The Final Toll, The Quiet Return
CLANG!
The impact wasn't a roar of explosion, but a sharp, metallic shriek—the sound of primordial dragon scales meeting annihilation-force claws. Yao Xuan's feet were driven into the earth, carving a shallow crater as fissures radiated outwards like a stone dropped in water. A finger-length crack jagged across the brilliant nine-colored scales of his forearm, and from it, a thin line of crimson welled, stark against the luminous surface.
Pain, hot and deep, radiated from the point of impact, vibrating through bone and sinew. A coppery taste bloomed at the back of his throat, a sign of internal tremor. He swallowed it down, his breathing coming in controlled, sharp draws.
'Blocked. First one down.' The thought was a point of focus in the storm of sensation. 'Legendary tier… even a casual strike carries the weight of a mountain.'
Outside, the observation room echoed with sharp intakes of breath.
"He blocked it? He actually blocked it!" Long Hengxu's voice was hushed, the disbelief morphing into awe.
Tang Wulin's eyes were wide. "Only minor injuries… against that?"
Xie Xie let out a low whistle, shaking his head. "He's built different. Totally different."
Gu Yue did not speak. Her silver eyes were fixed on the screen, on the line of blood against the cracked scales. A cold, analytical part of her mind noted the injury's depth, estimated the force dissipation, and calculated the structural integrity of the remaining scales. But beneath that, a foreign, icy trickle of fear—Na'er's fear—ran through her veins. Her hand, resting on the cool console, tightened minutely, the knuckles paling.
Inside the platform, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's ruddy eyes narrowed slightly. Curiosity flickered, replacing the dull menace. This insect had a harder shell than most. It raised its arm again, not with casual disdain, but with deliberate, gathering intent. The dark golden energy around its claws intensified, humming with a higher, more dangerous frequency.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
This time, the three claw marks that ripped through the air weren't just lines of destruction; they were howling scythes of distorted space, each one visibly thicker, darker. The power behind them had escalated by half again.
Yao Xuan's instincts screamed. 'Cannot parry. Evade.'
He kicked off the ground, blood energy flaring, his body twisting sideways in a desperate, blurring motion. The leading edge of the dark golden energy grazed the scales at his waist. A searing cold, then a sharp pain as three more hairline fractures appeared on his dragon-scale armor, but the main force missed him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The claw marks struck the forest floor. The earth didn't just crack; it opened. Three jagged, gaping wounds, tens of meters long and frighteningly deep, were torn into the landscape. Everything within their path—ancient trees, unfortunate smaller soul beasts, boulders—was simply erased into swirling particles of dust and mangled debris. The raw, gaping scars in the land smoked with residual spatial violence.
'Two.' Yao Xuan's mind was a crystal of cold focus, even as his body throbbed with warning pains. 'One more. The spatial step remains.'
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's patience for ranged play ended. A low, grinding growl emanated from its chest, a sound that promised finality. It dropped to all fours, and the ground shook with its charge. It was a terrifying contradiction—a mass of colossal muscle and bone moving with the devastating speed of a landslide. Trees snapped like twigs before it, unable to slow its direct, brutal trajectory toward Yao Xuan.
A wave of pure, predatory pressure hit Yao Xuan, colder and more imminent than any before. His heart hammered against his ribs. This was the close-range evisceration he had to survive.
The bear's right claw rose, dark gold light condensing into a terrifying, solid-looking mirage around it—a claw large enough to envelop Yao Xuan's entire body. It swung down, not with a shriek this time, but with a dreadful, heavy silence that sucked the sound from the world.
"Now!" Yao Xuan didn't shout. He poured every remaining drop of his blood energy into the first layer of his circulation. The nine-colored light within him blazed, and clusters of visible spatial distortion, like heat haze made solid, erupted around his body.
"Ancestral Dragon Shattering Void Step!"
He didn't jump left or right. He pushed through the fabric of the simulated space itself.
His figure vanished from the spot just as the monstrous dark golden claw-phantom descended.
BOOOOOOM—!
The impact was cataclysmic. Where Yao Xuan had stood, the world was unmade. A crater over ten meters wide and half as deep was punched into the earth. The shockwave radiated outwards, flattening everything in a wide radius and shaking the ground for a kilometer. Dust and debris rocketed into the air, forming a temporary, grim cloud.
"Quick! Med team!" a Spirit Pagoda technician yelled, lunging for the emergency protocols.
Long Hengxu's face drained of color. Tang Wulin and the others stared, horror dawning.
Gu Yue's breath stopped. The icy trickle in her veins froze solid. For a split second, the sovereign's composure shattered entirely, revealing raw, undiluted terror in her widened silver eyes—Na'er's terror, given full dominion.
Only Wu Changkong remained still, his sharp eyes scanning the periphery of the dust cloud. "Wait," he commanded, his voice cutting through the panic. He pointed a steady finger at the edge of the screen. "Look."
Beyond the epicenter of destruction, where the torn earth met the intact forest, the air shimmered like a mirage. With a soft, almost inaudible sigh of displaced air, Yao Xuan's figure coalesced. He stumbled, dropping to one knee. His right arm hung at an awkward angle, the scales darkened and cracked, blood freely dripping from his fingertips. His face was pale, etched with deep exhaustion, and his chest heaved as he fought for air. His blood energy was a guttering ember, his soul power nearly dry.
But he was alive. He was conscious. And he had evaded the final, direct hit.
[Task: Confront the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear – COMPLETE.]
[Reward: 300 Gold Evolution Points.]
The notification was a distant chime. The victory was written in the dirt and his own pain.
With a final, staggering effort, Yao Xuan raised his uninjured left hand and slammed it onto the emergency disengagement button on his wrist.
A beam of white light enveloped him, and the ravaged forest, the towering, now-roaring Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, and the taste of blood and dust faded away.
He rematerialized in the sterile, quiet transfer chamber of the Spirit Pagoda. The sudden silence was deafening. The cool, climate-controlled air felt alien against his feverish skin.
The door hissed open, revealing the crowded observation room. Concerned faces swarmed into view, but his gaze, blurred with fatigue, instinctively sought one person.
He found her. Gu Yue stood a half-step ahead of the others, her usual perfect composure restored, but her eyes… Her eyes were a tempest of silver, holding his with an intensity that spoke volumes. In them, he saw the residual flash of fear, the swift, analytical scan assessing his injuries, and beneath it all, a profound, wordless relief that softened the sharp edges of her beauty.
She didn't rush forward. She didn't speak. But in that held gaze, across the bustling room, the bond between them—forged in Aolai City, tested in battle, and now reaffirmed in silent understanding—deepened another irrevocable degree. The dragon and his silver moon had faced the terror, and both had emerged changed.