Jie Ming’s words had not yet faded.
Augusta attacked again.
Boom!!!
Rock fists as massive as mountain ranges howled in from all directions, electromagnetic fields flowing over their surfaces.
The immense power ionized the surrounding air, dragging out brilliant blue energy trails.
Hundreds of giant fists broke the sound barrier almost simultaneously, space pressing into layer upon layer of ripples from the high-speed impact, as if the entire sky were collapsing toward the center. But this time, Jie Ming did not use the Embers of Nihility - Reversal Palm. Dark-gold divine light suddenly surged from within him.
At the same time, the Return to Ruins Armor operated at full capacity, a steady-state field covering his entire body.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rock fists slammed down, a dense barrage like a torrential downpour. Each collision could shatter a continent.
Yet the moment those fists struck Jie Ming’s body, it was as if they had plunged into a bottomless abyss.
All kinetic energy poured out wildly, and the Return to Ruins Armor absorbed the impact layer by layer, converting it into power to propel itself forward.
Leveraging the impact, Jie Ming shot upward like a meteor reversing its course, rising higher and higher through the rain of fists.
Faster and higher, until he completely broke free of the rocky planet.
At the same time, the dark-gold divine radiance on his body began to expand wildly.
A hundred meters.
A thousand meters.
Ten thousand meters.
The light, like a newborn star, spread outward continuously.
Each expansion made the surrounding space groan under the strain.
Cracks in space spread from the edges of the light, only to heal again under the power of the formation.
The rock fists that continued to pursue crashed into the golden light; before they could even explode, they were crushed by the terrifying pressure, turning into clouds of dust.
Augusta finally stopped her attack.
She slowly raised her head, and for the first time, true solemnity appeared in her black pupils.
The next moment, the golden light faded, and a third Dharma Aspect, towering at 250,000 kilometers high, slowly stood at the end of the starry sky.
It dominated the cosmos, majestic beyond imagination.
The shattered rocky planet beneath its feet was merely a pebble that could be toyed with in its hand.
Dark-gold divine radiance flowed like liquid molten gold across the surface of the Dharma Aspect.
Unfortunately, this Dharma Aspect of Jie Ming’s still bore a distinct roughness.
The proportions of shoulders and back were slightly stiff, the lengths of the two arms differed a little, and the lines of the torso resembled an unrefined rough casting.
The two faces were also shrouded in a hazy golden mist, obscuring their features.
Only the six eyes on the two faces blazed like six suns, quietly overlooking the entire starry sky.
Relying on his skyrocketing spiritual aptitude, Jie Ming had forcibly crossed the threshold of the third Dharma Aspect.
But his comprehension of the laws was ultimately insufficient; he could condense a form, but was far from true perfection.
Yet Jie Ming did not mind.
Whether the Dharma Aspect was refined or not did not affect its ability to throw a punch.
For the current stage of battle, this Dharma Aspect was more than enough!
In the distance, Augusta looked up at the golden giant that blotted out the entire star field.
After a long moment, the corners of her mouth slowly lifted, revealing a smile that could be called dazzling—it was pure excitement.
Those black eyes, always calm as an icy lake, now blazed with true fighting spirit for the first time.
She bared two sharp canine teeth. “This... is the you I want to defeat!”
Jie Ming did not reply. He simply raised his right hand.
The Dharma Aspect mirrored his motion, slowly raising its right hand.
With that single motion, the entire shattered planet was plunged into shadow.
That palm slowly pressed down; before the five fingers had even fully closed, the terrifying gravitational pull was already tearing the ground apart.
Augusta’s gaze sharpened, and she raised both hands simultaneously.
Rumble!
The entire rocky planet shook violently. Countless rock layers were torn from the ground, and crimson magma shot into the sky.
Then, under the influence of electromagnetic force, countless rock layers began to collapse and fuse wildly.
In just a few breaths, the entire planet was compressed into a black stone shuttle thousands of kilometers long.
The shuttle’s surface flowed with dark red patterns like lava, and the metallic luster from electromagnetic strengthening flickered continuously.
Seeing the giant palm looming overhead, Augusta waved her hand. The stone shuttle vanished instantly, then shot toward the palm.
Boom!!!
The Dharma Aspect’s palm accelerated its slap, and the two terrifying forces collided head-on.
Dark-gold divine radiance and deep-blue electromagnetic force intertwined wildly. Space shattered like a mirror, layer by layer.
