Chapter 409: Return

Bai E's response was equally inhuman.

Bai E's sword‑holding arm joint bent in a bizarre, biologically impossible way, letting Kevin's ice fist—capable of shattering metal—skim past his arm, raising only a spray of ice shards.

At the same time, Bai E's tattered wings behind him flapped violently, his body drifting backward like a paper sheet in the wind; the Dark-colored Great Sword was pulled along, its blade scraping the edge of the Calamity‑Erasing sword, sparking a long trail of dazzling sparks, apparently aiming to slash at Kevin's sword‑gripping fingers!

Kevin let out a cold snort, and the Calamity‑Erasing sword suddenly quivered!

The scorching Flame, combined with a massive force, erupted with a thunderous blast, flinging the Dark-colored Great Sword away forcefully.

The two leveraged the force to drift several meters apart, their gazes colliding again in the air.

Immediately, an even denser, wilder clash began!

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Ding! Boom!"

The clashing of swords merged into a roar, like a torrential rain hammering a tin roof, so dense it left one breathless.

Each impact burst forth visible shockwaves and scattering shards of light, further pulverizing the already shattered ground into dust.

The two became two entwined streaks of flowing light.

They criss‑crossed between the dim yellow sky and the broken earth.

At times Kevin would slash, sending a hundred‑meter wave of fire that turned a stone forest into a lava pool; at other times Bai E's heavy strike would crash down, causing the ground to collapse into a massive pit from which violet‑black flames surged.

The battle's aftershocks made the distant black rocks, resembling the spines of giant beasts, continuously crumble, causing the entire simulated battlefield to tremble slightly.

【Bullet screen is now fully active】:

Spiral trick: Spectacular! Too spectacular! Motion capture rate 300%! Diffuse spectrum being recorded! This combat data is priceless!

Shana: Kevin's combat rhythm is being thrown off…。

Xi Lian: He is enduring… then counterattacking… Careful, Mr. Kevin, don't just charge recklessly…

Floating Life: All swordsmanship has reached the pinnacle, yet one is blazing like the sun, the other silent as an abyss… The abyss can contain the sun, but the sun cannot illuminate the abyss.

Within Pure White Space, Heimu's previously relaxed posture gradually contracted.

Heimu slightly leaned forward, her violet‑black eyes fixed on the screen, fingers lightly tapping the sofa armrest.

"Something's off…" Heimu muttered to herself.

On the screen, Kevin's onslaught remained fierce, the Calamity‑Erasing flames and ice alternating wildly, the momentum astonishing.

But Heimu's keen perception caught subtle changes: Kevin's breathing rhythm was a fraction faster than at the start, and most importantly, the aura on his body bearing the seal of Salvation was waning in a slow yet steady manner…

In contrast, Bai E remained silent, hollow, and still Blocked Counterattack with precision.

The violet‑black pattern on his body seemed even dimmer.

No, not getting stronger, but something is accumulating.

"System, retrieve the detailed energy interaction map since Bai E's battle, highlighting damage absorption and feedback patterns."

Heimu ordered, needing data to verify that vague intuition.

【System】: Generating dynamic interaction model… Generation complete.

A complex Three-Dimensional energy flow map unfolded beside the battle screen.

Countless lines representing various energies weaved and dissipated within.

Lines denoting Kevin's attacks surged like raging rivers, constantly striking toward the violet‑black cloud representing Bai E.

However, something strange occurred.

The vast majority of lines, upon touching the violet‑black cloud, did not erupt into violent fluctuations as expected.

They seemed to crash into an extremely viscous mire, quickly being swallowed.

Immediately thereafter, almost simultaneously, the opposite side of the violet‑black cloud silently "spat" out a filament of identical color, but with intensity magnified by hundreds of times!

In plain terms, each attack was accompanied by a "Return" amplified to the extreme!

Although these Returns seemed minute, accumulated they resembled countless tiny needles, continuously piercing Kevin himself.

"Heh…"

Heimu stared at the crystal‑clear energy interaction map, letting out an enlightened sigh, "So that's it… suffering conversion? No, it's more like an absolutely fair rebound Sandbag."

She leaned back onto the sofa, her gaze scanning the floating value on the map that read "Magnification coefficient: 478%~???".

"The harsher you hit him, the more feedback you ingest. No wonder Kevin feels increasingly exhausted; most of each slash he swings is processed hundreds of times and silently slams back onto himself. This isn't a fight…"

She watched the screen as Kevin once again wielded Calamity‑Erasing, cutting a half‑moon blaze spanning several kilometers, temporarily forcing Bai E back, yet his sword‑holding arm trembled slightly.

"…It's as if he's using Heavenly Fire to subject himself to an extremely cruel high‑temperature forge, while the iron anvil itself remains unscathed."

Kevin slid back half a step, the Calamity‑Erasing blade carving a charred trench into the ground.

His icy‑blue pupils narrowed slightly, his breathing rhythm a half beat faster than before.

Something's wrong.

Each sword swing, each collision with that Dark-colored Great Sword, returned feedback so unusually heavy.

It didn't feel like Blocking, but rather… his own exerted force, unaltered, smashing back.

The numbness in his arm accumulated.

He glanced at the floating Bai E in the distance.

The opponent remained silent, his hollow violet eyes reflecting the Calamity‑Erasing flames, neither sorrow nor joy, neither injury nor fatigue.

The Dark-colored Great Sword stayed firmly in his grip, its violet‑black patterns seeming even deeper than before.

(Rebound… or absorption.)

Kevin's combat instincts and experience across countless battlefields raced through analysis.

He could not continue this reciprocal assault.

Each strike doubled his own consumption, while the opponent… resembled an unfathomably deep void.

He must change the rhythm.

The moment his thought settled, Kevin moved.

He did not charge at Bai E again, but instead stepped his left foot half a step backward, stamping heavily on the ground!

"Ka‑la‑la—!"

Centered on the sole of his foot, a fierce cold aura burst forth!

The black rock layer was instantly covered by azure ice crystals, the ice sheet sprouting upward wildly as if alive!

In a few breaths, a small ice mountain dozens of meters high, studded with jagged ice spikes, rose from the ground before Kevin!

The ice's hue exuded a deep, light‑devouring dark blue.

This wasn't over yet.

At the Shana of the ice mountain's formation, Kevin's left hand formed a void grip and swung forward!

"Boom! Boom boom boom—!"

The entire ice mountain, together with countless ice spires that had suddenly crystallized within a hundred‑meter radius around it, explosively burst from within at the same moment!

It transformed into a high‑speed, deep‑blue ice storm swirling with a cold current, like a reverse‑spinning tempest, sweeping toward Bai E in the sky!

The range was so vast it almost covered every possible evasive space for Bai E!