The jagged perimeter of the titan-steel arena echoed with the sharp, rhythmic scraping of shattered composite metal. Overhead, the atmospheric scrubbers whirred at maximum velocity, struggling to clear the dense haze of vaporized slag, scorched ozone, and multi-elemental residue left over from the previous exchange. The automated holographic scoreboards blinked erratically, reflecting the sheer strain the ongoing clash was placing on the citadel's secondary power grid.
In the center of the ring, the air shimmered with an unstable, prismatic distortion.
Abha-sttar stood tall amidst the drifting debris, his resplendent robes now heavily frayed and smoking at the edges. The dual-colored radiance in his eyes burned with an erratic, volatile intensity as he pulled his hands apart. Between his palms, a terrifying singularity of cosmic and spatial energy began to writhe and contort, shifting from a blinding white glare to a bruised, pitch-black abyss. He wasn't just combining elemental tiers anymore; he was forcing foreign variables into his core matrix.
"You pride yourself on being an unmovable fortress, Dent," Abha-sttar's voice boomed across the stadium, carrying a sharp, desperate edge. "You think your defensive authority can absorb infinite kinetic and elemental force! But let us see how your absolute domain handles something that doesn't just impact your perimeter—something that corrupts the very spatial fabric of your existence!"
From the opposite side of the ruined platform, Dent stood rooted in place. His heavy, broad frame radiated a steady, albeit slightly strained, golden-grey hue. The **Qadirun Maliqun of Defense** narrowed his eyes, his breathing deep and controlled. Despite his calm exterior, the sheer volume of thermal, inthermal, and spatial energy he had absorbed and stored during the first half of the match was pushing his internal containment lattice to its absolute limit. His forearms throbbed under the skin, glowing with a restless, trapped luminescence.
"A fortress does not bend to the wind, Abha-sttar," Dent replied, his voice deep and resonant, cutting cleanly through the noise of the charging atmosphere. "No matter how dark that wind may be."
Abha-sttar's face twisted into a fierce scowl. "Then let us shatter the foundation!"
With a savage roar, Abha-sttar thrust his hands forward, ripping a fissure open directly into the forbidden streams of the outer dimensions.
**Astrager Abha Integration: Void-Shatter Cataclysm!**
A wave of pitch-black, corrupted spatial energy—the signature mark of Astrager Abha—bled directly into the core of Abha-sttar's multi-elemental vortex. The crimson fire and absolute-zero ice instantly turned a sickly, deep violet-black, howling with a haunting, high-frequency resonance that made the teeth of everyone in the front rows ache. The attack didn't travel across the floor; it folded space itself, appearing directly in front of Dent in a microsecond.
Dent's eyes flashed wide. The moment the Astrager Abha-infused technique materialized, his internal storage lattice shrieked in warning. This wasn't standard energy that could be neatly neutralized or stored; it was active, chaotic spatial corruption that sought to unravel the very blueprint of his defensive domain.
*BOOM!*
The impact was cataclysmic. A shockwave of pure black-and-gold plasma erupted across the ring, tearing the reinforced titan-steel floor completely off its magnetic anchors and sending massive slabs of metal flying into the upper barrier.
Inside the epicenter of the blast, Dent's golden-grey defensive mantle flickered violently. The corrupted spatial energy bit into his outer aura like acid, eating through the layers of his absolute defense.
"ARGHHH!"
For the first time in the entire match, Dent was pushed backward. His heavy boots plowed deep trenches into the molten floor, sliding two meters, then five, leaving glowing trails of friction behind him. The sheer destructive payload of the Astrager Abha was bypassing his conversion grid, leaking past his physical barrier and directly assaulting his body.
In the spectator stands, Team Thunder jolted forward in unison.
"He's using Astrager Abha?!" Ninten shouted, gripping the metal railing so hard his knuckles turned white. "That's illegal in a standard tier match! That corruption can permanently damage a fighter's core!"
"It's not just illegal, it's unstable," Mark said, his cybernetic visor flashing a rapid cascade of red warning diagnostics as it tracked the energy spikes. "Abha-sttar is overloading his own nervous system just to force that corruption through Dent's defense. If Dent doesn't release the stored energy right now, his internal lattice is going to rupture!"
Down on the field, Dent felt the burning agony tearing through his shoulders and chest. Blood welled up from the corner of his mouth, sizzling instantly against the superheated air. The pressure was immense, threatening to crush his ribs and shatter his consciousness.
