The sky above Spirit City fractured like a brittle mirror struck by a falling star. The absolute peak of the mortal realm collided in an explosion of spirit power, an event that defied the natural order of the world. The afternoon sun, previously bathing the capital in a warm, golden glow, vanished behind a shroud of suffocating darkness. The ambient spirit energy in the atmosphere warped, groaning under a pressure that threatened to crush the very cobblestones into fine dust.
Di Tian stood suspended in the void above the ruined market square. His human disguise shed shadows that consumed the surrounding light like a starving beast swallowing a fading flame. He did not possess the radiant halos of a human Spirit Master, yet his mere presence was a gravity well that bent reality around his form. The Beast God looked down upon the human defenders, his golden eyes burning with the cold, ancient fury of a predator whose sanctuary had been violated.
BOOM!
The Beast God did not draw a weapon to initiate the clash. He simply raised his palm, unleashing a wave of ultimate darkness that crashed toward the human defenders like a collapsing tidal wave of obsidian water. The air temperature plummeted instantly, freezing the breath in the lungs of the distant spectators who dared to watch the apocalyptic confrontation.
Qian Daoliu reacted with the speed of a descending lightning bolt. His physical form blurred, his six golden seraphim wings flaring to cast a brilliant, holy radiance across the darkened heavens. He was the Grand Enshrinement, the mortal vessel for a divine legacy, and he refused to allow this abyssal tide to drown his sacred city.
"Seventh Spirit Ring: Seraphim Avatar!"
Qian Daoliu's voice resounded like a cathedral bell ringing at the end of days. His seventh black spirit ring expanded, bathing his entire form in a blinding, golden light that pushed back the encroaching shadows. The light was a physical barrier, a manifestation of pure, unyielding faith standing against the void.
A massive, golden phantom of a six-winged angel materialized behind the Grand Enshrinement. The ethereal figure held its arms wide, projecting the Angelic Domain to envelop the entire perimeter of Spirit City. The domain acted as an impenetrable fortress of holy light, neutralizing the deathly aura radiating from Di Tian and ensuring the fragile, terrified civilians cowering below were shielded from the oppressive pressure that would otherwise liquefy their internal organs.
HISS!
Bibi Dong did not remain idle while the Grand Enshrinement held the sky. Her body underwent a grotesque, terrifying transformation as her Death Spider spirit possessed her flesh. The beautiful, mature form of the Supreme Pontiff distorted, abandoning human aesthetics for the terrifying efficiency of an apex predator.
Her lower half swelled into a giant, spherical spider abdomen covered in coarse purple fur. Dark purple armor plated her upper torso, interlocking over her collarbones and chest, giving her the appearance of a nightmare forged in the deepest pits of hell. Eight venomous, spear-like legs sprouted from her back, twitching with lethal anticipation.
"Death Domain," Bibi Dong chanted.
Her voice echoed with venomous malice, stripping away her usual commanding elegance to reveal the lethal poison lurking within her soul. A toxic, highly corrosive green light spread outward from her arachnid form, rising to clash against Di Tian's dark element. The Supreme Pontiff's domain flooded the aerial battlefield with a diffusive poison, attempting to wither the Beast God's ancient vitality and drastically lower his fearsome speed. The green mist smelled of decay and rotting flora, a hazard that devoured the ambient spirit power it touched.
Di Tian merely scoffed, his golden eyes burning with ancient pride. He floated amidst the clash of gold and green, his black robes whipping in the violent spiritual gales.
"Your parlor tricks are but passing breezes against a mountain," Di Tian sneered.
He remained entirely immune to her spiritual deterrence. The Beast God had survived epochs, weathering calamities that would shatter human comprehension. A domain of poison was a mere inconvenience to a physique tempered by hundreds of thousands of years of survival in the deepest, most lethal regions of the star forest.
CRACKLE!
