The younger brother hesitated for a moment, then continued when Aaron showed no discernible expression.
"After all, this is a battle for dominance. I thought the two would fight like the heavens were falling and the earth was cracking."
"But now, all I see are fragmented spaces..."
This was not the visual experience the younger brother had hoped for at all!
Aaron chuckled, shaking his head at the remark.
"Does it seem too simple, too dull?"
The younger brother nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, that's exactly it!"
Aaron sighed, realizing the younger brother's lack of experience.
"What do you know? The fact that this is a battle of the first sequence makes such simplicity normal..."
At the level of Jin Henry and his peers, a probing initial move followed by an immediate all-out attack had become common practice.
At this tier, everyone possessed hidden, lethal skills.
If you didn't unleash yours, and your opponent did, then you were out of the game.
"In the earlier exchange, both knew the approximate strength of the other."
"Those in the first sequence typically launch direct killing blows, because they understand which skills and what intensity will inflict damage on their opponents."
"Shan Hai's skill was incredibly strange, and that cloaked ability would have been undetectable even to my father."
"The reason Jin Henry was hit just now was clearly because he unleashed his ultimate move a moment after Shan Hai."
"And this slight delay might have determined the outcome of the battle. Do you understand?"
The younger brother listened, still somewhat confused and unable to fully grasp the concept.
Aaron patiently explained, "It's like this: if their strengths are similar, and both have fatal, decisive skills."
"Shan Hai was concealed, and Jin Henry couldn't lock onto him. Jin Henry, perhaps overconfident, didn't immediately use his trump card, giving Shan Hai an opportunity. So, when Shan Hai's killing blow struck Jin Henry, it meant Jin Henry was essentially finished. Do you get it now?"
The younger brother still looked bewildered, but he understood the general gist.
So, the battles of the first sequence were about who landed the ultimate move first?
"Then, did Jin Henry win?"
The younger brother pointed at the screen.
The screen was still black, the darkness following Jin Henry's indescribably radiant skill.
Aaron pondered for a moment.
"Not necessarily..."
"Shan Hai destroyed Jin Henry's energy core. The ensuing explosion caused unimaginable destruction."
"I imagine the first sequence powerhouses are currently working together to maintain the universe's stability."
"But that doesn't mean Shan Hai would necessarily die from an attack of this magnitude..."
"With that bizarre cloaked skill, coupled with that penetrating ray I couldn't even comprehend, it's not impossible that Shan Hai possesses unimaginable defensive capabilities."
Aaron patted his shoulder.
"It's too early to make a conclusion. Battles in the first sequence aren't like movies; they don't prioritize flashiness."
"Let's wait. The screen should be restored in a little while..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the screen flickered back to life.
It seemed the maintenance by the first sequence powerhouses was complete.
Instantly, the two fell silent, their eyes fixed on the screen.
In the battle universe, Jin Henry had been reduced to half a… person!
The metallic half-body had completely detonated, and Jin Henry now appeared as if he had been split in two from the middle.
At the fractured edge, a smooth, black membrane covered the opening, obscuring the interior.
However, Jin Henry's current state did not look good.
Having lost his infinite energy core, Jin Henry's combat power had drastically decreased.
Furthermore, he had sustained significant injuries during the recent explosion.
This remaining half-body was severely wounded.
He reached into his ring for some potions, but a prompt informed him that the contest was still ongoing and disallowed consumption. Only healing skills could be used.
Damn it!
Jin Henry cursed, clutching his bloody wounds.
He scanned his surroundings but found no sign of Shan Hai, nor any indication of how badly Shan Hai had been injured.
However, the fact that the contest continued meant Shan Hai had not lost his combat capability.
"Shan Hai, where the hell are you?"
Jin Henry cast healing skills upon himself.
He wasn't proficient in healing magic, so he could only slowly alleviate his injuries.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the universe.
The light grew brighter and brighter, catching Jin Henry's attention.
Behind the light, a figure slowly materialized.
It was Shan Hai!
He stood behind the brilliance, the light emanating from his fingertips.
His scalp began to tighten, a stinging sensation.
The light from Shan Hai's fingertips posed a significant threat to Jin Henry.
Seeing that Shan Hai's clothes were intact, Jin Henry felt a chill, finding it hard to believe his eyes.
Luo Yongtian, who had re-entered the battle universe, twitched his eyes a couple of times.
Shan Hai was still using his cloaking skill, preventing Luo Yongtian from detecting his current aura to determine if he was injured.
But purely by sight, Luo Yongtian felt Jin Henry was done for.
After all, one half-dead half-body facing an opponent who was whole and whose clothes were not even damaged – the outcome was predictable!
Lin Feng looked at Jin Henry coldly, the light coalescing at his fingertips intensifying.
Was Lin Feng injured? Yes.
But the damage was not significant.
A fraction of a second before Jin Henry detonated his metallic half-body, Lin Feng had activated a skill he hadn't used in a very, very long time.
It was a skill he hadn't even named, one he had long since forgotten.
Using this skill consumed a tremendous amount of energy, but it allowed Lin Feng to enter a peculiar state.
In this state, Lin Feng's senses and strength were enhanced, and his mind became extraordinarily rational.
He could barely recall the last time he had used it.
If he hadn't been forced to withstand the explosion and couldn't escape, Lin Feng wouldn't have activated such an energy-draining skill.
There was no other choice. The entire universe, down to every dust particle, was undergoing violent explosions, and every square centimeter was a field of spatial collapse.
Imagine this massive universe, with spatial collapse occurring in every square centimeter; the amplified power and energy were far beyond a simple sum of two.
After activating the skill and entering the state, Lin Feng calculated, within a nanosecond, how to defend against this world-annihilating explosion that affected every particle of dust in the universe.
When the explosion ended, Lin Feng, feeling utterly drained, deactivated the skill.
In mere minutes, Lin Feng's energy reserves were depleted.
However, because of this, Lin Feng had sustained almost no substantial damage from the explosion.
This type of skill was what was referred to as a trump card.
"Any last words?" Lin Feng asked Jin Henry expressionlessly.
He just wanted to end this tedious battle as quickly as possible and then take a nap on the sun to replenish his energy.
Of course, the Infinity Stones and the Heart of the Universe could also replenish energy.
But the sources of energy differed, and the sensation they provided Lin Feng was different.
It was like how you could regain energy by sleeping, and you could also do so by drinking an energy drink. The result was the same, but the essence was different.
No matter what he used to restore his energy, none felt as comfortable as sleeping on the sun!