Chapter 461: Victory in Sight
Zalama still hadn't realized that disaster was about to fall on his own head.
Right now, he was still fantasizing about forcing all his massive energy in reverse to overwhelm and burst Uchiha Dali.
But Uchiha Dali couldn't have asked for anything better.
He'd thought he would have to get into a tug-of-war with this guy and waste time here.
Never expected things would fall right into his hands without the slightest effort.
Of course he wasn't going to turn down the offer — no matter how much energy surged from the other side, he accepted every bit of it with pleasure.
As he absorbed more and more of Dragon God Zalama's energy, his aura grew steadily stronger.
That composed, unruffled expression gradually made Zalama feel something was off.
But he was stubborn, insisting Uchiha Dali was just putting on a show.
So not only did he fail to pull back his energy in time, he even pushed harder.
"Go ahead and laugh while you still can. In a moment, you won't be able to, Uchiha Dali!"
"As for you, once I finish off this brat, I'll take my time dealing with you!"
Zalama didn't forget to turn and threaten the Ancestral Dragon.
The Ancestral Dragon remained silent.
He had no intention of interfering in the fight between the two, simply standing off to the side watching.
Uchiha Dali greedily absorbed and refined the energy pouring toward him. Gradually, atop the silver-white halo surrounding him, a faint layer of pale gold began to form.
At the same time, his aura underwent an earth-shaking transformation compared to before.
Zalama, who had been evenly matched with him, was now clearly falling behind.
After constantly outputting energy for this whole stretch of time, the total amount left in his body had already dropped by at least one-tenth.
Zalama began to sense something was wrong.
He was a veteran of countless battles, knowledgeable and experienced.
Normally, even an opponent equal to him could never completely absorb his energy — it was far too vast.
Far beyond what any ordinary person could imagine.
If energy had a numerical unit, then the total value inside his body would be a literal astronomical figure.
So forget absorbing all of it — even a small portion would be enough to pressure any opponent.
But now he had already lost a tenth of his energy, yet Uchiha Dali looked completely fine.
He was still calm and collected, and his aura only grew stronger. His expression didn't look like someone who was about to be overwhelmed at all.
"Damn it! Can this brat actually absorb my energy without limit??"
"That's absolutely impossible!"
Zalama screamed internally.
He refused to believe it.
Once again, he increased the output.
Feeling the roaring, surging waves of power pouring toward him — wave after wave, never stopping — Uchiha Dali devoured and refined it with greed, turning that precious wealth into his own strength. At the same time, he felt genuinely embarrassed.
"You're making this hard to watch."
"I'm starting to feel bad for you, Lord Zalama."
"If you keep pouring energy into me like this, I really will surpass you completely. Then you'll lose even faster. Why don't we stop here?"
"Let's just call it a draw and be friends."
Uchiha Dali spoke with a faint, teasing smile.
But what was meant as sincere advice sounded, in Zalama's ears, like an excuse from someone on the verge of collapse trying to save face.
Zalama snorted coldly. "Spare me! Brat, you brought this on yourself!"
"When your body explodes and you die, don't blame anyone!"
"It's too late to beg now! I'll never let you go!"
"After that, you'll hand over your energy obediently!"
With that, he increased his output again.
Uchiha Dali's eyes cooled, and he shook his head helplessly.
He truly hadn't intended to risk his life with Zalama.
The reason he fought at all was partly because the other's provocation irritated him — his temper flared, and he didn't want to take the loss.
More importantly, he wanted to test what changes occurred when his divinity was pushed to the absolute limit.
In terms of overall strength, although Uchiha Dali was powerful, he was still quite a distance from Zalama.
Never mind anything else — Zalama's terrifying reserves of energy alone far surpassed his.
That was the main reason Zalama thought he could bully someone younger and weaker.
And why he believed he could crush Uchiha Dali easily.
But pushing divinity to the limit brought their gap nearly to the same level.
That was why Uchiha Dali could remain so calm.
Now he wanted to stop while things were good, but Zalama wouldn't listen.
What was that saying?
Good advice can't save a doomed fool.
If the other insisted on courting death, what more was there to say?
Anything else would just be a waste of breath.
Uchiha Dali fell silent, focusing entirely on absorbing the immense power pouring from Zalama.
Seeing Uchiha Dali stop speaking, Zalama also fell quiet.
The two wordlessly clashed.
As more and more energy flowed from Zalama, Uchiha Dali's body continued to change.
Besides the increasingly intense silver-white and pale-gold glow, his physical form began to swell.
Not only were his muscles expanding — his bones, organs, everything inside him was enlarging in sync.
But to Zalama, these changes were just signs Uchiha Dali was about to burst.
So he couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Brat, your consequences are coming!"
"Prepare to meet your end! You asked for this!"
"Even if you go to the Grand Zeno, he won't side with you!"
Believing Uchiha Dali was moments away from exploding, Zalama pushed even harder.
And sure enough, as his energy continued pouring in, Uchiha Dali's body swelled further.
The expansion was so rapid it was visible to the naked eye, changing by the second.
It grew so fast that even his originally handsome features twisted.
Seeing Uchiha Dali in this state, Zalama grew even more excited.
Victory was within reach, and he gradually relaxed his guard.
The speed at which he was outputting energy slowed.
"This kid really is something. If he hadn't run into me today, given time he might've grown into someone on the Grand Zeno's level."
"To think he managed to drain nearly half my energy… hmph…"
"But this is the end of it."
That was what ran through Zalama's mind.
He was fully prepared to take in the burst of energy he thought would erupt from Uchiha Dali's collapse.
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