A visible energy storm swept outward, pulverizing countless floating meteorites into particle dust.
After the energy storm subsided, the five fingers of the Dharma Aspect slowly closed.
Crack, crack.
The grating sound of fracturing echoed continuously.
The stone shuttle, capable of piercing a planet, was crushed in the grip.
Countless crystalline mineral fragments poured from between the fingers, spreading a brilliant silver river across the starry sky.
At that moment, Jie Ming’s expression suddenly shifted slightly.
Because he clearly sensed an invisible force silently entangling the entire Dharma Aspect.
Though its might was not as strong as the previous attacks, it was far more dangerous than any before.
That force acted directly on the most fundamental energy structure of the Dharma Aspect, attempting to destroy its internal structure.
Under such an attack, the Dharma Aspect itself began to warp slightly, as if an invisible giant hand were trying to twist the entire manifestation into a knot.
Jie Ming looked into the distance, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. “Trying to directly twist the internal energy structure with electromagnetic force?”
“A rather troublesome method, indeed. But as you said earlier, as long as the power is sufficient, these skills...”
Jie Ming’s eyes focused. He gave his shoulders a light shake, and the 250,000-kilometer-tall Dharma Aspect suddenly erupted with dazzling golden radiance.
Boom!
Pure, extreme power instantly shattered all restraints.
Countless arcs of electricity exploded, and the residual electromagnetic field was blasted apart.
“...are meaningless!”
Though he spoke lightly, Jie Ming knew well that it had taken him several seconds to break free.
And because of that, he had given Augusta a fair amount of preparation time.
By now, Augusta had retreated beside a star. The star, which had been burning calmly, now churned violently.
Its corona peeled away layer by layer, and endless plasma converged under the compression of an invisible force.
In just a few breaths, the entire star began to reshape itself.
Head, torso, limbs...
A giant, entirely composed of stellar matter, slowly rose from the starry sky.
Seeing this, Jie Ming was truly astonished.
But what surprised him was not that Augusta could control a star, but the speed and precision of her manipulation of the entire star.
Earlier, manipulating the rock fists had been electromagnetic force.
But compressing an entire planet and reshaping an entire star in mere breaths—by electromagnetic force alone, it was absolutely impossible.
Only gravity cooperating with electromagnetic force could simultaneously constrain neutral matter and charged particles, shaping a star into any desired form.
Thinking back to the earlier surge in rock hardness, which clearly involved enhancement at the level of fundamental particles...
Jie Ming finally understood.
“It’s not just electromagnetic force,” he said slowly, a note of admiration in his voice. “You’ve also mastered gravity. And the strong and weak nuclear forces you used to strengthen matter.”
“It seems you’ve mastered the four fundamental forces.”
Before the star giant’s forehead, Augusta floated quietly, golden-red flames illuminating her profile.
Hearing this, she smiled lightly.
“You’re right. Unfortunately, I haven’t truly unified them yet.”
With one step, she merged into the star giant’s body.
The next moment, the pure white eyes formed from the corona slowly opened.
The instant those white pupils lit up, the entire simulated universe trembled.
Hum...
A terrifying gravitational field, near substantial, suddenly expanded. The countless rock fragments scattered in the void were the first to break from their original orbits, flying toward the star giant like a rainstorm.
Next came the stone shuttle Jie Ming had crushed.
Then, the other three planets beyond the orbit began to shake.
Continents split, mountains collapsed. The entire planet slowly left its orbit, drawn by the invisible hand toward the star giant.
Hundreds of billions of tons of minerals reassembled, constantly compressed and refined in the gravitational field, becoming part of the star giant’s shoulder and chest armor.
All matter was rearranged under the combined action of the four fundamental forces, forming an even larger body.
In mere moments, the might of that star giant surged again.
Jie Ming looked up at the increasingly massive opponent before him, growing more and more excited. The six eyes on the Dharma Aspect’s two faces lit up simultaneously. He slowly clenched both fists.
Boom!
The fists collided, and dark-gold divine radiance exploded.
The impact from the collision of the two fists directly shattered space for tens of thousands of kilometers. Pitch-black cracks spread outward, quickly repaired by the training ground’s automatic restoration.
“Hehehehe... Now this is interesting!”
As he spoke, the 250,000-kilometer Dharma Aspect took a sudden step forward.