The Beast God summoned his Myriad Dragon Flames. The space around his raised hand distorted as he unleashed a torrent of purplish-black fire that roared toward Bibi Dong with the fury of a dying star. The flames did not burn with standard heat; they carried a destructive, annihilating property that sought to erase matter from existence.
Bibi Dong quickly activated her fourth black spirit ring, her eyes narrowing as the heat washed over her face.
"Thistle Spider Armor!"
Multiple dark purple, venomous spikes erupted from her carapace. The jagged protrusions wove together instantly, forming a thick, defensive shell that covered her vital points. She braced herself in the air, crossing her armored arms to deflect the brunt of the scorching dragon fire.
The impact of the purplish-black flames against her armored shell sent a shockwave echoing across the horizon. The sheer force of the blow was overwhelming, pushing the Supreme Pontiff backward through the air. Her spider legs dug into the void, attempting to anchor her position, but the momentum of the dragon fire dragged her several dozen meters across the sky before she managed to stabilize her footing. The outer layer of her purple armor smoked and hissed, the venomous spikes melting into a bubbling sludge from the residual heat.
Seeing Bibi Dong pushed back by a single, casual strike, Qian Daoliu pressed his hands together. His fifth black spirit ring shone with absolute divine judgment, casting a halo of righteous fury over the battlefield.
"Holy Sword!"
Qian Daoliu summoned a massive blade forged entirely from holy flames. The weapon materialized between his palms, acting as a beacon of purification that actively melted away the dark spirit power lingering in the air. The heat radiating from the blade felt like the core of the sun, bringing a comforting warmth to the defending humans and a searing pain to the creatures of darkness.
SWISH!
The Grand Enshrinement swung the blazing sword with a masterful, fluid motion. He launched a crescent of golden fire directly at Di Tian's chest, aiming to cleanse the beast's corruptive presence from the mortal realm. The arc of holy energy split the clouds, leaving a trail of burning ozone in its wake.
Di Tian did not evade the incoming judgment. Instead, he reached his hand into the empty void. His control over the space element was a profound, terrifying mastery that bent reality itself to his will. He did not need to construct a physical shield; space was his plaything.
A spatial ripple formed before him, resembling a pebble dropped into a still pond. The crescent of holy fire struck the ripple and vanished. The spatial fold swallowed Qian Daoliu's attack, redirecting the golden flames harmlessly into a separate dimension, leaving the Beast God entirely untouched.
"Is this the vaunted light of the gods?" Di Tian mocked, his voice a low, rumbling earthquake.
His right arm suddenly swelled, the fabric of his black sleeve tearing away as dark scales coated his skin. The flesh expanded, his fingernails elongating into razor-sharp talons, manifesting the dreaded Dragon God's Claw. The limb pulsed with a primordial energy that made the surrounding space groan in protest.
ROAR!
Di Tian slashed downward with the claw, unleashing a terrifying pressure that carried a trace of primordial suppression. The physical motion tore five distinct, jagged spatial rifts through the sky toward Qian Daoliu. The black tears in reality sucked the surrounding air into their depths, screeching with a high-pitched, metallic whine that assaulted the eardrums.
The golden seraphim phantom standing behind the Grand Enshrinement raised its arms. The Angelic Domain flared to its maximum capacity, condensing the holy light into a solid, shimmering barrier to block the incoming spatial tears.
The resulting collision sounded like shattering glass echoing in an empty cavern. The five spatial rifts ground against the holy barrier, the opposing forces locked in a desperate struggle. Cracks formed along the golden shield, spider-webbing outward as Qian Daoliu channeled his vast spiritual reserves to maintain the defense.
Bibi Dong seized the momentary distraction provided by the Grand Enshrinement's steadfast shield. Her twin spirits switched seamlessly, a transition mastered through decades of agonizing, secretive cultivation. Her form shifted rapidly, the purple fur receding as she morphed into the Soul Devouring Spider.
