Boom! Arrowhead met fire! Time itself seemed to hold its breath. Then the world shattered. A storm of gold devoured the horizon, quake-waves rattling the bones of heaven. Space rippled like a pond struck by a meteor.
Every spectator, helpless before that annihilating glow, clamped their eyes shut by instinct alone. When the light finally receded, a stunned hiss passed over the field.
Lester knelt on one knee. A fist-sized hole gaped in his breastplate. Blood pumped through shattered armor plates that now lay around like violet shards of glass.
He stared at the wound in frozen horror, as though only now understanding that death had entered his body.
Jared barely remained standing. The Divine Bow’s backlash had ripped every meridian in his frame. Dark blood trickled from the corner of his mouth while his limbs swayed.
“I… I lost?” Lester whispered, disbelief quivering on each syllable.
“N-No! We not lost! Never!” Madness flickered in his eyes. He jerked his head toward the crowd behind him. “What are you staring at? Move! Kill and seize that bow now!”
The Blood Guard’s gaze burned with covetous hunger. He surged forward first, roaring, “The Divine Bow will be mine!”
Dioz, wrapped in writhing black mist, lunged as well. “Jared, I’ll claim your flesh for myself!”
Varek, Lunaria, and experts from every sect followed. They had forgotten the promise after seeing the Divine Bow and Jared’s Draconian bloodline.
“Shameless bastards!” Ararat roared. With a cold ring, his longsword left its sheath, meeting the Blood Guard head-on in a shower of sparks.
“Protect Mr. Chance!” Kishor and Alice cried together. Members of Whispers Tower formed a wall, locking shields as enemies crashed against them.
Behind that wall, Corin and Flaxseed hauled Jared backward while Lyra stepped forward, sword raised, gaze staring at Lunaria’s advancing figure.
“Little wretch!” Lunaria hissed, voice slick with malice, “Die for me!”
A bone whip appeared in Lunaria’s hand, and whipped Lyra.
Lyra shouted, “Back off!”
Her longsword darted forward with swan-like grace, a silver blur that forced Lunaria to recoil before the point could kiss flesh.
Chaos burst wide open. In the blink of an eye, the courtyard became a furnace of clashing steel and sorcery.
Ararat traded blows with a Blood Guard. Both were at the ninth level of the Earthly Immortal Realm. Sword energy crashed against a crimson aura, and each collision warped the sky.
Kishor swung his Sky Breaker in brutal arcs, standing alone against several earthly immortals and refusing to yield an inch. Beside him, Alice wove through shadows. Silver needles slipped from fingers, finding throats and joints with surgical cruelty, rhythm meshing perfectly with Kishor‘s raw force.
Disciples of the Sword Sect, outmatched yet fearless, threw themselves at the demonic cultivators of the Malevolent Path Hall. Screams, metal clanks, and the wet rasp of bodies falling wove a nightmarish chorus.
Jared sagged against a shattered wall, watching the battle with growing panic. He longed to rejoin the fray, yet his arms felt filled with sand.
The Divine Bow’s backlash had hollowed out more savagely than had feared. That single arrow had nearly drained every thread of the marked aura that once thundered through his meridians.
Flaxseed parried a rushing blade with a charm, then called over his shoulder, “Jared, are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” Blood spattered from Jared’s lips, giving the lie to the words. He tasted despair.
Am I truly going to die here? Flaxseed shouted again, “Let me help you escape! The line won’t hold much longer!”
Determination flashed in Flaxseed’s eyes. He was ready to grab Jared and make a run for it. Jared shook his head. Everyone out there was bleeding for his sake. He could not leave them behind.
“Fire unicorn!” Jared roared. A crimson beam burst from his storage ring and slammed into the flagstones, flaring like a newborn star.
There stood the fire unicorn covered with red fur. It let out a roar. Even though the fire unicorn had grown a lot, it was still a young beast.
Seeing this, Corin gasped, “A fire unicorn?”
His voice cracked with awe. Sensing Jared’s peril, the fire unicorn’s eyes blazed. It inhaled sharply, chest swelling like a furnace about to erupt. Its roar boomed like a volcano cracking open.
Flames raced across its body. in heartbeats, it ballooned into a towering beast several stories high. Wildfire wreathed its frame, and the courtyard quaked beneath the pressure of a true divine aura.
