Chapter 420: The Illusion Of Omnipotence

​"Hmph! So what if you can use my skills?!"

​Mirabella shot forward like a flash of cosmic light, instantly appearing directly in front of the water clone of her father, and aggressively smashed down with her sword.

​BOOOOM!!!

​The heavy downward strike smashed into entirely empty space. Utilizing the massive wealth of combat experience she had gained from her own defensive skills, Mirabella immediately recognized the trajectory and quickly leaped backward.

​BOOOOM!!!

​The vacuum of space right before her violently exploded as her own invisible Celestial Guardian materialized and smashed its colossal fists right into the clone’s matching guardian.

​"It also has celestial guardians!!! How can I defeat it then when I can’t get close?!" Mirabella landed gracefully on her feet, her mind racing. She instantly stretched her left hand towards the clone, unleashing a terrifying, unblockable wave of pure absorption, siphoning all its spirit energy and vital life force in a split second.

​To her utter surprise, the clone effortlessly shifted its stance, mimicking the legendary Sun family absorption technique. It drew massive reserves of energy directly from the surrounding open space, perfectly replenishing the exact amounts she had just siphoned—even its fading vitality was fully restored in a heartbeat.

​"Fuck you!!" Mirabella kept her sword, banishing it to her storage as the exquisite, glowing Lotus Bow appeared in her hand, which she instantly aimed at its chest. To her profound irritation, the clone seamlessly summoned the exact same Lotus Bow, aiming its glowing point directly back at her.

​’It’s mimicking all my actions... Is there a structural way to defeat such a perfect enemy?’ She thought, briefly closing her eyes to shut out the distractions, searching rapidly through all her innate abilities, complex bloodlines, and high-tier skills.

​BOOM!

​Without giving her a single fraction of time to think, the clone smoothly released its taut bowstring. The arrow shot forward, the clone even boosting the projectile’s velocity and piercing strength with her signature Light Bullet skill.

​"You!!" Mirabella locked her target, pulled her own string to maximum tension, and released her own shot.

​BOOM!!

​The two devastating arrows collided precisely in the center of the arena, exploding into a blinding cloud of brilliant stardust and splinters.

​’It actually used Light bullet with that arrow. If I didn’t stop it with my own shot, I won’t be able to dodge it in time... And with the absolute piercing strength of the lotus bow, it will pass right through my standard defenses.’ She sighed internally, realizing her own arsenal was a terrifying thing to face.

​’If only I have the system right now... No!’ Mirabella vigorously shook her head, forcing her mind back into absolute focus:

​’I can do this entirely without the system!! I must.’ She kept her bow, and shot forward with explosive speed, Sunder appearing in her hand once again, then suddenly froze mid-stride:

​’Wait a second... Yes. If I do that, I can definitely win this.’ She nodded to herself, a cold, calculating smirk returning to her lips. She shot forward again, intentionally activating all her strongest, most high-density domains and active skills simultaneously.

​"Celestial wings!! Darkness Domain!! Sun Avatar! Echo of Frailty! Crystal domain! Devil claw, Spectral Gaze. Heaven annihilation lightning!! Lightning Domain! Poison Domain!!"

​She watched intently as the clone seamlessly mirrored her, invoking all those world-ending skills at the exact same time. But right before the skills could fully manifest and stabilize, Mirabella instantly stopped her own energy flow, abruptly canceled everything, and violently leaped backward out of the impact zone.

​"....?!"

​BOOOOM!!!

​"....?!"

​The ancient senior watched from the veil in absolute shock as all the clone’s high-tier domains violently clashed into one another in total structural chaos. Unstable, conflicting spirit energy burst out all over the place, entirely engulfing the father clone. The lightning attacks, the crushing devil’s claws, and the remaining powerful skills all instantly lost their fine balance and delicate elemental control. He watched helplessly as the catastrophic internal backlash all collided directly into the clone’s core.

​"...?!"

​BOOOOM!!!

​An unprecedented explosion of pure, chaotic elemental energy erupted, spreading destructive shockwaves all over the training space and completely stunning the senior.

​"Having my abilities doesn’t mean you have the necessary brain to use them." Mirabella stated coldly, standing amidst the fading starlight, staring indifferently at the scorched form of the clone as it violently shattered into harmless particles.

​"I have all these skills, but I would never dare use so many distinct domains at once. Running one or two simultaneously is okay, but using three or four—that’s fundamentally suicidal. In short, you will completely lose control of the macro energy flow, and once that happens, the overlapping boundaries of the Domains will collide together, creating a localized vacuum of chaotic energy." She smoothly sheathed her sword with a metallic click.

​"And once a useless creature loses control of this dense energy, the remaining active skills’ elemental balance will tilt, and you will suffer the total weight of the backlash... Having so many powerful skills is also a curse. Well, at least to those who don’t know how to properly use them." She explained, her tactical analysis flawless.

​"Impressive... I honestly won’t have thought of a way to exploit the system like this. But, how exactly did you know he would blindly follow your every move to his own detriment?" The Senior asked, stepping gracefully out of the void and appearing directly before her, his curiosity thoroughly piqued.

​"Well, you already explicitly said it has all my abilities, and my previous probing attacks were to test this exact theory. In truth, you lied to me, Senior. This clone doesn’t actually possess all my passive and active abilities from the start; it only has access to the ones I actively choose to deploy in its presence. In short, it simply copies the skill on reaction and uses them." She said, turning her sharp, discerning gaze directly to the Senior.

​"If it truly could use all my abilities independently, why go through all the tedious trouble of a physical fight? It could have simply burst my skull apart from the very beginning with Mental Overlord. Or maybe placed a forbidden curse domain to completely seal my internal spirit energy. Without the system active, I will be entirely powerless then. But it didn’t do that, because it physically can’t use those hidden skills, as long as I don’t cast them first." She explained, exposing the mechanical limitation of the ninth round.

".....?!!"

​The Senior froze for a moment, absorbing her brilliant deduction, and then burst out into a boisterous, echoing laugh:

​"Hahaha! You’re even more cunning than me!! You know, I now truly believe you have the capacity to acquire these precious stones... but I still don’t think you can past the tenth and last round."

​"Tell me about it." Mirabella looked up at him, her gaze completely resolute, her aura settling into a cold, unbreakable shield.

​The Senior’s laughter died down, his white eyes locking onto hers with the absolute weight of the cosmos.

​"You have to defeat me."

​"....?!"