Dilan had no idea what the Oracle saw around him but he wouldn't care even if he knew.
His full focus was on the fight against the Shadow Demon God, who didn't seem to see something amiss either.
He saw the blade Dilan wielded and it was impossible not to feel the highly potent aura that shrouded the weapon. Nonetheless, Cedric didn't pay much attention to Dilan's attack.
Being much faster than his opponent, he could tear Dilan apart and eliminate him in the blink of an eye with a soul-crushing technique.
Everyone knew that Dilan was in possession of an Origin ability called [Undying]. However, none of the Lesser Gods Dilan had fought would dare to utter a single word to the other Soul Shards in the City of Trials.
Their Soul Shards would be crushed the moment they were to think about exposing something about the fight with Dilan.
But even then, it was quite obvious that the Soul Shards, who had fought against Dilan, were depressed and their egos wounded by the fact that they had lost against a mortal being.
That should be more than enough reason to be more careful while fighting Dilan.
Yet, instead of fighting carefully, the Shadow Demon God went all out right from the beginning. He didn't even think about holding back, which was why he ended up charging forward recklessly.
He summoned a huge claw of shadows in the air above and slashed it down upon Dilan. Simultaneously, the Shadow Demon God lunged at him with his other arm. It enlarged and turned into a second means of lethal attack as he shaped the shadows into a greatsword with a razor-sharp double edge.
Dilan could evade both attacks but he would have to stop his advance, which would inevitably create an opportunity for the Shadow Demon God to use his already faster speed.
But fortunately enough, evading was not something Dilan had planned from the beginning. He began to smile in ecstasy at the stupidity of the Shadow Demon God and he jumped toward the shadow greatsword.
Dilan maintained an iron grip on the sword and did not let go of it, even when the razor-sharp blade cut through his skin and flesh like tofu.
His body was cut in half at his abdomen, blood gushed out of him, and his guts spilled out just moments later.
However, even then, Dilan's smile never ceased. On the contrary, it was as if his smile widened at the sensation of pain when he felt that the True Essence of his future Divinity was showing its tremendous power.
Strands of blood, flesh, muscles, and his spine shot out of his upper and lower body. They connected to one another the moment the shadow greatsword had passed through him.
It was as if the damage done to Dilan's body was reversed as everything was pulled together seemingly instantaneously.
He was fully healed even before the pain could spread through his entire body. This was more than enough to give Dilan a taste of his future Divinity's power and to help him realize what it would feel to be truly Undying.
The feeling was exceptional and Dilan didn't only want to feel it for a short period. The True Essence of Undying was not something he could keep activated because it would inevitably leave him with a permanent injury in case of prolonged usage.
Yet, if used just for a short moment, Dilan was able to do whatever he wanted without giving two cents about his body. He had enough time to focus on his attack rather than the need to focus on creating tiny opportunities to inflict minuscule wounds that would worsen over a long period.
Right now, he was given the opportunity to strike out and end the life of a Lesser God while being fully unscathed and able to create the most terrifying attack in his arsenal.
His Life force was filled to the brim and that was more than necessary because he strengthened the Immortality Aura even further. Simultaneously, he created a small Destruction Domain around him and he unleashed the power he had created only once before.
"Even if this attack kills me, I will return…but what about you?" Dilan spoke through his gritted teeth. Blood oozed out of his mouth, his silver eyes, his ears, and every pore in his body.
His body was not able to handle what he was about to do but that was something he could live with. After all, he knew what he was doing.
"73rd Slash of the Destruction Sword Style, Godslayer!"
Transcendent Power was too powerful for a mortal being to handle and despite that was forcefully being controlled by the decaying body of the young Ascender. Dilan was giving his all to make sure that the Shadow Demon God would receive the most pleasant surprise ever.
The layer of destruction was pushed into the blade by the Immortality Aura that was also pressurized by the Destruction Domain which in turn was compromised to fuse with the powers that engulfed the sword.
While fusing together, the might that was released, tore Dilan's arm to shred over and over again. However, given the True Essence of Undying, he healed just before his grasp around the violently vibrating sword loosened. This repeated itself dozens of times in a single second, causing tremendous pain that shot straight through Dilan's brain.
But even then, Dilan's smile never faltered.
He lifted his sword high above his head and slashed down vertically.
His movement seemed extremely slow in everyone's eyes but not even the Oracle was confident of being able to avoid the attack had she been his opponent.
She had been distracted at the instant regeneration Dilan had undergone, which wasted a quarter of a second. That quarter of a second would have been more than enough to push her into a tricky situation from which she might not have been able to escape.
As for the Shadow Demon God, he never knew that it was possible for any kind of existence to regenerate as fast as Dilan had done…and he had encountered countless beings, even those with abilities labeled <Supremacy of Healing>, or <Unparalleled Regeneration>.
But even if he were to know about the existence of an unfathomable power that rivaled Dilan's, the Shadow Demon God would have never expected a mortal to be able to unleash the transcendent power of a God.
'Fuck…'