Thunder Falls, Gravity Cracks
Raikai frowned as he stared down the six lieutenants positioned between him and Shinryu's looming battle. "Shinryu, I don't know how fast I can take these guys to help you with the general. His simple nature seems almost as physically gifted as me, and his cultivation surpasses me by a great deal. That field of yours might not be enough."
Shinryu's eyes stayed locked on Wu Feng. "Judging by his confidence, you're not wrong. But I've never liked fights where I already know the outcome." His tone sharpened. "This fight—I'll handle alone."
The lieutenants twitched with irritation at the dismissal in Raikai's words, but without a command from their general, they remained poised.
Wu Feng 's voice rumbled across the field. "The two talents who've shaken the empire. To defeat a Qi Fusion Refinement expert at your age, at only the mid-step of Flesh and Bone Fortification—impressive. But I am no overconfident old man."
A sudden shift in the air. Darkness bloomed around Wu Feng as his Death Arms emerged—a full suit of dark, heavy armor. Faint black runes etched themselves across its surface, a mark of a deeper synchronization with his physique. His killing intent surged, and his lieutenants instantly braced themselves, sensing the general's intent to go all out.
Raikai met Shinryu's gaze. "Don't be careless. I won't take long."
He stepped forward, facing the six lieutenants alone.
"Your opponent is me. You sent all your troops ahead… so let's not drag this out."
With a surge of qi, his Death Arms awakened—twin chain scythes flaring with lightning. Sparks snapped around his body as the aura of the Celestial Iron Body cultivation rippled outward, his skin nearly gleaming under the pressure.
"Let's begin."
At the same time, Shinryu lunged toward Wu Feng, compressing his gravitational field inward to form a four-foot radius of crushing density. His pale-blue gauntlets pulsed with light, and the air warped around him as he and Wu Feng collided.
BOOM.
Guo Ren held firm against the gravity, muscles groaning but not failing. Then, with terrifying strength, he struck—a blow that sent Shinryu flying back. Dust exploded from his impact crater, but Shinryu rolled to his feet, unshaken, eyes burning with focus.
His body's stronger than mine, even under full compression. I can't outmuscle him.
Wu Feng's armor grew darker, each strike heavier, empowered not only by his cultivation but the full bond of his Death Arms. Shinryu felt his own Death Arms respond, begging him to match strength with strength—but he resisted the urge, holding to control, not chaos.
Meanwhile, Raikai met the first of the lieutenants—a hulking man with a two-handed axe, his weapon wreathed in a red-tinted aura. The blow came fast, but Raikai raised a forearm and caught it head-on, his Celestial Iron Body a wall of living steel.
CLANG.
Lightning arced up the axe and into the man's arms. His grip faltered—too slow. Raikai's other hand lashed out, his chain scythe wrapping around the man's legs. A sharp yank, a crash—down.
Another pair attacked: a dagger-wielder and a staff-user, attempting to flank him.
They moved well—but Raikai was faster. He ducked beneath the staff's arc, parried the dagger with a flick of his scythe, and struck back with electricity-charged blows. Sparks lit the battlefield with every motion. His Death Arms were alive, moving like they anticipated the enemy's thoughts. He was no longer just a warrior—he was the eye of a storm.
He tore through them, one after another, his body taking cuts, bruises, and blunt force with every exchange. But he didn't care. His lightning qi coursed through him, mending minor scrapes and boosting his stamina, allowing him to trade every hit he took for two of his own. The battlefield around him became a ruin of burned stone and twitching bodies.
One final lieutenant stood, his staff shaking in his hands.
Raikai didn't speak.
He vanished—then reappeared in a burst of thunder.
Two blades. One motion.
Done.
He fell to one knee, breath ragged. Blood ran from his side. But the storm still raged above—his qi linked to the clouds.
And then—he felt it.
Shinryu was faltering.
Shinryu gritted his teeth, his body battered from constant clashes with Wu Feng. His gravity field flickered with instability, and each breath burned.Guo Ren's offense grew fiercer, each strike from his armored fists threatening to break something.
"You're slipping," Wu Feng said, advancing like a juggernaut. "All that control... useless when you're too tired to move."
Shinryu tried to counter with a sweeping claw slash. Wu Feng tanked it, his armor denting slightly—but then retaliated with a crushing punch to Shinryu's side that knocked him to the ground.
His clawed gauntlets dug into the earth. He coughed blood.
