The Flame Monarch's compressed body stood only a few dozen meters tall, but his aura was several times stronger than when he had been a colossus. A scarlet halo covered his entire body, and the Bloodthirsty Great Axe gave a low hum in his hand.
He wasted no more words. With a single step, he blasted a web of cracks across the rocky ground beneath his feet and became a scarlet afterimage, bringing the great axe down at Bebe's head.
There was nothing fancy about this strike, only pure strength and speed. The instant the blade split the air, the very space of the Sixth Layer let out a shriek.
Bebe did not dodge.
He raised a forepaw to meet the great axe, which was hundreds of times larger than his entire body.
His claw tips met the axe blade. There was no metallic clang, only a dull thud. The scarlet light on the Bloodthirsty Great Axe rapidly dimmed the instant it touched his claws, as though something had sucked it away.
Most of the force behind the blade dissipated at that same moment. What remained landed on Bebe's paw and pushed him back only half a step.
The white flames in the Flame Monarch's eye sockets suddenly flickered.
"How is that possible?"
He could not believe it. A full-power axe strike in his combat form had landed on this palm-sized rat without leaving so much as a scratch. He was the Flame Monarch, the true sovereign of the Sixth Layer. That strike had more than enough power to cleave a massive mountain.
Bebe grinned. "Take a guess."
In fact, the instant his claws touched the blade, Bebe had quietly activated his application of the Devouring Profound Mystery of the Darkness Elemental Laws.
Bebe's speed in comprehending this high-level Profound