The arena had gone still.
Thunderclouds churned above the Colosseum's shattered dome, thick with storm qi and radiant arcs of primordial lightning. Feng Yanzhao stood bruised and bloodstained, half-kneeling on the fractured stage. Yet the fury in his eyes hadn't dimmed. The air pulsed with power, and the world itself seemed to hold its breath.
Across from him, Su Mengtian rose from a crater, his breathing steady but ragged. His upper robes had been shredded, revealing lightning-etched markings snaking across his chest and arms. Behind him loomed the faint silhouette of the Thunder Guardian Spirit—battle-worn but not yet faded.
Then the heavens cracked.
A pillar of descending lightning struck the center of the Colosseum, shattering the remaining stage and bathing the space in godlike brilliance. But it wasn't random.
It was a summons.
Su Mengtian's eyes glowed pure white with stormlight. His aura surged—no longer human, no longer just a prodigy. The divine imprint of the Thunder Guardian Dragon Bloodline ignited fully, as if the world recognized its rightful heir.
Feng Yanzhao clenched his fists. "You think this ends me?"
His own bloodline erupted—a double surge of crimson and gold. Infernal Flame Phoenix and Celestial Blade Monarch merged, forming a hybrid aura of absolute devastation.
The battle between legends began.
Feng Yanzhao launched forward with *Voidstep Severance*, a forbidden technique that allowed him to slice through space and reappear behind Su Mengtian in a blur. Twin blades forged of flame and light tore down in a cross-slash meant to sever mountains.
But Su Mengtian vanished into a swirl of lightning, using *Storm Veil Step*, a technique only found in the Hollow Star Vault.
They clashed mid-air.
Steel met storm.
Fire met void.
Heaven met rebellion.
From above, Su Mengtian summoned *Heavensplit Halberd Form: Wrath of Ten Skies*. The Thunder Halberd, now pulsing with Guardian Spirit resonance, slashed down in ten consecutive arcs, each one tracing an ancient constellation. Each swing distorted gravity.
Feng Yanzhao roared and countered with *Bladelord Realm: Astral Inferno Form*—a spinning technique that unleashed a maelstrom of crescent fire-blades, acting like a shield and offense in one.
The impact sent shockwaves across the barriered dome, which flickered dangerously. Spectators were forced to retreat farther.
Then came the unexpected.
Su Mengtian didn't just fight.
He synchronized.
The Thunder Guardian Spirit merged with him in full combat unity. His eyes gained double pupils, his veins pulsed with blue-gold light, and a second heartbeat thundered in rhythm with lightning.
From behind him, a massive ghostly arm extended—the Guardian's arm—and grabbed his halberd.
"Dual Combat Mode... Complete," Su Mengtian whispered.
Their movements became impossible to track. Every strike carried the weight of divine lineage. He used *Azure Rend*, a technique of the Lightning Dragon Emperor lineage, and followed up with *Storm Reversal Gate*, which inverted Feng Yanzhao's fire into volatile thunder.
But Feng was no ordinary opponent.
He activated his final stance: *Twin Crown Ascension.*
Two halos—one golden, one crimson—spun behind him, granting him temporary mastery over space and flame. Time itself seemed to stagger.
They soared above the Colosseum.
Two radiant stars.
Two final kings.
A final clash approached.
"Thunder Halberd: Stormgod Calamity."
"Twin Blades: Sovereign Execution."
When they met, the world split.
Mountains in the distance cracked.
Lightning rained from an empty sky.
Even the sun seemed to dim.
And then silence.
The two warriors crashed to the ground amidst glowing craters.
Feng Yanzhao could no longer rise.
Su Mengtian stood barely, his halberd as a crutch.
The victor... was clear.
From the shadows of the Colosseum, the Heavenly Spear Alliance stepped forward as one. Their presence shook every spectator, noble clan, and international envoy.
Lan Qiu stepped beside Rao Lin. "He did it."
Yue Mei closed her fan. "And now the world knows."
Kai Chan added with a smirk, "Our storm... has only just begun."
Thunder cracked like the roar of a dying world as the dust settled across the cracked earth of the Grand Colosseum. Lightning arced in furious streaks across the sky, and every bolt seemed to strike in rhythm with Su Mengtian's breath. The last wave of the battle had left both him and Feng Yanzhao battered and bloodied—but far from broken.
