Since they had decided on the Eastern Sea's Dragon King as their first target, the excited Karyō eagerly led Riku and Sun Wukong to the abyss of stars, the Dragon King's lair.
In the abyss of stars, the sea surged and the waves heaved, presenting a magnificent sight.
"How beautiful," Karyō breathed as she gazed at the scene before her.
"By the way, Lord Riku, why did you change your appearance and aura?" Karyō tilted her head at the man beside her, face full of puzzlement.
"If I didn't, did you want me to steal all your spotlight?" Riku rolled his eyes and said evenly.
"Uh." At that, Karyō touched her pretty cheek. Come to think of it, that was true if the Dragon King recognised Riku, he'd be scared senseless and hand over anything they asked for.
"Ahem. In that case, Lord Riku, you mustn't make a move. This is our first battle!" Karyō declared with utmost seriousness.
"Even if you begged me, I wouldn't step in," Riku said, shaking his head. "Bullying a little Dragon King? How undignified."
"Good point." Karyō nodded, eyes shining with admiration.
"But this place is huge, how do we find anyone?" Sun Wukong asked, puzzled.
"Heh-heh, leave that to me. I have a few little tricks. You two wait here; I'll scout, figure out their dispositions, and sneak in," Karyō said with a mischievous smile.
Clearly, she'd done this sort of thing more than a few times.
"If you can find their positions, we might as well attack head-on. Sneaking around isn't a Demon Lord's style," Riku said, rolling his eyes.
"I think Riku's right. Sneaking isn't fun," Sun Wukong agreed.
"Uh…" Karyō rubbed her face and then clapped her hands. "You're right! Real Demon Lords don't skulk around. Charging straight in is what's cool, that's how you show kingly might!"
"In that case, Lord Riku, Sun Wukong, let's go," she said, brimming with excitement.
Riku smiled faintly and followed the two exuberant girls as they slipped into the sea.
He had no intention of intervening, but witnessing the [Great Sage]'s path would be a pleasure. He had plenty of time, after all.
Beneath the surface, it was pitch-dark, the water pressure immense. But none of the three were ordinary; such pressure was of no concern.
In those shadowed waters, they occasionally ran into shrimp soldiers and crab generals, clearly sea creatures who had acquired divinity.
Before long, the trio drew near the undersea castle.
Here, unlike before, it was no longer dark; it gleamed crystal-bright. The vast undersea castle glittered, dazzlingly beautiful.
Around the castle, the shrimp soldiers and crab generals were far more numerous, lending the place a lively air.
"So this is the Dragon Palace? Not bad," Karyō murmured curiously, eyeing the castle.
"That must be the Sea-Calming Divine Needle. Astonishing," Riku said, stroking his chin as he looked at the pillar rising from the Dragon Palace's heart, soaring beyond sight; rosy radiance streamed, auspicious vapour billowed, and dense runes carved upon it lit the seafloor.
Forged from divine treasure iron, the Sea-Calming Divine Needle could suppress the entire surging sea.
In myth, it was god-iron smelted by the Grand Supreme Elderly Lord, later borrowed by Yu the Great to tame the floods. Thanks to that grand merit, it had become a unique divine armament throughout Little Garden.
"The Sea-Calming Divine Needle…" Sun Wukong and Karyō also looked over, instinctively parting their lips in shock. "I want that one!" Sun Wukong fixed on the Needle, drawn to it by sheer instinct.
"Hee-hee, that's exactly why we came," Karyō said with a smile. "So let's declare war and rob the Eastern Sea's Dragon King!"
Cute as her smile was, her violent words sent a chill down one's spine.
"Mhm." At that, Sun Wukong's eyes flashed. She stepped forward and threw a punch, terrifying power riding on the divinity that bolstered it.
The shockwave stirred the sea itself and slammed into the Dragon Palace's barrier.
Crack!
In an instant, the barrier shattered under raw force, and the whole sea grew restless.
If not for the Sea-Calming Divine Needle, the entire ocean would likely have been churned to chaos and turned into a natural disaster.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Hundreds upon hundreds of shrimp soldiers and crab generals were blasted away and killed in an instant by Sun Wukong's fist-force; the survivors screamed themselves hoarse.
