With his dharma markings still active and lit, Dashula rushed at the grounded Cursed Warrior, swiping with an emblazoned trident. The Salvari's arm gripped the trident's handle at the very end of its back tip, maximizing the range. The Cursed Warrior, who was forced to take up a defensive role at this stage of the battle, crossed its wings and blocked the strike, resulting in a fiery eruption of scarlet and violet flames from the point where the trident's fork came into contact with the crossed blocking wing fingers.
With a resounding bellowing that sounded like the roar of a leviathan muffled by kilometers upon kilometers of abyssal depths, Batsudoru pushed its wings apart, deflecting the trident's fiery prongs. However, instead of allowing this deflection to leave him wide open, Dashula adopted the backward momentum as his own and surrendered to its tide. Not just that, the Salvari warrior adopted the momentum as his own, repurposing it into a backflip that vaulted him far outside the arena's bounds.
"The Blissful Yogi Destroyer is mounting the offensive pressure! It's an ingenious strategy, knowing that his hypnotic state boosts Dashula's immersion and bolsters his skill in battle more and more, the longer he stays in it!" Rajul exclaimed, ignoring that Dashula should have hurled himself into the artificial lake out of the arena's bounds.
However, instead of splashing into the water and sealing the deal of his elimination, Dashula became fluttery and mirage-like. His shape waved and faded out as if the Salvari warrior had evaporated into thin air. Dashula didn't splash into the water. It was as if he had phased through it, in fact. In the area where Dashula would have landed, only a lone blooming lotus beckoned with lustrous pink and azure light beamed interchangeably in all directions.
"It's just like before," Damisan noted. "He used that lotus vanishing act earlier. I didn't get a very good look at it."
"Dashula used the boundaries of the fighting stage and the awkward viewing angle to obstruct that trick last time. It's more than likely he knows his opponent didn't get a good look at it either and therefore had no chance to figure out how it worked,"
Much to the adoration of the audience, more and more lotuses peeked from the water's surface, blooming with a spectacular light show that matched the splendor of the one that Dashula had disappeared into. The pink and azure beams that emanated from each lotus focused, channeling upward like streaming pillars as they wrapped around one another and merged into a blazing humanoid shape that burned with a fiery aura of both colors.
"Samsara Bloom!" Dashula chanted out as five identical versions of itself appeared from the pillars of pink and azure flames, hurling their burning tridents straight at Batsudoru still stuck in the center of the fighting stage and surrounded by the Salvari's illusory doppelgangers. The hurling tridents collided with Batsudoru head-on, proving to be very real and incredibly powerful when used in synchrony, as the hurled burning weapons drilled through the air and inflicted both shredding and piercing damage and producing a deafening explosion that ripped through the audience with a flare-storm.
Batsudoru's howl interrupted the audience's cheering as they marveled at the uncanny power and abilities of their undisputed favorite contestant. Flapping its hand-shaped wings, the obsidian condor monolith spread the firestorm apart, emerging from it with scrapes across its stony body and sparking that went out from exposed metallic chip plating underneath the rocky outer layer. Wherever the battle damage revealed some of the inner workings of the Cursed Warrior, the underlying weave shone with a beating magenta neon light, just like the decorative patterns adorned by the flying weapon of mass destruction.
Before the Cursed Warrior could take to the skies again and dodge the oppressive grounding of Dashula's swift and unrelenting attacks, the five versions of Dashula all rushed at the Cursed Warrior at the same time. In perfect harmony, their arms flickered and began moving up and down so swiftly that they produced an audible buzz and appeared as if though each of the rushing Dashula doppelgangers possessed four arms. Just as all five Dashulas closed in on the Cursed Warrior trying to fly, their fists ignited with the signature red and violet dharma flame that previously bolstered the Salvari's trident.
A fusillade of deafening pops and cracks made the audience reel and cover their ears to preserve their hearing as each of the four-armed Dashula duplicates began a vicious mauling on the exposed back of the Cursed Warrior, flattening Batsudoru to the floor and proceeded to pound on it without mercy of sign of stopping. It truly felt like neither of the five Dashulas would ever stop inflicting punishment upon the downed Cursed Warrior, however, robbing them of the decision, Batsudoru's house-sized obsidian wing fingers skewered one of the Dashulas while thwacking the rest aside to give the obsidian condor some breathing space to rise on its feet.
