At the peak of Mt. Firmament, at the end of wind and snow, Zane and Jinhsi stood firmly in front of Jue.
Facing the Sentinel, who was far stronger than them, all they needed to do was give it everything they had…
But the Sentinel had a lot more to worry about.
'Don't use full strength, it'll really kill a dragon!'
Jue quietly glanced at the black figure standing in the vast wind and snow from the corner of its eye. The snowflakes falling beside it trembled slightly.
A golden portal appeared at the mountaintop. Behind this door was Jue's domain of sound.
"Arbiter, this battle concerns the fate of Jinzhou, and only you can open the gate to the domain. The key to the future is in your hands."
Hearing this, Rover lowered her head and silently looked at the mark on the back of her hand.
"If I open this door, Jinhsi will have to complete the destined battle with you. And Zane will have to lie in bed for a week."
Zane: Do I really need to get that badly hurt?
"The best outcome is that Jinhsi inherits your power at the final moment, restores the order of time, and no one is harmed."
"The worst outcome is that Jinhsi overdraws her resonance power, restores the order of time, and dies from overfrequency."
But because of Zane's involvement, the worst outcome didn't actually exist.
"There's another outcome." Zane suddenly spoke, looked at Rover, then turned to Jue with a sympathetic expression. "Rover grabs you and directly refines you."
"..."
Everyone on Mt. Firmament fell into silence, leaving only the howling wind and snow, making the dragon's body ache.
Seeing the slight interest in Rover's expression, Jue felt a chill run through its heart.
"Arbiter, quickly open the domain of sound."
"But I think what Zane said makes sense…"
"Open the door already!"
Jue's tone became urgent. Rover smiled inwardly and decided not to tease the dragon any longer. She raised her hand toward the golden portal.
A strange frequency emerged from the mark on the back of her hand and merged into the portal.
The next moment, the spherical portal expanded instantly, revealing the domain of sound inside.
After finishing this, Rover turned her head, suppressing the worry in her eyes, and nodded at the two of them.
At this point, no more words were needed. She believed Jinhsi could hold on until the end.
As for Zane…
Rover gave him a complicated look. That confident expression made it seem like he had never been afraid of anything.
He was like that when facing Threnodian, and he was still like that now.
"Be careful."
That was all she could do now, silently support his choice.
Zane smiled at Rover, exchanged a glance with Jinhsi, and the two stepped into the domain of sound together.
———
A wave of intense dizziness hit, almost making Zane collapse to the ground.
He didn't expect that one day he would get dizzy from a portal.
As the dizziness faded like a receding tide, Zane slowly opened his eyes. At the place where water met the sky hung a golden sun. Layers of red halos overlapped, and it was impossible to tell whether it was sunrise or sunset.
Layer upon layer of clouds rippled like water, dyed red, reflecting the surrounding ruins. Beneath the sky was an endless expanse of water. Unknown flowers swayed with the waves, rising and falling, forming a breathtaking scene.
This was Jue's domain of sound.
Here, dawn and dusk were mixed, the four seasons were out of order, and it contained the origin and end of all time.
A cyan blade appeared in Jinhsi's hand, its shining edge reflecting her resolute eyes.
"Zane."
Without her needing to say more, Zane charged toward Jue first.
Jue seemed to have expected this. It raised its dragon head high and floated in midair.
Zane, who had been charging fiercely, instantly lost momentum and was forced to stop.
"You lousy dragon! If you've got guts, come down! Don't be like Threnodian, acting all timid and refusing to fight head-on!"
Watching Zane stand on the water in frustrated rage, Jue let out a chuckle.
'If I can't beat you, can't I at least avoid you?'
The next second, it couldn't laugh anymore.
A white figure came riding a sword. Pale light gathered behind her into the shape of a dragon, and brilliant radiance burst forth from its mouth.
Facing Jinhsi's attack, clusters of light formed around Jue, carrying immense power as they collided fiercely with the pale radiance.
In an instant, blinding light erupted from the clash between the human and the dragon.
What Jue didn't expect was that another white figure stepped on Jinhsi's blade and rushed out from the center of the explosion.
"Sentinel, take my sword!"
Under the reconstruction of the Nexus Armor, Zane's strength had reached an extremely terrifying level. Even without using the armor, his physical strength could rival most top-tier resonators.
Jue didn't understand why Zane dared to confront a Sentinel with a mortal body, but since he dared to do it, he must have confidence.
With that thought, Jue stopped holding back. It twisted its dragon head, turned its tail into a whip, and lashed it toward Zane with a powerful sweep.
Seeing this, Zane laughed loudly and charged straight at the dragon's tail without dodging.
A teeth-gritting hum echoed through the entire domain. The collision between the man and the dragon stirred huge waves in the previously calm water.
The next second, a shadow flew out from the center of the explosion and slammed straight onto the ground, splashing water everywhere.
"Zane!"
Jinhsi's expression changed as she rushed forward to check on Zane. But as the mist cleared, she saw Zane kneeling on one knee on the water, a smile still on his face.
"Heh, the Sentinel is nothing special."
Zane casually tossed away the broken half of his sword hilt and rolled his shoulder, which was aching from the recoil.
He couldn't help but think that it really was the Sentinel, ordinary weapons couldn't even last a second under its power.
Jue, as if angered by Zane's actions, rose high into the air. Golden lightning gathered in its mouth.
The next moment, time shattered.
It was as if the entire world had been paused. In this world, it was the only ruler.
Zane and Jinhsi's figures froze as if sealed in ice, trapped in the previous second. The surprise that followed concern still lingered on Jinhsi's face.
Within the fractured gaps of time, lightning descended from the sky, gathering in Jue's mouth into a beam that shot straight toward Jinhsi.
"Jinhsi, Zane, your strength has exceeded my expectations… but even so, it is still not enough to inherit the power of time."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Jue's dragon head trembled as it looked forward again. Zane's figure had already disappeared from where he stood.
At the same time, streams of time gathered at Jinhsi's fingertips.
With each swing of her blade, one could glimpse the turning of the sun and moon, the shifting of all things. It was as if countless phenomena existed within the sword, and all phenomena returned to one.
The gentle sword energy seemed capable of dissolving everything in the world, whether it was ice that had formed over a thousand years, or time itself that had come to a halt.