Yet, as the dark, corrupted plasma ground his boots to a halt, Dent's jaw tightened with an unyielding, unbreakable resolve.
"You think... this is enough to break the Qadirun Maliqun?" Dent whispered, his voice trembling under the unimaginable weight, but laced with a terrifying, stubborn pride.
Instead of trying to block or deflect the incoming corruption, Dent did something completely unexpected. He dropped his outer defense slightly, opening a deliberate gap in his barrier to draw the remaining Astrager Abha directly into his core storage lattice.
Abha-sttar's eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he saw what Dent was doing. "Are you insane?! You're taking the pure void directly into your own body?! It will tear you apart from the inside out!"
"A wall doesn't just stop the storm," Dent roared, his eyes glowing with an overwhelming, blinding golden-grey brilliance that completely eclipsed the darkness around him. "It absorbs the weight of the world... and turns it back into an earthquake!"
**Ultimate Defensive Authority: The Mountain's Retribution!**
All the accumulated thermal heat, the absolute-zero frost, the compressed spatial tears, and the volatile, pitch-black Astrager Abha that Dent had absorbed throughout the entire fight were suddenly compressed inside his core down to a single, infinitely dense point of energy.
Dent raised his right hand. The skin of his arm cracked under the sheer pressure, leaking golden light and black static, but he didn't falter. He aimed his palm directly at Abha-sttar, who was standing only ten meters away, completely drained and panting heavily from the massive output of his final attack.
"Take it back!" Dent bellowed, unleashing the ultimate counter-strike.
A massive, roaring column of golden-grey and violet-black energy erupted from Dent's palm. It wasn't just a beam; it was a localized cataclysm that folded space, scorched the air, and carried the combined weight of every single blow Abha-sttar had thrown during the match, multiplied tenfold.
Abha-sttar tried to raise his arms, attempting to conjure a hasty spatial shield, but his reserves were entirely empty. The sheer speed and magnitude of the incoming retribution gave him zero time to react.
*KA-BOOM!*
The massive beam struck Abha-sttar dead-on, swallowing him whole in an enormous, blinding sphere of multi-elemental and corrupted energy. The explosion obliterated the remaining center platforms of the ring, sending a towering pillar of light shooting straight up toward the ceiling dome. The atmospheric containment barriers strained to their absolute breaking point, groaning loudly as shockwaves battered the reinforced glass.
For several seconds, the entire arena was blinded by the radiant brilliance of the blast.
Then, slowly, the light began to fade.
A thick, swirling cloud of smoke and dust filled the cratered center of the ring. The floor was completely gone, reduced to a smoldering, melted basin of structural slag.
At the edge of the crater, Abha-sttar emerged from the smoke, tumbling hard onto the ruined metal floor. His robes were completely incinerated, his body covered in severe thermal burns and frostbite, and the dual-colored radiance in his eyes was completely extinguished. He struggled on his hands and knees for a fraction of a second, coughing violently, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed face-first onto the ground, completely unconscious.
*THUD.*
On the opposite side, Dent stood swaying on his feet. His heavy armor was cracked, his breathing was ragged and shallow, and blood dripped steadily from his chin onto the scorched earth. He kept his eyes locked on the fallen opponent across the ring, refusing to let his legs give out.
For three agonizing seconds, absolute silence hung over the stadium as everyone waited to see if the unyielding defender could maintain his footing.
Dent took one final, heavy step forward—and then his eyes closed, his consciousness finally fading as his body pitched forward.
Before he could hit the molten floor, however, a golden-grey aura gently cushioned his fall, letting him rest securely against the edge of the remaining platform.
The automated stadium speakers flared to life, shattering the breathless silence with the final verdict:
"MATCH TERMINATED! BOTH FIGHTANTS PUSHED TO THE ABSOLUTE LIMIT! BUT DUE TO THE OPPONENT FALLING FIRST... THE VICTOR OF MATCH TWO IS... DENT OF TEAM THUNDER!"
***
**TO BE CONTINUED...**
---
### AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you so much for reading Chapter 17!
What an absolute battle of titans! Dent proved why he is the unyielding **Qadirun Maliqun of Defense**, taking everything Abha-sttar had—including illegal Astrager Abha corruption—absorbing the devastating weight of the assault, and turning it right back around in a jaw-dropping, match-winning counterattack! Both fighters left everything on the field!
