As the earth-binding bands forced its head upward, the lizard stared with wide, golden eyes, blood streaming freely from them. Through the haze of pain and distortion, it saw the descending blaze—a mass of energy so overwhelming it crushed the air itself, bearing down on its exposed maw.
Blue flames began to spill from its jaws.
Elder One's eyes widened at the sight—but only for a heartbeat. He quickly narrowed them, muscles tightening as he anticipated the lizard's counterattack.
He assumed it was the same technique as before.
A roar tore from the lizard's throat.
The sound was explosive.
A compressed shockwave burst outward, accompanied by searing blue flames that ripped through the air like a tearing gale. Elder One twisted violently midair, forcing his body aside at the final instant. He avoided the full brunt of the attack—but not all of it.
Flames grazed his side.
Pain detonated as heat scorched flesh. Blood streamed from his ears as the soundwave shredded through them, his vision blurring violently. He clenched his teeth, swallowing a scream as Qi surged chaotically within him, spiraling out of control.
But he did not stop.
Momentum carried him closer—close enough.
Blood spilled from his lips as he forced out a single word, his voice raw, broken, and filled with killing intent.
"Die."
He swung.
The crescent blade of condensed intent descended sharply, a streak of pale moonlight slicing through the air. It aimed straight for the lizard's head—but passed just an inch above its horns, shearing off a piece as it narrowly missed. With a flash, the blade arced away.
A crescent of energy followed, carving through the surrounding space like a half-moon, tearing at stone and air alike. The blade quivered violently, suspended for a single heartbeat—then began to fade, dissolving into nothingness.
And then the truth became horrifyingly clear.
Elder One's eyes snapped downward.
A black spear had pierced his chest—straight through the heart.
The world seemed to slow.
He froze, the battlefield tilting around him. Blood bubbled at his lips as a violent cough tore from his lungs, crimson spilling down his chin. His body shuddered as Qi surged uncontrollably, the storm inside him shattering every dam that had once restrained it.
Energy erupted in jagged, chaotic bursts, ripping through his meridians, setting every nerve ablaze. Blood poured from his eyes, ears, mouth—his very body rebelling against the power he had once mastered.
He trembled, a towering cultivator brought low, the weight of his own strength collapsing in on itself. His limbs flopped uselessly as his knees buckled, his Qi thrashing like a tempest trapped in a shattered vessel.
And then—
He fell.
Lifeless. Broken. Crimson staining the battlefield beneath him.
Silence followed.
For a single heartbeat, the storm of energy, the chaos of the clash, the screaming stone and roaring flame—all of it ceased.
A voice broke through the heavy stillness.
Calm. Cold. Certain.
"Since you chose to attack from behind," the voice said softly, "you should have been prepared for an attack from behind as well."
A ripple passed through the air.
Then—it appeared.
The fox descended soundlessly, its paws touching the ground as lightly as falling snow. Snow-white fur shimmered faintly beneath the settling dust, multiple tails swaying behind it with quiet menace. Its gaze lingered on Elder One's fallen body for only a moment before shifting to the blood-soaked lizard, still bound in shattered stone.
Its eyes narrowed.
"I wasn't lying," it continued, its voice carrying unmistakable killing intent, "when I said I would kill anyone who tried to take advantage of its injuries."
The fox took a single step forward.
"I cannot allow my Dao-Bestowed Boon to be taken before it has fully awakened."
The air tightened around it.
Qi condensed.
The battlefield—already broken—seemed to recoil in its presence.
Its gaze sharpened as it looked down at the elder's lifeless, blood-ruined form.
"So," it said quietly, tails rising as power gathered,
"anyone who reaches for what is mine… will die."
The black spear embedded in Elder One's corpse pulsed faintly.
A low hum spread through the air as the fox extended its will.
With a sharp, controlled pull, the spear tore free from the lifeless body, ripping through flesh and bone before hovering midair. Blood scattered across the fractured ground as the weapon rotated once, then settled obediently at its side.
The fox exhaled slowly.
That was far too close.
If it had arrived even a moment later…
The thought chilled it more deeply than the battlefield ever could.
It didn't even want to imagine what might have happened.
Its gaze shifted to the lizard—bloodied, restrained, barely standing.
Lucky, it thought grimly. The elder had already been at his limit. His spiritual fluctuations had been weak, erratic—on the verge of collapse.
Elder One's Qi had been in complete disarray, his meridians close to total failure. The spear had ended it cleanly—one precise strike, timed perfectly.
If not for that…
Its tails flicked once, slow and controlled.
This would have ended very differently.
The fox's remaining spiritual energy: less than ten percent.
Barely a flicker.
Its expression softened—just slightly.
The battlefield remained silent, broken, and soaked in blood.
The fox's gaze lingered on the battlefield for a moment longer before it finally turned toward the lizard.
It regarded it in silence, eyes sharp and calculating as they traced the shattered stone binding its form, the blood pooling beneath it, the tremor in its limbs as it struggled to remain upright.
"…Looks like you're in a tough spot," it said calmly.
There was no mockery in its voice. No sympathy either. Only quiet observation—cold and precise.
The lizard's golden eyes flickered toward it, pupils constricting as the black spear hovering at the fox's side shifted ever so slightly. A low, instinctive growl rumbled from its throat, weak and strained, more reflex than threat.
The fox lifted one paw.
The spear responded instantly.
With a sharp hum, it shot forward—not toward the lizard, but the earth-binding bands wrapped around its body. The weapon spun as it moved, black light rippling along its surface before it struck.
Impact was silent.
Then the ground screamed.
The spear tore through the bindings with brutal efficiency, rupturing runes, splintering stone, and shredding the condensed earth as if it were nothing more than brittle clay. Cracks spiderwebbed outward, the restraints shattering in violent bursts of debris.
The earth bands collapsed.
Stone fragments rained down as the pressure binding the lizard released all at once. Its body lurched forward, claws digging deep into the ground to steady itself as it dragged in a ragged breath.