Three pairs of deep green spider legs erupted from her back, replacing the purple appendages. Her arms transformed into dark green, razor-sharp lances that dripped with a fatal sickness, the venom eating away at the air itself. Her aura shifted from a corrosive poison to a devouring, parasitic hunger.
"Sixth Spirit Ring Ability: Spatial Tear, Cut of the Abyss!" Bibi Dong shouted.
Her red hundred-thousand-year spirit ring pulsed with terrifying might, bathing the battlefield in a bloody, crimson glow. This was a technique forged from the sacrifice of an apex predator, carrying a lethality that ignored conventional defense.
She crossed her lance-like arms and slashed forward with a brutal, scissor-like motion. She unleashed a cross-shaped, jade-colored light that ignored physical barriers entirely, aiming directly for the Beast God. The attack sought to devour Di Tian's spatial coordinates, intending to lock his body in place and render his evasive maneuvers useless.
BZZZT!
The jade light struck Di Tian's shoulder before he could raise a hand. The energy bit into his dark robes, attempting to tear his flesh into the abyss and anchor his spatial presence to a single, inescapable point in the sky. The green light flared, struggling to consume the ancient vitality surging beneath his scales.
However, the Beast God's profound understanding of space was not something a mere spirit ability could conquer so easily. Di Tian focused his mind, his golden eyes narrowing. He instantly disrupted the local spatial ripples around his shoulder, vibrating his own spirit power at a frequency that shattered the devouring lock. The jade light splintered into harmless sparks, nullifying the lockdown effect before it could sink into his bones.
"You play with concepts you do not truly comprehend, human female," Di Tian growled, brushing a speck of ash from his shoulder.
He reached his hand into the swirling darkness beside him, his fingers wrapping around a hidden hilt. He pulled a weapon from the void—the Dark Dragon Sword.
The dark purple blade stretched eight feet long, its hilt resembling a roaring black dragon. The metal seemed to drink the ambient light, a physical manifestation of the abyss. The moment the sword appeared, a terrifying sword intent flooded the heavens, a pressure so immense it threatened to tear an enormous hole through Qian Daoliu's golden barrier through mere proximity.
Di Tian gripped the hilt with both hands. He did not boast or announce his technique; he simply swung the Dark Dragon Sword in a wide, devastating horizontal arc.
The blade carved a path of pure annihilation. The space in front of the swing was erased, creating a vacuum that pulled Bibi Dong directly into the path of the strike. The Supreme Pontiff's eyes widened in genuine horror as she realized the sheer, unavoidable velocity of the attack. She could not dodge; the spatial vacuum held her in place like a fly pinned to a board.
She desperately deployed her Undying Body, pushing the restorative limits of her twin spirits to survive the glancing blow.
SQUELCH!
The Dark Dragon Sword cleaved her left shoulder open. The blade bypassed her dense, green chitin as though cutting through wet paper. Dark blood spilled from the wound, raining down upon the city below like a macabre shower. The pain was blinding, a searing agony that threatened to sever her consciousness, but her hundred-thousand-year spirit ability activated immediately.
The severed flesh and shattered bone instantly knitted back together with sickening, popping sounds. The green tissue writhed and reconnected, sealing the grievous wound in a matter of seconds, though the spirit power expenditure required for the miraculous healing left her breathing heavily, sweat dotting her brow.
Down below, standing amidst the smoking rubble of the market square, the citizens and remaining guards observed the aerial cataclysm with terror-stricken eyes. The sky was a churning canvas of gold, green, and purple-black explosions. The noise was a continuous, rolling thunder that shook the dust from the rooftops.
The power scales were tipping dangerously toward the Beast God. Despite Qian Daoliu's best efforts to seal the sky and protect his sacred capital, the sheer magnitude of Di Tian's attacks caused violent tremors to shake the city foundations. The shockwaves rippled against the golden dome, transferring the force downward.
