[Location - High Above the Northern Demon Region]
High within the clouds, as Ezmelral watched the opening onslaught by the Storm Dragon, a lingering question finally surfaced in her mind.
"Why is it that, after all these years, the Storm Dragon is the only one among the Inner Circle still at the Divine Stage?"
It was a valid question. One that had likely plagued not only Ezmelral's mind but the rest of the Guild members as well. Yet, because the Guild rarely participated in conquests anymore, there had been no real need to scrutinize each other's Cultivation Realms.
"Despite his strength, the Lightning Element refuses to fully choose him," Raiking replied, his voice calm over the howling wind.
"Why?"
"Because lightning does not judge. It is a blind force of nature that harbors no ill will when it strikes."
Ezmelral took another look at the smiling Storm Dragon far below, who was practically vibrating with the thrill of finding a worthy opponent. This wasn't the first time his bloodlust had eclipsed his rationality. She clearly remembered the day she had first brought Nanny Martha to the Guild—the Storm Dragon had attacked the poor woman simply for being human.
She understood exactly what Raiking meant.
"So, until he can learn to control his Killing Intent, he will never become a True Divinity?"
Raiking gave a single, silent nod in agreement.
"Does he know that?" she asked.
"We have spoken about it before."
"What was his answer?"
"He didn't care."
Ezmelral let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head. "Typical brute."
"Or maybe," Raiking mused, his void-black eyes fixed on the towering beast below, "he knows he has us. So he never feels the need to worry."
Ezmelral shot Raiking a skeptical look, her expression clearly stating that he was vastly overestimating the emotional depth of that battle-crazed fool. Her gaze then dropped back to the courtyard, watching as the impending clash prepared to shake the very heavens.
---
[Location - Silent Blade Clan's Main Courtyard]
"Who among us will face him?" Karthix inquired, his malevolent aura intensifying.
"I will give you—"
Thamriel never had the chance to complete his sentence. A sharp zzzt resonated in his ear.
When he turned swiftly toward the sound, the Storm Dragon had already disappeared from the rooftop. He was hurtling through the air, enveloped in a violent shroud of static electricity, his fist leading his charge as he rapidly closed the distance.
To momentarily lose sight of a Peak Divine Stage expert, particularly a Lightning User, whose speed is rivaled only by the Air Element, could be a fatal mistake.
Yet, Thamriel was not one to underestimate his adversary.
With instincts honed from a lifetime of assassinations, he reacted instantly, summoning his enormous pagoda to rise from the courtyard floor and intercept the oncoming assault.
In the blink of an eye, the Storm Dragon's fist collided with the dark artifact.
A thunderous crack reverberated through the night, with Void and Lightning Magic Essence erupting violently from the point of contact.
"When did I ever say I was going to fight just one of you?!" the Storm Dragon roared, channeling even more raw Qi into his arm.
CRACK. The immense pagoda began to fracture, desperately resisting the Dragon's onslaught. But the artifact could not endure.
It shattered moments later, disintegrating into thousands of jagged shards as the Dragon surged through it, his fist slicing through the air like a spear forged of lightning.
His fist struck Thamriel directly, whose arms were crossed in a frantic, last-second defense.
Though the Tower of Gaze managed to ward off the lethal blow that could have otherwise pierced clean through his chest, the overwhelming kinetic force of the strike was undeniable. Thamriel felt the devastating impact reverberate through every bone in his body.
A powerful shockwave erupted outward.
Thamriel was hurled backward like a cannonball. He crashed through the stone doors of the Grandmaster's temple, tearing through the reinforced walls, and blasting out the opposite side. His body flew an incredible distance, hurtling beyond the Sect's borders and soaring past the mainland until a distant mountain range finally halted his momentum.
BOOM! The resulting explosion of rock and dust at the impact site was visible from hundreds of miles away.
Karthix didn't pause in shock nor flinch. He was already in motion. A highly concentrated blast of Void Acid shot from his palm toward the adversary who had just effortlessly swatted his ally across the continent.
The Storm Dragon wasn't one to let his guard down, even for a split second. The proof was in his very physiology; the shimmering azure scales on his body reacted autonomously, detaching and combining mid-air to form a protective draconic shield that took the full brunt of the venomous beam.
But the shield wasn't the only counterattack.
The Storm Dragon transformed into a streak of pure lightning, rematerializing directly above Karthix, his draconic heel slamming downward like a hammer meeting an anvil.
Karthix desperately attempted to raise his guard, yet...
"Too slow."
The Storm Dragon sneered as his heel made contact. The sheer force of the axe-kick crushed through Karthix's heavy demonic armor and fractured his shoulders, sending the behemoth plummeting into the cratered earth below.
The Dragon didn't relent. Hovering high in the air, he immediately began to incant a spell.
"Scales of the Impaling Lightning Spear."
The scales that had formed the shield heard his command. They vibrated intensely for a fraction of a second, then deconstructed back into hundreds of individual razors that swirled around his arm like an azure tornado.
In the next heartbeat, they began to reconstruct. Yet, this time, they did not form a defensive barrier. They merged into a fierce, jagged azure spear that hummed with raw, latent power.
That was, until the Storm Dragon grasped the weapon's shaft. He unleashed a violent torrent of mana that engulfed the spear in blinding static electricity.
It looked as though he were holding a divine bolt of lightning, ready to rend the earth asunder at the mere drop of it.
And he was more than willing to test that theory. Rearing back, he hoisted the crackling spear high into the night sky, preparing to hurl it down upon Karthix with the apocalyptic strength of a primal dragon.