But then—lightning. Raikai's presence.
Shinryu smiled.
Not yet.
A surge of power exploded from within him as he finally let go of the restraint holding back his Death Arms. Pale blue light erupted around him. Gravity warped, then snapped violently outward.
The ground fractured. His gauntlets glowed like stars. His field compressed again—but this time far tighter, more focused, like the weight of a falling world.
Guo Ren stepped back in surprise—just as Raikai descended from the sky.
A bolt of lightning carved down from the stormclouds above. Within it, Raikai's body merged with the light itself.
His voice shattered the heavens.
"Dragon Thunderclap!"
His form streaked through the air, a divine lance of thunder and rage, both scythes joined into one. His body radiated terrifying speed and power—unstoppable.
Wu Feng's instincts screamed.
He threw up his strongest qi barrier, muscles bulging, armor pulsing with dark light. Everything in him focused on this one final defense.
But at that precise moment—
Shinryu moved.
He slammed his claw into the ground and compressed gravity on the barrier itself—a focused rupture in the center of Wu Feng's defense.
A tiny fracture formed.
Raikai struck.
BOOM.
His scythe cleaved through the barrier, then through Wu Feng.
No scream. No resistance.
Wu Feng stood for a moment—split down the middle. Then the halves slid apart and collapsed to the ground.
The thunder faded. The storm dissipated.
Raikai landed hard, staggering, armor cracked and smoking.
Shinryu knelt nearby, chest heaving, blood soaking his robes.
Wu Feng—general of the enemy host—was dead.
The battlefield was still.
The victors, barely standing, had shattered the unshatterable.
The Death Knights' Reckoning
As the Phoenix Cry Empire geniuses, especially the frontliners—Hou Ren, Shin Aoren, Torra Yun, and Shin Gou—finally ran out of stamina and suffered major injuries, nearing the verge of passing out mid-battle, an announcement cut through the air. Ling Chen's aged voice resonated from the skies: "General Wu Feng of the Central Chains Army has been defeated. The Phoenix Cry Empire has passed the entry trial."
Suddenly, before any of the battle-weary geniuses could react, they began to fade, then vanished off the bridge. All the blood, all the damage, and all signs of battle reverted as if time itself had been rewound.
The geniuses appeared in a large, open space within the Death Knights domain. There, they could see the remainder of the Emerald Sovereignty and the Obsidian Shadow Empire's geniuses standing in their own groups. Injuries all healed, they soon noticed that their own bodies were perfectly restored, their stamina replenished. Some even experienced minor cultivation breakthroughs, their qi cycling more smoothly than before.
Suddenly appearing overhead were four elderly males and a beautiful middle-aged female. Ling Chen, who stood at the highest point in the sky, nodded, and the female spoke, her voice clear and resonant: "Congratulations, you geniuses have all passed the era's entry test to enter our trial zone: the Death Night Realm training zone." She paused, as if anticipating a response, and sure enough, someone spoke up.
"Death Knights!" Prince Feng Lieren of the Emerald Sovereignty stepped forward, anger etched across his face. "I demand an explanation!"
The fury in the prince's eyes didn't frighten the beautiful elder; she was accustomed to such outbursts after the entry trial over the years. Seeing the current states of the other two empire groups, the Phoenix Cry geniuses knew exactly why Feng Lieren was so enraged.
Xue Mor spoke to her fellow Phoenix Cry members, her voice hushed. "It seems they suffered major losses."
"To lose so much before entering the trial grounds—this is indeed heavy for any group," Shinryu said heavily.
Joining the conversation, Shin Aoren stated, "It's a good thing you two defeated their leaders when you did; we all were on the brink of death. I do believe we all require answers."
Suddenly, Feng Lieren's voice boomed, cutting across the gathering. "Those odds were no trial! I lost over ten geniuses in that trial! Those meant to get training to become stronger, not to be used as your amusement in some mock war to train your troops, in a fight that ended up wiping out most of your troops anyways! Do you take my Emerald Sovereignty Empire as a joke? Do you wish to enter war with my empire?!" Feng Lieren shouted, his anger escalating with each word, as if he didn't remember he was speaking to elders who were almost at the cultivation limits of the Mortal Realm.
Seeing the young prince's temper, one elder chuckled, "The mouth of the kids these days." Ling Chen, hearing the elder's words, laughed in agreement, saying, "It seems the Emerald Sovereignty found a true diamond this era."