The marble facades of distant buildings cracked and crumbled. Statues dedicated to past heroes toppled from their pedestals, shattering in the empty streets. The very earth groaned, protesting the apocalyptic duel occurring in the heavens above.
CRASH!
A stray bolt of purplish-black dragon fire bypassed a flickering section of the golden barrier. The volatile energy plummeted toward an abandoned guard tower near the city wall. The stone structure was annihilated upon impact, the ancient masonry melting instantly and reducing the tower to a puddle of bubbling, glowing slag.
Qian Daoliu noticed the collateral damage from the corner of his eye. His serene expression twisted into a mask of grim determination. He was the protector of this holy ground, and he would not allow a beast to turn his city into a graveyard.
His sixth black spirit ring ignited, pulsing with a frequency that bypassed the physical realm.
"Angel's Howl!"
Qian Daoliu unleashed a devastating mental attack. He converted half of his immense, accumulated spirit power into an invisible shockwave aimed directly at Di Tian's spiritual sea. It was a desperate, draining maneuver, designed to stun the Beast God and provide Bibi Dong with a precious opening to retaliate.
The invisible mental blast struck the Beast God like a silent hurricane. The attack bypassed his dark scales and his spatial defenses, crashing directly into his consciousness.
Di Tian momentarily halted his aggressive advance. His massive sword hung suspended in the air, his golden eyes flashing with a brief, volatile spark of irritation. The mental assault felt like a swarm of stinging insects invading his mind, disrupting his concentration for a fraction of a second.
"A foolish effort because dragons bow to no one!" Di Tian roared, his voice shaking the remaining clouds from the sky.
His ancient, vast spiritual sea surged, his immunity to standard spiritual attacks allowing him to shrug off the stun effect almost instantly. He possessed a mind tempered by millennia of isolation and warfare; a human's mental scream was insufficient to break his will.
He retaliated by escalating the conflict to a terrifying new tier. He formed his Second Soul Core, a technique mastered by only the absolute pinnacle of existence. Utilizing the Yin Yang Complement technique, he began to merge his Ultimate Darkness with his mastery over the space element.
A black sun and a purple moon materialized behind Di Tian. The celestial bodies hovered in the void, their auras opposing yet perfectly balanced. Slowly, they overlapped, casting an eerie, apocalyptic glow over the battlefield that painted the combatants in shades of bruised twilight. This merging multiplied his aura at a terrifying rate, the pressure doubling, then tripling, until the very air felt like solid lead.
RUMBLE!
Di Tian pulled his right arm back and threw a simple, straightforward punch. He did not use a complex martial art or a flashy weapon strike. However, his mastery of space turned the basic motion into a catastrophic event.
The force of his fist generated a massive blackhole out of thin air.
A void resembling the gaping maw of a starved leviathan ripped open in the center of the battlefield. The blackhole exerted a crushing gravitational pull, twisting the light and tearing the clouds into a spiraling funnel. It attempted to swallow Bibi Dong's toxic green spiders and Qian Daoliu's holy flames into an endless, lightless void, aiming to crush their physical forms into dust.
Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu were forced entirely onto the defensive. The Supreme Pontiff dug her spider legs into the air, her jade lances anchoring her position against the violent suction. The Grand Enshrinement pushed his seraphim wings to their breaking point, channeling his holy light to resist the gravitational tide.
They expended massive, unsustainable reserves of spirit power just to maintain their footing against the Beast God's unparalleled might. Minor injuries began to accumulate on their bodies as the battle waged on; Qian Daoliu's robes tore under the spatial strain, and Bibi Dong's carapace cracked from flying debris caught in the vortex.
The sky wept tears of light and shadow, the mortal champions locked in a desperate struggle to prevent the Beast God from erasing their holy city from the map. The standoff had devolved into a war of attrition, a test of wills where the slightest miscalculation would result in annihilation.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels [Villain: Manipulating The Heroines Into Hating The Protagonist] and [Harem Master: Seduction System].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon.
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04