Jared unleashed Blazing Stride to its absolute limit. His figure flickered like a phantom through the cage of sword shadows while the Dragonslayer Sword guarded his vitals. Each collision churned his organs until blood threatened to boil.
“Is Jared trying to get himself killed?” Flaxseed stomped the ground, panic twisting his face.
“He’s probing Lester’s strength,” Ararat said, voice gravel-deep. “Lester’s style is raw and domineering. There’s barely a flaw for Jared to seize.”
Inside the arena, Jared’s predicament worsened with every breath. Lester‘s blade accelerated past human sight. Compressed sword energy forged a tiger’s illusory shadow that lunged, crimson jaws yawning wide for Jared’s throat.
The tiger’s illusory shadow roared. The shadow wafted through the air. Jared‘s eyes hardened with irrevocable resolve. From deep within, a surge of marked aura tore loose, flooding his veins and draping the Dragonslayer Sword in rolling black mist that seemed to drink the daylight.
“Marked Dragon Slash!”
A Black Dragon formed by the marked aura soared through and clashed with the tiger’s illusory shadow.
Boom!
Waves of energy spread into directions. The cultivators all retreated. When the smoke thinned, Jared staggered forward. His face had gone pale, and a palm-sized dent caved in his chest. He was severely injured.
Lester took one step back, surprise tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Interesting,” Lester murmured, licking a bead of blood from his lip. “But it still isn’t enough!”
Planting both hands on his sword, Lester poured every drop of spiritual energy possessed into the blade. Flames bloomed along the steel until the sword burned like a fragment of the sun.
“Sky incinerator Sword Art!”
Sword shadows multiplied, each one radiating furnace heat that warped the very air.
Jared’s pupils shrank. He felt this sword technique struck at least several times harder than the last. If that attack landed clean, would die.
Only one move left…
He clenched his teeth. The Power of Dragons thundered through his veins, and gold scales pushed up beneath his skin like molten armor.
Within a breath, the Golem Body awoke, covering head to toe in burnished plate. Lyra gasped, voice cracking with disbelief. “Are those dragon scales?”
Even the usually unflappable Corin froze. “Could the boy be a Draconian heir?”
“I see,” Lester hissed, greed flaring in his eyes. “You have Draconian blood… No wonder you’re so tough to kill…”
His attack turned rabid, every strike aimed at Jared’s vitals. The Power of Dragons flooded Jared’s legs. The earth blurred beneath as slipped past blazing edges, then whipped the Dragonslayer Sword in a horizontal arc toward Lester’s throat.
“Petty tricks!” Lester spun his wrist, steel screeching as parried the attack. In the same heartbeat, Jared’s left palm quietly gathered a sphere of gold. The instant Lester’s guard shifted, Jared slammed that orb into his chest. “Dragon’s Wrath!”
Golden light detonated, spreading the dragon’s power through the arena. Lester’s lungs seized. Blood churned in his body. He stumbled back five full steps before regaining balance.
“You want death? I’ll oblige!” Fury and shock mingled in Lester‘s eyes. He had not expected Jared to harbor a killing move still.
Lester raised his sword overhead, channeling spiritual energy until a giant blazing sphere formed above the tip. “Sky Destroyer!”
The orb drifted upward like a newborn sun. its heat blistered stone. Spectators hastily wrapped themselves in spiritual energy to shield the attack.
Jared stared at the burning sphere and felt the hairs on his arms stand on end. A spark of final resolve lit his gaze.
“Looks like you leave me no choice…”
Slowly, Jared lifted his left hand and grasped the void. A deep hum quivered through the battlefield, as though the void itself answered his grip.
Out of nothing, the Divine Bow materialized in Jared’s grasp. Gold markings crawled across the bow, each stroke glimmering with golden light.
“That… That’s a sacred item!”
“The Divine Bow! They say it could kill the divine being!”
The watching cultivators erupted, greed twisting their faces. Lester was also stunned. “Why is the Divine Bow in your hands?”
Jared made no reply. He laid two fingers against the bowstring. The marked aura fused into a bright arrow. “Die!” The single word slid from Jared’s throat in a low snarl. He loosened his fingers.
The arrow screamed forth! In an eyeblink, it crossed the length of the battlefield and hurtled toward the colossal fireball, its passage tearing a ragged fissure through the very sky.