A silence settled—a sacred pause before the world tore itself apart once more.
Feng Yanzhao stood tall, his robes torn, his left shoulder seared by divine lightning, yet his aura surged with growing intensity. The golden wyrm that coiled above him shimmered with solar fire, its wings beating against the very pressure of the heavens.
Su Mengtian's eyes glowed with a deeper light—no longer just the silver-blue of storm qi, but flecked with ancient symbols, the runes of the Thunder Guardian Lineage. His Guardian Spirit floated at his back, now more material than ethereal, armored in living thunder, a halberd twice the size of a man in its right hand.
Feng Yanzhao raised his right hand and spoke.
"Time to finish this."
The crowd held its breath.
The moment began with motion so fast only the most elite of cultivators could perceive it. Feng Yanzhao vanished into golden streaks of light, reforming directly in front of Su Mengtian with his palms ablaze in radiant seals.
"Radiant Nova Collapse!"
From his body, seven miniature suns erupted and shot toward Su Mengtian like falling stars, each containing the mass and fury of compressed nuclear energy.
Su Mengtian spun his thunder halberd, calling upon the core of his bloodline. The Guardian Spirit behind him mimicked the motion.
"Heavenstorm Breaker!"
He raised the halberd, and it split into three afterimages—each one pulsing with pure destructive voltage. In a spiraling arc, he struck upward.
**BOOM.**
The seven suns collided with the spiraling halberds, triggering a chain detonation that split the sky. Half the arena was vaporized. Protective formations cracked and flickered as ancient defensive glyphs strained to contain the fallout.
The backlash blasted both combatants apart. Feng Yanzhao landed hard, coughing blood, golden wings in tatters. Su Mengtian hit a pillar and collapsed to one knee, thunder arcs healing him rapidly but not instantly.
Their internal thoughts pulsed loud beneath the chaos.
*Feng Yanzhao (thinking): "He adapted mid-air. His guardian isn't just mimicking—it's predicting. He's syncing with it on a subconscious level. That means only one thing... he's near True Unification."*
*Su Mengtian (thinking): "He's learning from every strike. But he underestimates one thing—I've never fought for glory. I fight to break the world's chains."*
Feng Yanzhao rose.
"Then let's end it with legacy against legacy."
He pressed his palms together. A golden lotus bloomed in the air.
"Solar Sovereign Gate."
From above, a radiant gate appeared—vast as the sky, inscribed with solar runes that burned space itself. Behind it, the silhouette of a divine emperor formed, cloaked in starlight, golden hair flowing like rivers.
Su Mengtian responded. He pointed his halberd skyward.
The Guardian Spirit raised its hand. A thunderstorm formed instantly above the colosseum.
"Eidolon Ascension: Stormlord Convergence."
From the clouds, a titanic thunder avatar descended—nearly as large as the Solar Gate. It bore Su Mengtian's visage, its form laced with both Guardian Spirit essence and ancestral will.
The two gods collided.
**BOOOOOM.**
The Solar Sovereign and Stormlord Eidolon locked arms, and the resulting impact caused earthquakes across the continent. Clouds were shredded. Mountains cracked. Ocean tides shifted. The crowd watched in reverent horror.
In the core of the clash, Su Mengtian and Feng Yanzhao moved as one with their divine constructs, weaving high-order martial skills and divine techniques.
Su Mengtian,
- Vortex Fang Spiral – A whirling stab that bent space.
- Chain of Heaven's Wrath– Lightning shackles from five directions.
- Crimson Howl of Skysteel – A halberd technique learned from ancient murals.
Feng Yanzhao,
- Emperor's Edict Bladefall – Swordlight that descended like royal decrees.
- Blinding Sol Ascension– Rapid ascension to blind the divine eye.
- Solar Spine Break– A deadly counterstrike that compressed light into solid form.
Each technique clashed, triggering new storms, novas, and waves of spiritual destruction.
Both combatants gritted their teeth. Their qi foundations burned, their cores strained, and blood fell like rainfall.
In one final desperate convergence, they met at the center, fists colliding as their guardians screamed skyward.
And then—
The world went white.