Countless shrimp soldiers and crab generals swarmed out, encircling the three. Of course, that only happened because Riku, Karyō, and Sun Wukong had yet to act in earnest; to think such small fry could truly surround them was pure delusion.
"Who are you people? Why make trouble in my Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea!" At that moment, from the palace depths a massive flood dragon appeared; horns crowning his head, he radiated powerful divinity, and the roiled waters around him smoothed.
He was the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. His feat of calling wind and summoning rain had, in Little Garden, become the source of his potent divinity.
"You're the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea?" Karyō looked at him with mock-old gravitas and gave a little snort.
The Dragon King was a strong Four-Digit-class being. At only ten years of age, she might not be his match.
But she wasn't alone here; Sun Wukong and Lord Riku were beside her. Even if Lord Riku wouldn't act, his presence put her at ease.
What could she do? The thigh she clung to was simply too thick; there was nothing to fear.
"Where did you brats come from, to make trouble in my Dragon Palace? Explain yourselves at once, or I'll imprison you and have you all executed," the Dragon King said coldly.
"She is a Demon Lord, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong. I am a Demon Lord, the Great Sage Who Roils the Heavens, Karyō. We've come to your Dragon Palace for one reason: robbery," Karyō said, first pointing to Sun Wukong, then to herself, hands going to her hips as her childish voice tried very hard to project regal authority. Riku couldn't help but chuckle.
"The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong? The Great Sage Who Roils the Heavens, Karyō? Robbery?" The Dragon King and the shrimp soldiers and crab generals blinked, then wore odd expressions.
"Brats who don't know how high the sky is or how deep the earth dare to take such arrogant titles. Since you claim to be Demon Lords, I'll subjugate you here and now," the Dragon King sneered.
"Move!" In the same instant, he ordered the shrimp soldiers and crab generals to attack.
"So you look down on us? Sun, let's beat them to a pulp," Karyō said angrily.
Even as she spoke, she moved. Her divinity flared; behind her, fiery wings of the roc unfurled.
Then the supreme divine fire, the Sun-Wheel Golden Wing Flame, erupted!
Divine fire blazed across the world; the moment those shrimp soldiers and crab generals drew near, they were burned to ash, their very divinity seared away.
"Divine fire?" As the god-flames churned beneath the sea, the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea's expression shifted; looking at Karyō, a wary light came into his eyes.
She possessed divine fire, and to have such divinity at her age meant her status was anything but simple.
"Don't think having divine fire lets you act so arrogantly!" the Dragon King roared again.
So what if her background was unusual? She was a Demon Lord. And Demon Lords must be subjugated!
Besides, his own backing was anything but simple. The [Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea] fell under the jurisdiction of [Heaven], not the [Christianity] one, but the [Heaven] jointly established in the East District by the top communities [Buddhist Order] and [Taoism].
With that background and since this was a Demon Lord subjugation, who would dare touch him?
"Maybe when you've grown up, you'll threaten me. But not now!" the Dragon King bellowed. "And this is my domain!"
At once, the Gift of calling wind and summoning rain was activated; the seas raged, steeped in the Dragon King's powerful divinity.
In a flash, Karyō's divine fire was checked and forced back.
Just as the Dragon King said, Karyō was still a fledgling, and they were underwater. The field was stacked against her.
"Sis Sun, help me take him down," Karyō said through a pout, cheeks flushed with anger.
"Okay. Got it," Sun Wukong nodded.
She lifted her fist.
"Hm?" In that instant, a sudden unease gripped the Dragon King as though some primordial beast had fixed its gaze upon him.
Boom!
Splat!
But by the time the Dragon King tried to act, it was too late. Sun Wukong, moving faster than he could track, drove a fist across the gap. The savage shockwave blew apart Karyō's flames and the very waters the Dragon King commanded, then crashed into his body, blasting him away and collapsing a section of the palace.
Blood geysered from his form; a gaping hole opened in his flesh. He was grievously wounded, on the brink of death.
