( Rudra's POV )

Rudra started his attempts with the goal to use the seed of knowledge and figure out a way to utilise karmic essence in a more effective way, however, his research brought him to a completely different direction where he realised that he was not even using 10% of what the aligned seeds of power were capable of.

Speed in itself was an ability that was inherently dependent on the flow of time and with the time seed under his control, if he utilised its power to not create a time loop for safety but rather alter the flow of time around himself, then he could automatically achieve the speed he required to threaten the perfect warrior.

Not only did he have seven of the universe's most powerful seeds in his body, but he also had a constitution that could support its usage, yet because he never faced a challenge within the controlled universe, he never got the opportunity to truly explore its powers in depth.

Once Rudra realised this fact, he understood that he could make massive strides forward as a warrior if only he learnt how to hone the power of the seeds as he changed his complete approach to fighting the perfect warrior once he delved deeper into this train of thought.

*********

( The martial arena on-top of the celestial peak belonging to the perfect warrior )

A month after exploring a completely new style of fighting dependent on the power of the seeds, Rudra approached the perfect warrior yet again for a fight.

As usual, the perfect warrior stood at the centre of the arena with the sun at his back as he had a confident smile on his face.

' What eh bastard? Are you reading my mind' Rudra thought condescendingly as although he did not have the reciprocative ability to read the perfect warrior's mind, he was ready to give his opponent a piece of his mind.

" Yes, I'm reading your mind, so what?" The perfect warrior said in response as Rudra thrust his palm in the air towards the perfect warrior and said [ Ability Lock ]

Nullifying any active skills that the perfect warrior had on, Rudra hoped that with this move he was able to prevent his opponent from reading his mind as he charged towards his opponent.

[ Time Dilation ] + [ Power of the time seed ]

Rudra activated time dilation and improved it's effects significantly using the power of the seed of time as for the first time ever his eyes were able to track the movement of the perfect warrior's muscle fibres as he moved to counter Rudra.

Rudra was going for a close ranged sword strike.

Since both himself and the perfect warrior did not have a physical body, the only way for a sword strike to hurt the opponent was if the sword was coated with sword qi, which was a form of energy which could cut through the energy body of theirs alongside their celestial aura.

Thankfully, Rudra was a master of swords and his sword intent was strong which meant that he could slice through the perfect warrior's body like butter should he be able to land a hit.

As he got closer to the perfect warrior, he could notice how the perfect warrior took a step back using his left foot turning his body counterclockwise as it seemed like he planned on dodging Rudra's strike by sidestepping it.

His movements seemed slow to Rudra who was under the effect of heavy time dilation as Rudra genuinely felt like he had a chance to hit the perfect warrior which is why he followed through with the attack, only to change the direction at the last moment such that he could pierce the perfect warrior's body.

' Gotcha' Rudra thought as he felt like this might be his first hit on the perfect warrior, but at the last second, the perfect warrior used a teleportation technique which seemed like [ Blink ] as he escaped Rudra's attack.

" Nope" Rudra mouthed, as he used the power of the space seed to tail the perfect warrior and resume from the exact same position as they were a second ago as he felt his sword make contact with his opponent's body.

*Shua*

Since the perfect warrior had no blood, when his body was pierced it only made a sound akin to when wind was being pierced by a powerful spear thrust.

However, while Rudra was sure that he had made contact with his opponent's body, definitely piercing his side abdomen, the damage notification never came.

" Agh, sweet summer child, such petty tricks don't work on me" the perfect warrior said as his eyes gleamed with bloodlust as he landed a palm technique straight on Rudra's chest and sent him flying off the martial arena.

As Rudra was sent flying, he could feel how his entire body was thrown into disarray by a single strike from the perfect warrior as he felt trouble circulating mana within his veins as if something had blocked it's flow.

He crashed horribly onto his own celestial peak as he could not even begin to fathom where he went wrong with this run? As even though he did everything right and managed to land a strike on his opponent, it seemed like it was useless in the end as he could not even understand why he did not receive damage.

" How?" Rudra wondered as for a good two hours he laid flat on his back staring at the celestial sky feeling disheartened and disarrayed.

He wondered if it was even possible to defeat an opponent like the perfect warrior?

He wondered if his opponent even had any weaknesses that he could exploit?

In terms of seconds, he lasted a full seven seconds this time around against the perfect warrior which was a record in itself, however, just like every other run before this one it turned out to be an absolute failure as he gained no insight on how to defeat his opponent despite the third run.