Chapter 428: Catastrophic Collision!

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BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

The explosion consumed their surroundings, flattening the entire wasteland, sending immense boulders flying, and destroying the nearby mountain in mere seconds.

When their exchange ended, only a massive sinkhole remained, reaching deep underground to the Abyss Layer.

Riven and Vladimir faced each other from opposite sides of the crater, their eyes gleaming.

Loose stones continued to tumble into the hole between them. Vladimir glanced down, then looked back at Riven. There wasn’t much left of the ground they had been standing on, but neither of them seemed interested in calling the fight over.

Vladimir shook out his hand, still feeling the strain of firing the cannon. He could have taken a little longer to recover, but Riven was already watching him from the other side. He straightened up instead. The next exchange would be close enough that neither of them could miss what was coming.

He lowered the cannon and flexed his arm, checking that it still responded. Then he rolled his shoulder and stepped closer to the edge.

Riven saw him move and raised his hands.

That was enough. Vladimir grinned, shifting his stance as he picked the spot he wanted to reach.

There was no need for another challenge. They had both seen what the other could do, and they were still ready to come at each other.

Then...

Both blurred forward. In a single blink, their fists collided, sending electrical sparks bursting from the clash.

Vladimir pushed against Riven’s fist, trying to force his arm aside. Riven held it there long enough to stop the punch, then turned his wrist and broke away before Vladimir could follow through.

Vladimir swung again. This time, Riven met him halfway instead of waiting for the blow.

They moved along the crater’s edge, neither willing to give the other enough room to prepare another beam. Vladimir kept stepping in, and Riven kept answering him at the same distance.

There was no pause to check who had landed more hits. Every blocked punch led into another attempt, and every opening disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

Vladimir started laughing before he could help it.

"RIVENNN! HAHAHAHAH!" Vladimir laughed. "You’re too strong, you damn motherfucker!!!"

"Likewise! I guess that arm really fits you, Vladimir!" Riven laughed. "Made by a madman, just like you!"

"SON OF A BITCH!" Vladimir hissed, kicking Riven in the face. Riven answered with a punch that drove Vladimir’s head down, then kicked his shoulder, slicing away a chunk of flesh. Vladimir bit off Riven’s leg and threw it aside. They punched each other in the ribs, then traded kicks to the head that sent them flying apart.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

RUMBLE!

Then...

SHIIIIIIING!!!

The collision of their fists warped and cracked the spiritual space around them, as if space itself had shattered. Both ended up entering a section of the Noosphere!

"T-This is...?!" Vladimir gasped.

Vladimir pulled his fist back and looked around. The place they had been fighting in was gone. He could still see Riven in front of him, but everything beyond him had changed.

"What the hell did you do?!" he demanded.

Riven was already moving toward him.

Vladimir raised his arms, abandoning his attempt to understand the place long enough to meet the next blow. Whatever had happened, Riven clearly wasn’t going to wait for him to figure it out.

He tried to move aside, then swung at Riven as he approached. The unfamiliar surroundings made it harder to judge the distance, and Vladimir didn’t like that at all.

"You’re still coming?!"

He bared his teeth. Fine. He could worry about where they were after he stopped that fist.

Riven smiled and chased after Vladimir.

Their fists collided once more, sending explosions of psionic energy surging everywhere.

Riven wasn’t worried about the Hand of Inevitability. They weren’t present in every section of the infinitely vast Noosphere.

He could fight without concern because he was here in his physical body. Once he ran out of the psychic power needed to keep himself here, the Noosphere would expel him.

There was no reason to stop the exchange just because they had crossed into another plane. Riven kept his attention on Vladimir, who was still trying to strike him while looking around between attacks.

"Stop looking away," Riven said.

"Then tell me where the hell we are!"

Vladimir swung before Riven could answer. Riven blocked him and moved after him again, keeping the fight close enough that Vladimir had to pay attention.

He wasn’t going to stay here forever. Maintaining his physical presence cost psychic power, and the fight was using more of it. But that gave him a way out without having to search this entire place.

For now, Vladimir was right in front of him. Riven intended to finish testing what he could do.

Plus...

RUMBLE!

TRUUUM!

FLUOOOSH!

Black holes opened everywhere as the entire conceptual plane tried to eject them. Meanwhile, countless black shadows and nightmare monsters emerged, hissing at them.

Vladimir turned toward the nearest hiss, his arm raised. More shapes were appearing beyond it, and he couldn’t watch all of them while keeping Riven in sight.

"Now what?!"

He backed away from one of the openings and looked for room to move. The monsters were bad enough, but he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he got dragged into one of those black holes.

Riven barely glanced at them before returning his attention to Vladimir. He clearly didn’t care.

He gathered his power and took control of gravity, hurling hundreds of enormous floating islands at Vladimir.

Vladimir looked up as the first island began moving toward him. Then he saw the others following it.

"You’ve got to be kidding..."

He shifted to avoid the first, only to realize how much of the space ahead was filling with them. Riven wasn’t sending a few pieces of rock his way. Those were entire islands, and they were all coming straight at him.

Vladimir drew his metal arm back, staring at the nearest one as it closed in.

"Meteor?!"

Riven was going all-out!

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