A silence like the eye of a storm descended upon the coliseum. Even the winds paused as if the world itself dared not breathe.
Su Mengtian rose slowly, arcs of silver-blue lightning crackling down his arms. Across from him, Feng Yanzhao's crimson aura had deepened into something darker—almost abyssal. His long robe had been burned and torn in places, revealing the serpentine scales pulsing across his back and chest. The duality of dragon blood and spectral shadow had merged into one seamless nightmare.
"Enough testing," Su Mengtian's voice echoed, underlined with thunder. "From here on… it's death or glory."
Feng Yanzhao smirked, shadows spiraling around his eyes. "Then let us write legend in blood and sky."
In the next breath, both stepped into their Dominion Realms.
The coliseum twisted.
The world turned into a wasteland of pitch-black sand, under a sky riddled with crimson moons. Towers of twisted bone jutted from the earth, and screams echoed on the windless air. This was Feng Yanzhao's personal dominion, honed from years of slaughter—an inner world formed from despair and ambition.
Within this realm, his strength multiplied thrice, his speed doubled, and his spirit attacks became laced with void erosion.
He raised both hands.
"Void Howl Execution Array!"
Twelve serpents made of blackened fire burst from his palms, spiraling into the air and anchoring themselves around Su Mengtian. Each pulse of the array began eating away at energy itself, attempting to erase spirit and matter alike.
Su Mengtian stood tall. Lightning gathered at his feet, spiraling upward until it swallowed the false darkness. With a roar, he slammed his halberd into the ground.
"Sky-Tomb Thunder Domain: Heaven's Mandate Unbound!"
*Boom.*
The shadow world trembled.
From the rift torn above, spears of divine lightning rained down—each bolt carrying the wrath of the Thunder Guardian Dragon. Ghostly temples, ruined towers of fallen civilizations long lost, shimmered into form across the void. This was Su Mengtian's dominion, steeped in the memories of empires that died roaring.
The ground itself pulsed with sigils that enhanced all lightning-aspect arts. His speed became a blur, his strength surged beyond his earlier limits, and the sky became his reservoir.
Feng Yanzhao lunged, wings spread wide like a reaper descending upon heaven.
"Nether Shatter Blade!"
A black scythe-like strike swept through the air. Su Mengtian met it with a counter-spin and hurled his halberd forward.
"Dragon's Meteor Crash!"
Their techniques collided, ripping apart space. For a moment, the coliseum's boundary seals screamed in protest as shockwaves erupted, sending rings of energy into the heavens.
Behind Su Mengtian, his Guardian Spirit flared to life—a towering specter cloaked in stormlight armor wielding its own halberd. It moved in perfect tandem with him now, no longer bound to reaction but attacking with its own instincts.
The two became a duet of death and storm.
Feng Yanzhao released a second forbidden art—"Eclipse Soul Parasite." Shadow insects wriggled from his pores, seeking to infect and devour Su Mengtian's spiritual core. But with a cry, Su Mengtian invoked one of his Vault-sealed techniques.
"Stormpulse Severance: Ninth Echo!"
He sliced the air with a sweeping arc of his halberd. A massive dome of thunderclaps exploded outward, disintegrating the parasitic swarm mid-air.
Feng Yanzhao was forced back, coughing blood.
But he grinned. "That's it… That's the monster I wanted."
In that moment, Su Mengtian felt it.
His bloodline surged.
This wasn't just a fight anymore. It was a crossing—a divine tribulation forged by battle. Each move, each breath, pushed the limits of his comprehension. The Thunder Guardian Dragon within him howled, echoing through his mindscape.
Another awakening was near.
He could feel the final seal loosening.
He clenched his halberd tighter.
*This isn't just to win. This is to rise. To become more than what I was meant to be.*
The ruins of the dual dominions still raged around them, but the eye of battle focused sharply upon the two titans standing amidst chaos.
Feng Yanzhao rose with trembling hands, blood pouring from his mouth but his smile never fading. He stood atop a jagged obsidian pillar—one foot braced, one hand gripping a scythe forged from void essence and resentment.
Across from him, Su Mengtian stood wreathed in arcing thunder. His armor had long since been cracked and scorched, but his eyes burned brighter than ever—an unrelenting storm, his breath syncing with the roar of distant lightning.
Then, without a word, they moved.
Feng Yanzhao dove first, using "Falling Eclipse Phantom"—his body splitting into a hundred mirrored silhouettes, each wreathed in deadly illusion magic. All moved with deadly intent, each carrying killing intent potent enough to deceive the senses.
But Su Mengtian didn't dodge.
He closed his eyes.
His heartbeat slowed to a still rhythm. Then—
"Thunder Guardian Path – Seventh Vault: Celestial Resonation."
*CRACK-BOOM!*
His body disappeared in a blur of stormlight. A dome of pure sonic thunder burst forth, collapsing illusions instantly and launching all clones into oblivion. Only one remained—the true Feng Yanzhao—who barely managed to shield himself with an ebony wing.
But it wasn't enough.
Su Mengtian was already behind him.
The halberd crashed downward, but Feng twisted and countered.
"Nether Wraith Bindings!"
Chains made of shadow memory lashed out and coiled around Su Mengtian's arms and legs. Time seemed to halt, locking Mengtian in mid-air.
Then came a whisper.
It said "Void Cataclysm."
Feng Yanzhao's trump card.
From beneath Su Mengtian, a circle of black flames and cursed runes erupted, attempting to compress his spiritual body and burn his bloodline into ash.
But at that moment, Su Mengtian's thunder guardian spirit let out a roar that shattered mountains.
The ground fractured. The sky warped.
From Su Mengtian's chest, a second core—hidden until now—emerged. Silver-white with streaks of gold, it pulsed like a miniature sun.
Then—
"Awaken, Thunder Sovereign Form."
A torrent of power erupted. The void flames were snuffed out. The chains snapped. The entire domain trembled.
Behind Su Mengtian, his Guardian Spirit transformed. No longer a humanoid avatar—it now stood as a full thunder dragon wreathed in regal armor, eight eyes glowing with primal wisdom. The beast coiled around the battlefield, breathing out bolts of living judgment.
Su Mengtian now hovered with six wings of pure thunder energy and a halberd infused with divine runes.
He raised it skyward.
"Heaven's Tempest Judicium!"
And brought it down.
A continent-splitting bolt of judgment fell from the sky.
Feng Yanzhao's last defenses shattered. His scythe broke. His wings burned. He fell to one knee, coughing blood and still grinning.
"Good... you really are a monster."
But Su Mengtian didn't strike again. He landed slowly, the storm quieting.
"You were worthy. You made me awaken completely. But now, the path forward belongs to me alone," Su Mengtian said.
As Feng collapsed, faintly conscious, the storm cleared.
Above them, the coliseum barriers lifted, and for the first time in decades, the skies wept.