"Astraeus said you have to 'overcome' yourself... but tell me, Shen Xun'er... how are you going to overcome someone you're completely terrified of becoming?"
The dark reflection's mocking voice echoed through the vast arena, bouncing off the towering obsidian pillars and disappearing into the cold, uncaring cosmos above.
Shen Xun'er's jaw tightened until her teeth ground against one another with an audible rasp.
She didn't waste breath on an answer, every lingering ember of frustration, every ounce of humiliation from the selection arena in Glorious Heaven City, and every word of Haoran's chilling disappointment ignited into a furious, defensive blaze inside her dantians.
BOOM!
The basalt floor beneath her boots pulverized into black dust as Shen Xun'er launched herself forward.
"Soaring Dragon Palm!"
Her body blurred into a streak of incandescent red lightning, her right palm bathed in raging solar dragon fire aimed straight for the dark reflection's smiling throat!
