The air in the Sky-Arena was no longer just atmosphere; it had become a pressurized sea of violet and silver. Before the final clash could begin, a low, sibilant laugh echoed from the edge of the platform. Prince Viperis of the Snake Islands adjusted his emerald-scaled cloak, his amber eyes flickering with a cold, detached amusement.
"A duel of such... brute force is beneath the traditions of the Serpent," Viperis hissed softly, his voice carrying through the wind. "I came for a celebration, not to be a target in a child's game. I decline the challenge."
With a fluid, unsettling motion, he turned and glided toward the exit, leaving a trail of faint, acrid mist behind him. No one stopped him. The hostility in the air was thick, but the anticipation for the battle between the heirs of the Shadow was thicker.
From the sidelines, Riha's friends—Lyra, Caspian, and the twins—erupted into cheers. "Show him the power of the Throne, Riha!" Yang shouted, waving a holographic banner.
Xaris leaned back, a mock-hurt expression on his face as he looked at the silent crowd behind him. He let out a booming laugh. "Not a single soul in my corner? I leave for fifteen years, and even the palace cats have forgotten my name. Fine! I'll just have to win them back with steel."
The Bump of Fate
As the crowd roared, Nalani, who had been busy preparing medical supplies in the lower infirmary, hurried up the stone steps to catch the start of the fight. She was rounding a sharp corner near the VIP entrance when she slammed into something solid and cold.
"Oh! I'm so sorry—" Nalani began, looking up.
She stopped. She had bumped into Prince Viperis.
For a heartbeat, time seemed to dilate. Nalani looked into his amber, slitted eyes, and a strange, electric jolt shot through her spine. It wasn't just fear; it was a resonance, a vibration she hadn't felt in all her years of healing magic. His eyes weren't just eyes—they were swirling pools of ancient, primal knowledge. Viperis stared back, his expression unreadable, before he gave a slow, thin smile and moved past her without a word.
Nalani stood there, her heart hammering. She shook her head, trying to clear the strange fog in her mind, and hurried to the arena. She arrived just as the first spark of the true battle ignited.
The Clash of the Void and the Stars
Riha didn't wait. She let out a sharp whistle, and Ignis, Nyx, and Nox manifested in their human forms. They stood as a wall of crimson and shadow.
"Show them no mercy," Riha commanded.
Xaris smirked. "Fair enough. Drakon! Sanguis! Awake."
From the starlight-white energy surrounding Xaris, two figures emerged. One was a massive, armored warrior with skin like obsidian scales, wielding a colossal Dragon Slaying Sword. The other was a lithe, nimble figure holding the Blood Oath—a weapon that was half-blade and half-staff, shifting its form like liquid metal. These were Xaris's spirit-weapons, refined in the heart of supernovas.
The battle began with a sound like the world breaking.
The weapon-spirits clashed in the air, Ignis's violet flames meeting Drakon's obsidian steel, while the twins engaged Sanguis in a blur of teleporting strikes. Below them, Riha and Xaris charged.
They moved so fast that to the thousands of spectators, they were merely two streaks of light—one a deep, swirling violet, the other a piercing, stellar silver. Every time they collided, a shockwave of energy rippled out, cracking the Aetherium floor of the arena.
Riha shifted her strategy. She activated her Mental Domain, a psychic skill she had perfected in the Void. She attempted to invade Xaris's mind, to slow his reflexes and cloud his vision.
"Oh?" Xaris's voice echoed directly in her mind, sounding remarkably calm. "A mental fortress? Nice skills, little sister. Most planetary masters would be paralyzed by that."
He didn't just resist; he shattered her mental probe with a simple pulse of his own aura.
Riha gritted her teeth. She summoned her Psychic Arsenal—hundreds of glowing needles and spindles made of pure mental energy. They swarmed Xaris like a hive of angry hornets. Xaris simply shifted his Blood Oath into its staff form, spinning it into a silver shield that deflected every needle with effortless precision.
The Levels of the Universe
They fought while they spoke, their blades clashing in a rhythmic dance of death.
"You're fast, Riha!" Xaris shouted over the roar of the wind. "But you're still fighting within the atmosphere! Your moves are grounded in the gravity of this world!"
He struck with his Dragon Slaying Sword, a blow so heavy Riha had to use her entire mana reserve to parry it. She was pushed back twenty feet, her boots leaving deep grooves in the sand.
"What are you talking about?" Riha gasped, her breath coming in ragged bursts.
"There are levels to this power, Riha," Xaris said, walking toward her with the casual grace of a god. Above them, their spirit-weapons were locked in a stalemate, a chaotic mess of fire and shadow. "You attained 100% synchronization and thought you reached the peak. But that is just the first step of the Planet Level. You have just learned how to breathe the air of this world."
He lunged again, his speed doubling. Riha could barely see him. She used her Fire Dragon Sword to block, but the force of his strike made her bones ache.
"If you want to exceed me," Xaris's voice was right at her ear now, "you need to reach the Galaxy Level. Beyond that, there is the Cosmic Tier, and the Universal Absolute. You are playing in a sandbox, Riha, while I have been walking across the stars."
Riha felt her mana draining. The 100% synchronization was taxing, and she had already fought three battles. Her vision began to blur. She tried one last desperate move—a Void-Pulse designed to knock him back—but Xaris simply stepped through it.
He tapped the flat of his blade against her staff, a final, decisive strike.
Riha's mana ran dry. The violet glow of her eyes faded, and her knees buckled. As she began to fall toward the sand, she felt a pair of strong, steady arms catch her.
The Expansion of the Soul
Xaris didn't let her hit the ground. Using a gentle pulse of his silver energy, he lifted her into the air, cradling her as he descended slowly back to the arena floor. The spirits of their weapons dissolved back into light and returned to their masters.
"You lost, Riha," Xaris said softly, his silver eyes looking down at her with a mixture of pride and something that looked suspiciously like affection. "But you fought better than any general I've seen in the Orion Belt."
He set her down gently. Riha leaned against her staff, her body trembling with exhaustion. She looked up at the vast, infinite sky above her—the sky she had once thought was just a ceiling for her trains.
Galaxy Level... Cosmic Tier...
The words echoed in her mind. She had thought her twenty-year plan was the end of her journey. She realized now it was only the prologue.
"I lost today," Riha said, her voice raspy but burning with a new, terrifying resolve. She looked at Xaris, her crimson eyes refocusing with a light that made even the Star-Walker blink. "But don't get comfortable on your throne in the stars, Brother. I won't just reach the Galaxy Level. I will become the most powerful person in this entire existence. I will make the universe itself bow to the Shadow."
Xaris grinned, a wide, dazzling expression of pure joy. "That's my girl. I'll be waiting for you out there, Riha Roy. Don't take too long."
As the crowd fell into a hushed, reverent silence, Riha stood tall, supported by her brother. She had lost the battle, but she had gained the universe. The "Villainess" had outgrown her world, and the stars were finally within her reach.