In the vacuum of space, there was normally no foothold, but the moment the Dharma Aspect stepped down, layers of space began to warp, forming a point that bore the Dharma Aspect’s power.
At the cost of shattering an unknown expanse of space beneath its foot, the entire Dharma Aspect, like a dark-gold meteor carrying the terrifying momentum to tear the universe apart, punched toward the star giant’s face.
This straight punch had no technique—only the purest power.
Augusta likewise showed no intention of dodging. The star giant raised its left arm and met the blow head-on without hesitation.
Boom!!!
Fist met fist. A scorching white shockwave instantly swept the entire star system.
Wherever it passed, all floating debris and dust were annihilated.
Even space itself was briefly compressed into a transparent film under that force.
The star giant’s body swayed slightly, and the Dharma Aspect’s fist stalled for the first time.
From the initial probing exchange, the two sides were evenly matched.
The next instant, the star giant’s right fist curved in a blazing arc, slamming into the Dharma Aspect’s waist from the side.
Jie Ming did not withdraw his fist to defend. Instead, the Dharma Aspect’s left knee shot upward.
Boom!
The knee and fist struck simultaneously. Violent tremors spread madly along the bodies of the two giants.
But Jie Ming immediately sensed something unusual.
Too hard!
This blow did not feel like hitting a star; it was more like hitting a neutron star compressed to infinity.
The knee advanced only a few hundred meters before it could not move another inch.
At that moment, the corners of Augusta’s mouth lifted slightly.
The star giant’s abdomen suddenly split open, and dozens of massive tentacles formed from high-density stellar matter shot out without warning. Accelerated continuously by the electromagnetic field within the body, each tentacle possessed a burst speed close to sub-light, like a golden rainstorm covering the entire starry sky.
Jie Ming’s pupils contracted sharply. His arms crossed in an instant, and the Return to Ruins Armor deployed fully.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Countless tentacles hammered against the Dharma Aspect’s chest. The dark-gold divine radiance shook violently, and shockwaves exploded one after another.
Even though the Return to Ruins Armor continuously absorbed the power, the residual impact still forced the Dharma Aspect back tens of thousands of kilometers.
Large swathes of space were shattered by the Dharma Aspect’s body along the way, only to be quickly repaired by the battle chamber’s formation.
As soon as Jie Ming stabilized, the star giant was already pouncing again.
This time, it completely abandoned a fixed humanoid form.
Shoulders split open, two new arms grew out. Its back split open, and two more arms appeared.
In the blink of an eye, the star giant had six arms.
Six fists came from six completely different directions at once, each carrying enough terrifying power to penetrate a planet.
Fist shadows interwove, blotting out the sky.
Jie Ming took a deep breath. The Dharma Aspect suddenly erupted.
Dark-gold twin fists turned into two streaks of meteor, colliding head-on with the incoming fist shadows.
Boom! One arm was blasted apart into a spray of stellar flames.
Yet the next moment, those flames reassembled, forming a brand-new arm.
Boom! Another fist was broken by Jie Ming.
But the star giant’s shoulder immediately grew a new one, as if it had endless limbs.
At the same time, the remaining fists landed on the Dharma Aspect.
Augusta had completely abandoned maintaining a humanoid form. Wherever attack was needed, a new arm grew!
Chest, abdomen, back—all split open continuously, new arms swinging wildly.
The entire star giant had become a thousand-armed monster made of stellar matter.
Fists shadows covered the starry sky.
For the first time, Jie Ming felt true suppression.
His Dharma Aspect only had two arms.
Though each of his punches could shatter an enemy’s arm, the remaining attacks still fell on him from all directions.
Bang! A fist hit his shoulder.
Boom! Another fist struck his chest.
Then a third slammed into his back.
Dark-gold divine radiance flickered violently. The massive Dharma Aspect was forced back repeatedly, yet it never truly collapsed.
The Return to Ruins Armor continuously neutralized most of the impact, and Jie Ming endured the remainder with his own body.
At the same time, his counterattacks grew heavier.
Every punch shattered large amounts of stellar matter, and great splashes of gold-red flames burst into the void.
But those scattered stellar matter soon reassembled under Augusta’s control.
By this point, both sides realized one thing.
Relying solely on close-quarters combat at this level, neither could prevail over the other.
One’s Dharma Aspect was like indestructible divine metal.
The other’s stellar body was nearly infinitely regenerative.
This fight had undoubtedly devolved into a war of attrition.
Whoever could last longer would be the victor.