Within the Ethereal Tower, no matter what floor an ascender is located, there will always be a place that will invoke the wonder of even the least curious of minds, places so mystical that will make anyone wonder just how in the world can any of these places form naturally at all?

One among such wonders in the lower floors, particularly the second floor in which a vast, azure blue ocean already resides, is a comparably small domain, a mountain with its peaks towering and piercing beyond the clouds effortlessly, its mass being completely made out of stone and nothing else.

What makes this peculiar place all the more terrifying is the source of such massive amount of pure, marble-like rock that just piles up to create this mystical mountain.

Death, tons of death, as the existence of those stones are made purely from petrified living beings, said petrification indiscriminate to both monsters native to the land and ascenders aiming to conquer and establish their own territory within the span of the tower, all of them turning into nothing but a shell of their former selves as even their very souls are completely turned into stones, forever to be trapped within this mountain where a terrifying monster resides.

Should there exist an individual lucky, or rather, unlucky enough to encounter, or even enter this mountain, not only will they be scared by the amount of stone in the surroundings, but also the eerie nonexistence of any other living being in this place, as if it is an ecological dead zone that even the apex predators of the surrounding forest avoid.

This would be the case for any normal day going on within the domain and territory of the Twisted Principality of Permanence, as the monster doesn't want any pest bothering him within his place.

However, currently, this place is in any state but normal, as within the span of this towering, vast mountain made purely out of petrified remains of either those who are brave or foolish enough to venture this cursed place, a massive whirlwind rages, not formed by any natural means but rather due to two individuals clashing strength and seemingly having an exchange right now.

Once again feeling that peculiar sensation making his entire body tingle as he treads along the thin path to safety amidst the danger, a middle-aged, seemingly immensely experienced man who had gone through the vicissitudes of the world smiles, slightly leaning towards the right as he watches his long, luscious hair being cut by something that cannot be seen by the naked eyes.

If it was the only problem about this attack, then there's no way that it would be a struggle against this experienced individual, however, as expected of something that nearly decapitate such an existence, this attack can be described as anything but normal.

'Just like the owner of the skill, hahaha…' the middle-aged owner of this territory and domain said as he continues weaving across the torrent of this invisible, imperceptible attacks, the effortless motion as he do so making anyone who could be watching him feel like he is one with the very nature around himself, an impressive feat that not even those who can proclaim themselves as geniuses can easily achieve.

"Come on now Azrael, not to mention a hundred times, do you really think that kind of attack will work against me again?" shaking his head in disappointment as he had expected too much, far higher than what the young man in front of him is showing, the Twisted Principality taunted without holding back as he places his hand on his mouth, seemingly yawning out of sheer boredom in the fight with the person he initially thought will grant him the glorious death he so long for.

Despite his nature of speaking though, it seems like deep inside him, he is still expecting something from his opponent, something more than the sneak attack that the two of them are currently exchanging against each other.

'Fucking old bastard, he's really not holding back anymore huh…' feeling the immense strain of resisting the petrification his opponent has purely through his body alone and nothing else, the opponent of the Twisted Principality, Azrael, his face, currently still recovering from the brunt of receiving a blunt attack from his opponent, the Twisted Principality of Permanence, Zhang Tian, and yet, despite the uncomfortable process, he still has this determined gleam in his bright eyes as he smiles.

"You said so yourself" he said in reply to the monster's taunting as he starts sheathing the sword hanging on his waist, a pitch-black darkness immediately surrounding him as he drew the sword, a loud, shrieking noise as if some sort of terrifying beast was just release out in the wild making anyone who heard it other than the two of them feel a primeval fear warning them to get out of the vicinity as soon as possible.

"What a scary weapon…" feeling the sheer violence contained within the intent of Azrael's seemingly sentient weapon, Zhang Tian remarked, the words coming out of his mouth completely different from the expression of interest in his face, the once bored monster now finding it hard to control his curiosity once again as this is the first time after their first fight that this trainee of his uses his sword.

It has been a few days, in fact, over a week that has passed ever since Zhang Tian had offered to train Azrael with all of his capabilities, granting him the right to challenge and possibly the chance to defeat him, this being more and more apparent as he felt like the young man in front of him constantly grows amidst the suffering he is being tormented with.

And despite his faked disinterest and boredom when fighting what can only be seen as the young man repeatedly using a single thing like a one trick phony, he still couldn't help but feel like it won't get any boring fighting like this against the young man, especially since the attack patterns, the mixture of his skill, Slashing the Void, mixed with the Demonic Energy he possesses along with the skill purely in itself making it extremely difficult to him to keep up sensing everything all at once.

Hence also the reason why for the past week, the entirety of the stone mountain he resides in was terraformed into a completely different place, massive, numerous pure white marble spires standing straight, spanning across the mountains itself, said spires something that will make anyone wonder just what sort of artist left behind such masterpiece within an uninhabited, extremely dangerous place.

These 'masterpieces' however, are nothing but the mere results of each of the exchange between these two monstrously strong individual fighting each other, most particularly, the moments where the true monster between the two of them as identified by the tower's guide, the Twisted Principality, Zhang Tian, is pushed into a corner by Azrael's powerful, sneaky attack that is Slashing the Void, forcing his opponent to use his petrification ability to completely encase his attacks in a solid, nigh indestructible marble-like encasing of rock.

Leaping all across said spires as they continue fighting each other, Azrael conjures a platform made purely of Immortal Energy, said energy being drained with quite the fast rate as his body starts transforming from a human's to something completely different, his eyes turning into a shade of gold, from his forehead growing out a large, majestic horn of a night black shade, from his back appearing a dark, scaly wings along with the same scale pattern for a thick, seemingly muscular tail, along with the transformation of his body his hair turning into an ashen white as well.

'Every time I watch this transformation, I can't help but feel really amazed…' watching Azrael turning into a completely different manner of existence from what he was before, Zhang Tian thought to himself as he noticed his body turning a little bit stiff from the power that the young man in front of him is exuding, a testament to how much he had grown within the span of a little bit over a week that he had been training the kid with all his mind to it.

'Give him another three weeks or so, he's definitely going to reach that kind of level… and on the second floor… just what sort of monster he will become once he continues is ascension?' estimating how much time this temporary student of his will take in order to possess the kind of strength that he will need to triumph over the greatest challenge on the second floor, Zhang Tian added in his mind as he prepares for the clash about to proceed between the two of them.

Feeling the presence of his student disappearing into the thin air, Zhang Tian couldn't help but feel extremely baffled as he had come to realize that this young man is hiding some of the progress that he had made during the time of training the two of them had.