Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal had so far enjoyed being on the sidelines and watching the battles unfold and he was not even all that worried when the Dystopians decided to double-team his ladies by going two-on-one against them.

The only one he might have been worried about was Valerie but even she was holding her own quite well and had not yet been forced to use a time-limited boost that would see her increase the strength and got from her inheritance.

Also, she was the first to actually kill a Dystopian so she deserved the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, watching the battle with a proud smile was more than enough for Hal but alas, he would not be allowed to enjoy the sidelines for too long.

Two Dystopians were stalling over to where he was... Both were at the mid and Early stages of the Semi-Transcendent beast realm with physical attributes boosts that made them capable of contending with cultivation levels above them.

Now ordinarily this might be worrying considering Hal was basically about to fight two semi-saints but his words to the ladies about not holding back referred to him as much as it referred to them.

Hal spread his arms and his skin turned the scarlet of the mid-World Devil form complete with horns and the claws while large devil wings spread out of his back.

He took a second to revel in how good it felt before a mild explosion of Devil energy spread all about him and impacted every single individual in the hall that was not a part of his group.

The feeling of fear for the nightmarish devil energy belonging to the only son of the Primeval Devil queen had multiple Dystopians and Haronians alike shivering and slipping up their attacks and movements out of fear which Hal's ladies took advantage of.

The Semi transcendent experts quickly shook off the effects and were still determined to fight nonetheless.

They were not about to be scared off before they even fought with this Devil of a man and as Hal stared at them with his Dark devil eyes, he welcomed the determination.

Stretching one hand, Hal summoned Executioner and in the other hand, he summoned his Cosmic Armament (A royal blue sword with a straight edge and a serrated edge) which he imbued with Devil energy to further strengthen and empower it.

He did not take to the skies... He did not have to but he did use his wings to float a few inches above the ground to further improve his agility and increase his maneuverability as he met his opponents before they even got to him.

*Clang!*

(Hal never asked the two to introduce themselves and he had no use for their names but for differentiation and to make things a bit less confusing, we'll call them Vee and Tee.)

Hal's long sword first made contact with Vee's spear which the Dystopian had retrieved from his spatial ring and easily gave off the feel of the Saint grade artifact that it was.

From the get-go, the Dystopians were set on using their numbers against Hal which meant that the moment he was occupied with Vee, as their spear and sword were held in a stalemate, Tee moved in to take advantage.

Of course, Hal wasn't having any of that and he did not have to...

Keeping his yes on Vee and seemingly keeping his attention on their crossed weapons, Hal let out the impact and heavy feeling of his Sovereign Dao which weighed heavily on Tee's shoulders and forced him to pause.

The pause was brief but it was enough time for Jal to control his Devil energy mentally and use it to form a dark arrow that flew towards the Dystopian and threatened to pierce right through his chest... And it would have succeeded as well had it not been for the incredibly speedy reaction that saw Tee move out of the way just in time.

As for the weapons stalemate, Hal formed a spike with Devil energy and the spike charged right at Vee's forehead but he was quick to leap back before he got skewered.

This was not a lasting solution though as Hal dashed forward in an obvious quest to pursue and the spike was extending the closer he got to Vee which meant that he did not even need to get too close to Vee before the spike was once again about to pierce the Dystopian's head but of course, Vee was not totally defenseless.

Demon beasts and any cultivator that cultivates their brand of cultivation that favors physicality over the almost mystic effects of human cultivation usually had issues with long-distance attacks.

In the early stages of cultivation, The beast cultivation undoubtedly had the upper hand because of how much stronger its users are and that physical advantage never goes away and gets even better and stronger but at the later stages of cultivation (Aurora, Pagoda, Semi-Saint, Saint and Demi-God) that physical advantage was no longer enough for an upper hand.

At that point, a smart human cultivator would have the upper hand in almost all altercations because, despite not being as strong as Demon beast and Dystopians at the same level, they have much stronger ranged attacks.

They have their Aurora which they can imbue with whatever boost that they are capable of (boost with their cosmic Pagoda, boost with Semi-saint energy e.t.c).

In short; At the Early stages of cultivation, Demon beasts and Dystopians naturally have the upper hand but at the late stages, the humans with their ranged attacks naturally have the upper hand.

That said, battles are never really all as simple as they are on paper and despite the advantages that one cultivation system has over the other, there were still cases where that did not matter.

Humans defeat demon beasts in the Early stages if know what they are doing and Demon beasts/Dystopians defeat Humans in the late stages if they are also fully aware and prepared for what they are facing.

The physical advantage still exists for the dystopians and the mystical advantage still exists for the Humans but it is how well they use these advantages that make a battle.

So when Hal's ranged attack (the spike) got close to Vee the Dystopian, he was undoubtedly at a disadvantage but how could he have been ready to face humans if one ranged attack was all it took to take him out.

He knocked the devil energy spike aside (doing so successfully as the state-fluid energy was solid at the time) and gained an immense boost in his movement through the use of his natural attunement with the element of wind.

He moved swiftly and boosted his already incredible speed to strike Hal in the face... Hal quickly used Executioner to protect himself and Vee grinned as he revealed that the attack had been a feint so that Hal could expose his midsection.

*Bam!*

Feeling that impact, Vee felt that there was no way that Hal was not knocked down and rendered even more vulnerable to a follow-up spear stab.

'I Can't miss' he thought and prepared to strike with his spear.

Before he could though, Tee slammed a large hammer Armament against Hal's head,

*BANG!*

The blow had Hal's head twisting in a weird and contorted manner while his arms fell limp at his sides and his swords (Both Executioner and his Cosmic Armament) fell from his hands...

... However, mysteriously, in a fit of stability that absolutely wowed both Dystopians, Hal remained on his feet when that should have knocked him as far as into the opposite wall of the hall.

And then, barely a second after the shock factor of this set into their mind...

"Ack!" 

Vee groaned as a large black Devil spike thrust right out of his chest.

He had been so preoccupied with striking Hal that he had forgotten about the spike that he had knocked aside.

Now, this oversight might seem foolish but you can't blame Vee too much because not only had he expected his and Tee's combined attacks to be enough to take Hal down and render the spike useless but he had also no longer been able to sense the spike the moment it was behind him.

Immediately after Vee was impaled and before Tee could recover from this shocking attack, Hal stretched his hand down and his Armament leaped up into it before he promptly thrust it through Tee's chest.

"Argh," Tee yelled as he and Vee staggered back away from Hal who finally stood upright again to brush his long black hair out his face and reveal that he had sustained no injuries from the hammer he took to the head... With his neck as perfect as always.

Hal stretched his left hand at Executioner and he summoned the Fiendish Armament into his grip.

He had his eyes on Tee who was now trying to pull the sword out of his chest.

Hal wasted no time swinging his sword to lop off Tee's head but a spear smacked against Executioner and knocked his arm aside and away from Tee's head.

Vee, who was still impaled with the spike of Devil energy, was the one who had tossed the spear and it was the last thing he would ever do because Hal pierced his head nonchalantly with another spike of Devil energy barely a second after...