What will happen next in the tournament as Team Thunder secures another massive victory? Find out in Chapter 18! Leave your thoughts, theories, and comments below, and keep supporting **ABSOLUTE UNLIMITED INFINITY**!
The jagged perimeter of the titan-steel arena echoed with the sharp, rhythmic scraping of shattered composite metal. Overhead, the atmospheric scrubbers whirred at maximum velocity, struggling to clear the dense haze of vaporized slag, scorched ozone, and multi-elemental residue left over from the previous exchange. The automated holographic scoreboards blinked erratically, reflecting the sheer strain the ongoing clash was placing on the citadel's secondary power grid.
In the center of the ring, the air shimmered with an unstable, prismatic distortion.
Abha-sttar stood tall amidst the drifting debris, his resplendent robes now heavily frayed and smoking at the edges. The dual-colored radiance in his eyes burned with an erratic, volatile intensity as he pulled his hands apart. Between his palms, a terrifying singularity of cosmic and spatial energy began to writhe and contort, shifting from a blinding white glare to a bruised, pitch-black abyss. He wasn't just combining elemental tiers anymore; he was forcing foreign variables into his core matrix.
"You pride yourself on being an unmovable fortress, Dent," Abha-sttar's voice boomed across the stadium, carrying a sharp, desperate edge. "You think your defensive authority can absorb infinite kinetic and elemental force! But let us see how your absolute domain handles something that doesn't just impact your perimeter—something that corrupts the very spatial fabric of your existence!"
From the opposite side of the ruined platform, Dent stood rooted in place. His heavy, broad frame radiated a steady, albeit slightly strained, golden-grey hue. The **Qadirun Maliqun of Defense** narrowed his eyes, his breathing deep and controlled. Despite his calm exterior, the sheer volume of thermal, inthermal, and spatial energy he had absorbed and stored during the first half of the match was pushing his internal containment lattice to its absolute limit. His forearms throbbed under the skin, glowing with a restless, trapped luminescence.
"A fortress does not bend to the wind, Abha-sttar," Dent replied, his voice deep and resonant, cutting cleanly through the noise of the charging atmosphere. "No matter how dark that wind may be."
Abha-sttar's face twisted into a fierce scowl. "Then let us shatter the foundation!"
With a savage roar, Abha-sttar thrust his hands forward, ripping a fissure open directly into the forbidden streams of the outer dimensions.
**Astrager Abha Integration: Void-Shatter Cataclysm!**
A wave of pitch-black, corrupted spatial energy—the signature mark of Astrager Abha—bled directly into the core of Abha-sttar's multi-elemental vortex. The crimson fire and absolute-zero ice instantly turned a sickly, deep violet-black, howling with a haunting, high-frequency resonance that made the teeth of everyone in the front rows ache. The attack didn't travel across the floor; it folded space itself, appearing directly in front of Dent in a microsecond.
Dent's eyes flashed wide. The moment the Astrager Abha-infused technique materialized, his internal storage lattice shrieked in warning. This wasn't standard energy that could be neatly neutralized or stored; it was active, chaotic spatial corruption that sought to unravel the very blueprint of his defensive domain.
*BOOM!*
The impact was cataclysmic. A shockwave of pure black-and-gold plasma erupted across the ring, tearing the reinforced titan-steel floor completely off its magnetic anchors and sending massive slabs of metal flying into the upper barrier.
Inside the epicenter of the blast, Dent's golden-grey defensive mantle flickered violently. The corrupted spatial energy bit into his outer aura like acid, eating through the layers of his absolute defense.
"ARGHHH!"
For the first time in the entire match, Dent was pushed backward. His heavy boots plowed deep trenches into the molten floor, sliding two meters, then five, leaving glowing trails of friction behind him. The sheer destructive payload of the Astrager Abha was bypassing his conversion grid, leaking past his physical barrier and directly assaulting his body.
In the spectator stands, Team Thunder jolted forward in unison.
"He's using Astrager Abha?!" Ninten shouted, gripping the metal railing so hard his knuckles turned white. "That's illegal in a standard tier match! That corruption can permanently damage a fighter's core!"
"It's not just illegal, it's unstable," Mark said, his cybernetic visor flashing a rapid cascade of red warning diagnostics as it tracked the energy spikes. "Abha-sttar is overloading his own nervous system just to force that corruption through Dent's defense. If Dent doesn't release the stored energy right now, his internal lattice is going to rupture!"
