"How bold!" Alexander laughed in his fury. When Robert's mental barriers blocked and detected the two forces earlier, Alexander thought he had lost his chance to turn the tide. However, Robert's arrogance in allowing him to absorb those powers indicated that Robert didn't see him as a threat at all.
With a buzzing sound, the two forces merged into Alexander's body, causing some changes, but Alexander's aura didn't noticeably strengthen. These two powers, compared to Alexander's own, still had a significant gap.
"Are you really not worried about your arrogance leading to your downfall?" Alexander's eyes flickered, seemingly watching Robert and contemplating something. He spoke, trying to buy some time.
"No worries, I hope you won't disappoint me..." Robert shook his head with a smile, speaking softly. "How much time do you need? As long as you don't escape from here, it's fine to take a bit more time."
"That's enough! You'll pay for your arrogance!" Alexander's eyes flashed with anger as he disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to Robert, throwing a punch at him. This was the first time Alexander had actively attacked Robert!
"It seems giving you a chance has some effect, but not much..." Robert dodged Alexander's attack, noting the changes in him but not taking them seriously.
Robert admitted he was being a bit reckless, but after fighting a punching bag for so long, anyone would find the battle boring. He wanted his opponent to have some resistance to make the fight interesting, to push him to unleash more of his combat potential and strength.
Robert felt he had been cautious in previous battles compared to many Saiyans who tended to be reckless. But compared to the most cautious Saiyan, Trunks, he still had some distance to go. His current goal was to find strong opponents to develop his combat abilities further; dealing with enemies was secondary.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Robert's figure continuously flickered, dodging Alexander's attacks. Despite Alexander's sudden improvement in utilizing his power and combat skills, he still couldn't catch up to Robert.
"This is your trump card? Your reliance to turn the tide? It doesn't seem impressive. Your combat skills have improved, but you still can't hit me. If this is your reliance, it's quite disappointing!" Robert taunted as he dodged, hoping to provoke Alexander into revealing more of his strength or the presence of dimensional entities backing him.
Meanwhile, Baron Mordo, maintaining the mirrored space, received a message from Kaecilius. When the two powers entered the mirrored space, Baron Mordo had been slightly worried, fearing that Alexander might actually turn the tables.
If Robert lost, not only would the mirrored space fail to contain Alexander, but he would also be difficult for them to handle.
However, seeing Robert's actions reassured Baron Mordo. Given Robert's previous performances, he wouldn't let Alexander escape from the mirrored space. Allowing Alexander to absorb those powers indicated Robert's confidence in his victory.
Quickly, Baron Mordo relayed the message to Kaecilius. They couldn't allow Kara and Martian Manhunter to enter the mirrored space directly, but they could observe from the spatial layer like the rest of them.
Considering Kara and Martian Manhunter's strength, even if Robert miscalculated and Alexander was stronger than expected, their combined power and the mirrored space's advantages would still contain Alexander.
Soon, Kara and Martian Manhunter arrived in the spatial layer. Seeing Robert still toying with Alexander, Kara sighed in relief.
"So this is the ancestor? He holds immense power, but his combat skills seem lacking?" Martian Manhunter observed Alexander, who couldn't land a single hit on Robert, and asked in a low voice.
Having fought Robert before, Martian Manhunter knew his combat skills were formidable, but the gap between him and Alexander was surprising. Alexander's power seemed impressive, but his combat skills didn't match.
"You arrived late. If you had come earlier, you'd have been shocked at how poor his combat skills were. It was like he'd never fought before..." A Kamar-Taj disciple couldn't help but comment, resisting the urge to recount Alexander's frequent attempts to flee.
"So he gained those two powers to enhance his combat skills? Is he desperate? His current skills seem similar to those of William and Marcus. No wonder he's no match for Robert..." Martian Manhunter mused, his eyes flickering with thoughts.
Martian Manhunter believed Alexander's strength should have more depth, but so far, Alexander had only shown this much, even while being toyed with by Robert.