"Dashula is truly one-of-a-kind!" Rajul exclaimed, seeing the duplicate Dashulas flickering and turning into raging dharma wildfires that all converged upon the main Dashula and became part of his lively, blazing dharma aura. "The opposing contestant who specializes in aerial maneuverability and attacks from above simply cannot take off the ground! The Blissful Yogi Destroyer has got the fight tightly locked on the ground!"
"I thought the announcer was supposed to be at least a little good at his job to report on the battle," Asuka rolled her eyes. "Then again, maybe some good old favoritism is clouding his judgment?"
"Huh? What do you mean? Based on what the announcer is saying, it seems like the battle is awfully one-sided, isn't it?" Ryoku Genshi turned to Asuka for some clarification.
"It is from the first sight," Mana nodded. "However, based on what I can sense of Dashula-san's chakra… He's in a bit of a pinch. Right now, I'd say he's used almost half of his chakra reserves."
"As long as he wins the battle, right?" Ryoku Genshi looked around, seeking some approving voices or some good motives for why someone would disagree with his position.
"Half already, huh?" Damisan sighed, lowering his head as if he was disappointed in what he had heard. "It's true that this Dashula guy is a terrifying powerhouse, but if this keeps up, neither of you two will have to worry about him for much longer."
"Huh? Is there something I'm missing?" Ryoku Genshi frantically looked around, trying to get someone to clue him in about why the Stars had such mixed reactions to the raging battle.
"I suppose you would be, given you can't see…" Endo scoffed. "All that flash and all that ruckus, and all that this Dashula runt managed to do was chip and bruise his opponent a bit. Sure, if he was facing a softer guy, made of flesh and blood, it would've been a different deal, but he's facing something else entirely right now. A hardened and nigh invincible weapon of incomparable destructive power. It doesn't matter if you land a hundred shots if you don't score a single kill."
"But Dashula still has his Peaks of Tandava technique, right? It's that ability he used against the Messiah of Martial Arts–Jet! It made Jet just fall down exhausted and passed out spontaneously," Ryoku Genshi argued.
"From the sounds of it, it's a form of dharma-based genjutsu," Shige-H noted. "It's very unlikely that such a thing would be effective against someone that's not using their own perception, but simply readings on a control panel and isn't fighting with their own strength, but controlling a soaring monolithic weapon."
"So that must be why Dashula hasn't used it yet…" Ryoku Genshi realized, spacing out for a second before the action in the arena resumed. Unexpectedly, the flaring dharma flames withdrew inside of Dashula's body and the starlit luster of his round body markings vanished, leaving nothing but hardened muscles behind. Dashula pressed his hands in front of his chest in a prayer-like position while he regulated his uneasy breathing. Sweat drops ran down the forehead and the taxed body of the Salvari warrior, proving that there was more humanity behind the God of the Arena than his supporters dared to admit.
"What's this!?" Rajul exclaimed, grabbing his head and leaning over the railing as if trying to reach more ears with his casting. "Dashula has awakened from his hypnotic battle dance state, dismissing the benefit of the battle prowess that's been invaluable to him this far! What could he be planning!?"
Sensing weakness in his opponent, Batsudoru soared to the skies, beating its tremendous hand-shaped wings and swooping up in a reverse arc position. Based on the swiftness of the flying mountain and the vividness of its movements, the Cursed Warrior thrived in his ascent, like a fish thrived being returned to the sea after being pulled out and flung onto a boat for a prolonged period of time. Spinning and performing elegant loops, Batsudoru finally positioned itself in its favored position diagonally above its opponent, spreading its wings with a dreadful gale to accompany the triumphant wingbeat.
"So, he at last realized that keeping Batsudoru grounded isn't worth the trouble…" Endo smirked to himself, feeling mighty proud of having realized something that this supposed favorite to win the Succession Tournament only realized now.