Down on the field, Dent felt the burning agony tearing through his shoulders and chest. Blood welled up from the corner of his mouth, sizzling instantly against the superheated air. The pressure was immense, threatening to crush his ribs and shatter his consciousness.
Yet, as the dark, corrupted plasma ground his boots to a halt, Dent's jaw tightened with an unyielding, unbreakable resolve.
"You think... this is enough to break the Qadirun Maliqun?" Dent whispered, his voice trembling under the unimaginable weight, but laced with a terrifying, stubborn pride.
Instead of trying to block or deflect the incoming corruption, Dent did something completely unexpected. He dropped his outer defense slightly, opening a deliberate gap in his barrier to draw the remaining Astrager Abha directly into his core storage lattice.
Abha-sttar's eyes widened in sheer disbelief as he saw what Dent was doing. "Are you insane?! You're taking the pure void directly into your own body?! It will tear you apart from the inside out!"
"A wall doesn't just stop the storm," Dent roared, his eyes glowing with an overwhelming, blinding golden-grey brilliance that completely eclipsed the darkness around him. "It absorbs the weight of the world... and turns it back into an earthquake!"
**Ultimate Defensive Authority: The Mountain's Retribution!**
All the accumulated thermal heat, the absolute-zero frost, the compressed spatial tears, and the volatile, pitch-black Astrager Abha that Dent had absorbed throughout the entire fight were suddenly compressed inside his core down to a single, infinitely dense point of energy.
Dent raised his right hand. The skin of his arm cracked under the sheer pressure, leaking golden light and black static, but he didn't falter. He aimed his palm directly at Abha-sttar, who was standing only ten meters away, completely drained and panting heavily from the massive output of his final attack.
"Take it back!" Dent bellowed, unleashing the ultimate counter-strike.
A massive, roaring column of golden-grey and violet-black energy erupted from Dent's palm. It wasn't just a beam; it was a localized cataclysm that folded space, scorched the air, and carried the combined weight of every single blow Abha-sttar had thrown during the match, multiplied tenfold.
Abha-sttar tried to raise his arms, attempting to conjure a hasty spatial shield, but his reserves were entirely empty. The sheer speed and magnitude of the incoming retribution gave him zero time to react.
*KA-BOOM!*
The massive beam struck Abha-sttar dead-on, swallowing him whole in an enormous, blinding sphere of multi-elemental and corrupted energy. The explosion obliterated the remaining center platforms of the ring, sending a towering pillar of light shooting straight up toward the ceiling dome. The atmospheric containment barriers strained to their absolute breaking point, groaning loudly as shockwaves battered the reinforced glass.
For several seconds, the entire arena was blinded by the radiant brilliance of the blast.
Then, slowly, the light began to fade.
A thick, swirling cloud of smoke and dust filled the cratered center of the ring. The floor was completely gone, reduced to a smoldering, melted basin of structural slag.
At the edge of the crater, Abha-sttar emerged from the smoke, tumbling hard onto the ruined metal floor. His robes were completely incinerated, his body covered in severe thermal burns and frostbite, and the dual-colored radiance in his eyes was completely extinguished. He struggled on his hands and knees for a fraction of a second, coughing violently, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed face-first onto the ground, completely unconscious.
*THUD.*
On the opposite side, Dent stood swaying on his feet. His heavy armor was cracked, his breathing was ragged and shallow, and blood dripped steadily from his chin onto the scorched earth. He kept his eyes locked on the fallen opponent across the ring, refusing to let his legs give out.
For three agonizing seconds, absolute silence hung over the stadium as everyone waited to see if the unyielding defender could maintain his footing.
Dent took one final, heavy step forward—and then his eyes closed, his consciousness finally fading as his body pitched forward.
Before he could hit the molten floor, however, a golden-grey aura gently cushioned his fall, letting him rest securely against the edge of the remaining platform.
The automated stadium speakers flared to life, shattering the breathless silence with the final verdict:
"MATCH TERMINATED! BOTH FIGHTANTS PUSHED TO THE ABSOLUTE LIMIT! BUT DUE TO THE OPPONENT FALLING FIRST... THE VICTOR OF MATCH TWO IS... DENT OF TEAM THUNDER!"
**TO BE CONTINUED...**