of making it the next time.

“Whew.” Tabet let out a breath and then proceeded on to attack Akata. ‘Let’s see just how powerful this domain is when attacking others.’ He flapped his wings and they grew double their size. Tabet himself also grew but only by a single head. But even so, his energy bolstered and the pressure radiating off of him grew intense.

He flapped his wings once more and needle-like feathers shot out toward Akata in a grand fashion. They were fast and was barely visible to the crowd of onlookers. A piercing cry rang out as they whistled through the air toward Akata’s body.

Akata was in his skeletal form and was mentally moved by the amount of skill Tabet had in the Inner Element of Illusions. Although Akata himself had gained tremendous insights into the element, he hadn’t had any kind of time to apply that knowledge into attacks or 3

On the field. He was basically a person who read all about swords but had never picked up one. Although this is a bit exaggerated, it was a pretty close description to what Akata’s situation was like.

Akata hefted the metal scythe into the air as he caused numerous purple runes to appear on the body of the scythe. The scythe started to grow an intense bloodthirsty aura. It seemed to have its own will to slaughter everything in its path. The scythe grew another meter and the intense aura grew as well. Akata took in a deep breath and swiped the scythe sideways toward the approaching feather blades.

Guillotine Slice!

The scythe moved at a blinding speed and caused an arc of purple scythe light to shoot toward the feather blades. They approached each other at a super speed.

Bang! Bang! Boom!

The arc of scythe light sliced away at the feather blades while the countless blades of feathers slowly disintegrated the scythe light. Soon both of the attacks were extinguished with nothing being left over to attack the other person. As the attacks ended in mutual destruction both figures looked at each other. But they had differing attitudes and faces.

One was astonished while the other was amazed. Akata was amazed at how powerful Tabet was while Tabet was astonished that Akata could stand up to his attack. Even though they were only using the Inner Element of Illusions, there was still a difference in their cultivation bases. Tabet was in the Great Circle of the Docile Rank while Akata was at the 7th Grade of the Mortal Rank.

Akata also had his cultivation base of the Plant Realm but he wasn’t utilizing it. He was only using his Mortal Realm cultivation base as of this moment. Akata wasn’t only amazed at how strong Tabet was, but how he was able to compare in strength to Tabet just now. He knew the difference between them was vast yet he was able to hold his own.

“What’s going on? I shouldn’t be able to evenly match him in power with my current cultivation base. Is it because of my plant cultivation base? Or is it because of you?” Akata asked Noluck within his dantion region.

“It’s because you have two cultivation bases. It must be that the two are nourishing each other and innately strengthens your abilities. I have heard of people having two cultivation bases but I thought that it was legend until I met you. So I don’t know much about this. Given a bit more time I will be able to gather more information and come to a better answer than this. For now, just accept the fact that you are able to match the strength of a being at the Great Circle of the First Rank.” Noluck said calmly.

‘The First Rank is the Mortal Rank for mortals, the Seed Rank for plants, and the Docile Rank for beasts. That means I can match the Great Circle of all of these Ranks in strength.’ Akata mused to himself thinking of how exciting this was.

Even as the two looked at each other they launched another series of attacks. These attacks were illusionary so they wouldn’t cause physical damage but mental damage. The more real the illusion became the stronger effect it had on a being's mental state. If it was strong enough, it could completely crush a person’s mind. This was why illusions were so terrifying, and if they ever reached the level of becoming real… they would be utterly astonishing.

Purple light sprang up everywhere as the two fought each other. Akata caused more mist to appear as he constantly changed his form to adapt to a situation. Sometimes changing into a skeletal figure, sometimes a giant bird, or a snake, and other times reverting back to his original appearance.

Tabet on the other hand stayed in his form with claws, wings, and cheetah feet. The only difference was that he would slowly and continuously grow larger bit by bit. He grew from 3 meters to 4 meters to 5 meters. His wings would grow as well. All of this was possible because he had his Illusion Domain.

Slashes were sent out, crushing blows, slicing attacks, piercing cuts, etc. All sorts of ways were used to fight with the Inner Element of Illusions. Even though they grew increasingly tired, they fought with fiercer and fiercer moves. That was because as the battle went on they would learn new things about illusions and incorporate them into their insights and improve.

The crowd was visibly able to see how fast Akata and Tabet were improving as the battle between the two raged on. It was an astonishing display of skill and insights. In fact, some tribesmen gained new insights from watching this battle between the two.

“They are truly astonishing.” One Elder of the tribe said aloud. And what he said caused the other Elder to nod his head in agreement. The elders of the tribe knew that these two were geniuses of the Inner Element of Illusions and given enough time would one day become… master illusionists.