The Imperial Coliseum was a sea of a hundred thousand voices, a gargantuan bowl of stone and enchantments that had stood since the founding of the Empire. Today, the atmosphere was suffocating. Every seat was occupied by high-ranking officials, legendary generals, and sect masters who had traveled thousands of miles to witness the clash between the Imperial Prince and the "upstart" from Azure City.
In the center of the arena, Prince Zhao Mu stood atop a floating jade platform. He wore armor crafted from the scales of a 6-star Sea Dragon, and his Golden-Winged Roc circled above him, its wingspan casting a shadow that seemed to chill the very air.
Lin Xuan walked into the arena alone. He didn't wear armor; he wore the same black and silver robes of the Sovereign Sect. On his shoulders, the Moon-Glow Larva and the Abyssal Shadow-Slayer were barely visible, while the Scarlet Weaver was hidden, a crimson secret tucked against his pulse.
"Lin Xuan!" the Prince's voice boomed, amplified by the arena's arrays. "Yesterday was a parlor trick. Today, I show you the true meaning of 'Imperial Might'. My Roc has bathed in the blood of 7-star titans. What can your bugs do against a god of the sky?"
Lin Xuan looked up, his violet eyes reflecting the golden sun. "Gods are only impressive until they bleed, Your Highness. And today, the sky is going to be very, very red."
The Three-Minute Countdown
[System Mission: 'The Fall of the Golden Sky']
[Time Remaining: 03:00]
"Begin!" the Emperor's herald roared.
The Roc didn't hesitate. With a screech that shattered the glass in the front-row VIP boxes, it folded its wings and dived. It was a 'Golden Comet Strike'—a move so fast it bypassed the human eye.
"Xiao Ying, Phase Shift!" Lin Xuan commanded.
The air where Lin Xuan stood rippled. The Roc's talons, capable of crushing mountain peaks, passed harmlessly through Lin Xuan's body as if he were a ghost. The impact cratered the arena floor, sending shockwaves through the stands.
"He phased?!" a General gasped from the stands. "That's a high-level Spatial Skill! Since when can a 3-star Tamer use Space-Attribute beasts?"
[Time Remaining: 02:15]
The Roc spiraled back into the air, confused and enraged. It began to beat its wings, creating a 'Heaven-Tearing Hurricane'. Razor-sharp blades of wind filled every inch of the arena, leaving Lin Xuan no room to dodge.
"Xiao Yue, Mirror-Silk Cocoon!"
The jade larva erupted in a silver flare. A dome of iridescent silk encased Lin Xuan. The wind blades struck the silk and were instantly absorbed, the energy being converted into a soft, lunar glow that healed the minor scrapes on Lin Xuan's hands.
"Defense is all you have!" the Prince sneered. "Roc, use 'Imperial Solar Flare'! Burn his silk to ash!"
The bird's feathers began to glow like a second sun. The heat in the arena spiked to a terrifying level.
[Time Remaining: 01:10]
"Now, Xiao Hong," Lin Xuan whispered. "The Sky is a Web."
Lin Xuan threw his hand upward. The Scarlet Weaver shot from his cuff, but it didn't attack the bird. Instead, it attached a thread to the silver cocoon and shot itself toward the high walls of the arena.
With impossible speed, the spider began to weave. It didn't use common silk; it used the 'Blood-Siphon Thread' it had prepared from the Rhino's energy the night before. Because the silk was imbued with Void-Attribute energy from the Shadow-Ant, it was invisible to the Roc.
The Roc dived for a final, finishing blow, its body wreathed in solar fire.
The Fall of the God
[Time Remaining: 00:25]
Suddenly, the Roc's flight path jerked. One wing was caught. Then the other. It thrashed in the air, but the more it struggled, the more the invisible red threads tightened.
The audience watched in horror as the majestic Golden Roc was suddenly suspended in mid-air, held by a massive, invisible web that began to glow a deep, arterial red as it tasted the bird's 7-star divine blood.
"What is this?!" the Prince screamed, his face turning pale. "Break it! Roc, use your fire!"
"The more it burns, the more the thread feeds," Lin Xuan said, walking slowly toward the center of the arena. "Your Roc isn't fighting me. It's fighting its own strength being turned against it."
[Time Remaining: 00:05]
The Scarlet Weaver sat at the center of the web, perched right on the Roc's head. It bit down.
The Roc let out a final, haunting wail as its golden light was sucked dry, its feathers turning a dull, lifeless brown. It tumbled from the sky, crashing into the dirt—not dead, but completely drained of its divinity.
[Mission Complete: 'The Fall of the Golden Sky' - Time: 02:58]
[Reward: Soul-Contract Item - 'The Hornet's Sting' Unlocked.]
The silence in the Coliseum was absolute. The Third Prince stood on his platform, his knees shaking. He had lost his primary beast, his prestige, and the Imperial Resource Distribution in under three minutes.
Lin Xuan stood over the fallen Roc, the Scarlet Weaver returning to his sleeve. He looked up at the Emperor's box, his voice cold and echoing.
"The sky has fallen, Your Majesty. I believe the Sovereign Sect has a decree to collect."
In the VIP box, Lin Feng, Lin Yue, and Lin Chen stood up, their eyes burning with a mixture of triumph and a possessive, dangerous love. Their brother hadn't just won a match; he had conquered the capital.
As Lin Xuan walked out of the arena, the system hummed in his mind, revealing the fourth path. It was no longer a spider or an ant. It was something that lived in the blood of dragons.
"The Centennial is over," Lin Xuan whispered. "The Conquest begins."