A Four-Digit might be a powerhouse in Little Garden, but to Sun Wukong, he was pathetically weak.
"Waaah! As expected of Sis Sun, she one-shotted the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea! So strong!" Karyō whooped, thrilled by the sight.
The shrimp soldiers and crab generals, by contrast, were stricken with terror. At last, unable to bear it, they scattered and fled.
Karyō and Sun Wukong had no intention of pursuit; they couldn't be bothered with such small fry.
"C-cough… this monstrous strength…" the dying Dragon King muttered bitterly, staring at the two.
"Sis Sun, let's go collect the Sea-Calming Divine Needle," Karyō said, excitement bubbling up again.
"Mm," Sun Wukong nodded, face full of anticipation.
In a flash, the two streaked toward the glittering Needle.
"No!!!" The Dragon King's pupils blew wide as he screamed himself raw. The Sea-Calming Divine Needle was the emblem of his community, a one-of-a-kind divine armament in Little Garden, his pride and joy!
"You've forced my hand." Hatred twisted the Dragon King's features. He planned to call in [Heaven], even at ruinous cost, to avenge him to subjugate Sun Wukong and Karyō.
But before he could contact [Heaven], Riku alighted upon his dragon-snout.
"As expected, those two brats are a little too naive," Riku murmured, shaking his head.
If you're going to raise hell in the Dragon Palace, do it thoroughly. Uproot the grass, pull the roots. Otherwise, with how shallow their foundations are right now, bringing [Heaven] down on them would make life… uncomfortable.
"Who are you?!" the Dragon King demanded, staring at the man standing on his snout.
The sense of crisis in his heart was stronger than when he'd faced Sun Wukong; this was the shadow of death.
Riku ignored the question. Calmly, he drew a divine spear from his storage.
"The spear…" The moment it appeared, the Dragon King's body and his divinity shuddered on instinct. Fear seized him.
His voice trembled, disbelief twisting his face.
"You're…?!" he cried in despair.
Splat!
Before he could finish, Riku's spear lanced through his skull.
Though he styled himself "Dragon King," he was a flood-dragon who had learned a dragon's divinity; in essence, a god of wind and rain.
And so, the spear's intense god-slaying attribute detonated at once, obliterating him in an instant. He didn't even have time to scream. The Four-Digit Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, slain by the [Godslayer Spear: Longinus], was left with no possibility of resurrection.
Riku withdrew the [Godslayer Spear: Longinus], tossed it back into the system storage, and strolled toward Sun Wukong as though nothing had happened.
By the Sea-Calming Divine Needle, Sun Wukong and Karyō stood in shock, staring up at the pillar that soared beyond sight.
From afar, it had seemed vast; up close, they realised just how colossal it truly was.
No wonder it could quell the seas, a divine armament bearing top-tier merit indeed.
"It's so big, and it looks heavy. How do we take it?" Karyō said, troubled.
"I can lift it," Sun Wukong said without looking back, pressing both palms to the Needle.
Then she pushed.
The entire Dragon Palace shuddered.
"…!" Under Karyō's wide-eyed stare, Sun Wukong hoisted the Sea-Calming Divine Needle.
Because of that motion, the Needle's disturbance churned the entire ocean into chaos, towering waves everywhere, as if the world were ending.
"No way, Sis Sun, your strength is too much," Karyō breathed.
An ant toppling a great tree is normally a fairy tale. Now it unfolded before her eyes; she was utterly stunned.
"But it's so big… It's awkward to use," she added with a wry smile. The Needle was unquestionably a mighty divine armament, but at that size, swinging it was unwieldy and clumsy.
"That part don't worry," Riku said, appearing at just the right moment with an easy smile. "If the Sea-Calming Divine Needle acknowledges you, you can change its size at will, tall enough to pierce the heavens, small enough to be a needle."
"It has that ability?" Karyō gasped.
"But the Sea-Calming Divine Needle embodies top-tier merit. Gaining its recognition won't be so…" she began to mutter.
Before she could finish, the Sea-Calming Divine Needle shrank to the size of an ordinary staff and settled neatly into Sun Wukong's grip.
Karyō's mouth twitched.