"You might think that I have released you from my stranglehold because my muscles are sore and I'm too tired to keep it applied," Dashula suddenly addressed Batsudoru with a point of his trident at the flying menace. "It is not so. I released you because fighting you on the ground felt too much like bullying. I've sought this place out and become a warrior in this arena to fight strong opponents who can push me to greater heights. When I dance with my opponent, I experience a hypnotic trance. An ecstatic state like no other and only the strongest opponent can bring me to the very top of this experience. That is the peak of my Tandava which I have not reached yet. So soar, beat your wings, roar, and fire your weapons at full power. Let's dance and enjoy ourselves and may both of us reach the climax of our own Tandava!"
Dashula tilted his legs, hovering in mid-air and crossing them underneath while assuming a meditative position. Spiritual flames of tiger-orange and sky-blue crossed and spiraled around the meditating Salvari warrior. They surrounded the Blissful Yogi Destroyer in a sort of protective cocoon formation that wouldn't let any ambitious opponents slip a sneak attack in. From the sound of it, the raging flames were thick enough to wash away even stray ninja tools.
"There it is! The Samsara Dharma of the Blissful Yogi Destroyer is coming, and anyone looking to oppose him now will have to face Tandava! A mysterious state which not even the Messiah of Martial Arts–Jet could withstand!" Rajul announced out loud.
"Huh? He's using it?" Asuka turned her head to the side. "Why? His opponent is sitting in a colossal monolith monster."
"He might not seek using the Peaks of Tandava, but to awaken into this Samsara Dharma State. The two are likely linked," Shige-H proposed a theory.
After beating with its massive wings, Batsudoru circled in the sky and positioned itself at what it saw as the best position to blast the stationary, meditating Dashula away from. The magenta-colored neon lights lit up with a strident shine before beginning to leak magenta flares from the glowing cracks across the Cursed Warrior's frame. Turning its head around, Batsudoru focused a magenta-colored energy sphere at the tip of its beak and spat out a stream of condensed air from the barrel in the beak, shooting it from a directly vertical position straight at the meditating Salvari.
The crowd gasped and grabbed hold of whatever was closest to them. Whatever they thought would help them withstand the tremors and the tremendous ruckus they thought would erupt after such a focused blast connected head-on with the immovable and brave Salvari warrior. Strangely, nothing of the sort occurred as the channeled stream of destructive energy collided with the twin spiritual blaze like a stream of water, splattering harmless sparkles aside while inflicting little to no meaningful damage. The lackluster result evidently left Batsudoru baffled as the soaring obsidian behemoth remained in the air, beating its wings and staring at the meditating Salvari with fearful respect.
"We've seen it again!" Rajul exclaimed in cheer, throwing his hands up as if something momentous had occurred and it was raining confetti. "None who have faced the Blissful Yogi Salvari and have been put through the test have reached the peaks of Tandava to face the Awakened Destroyer!"
"What happened? Everyone tensed up as if something horrible was about to happen, but nothing did…" Ryoku Genshi turned around, frantically looking for the cacophony he was prepared for.
"That's impressive. Those flames completely protected Dashula. I guess they sort of had to, given how he's left himself wide open to start meditating," Endo leaned forward, weaving his fingers together and making his sheathed swords clang and rattle around him as his sitting position shifted. Without turning his eyes away from the battle, the swordsman grabbed the nearest curd cheese dumpling and stuffed his mouth full of it.
"It's not just that those flames protected Dashula-san," Mana gulped, at last seeing the abyssal Peaks of Tandava for what it truly was. "In fact, the energy beam reached him just fine. It's just that it dealt about as much damage as a waterfall."
"So those flames aren't some sort of protective jutsu?" Shige-H turned to Mana.
"I don't think so. I think they're something much more dangerous, and I believe your earlier theory about Dashula-san's ability being an aftereffect rather than a desired power to have hit the mark," Mana replied. "This Samsara Dharma State that is being hyped up is making Dashula-san swell up with mental energy. So much so that his mind appears to bend the physical and mental realm around him."
"So…" Ryoku Genshi put his finger to his lips, working his noggin to the best of his ability. "If reality was a tablecloth, it's like Dashula is a jug underneath it, pulling it up and making everything leak off of it?"