"Damn it! Are these two guys' combat skills so weak? I thought their centuries of battles could enhance my skills and unleash my power, but they're useless!" Meanwhile, Alexander cursed internally, forgetting his combat skills were worse than the two he disparaged.
"Do I really need to attempt linking to that dimensional power? I'm not confident. If I do connect, will I survive? I've long sought a way to gain that power without harm, but now if I don't risk it, I might not survive..."
Cursing in his heart, Alexander forgot a critical rule: never get distracted in a fight, especially against an enemy like Robert. Such a distraction was a fatal mistake.
With a loud bang, Robert's punch sent Alexander flying, piercing his chest and spilling his blood. Alexander's face turned pale.
Robert had refrained from attacking when Alexander first moved, but Alexander's previous injuries hadn't fully healed. This blow aggravated his wounds, causing his internal power to waver.
"Is this all you have? If so, you truly disappoint me." Robert shook his head slowly, not launching a continuous aerial assault. He observed Alexander's visibly healing chest, gathering a powerful energy wave in his hand and locking onto Alexander's position.
Alexander, healing his injuries, felt a crisis approaching. It was an unavoidable sense of danger. More importantly, Robert wasn't immediately releasing the energy wave, which grew more terrifying by the moment.
"Damn it! I can't just sit here and wait to die!" Alexander panicked, instinctively wanting to flee. But as he moved, he realized he couldn't move his body!
With a buzz, Robert used part of his mental power to immobilize Alexander while controlling the surrounding pressure with one hand. Under this dual restraint, even Alexander couldn't escape. When the energy wave was released, it seemed Alexander's death was imminent.
With a hiss, the energy wave was released, locking onto Alexander upon leaving Robert's hand. Trapped, Alexander found no escape.
"No!" Facing imminent death, Alexander, who had lived for centuries, was unwilling to die. He had never had enough of life. His desire for immortality, to live forever, to steal the dimensional power behind vampires and werewolves, and to become their ultimate ancestor, drove him. He wouldn't accept dying here!
With a buzz, as Alexander's heart filled with unwillingness and faced death, he finally used his last resort, a trump card he hadn't used even while feigning death and seclusion.
With a soft sound, an invisible barrier formed in front of Alexander, blocking the energy wave. Simultaneously, two different powers surged from Alexander, merging and connecting to something...
These were the primal powers of William and Marcus, the core of vampire and werewolf origins, now intertwined and reaching out to the dimension behind them.
"Crack! Crack!"
Next, the mirrored space echoed with cracking sounds. Baron Mordo and his comrades' faces changed as they sensed a familiar yet strange power: the power of a dimension!
"Stabilize it! We can't let the mirrored space shatter, or this dimension will lock onto the real Earth's dimension. If it invades, we'll be in trouble!" Baron Mordo shouted, reminding his companions as he reinforced the mirrored space.
Soon, the mirrored space stabilized as if the anomaly hadn't occurred. But Robert, sensitive to energy, quickly noticed the power had entered the mirrored space, guided by Alexander's powers and merging with him...
"Crack! Crack!"
New sounds echoed, different from the previous ones, emanating from Alexander's body. After struggling briefly, Alexander's form underwent a drastic change!
In an instant, Alexander transformed from a portly gentleman into a monstrous figure resembling a demon with traits of a werewolf and bat-like wings. He looked eerie and menacing.
"This is similar to the bat-werewolf but different..." Robert's eyes flickered, recalling the bat-werewolf made of resentment. Alexander's new form was stronger and more complete.
This perfection wasn't in a human aesthetic sense but as an embodiment of the dimensional power behind vampires and werewolves. This form represented their true power.
"Honestly, I must thank you. This old thing promised to help us develop our dimension's power but vanished for a millennium. Without your intervention, pushing him to accept our power, who knows how long we'd have waited to descend..." As Robert observed Alexander, he slowly opened his eyes, smiling at Robert.
Boom!
As Alexander spoke, the energy wave exploded, engulfing him in a bright fireball in the sky.
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