Ashen Dragon

"Gelrazax—this is not only my Terrestrial God Kingdom, it is also your grave!"

Cassius held his head high, issuing an exhilarated roar.

He had prepared for this moment of revenge for years.

The hundred-meter-long Red Dragon beat its wings mid-air, stirring up a scorching gale atop Terry Peak, with sparks and Flowing Flame dancing exuberantly around its draconic form.

[Elemental Resonance]

[Energy Coordination]

[Imperial Region: Explosion]

Cassius continued to ascend, accumulating energy, until the Dragon Crystal in his chest shone like a constant star, emitting light so bright that onlookers from the region of Ancytica could not open their eyes.

With each breath he took, globules of light traveled along his blood vessels to his heart, then to his lungs, and finally gathered in his throat.

Within dozens of miles around the Red Dragon, the temperature rose abruptly, melting and vaporizing the age-old snow on Terry Peak into billowing clouds; the dark brown rocks were exposed.

Beneath that tremendous power, the world trembled, and Terry Peak itself seemed to bow to the Emperor.

"That is..."

Even Gelrazax felt the scent of danger, terror overtaking his heart.

It was like a divine punishment.

This was no mere hyperbole; it was what Gelrazax could keenly sense.

In his perception, the strike Cassius was brewing was on the same level as the punishments the divine beings had wrought tens of thousands of years ago.

If he were to take that strike head-on, even this precious body of Karyx would perish.

At that moment, Gelrazax even contemplated fleeing Terry Peak to avoid the Red Dragon.

But the Abyssal Wall thousands of meters high shook violently, with stars and Silver Light blooming, and the heavy mists grew thinner and thinner.

The planar barrier seemed on the verge of collapse.

Gelrazax knew that if he didn't devour this Red Dragon at its zenith, the Three Gods of Justice would break through the blockade, sending down their avatars, and his situational danger would only increase.

Suddenly, the Abyssal Giant Dragon, as if struck by a thought, shook its enormous head violently.

"No, no, this is not how it should be...

The Third Era, no, at the end of the Second Era, after the Primordial Divine vanished, no one could create a Terrestrial God Kingdom!

This damned Red Dragon is bluffing! He can't maintain it for long..."

Thinking thus, the Abyssal Giant Dragon roared upwards in anger, letting out a furious roar, its eyes blazing with Vengeful Flames.

"Roar—

Cassius, no matter how you've done it, I will devour you, I will personally tear open your body and unearth your secrets!"

However, as he lifted his gaze to the Red Dragon high above, he saw no trace of panic in those pale golden pupils.

Instead, he saw... Divinity.

Cassius's pale golden vertical pupils sparkled with fire as he slowly opened his gaping maw.

Primordial Breath.

Accompanied by the thunderous tear of the air, a dazzling beam exploded between his teeth, a terrifying surge of energy instantly engulfing everything.

The Abyssal Giant Dragon raised its head in madness, stretching its neck, spewing endless Chaos Flame from its rotten mouth, the black and crimson fires covering the earth like a tide.

"Boom!"

Two Breath attacks collided violently midair, creating one terrifying explosion after another that produced vast clouds of smoke and fumes hundreds of meters across.

Black smoke billowed, and fire spilled out in all directions, causing an incessant series of explosions that made the mountains tremble.

The Chaos Flame sought to dissolve the other's Breath, to transform it into the most tumultuous, primordial form, but Cassius's Breath contained the most fundamental essence of Order—the power of the Imperial Region!

Soon, the blazing white Pillar of Fire pierced through the chaotic profane fire, the surging black smoke gradually extinguished, replaced by the spreading glow of fire.

"Boom—"

The blazing white Pillar of Fire tore through the dark tide, descending from the skies like divine punishment, striking directly at the body of the Abyssal Giant Dragon, more precisely at its head.

"No—"

Gelrazax let out a wail of misery, turning its head abruptly, desperately unleashing the remnants of its Abyssal Power.

But its resistance was futile, utterly unable to withstand the onslaught of the Breath.

Luckily, the blazing beam of white light narrowly missed the gigantic head, yet it effortlessly melted the dark red scales, piercing through its left shoulder.

Purple-black Dragon Blood gushed forth, a charring hole tens of meters wide appeared on its left shoulder, from which billowed thick black smoke.

However, the Pillar of Fire suddenly swept across, severing the entire left arm, the dozens of meters long robust limb and massive claws plummeted to the ground, kicking up a towering plume of dust.

And so the Abyssal Giant Dragon became a "Crippled Dragon."

Beneath the swirling black smoke, tissue regrew at a visible rate at the site of the wound, budding fine, new scales, but the regenerated body had lost its original "Divinity."

Gelrazax raised its head and howled, voice filled with excruciating pain, infused with extreme hatred and resentment.

"Cassius—

How dare you mar my perfect divine body! Once your strength runs out, I will make you suffer the most torturous pain in this world!

I will make you watch as you are gnawed and chewed away bit by bit..."

Black fires surged behind Gelrazax, spreading across the sky like an all-consuming tidal wave, filled with the power of Destruction from The Abyss.

"Come, Cassius, face this fated decisive battle with me! And I will craft your demise with my own hands!"

Disregarding the wound on its shoulder, it flapped its tattered wings, stirring up a wild gale, and madly surged towards the skies, seeking to kill the Red Dragon in a close-combat struggle.

Cassius, too, spread his wings, coiled his body, and dove with unstoppable force from the high skies, emitting a thunder-like roar of fury.

"Gelrazax!

Your arrogance knows no bounds! Did you truly think I was unprepared for your arrival?"

"Boom!"

With a thunderous crash, two mountainous giant dragons collided in midair.

Instantly, dreadful shockwaves spread rapidly from their point of impact, creating waves of tumult in the sky.

Gelrazax's figure far exceeded that of the Red Dragon, which ideally should have given it an absolute advantage in close-range collisions.

But Cassius, utilizing the momentum of his dive and shrouded in the invisible Power of Laws, managed to repell the three-hundred-meter-long Abyssal Giant Dragon.

Scales scattered in the air, the Abyssal Giant Dragon was suddenly flung backward, the massive dragon body flying uncontrollably through the air.

"Ah—"

Gelrazax roared, spewing purple-black blood from its mouth.

The Abyssal Giant Dragon desperately flapped its wings mid-fall, barely maintaining its balance, its murky, profound eyes filled with disbelief.

How could this be?

It, the Vengeful Demon of the star realm, dormant for ten thousand years, the amalgamation of the Ancestral Dragon with the Abyssal Lord, had failed in this clash of power?