"Quite the opposite," Mana shook her head, still dazzled by the peerless display of meditative power that brought out seemingly insurmountable mental power. It was a puzzling question if even Kiyomi's mental prowess could compete with something like this. "It's like Dashula-san is an iron ball, bending the tablecloth inward and pulling all toward it–his imagination is absorbing the mental power of everything in its vicinity. Like a whirlpool, or, to point out how horrifying the scope of this power is–a black hole of mental power."
"That doesn't sound like something that would protect him from licks. Unlike imagination–fists are very real…" Asuka bent her knees and put her elbows on top of them, cradling her chin on top of her bundled hands while staring at the impressive light show in the arena.
"Except for the part where everything–both jutsu and people contain chakra, and chakra consists of both physical and mental energy. By robbing any people in the danger zone of their mental energy, Dashula-san effectively makes them collapse via mental exhaustion. The stress probably makes them see who knows what. That is the secret behind the spirit-based illusions of the Salvari," Mana pointed out.
"I see, so the beam that Batsudoru blasted at Dashula is also just condensed chakra. By robbing it of all of its mental energy, the beam only had physical energy left, which makes it weak and ineffective because of the chakra-over-matter principle," Damisan scratched his chin. "It's a terrifying power-up. There are simply no openings, despite Dashula's meditative position inviting sneak attacks."
"There are no apparent openings, anyway," Endo closed his eyes, looking envious that he couldn't find a way to overcome the reality-bending imaginative power of the Tandava.
It was unclear to which extent Batsudoru's mysterious new pilot had deciphered the mystery behind Tandava. The hovering condor seemed to resign for waiting for the Salvari's awakening and for the mysterious impassable wall of Tandava to subside as it had before. Before the very eyes of the stunned spectators and the intimidated Cursed Warrior, the true extent of the Tandava was unraveling as Dashula's image became blurry in the spiritual spiraling flames, forming mirage-like images of phantasmal limbs appearing and moving on their own while Dashula meditated with total singularity with the tide of battle.
Legs kicking and stomping, hands rotating with blazing fireballs of spiritual blaze and faces chanting mystifying mantras while displaying different expressions and grimaces that tested the malleability of the human face. One of the two extreme spiritual flame spectrum took over, before being substituted for the next just a few blinks later. Red and blue. Anger and tranquility. Red and blue. Passion and serenity. Red and Blue. Joy and somberness.
Just like when he made his way inside the arena, a cosmic-like shroud of night blue surrounded and obscured the imaginative performance of the meditating Salvari warrior. The cosmic cocoon became spotted with blinking starlight pixels and colorful nebulae shrouds. Meanwhile, something inside of the disorienting fog was changing. Something… No. Dashula was awakening.
This much became apparent from the sights of electric blue constellations and twin swirling magnetars forming on the shroud's surface. Five fingers pierced the cosmic shroud, then five on the opposite side. Five to the right, five to the left again. By the time that two more pairs of hands appeared from within the shroud, a decisive stomp and a forceful exclamation dispelled the dharma mist and revealed the Tandava mirage having concluded and Dashula standing in all of his awakened, six-armed splendor.
It was as if Dashula's entire body became a construct of the imagination itself. Human-sized, yet terrifying and boundless in its depth. It was as if a humanoid fragment of the immeasurable skies stood in a graceful pose, with a body flaring up with electric blue and flowing with violet clouds. Where Dashula's eyes would have been, two beaming stars cast their spiritual light upon the Cursed Warrior. Batsudoru twitched with a colossal-sized jerk upon realizing that the black cobra that once held Dashula's fur robe together now roamed inside of his body, floating like an oriental dragon, as if the Blissful Salvari Destroyer was a dimension of his own. The awakened Salvari destroyer stood in a graceful position with all six of his arms pointed up, like an impression of a blooming lotus.
"Prepare to be gazed at by the third, All-Destroying Eye of the Blissful Yogi Destroyer, Batsudoru!" Dashula exclaimed with a rumbling and deep voice that seemed to pass through an electrified membrane and attracting sparks of static is at thundered through and escaped Dashula's body.