Tower of Heaven

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Flashes lit up the sky as rivers of lava darted back and forth in chase of their target.

The rivers couldn't last forever. When they reached their limit, they exploded and sent showers of burning lava in all directions, melting pieces of the ground below away.

Atlas was forced to move fast in order to escape the encirclement of those rivers. He zipped through the air from side to side, forcing the rivers to run into each other and prematurely explode.

The goal was only to place them all on one side. Once he didn't have to focus on his entire surroundings, Atlas stopped and faced the attacks.

'I realized that I was using my power wrong.'

He was trying to fight offensively using every Dao he comprehended, however, he wasn't comprehending offensive concepts of any of them.

Only the Dao of Fire was currently equipped for offensive techniques. The rest of his techniques were always meant to supplement him and fill his weaknesses.

In the heat of his climb, he'd forgotten those intentions. Now that he had them back, he was going to use this fight as a testing ground.

As the lava rivers approached, he pushed his hands forward and summoned the Dao of Water.

[Cascade]

A clear circular barrier of water appeared in front of him right on time.

Psssshhhh!

Steam billowed into the environment as the flames struck the water. All of the natural fire and heat was captured inside of the barrier, while the qi that made up the lava was pushed to the side.

Like they were slipping off the surface of the shield, those rivers were flung to the side and thrown into mountains, where they exploded without causing any real damage.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Seeing that Atlas was once again standing still, the Hell Guardian forced the earth open once more. Geysers shot up to him, but he was no longer in the air.

He dropped down and plummeted to the ground. Angling his trajectory, he flashed directly into the guardian's chest.

Boom!

Its chestplate shook slightly, but Atlas never expected to do any damage. Rather, he grabbed onto the ridges on the guardian's chest and hoisted himself onto its body.

Looking up, he could see its head tilting to look down at him.

[Move.]

WHOOOOSH!

A huge wave of wind pushed towards Atlas. His body was sent flying again, but he managed to grab a ledge before it was too late.

[That is not enough.]

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

"Khhhh…!"

Atlas' eyes narrowed as he desperately sent qi into his fingertips. The guardian's words were enough to shake the entire world, but they could not shake him.

Seeing his grip refuse to loosen, the guardian changed its strategy. It raised its arm and pushed it towards itself, pounding its own chest.

BOOM!

Pieces of rock and rubble went flying everywhere.

Atlas gritted his teeth, pushed off of its chest, and flew into the air, barely avoiding the impact.

[Astral Step]

Whoosh!

His body pivoted, his trajectory shooting him onto the guardian's arm. As he ran up to its shoulder, he stared directly at its face.

'That is the only area that is exposed. The rest of its body is completely covered in armor.'

He couldn't break that armor. He couldn't hope to do any damage to it on his own.

Even when the Hell Guardian struck itself, it didn't even fully destroy a single layer of the rock.

'Am I to keep forcing it to strike itself? However, it is a sentient entity.'

It wouldn't keep making the same mistake if it understood that it was being tricked.

'Maybe I can cause damage through such means…'

BOOM!

The guardian's other arm came down, slapping its shoulder.

[Lightning Shadow Step]

Atlas was forced to roughly maneuver through its fingers and retreat down its arm for a moment.

For him, this was not like climbing a giant entity. This was like scaling a mountain.

The guardian's arms were no different from the ground of Alfros other than the fact that they were constantly moving.

As the scenery changed around him, swinging from left to right, he charged through these volcanic plains, aimed for the mountainous thing the guardian called a head.

The impact on its shoulder felt catastrophic. Massive chunks of black rock barreled in every direction. Each one was the size of a boulder and moved as fast as a cheetah.

Atlas' path to the head was not a straightforward one. He zigzagged through the explosive impacts and debris, he jumped over massive gashes in the rock and scaled massive protrusions.

He moved from one arm to another with a cacophony of sound attached to his movements, making slow and steady progress.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

As fast as it could possibly move, it slammed its hand down on its other arm repeatedly. It couldn't chase Atlas directly, but it could absolutely cause enough damage to his surroundings.

The massive boulders and blotches of magma that flew towards him never ended. And, of course, they weren't alone.

The geysers weren't worth much, but the guardian still produced them. When their lava slammed onto its arms, Atlas was given another layer of dangers that he needed to remain conscious of.

Still, he pushed forward regardless of what the guardian tried. He didn't let anything stop him from his goal.

Water qi circled his body at all times, deflecting and redirecting anything that happened to get too close. Every time he encountered an obstacle he couldn't dodge, he slammed his foot into the guardian's arm and raised its own "skin" as a defense.

The small scrapes and bruises he received were healed by wood qi. It couldn't play as active of a part in this battle, as the Hell Guardian didn't have the same kind of vitality as other living beings.

Nevertheless, four types of qi worked together with such synchronicity that they almost looked like they were being used in tandem.

No matter what the Hell Guardian threw at him, Atlas found a way around it. And, as he rushed and pushed through his enemy's barrage, he found himself on the Hell Guardian's shoulder.

[Try again.]

[Titanfall]

Booooom!

A huge wave of water crashed down just in time. The vibrations and wind caused by the guardian's voice roared around Atlas and slammed into the titanic waterfall, unable to reach him directly.

Before it could speak again, Atlas was already running. He only stopped when he was underneath its head, knowing that the power of its voice couldn't affect him.

"Haa…haa…haa…"

The guardian struck itself more than a few times trying to hit him. Did it look like it was injured?

'It definitely doesn't feel pain. I was hoping some of its internal structure would be revealed, but nothing of the sort happened.'

Atlas wanted any other solution that wasn't the one in his head, but that didn't seem possible.

He looked up at the head above him, his eyes briefly taking in the sight of the incoming hand as well.

'I have to strike there.' Discover hidden stories at empire

His answer had to be in the only exposed part of its entire body.

But, what was exposed within…

Needless to say, Atlas prepared himself for the worst.