Totem Xuan Serpent vs. Silver Dome Lord (Part One)

Wu Pinjing was gravely wounded. Had Councillor Zhu Meng not pulled him clear of those relentless silver beams tearing through the air, he would already be an unrecognizable corpse.

Tang Zhong rushed over to cover their retreat, shielding both injured men. Wu Pinjing's face was ashen, blood pouring steadily from the wounds riddling his body. He looked weakly at Councillor Zhu Meng and said, "Councillor, I don't think we can match it. I've lost the ability to fight, and you're injured too — we should fall back inside the city's defensive Barrier."

"What kind of talk is that?! If even we retreat, who is going to stop this monster? You know what kind of devastation any one of its attacks could unleash on this city — if that destructive force hits even a single hospital or school, the death toll will run into the hundreds, the thousands!" Councillor Zhu Meng shot back, fury edging his voice.

He fixed his cold gaze on the Silver Dome Lord, utterly indifferent to the wound bleeding steadily from his shoulder.

He was nothing like the Silver Dome Lord — that cold-blooded creature, willing to let thousands of its own kind perish in vain rather than take a single scratch.

What made humans human was precisely this: flesh, blood, and above all, feeling. Every single life had its meaning.

If he, a Councillor, could turn his back on the millions of souls in this city — if he could flee in fear of death — then what difference was there between him and the Demon-Beasts, the animals?

A few wounds meant nothing. So long as he could keep this merciless, bloodthirsty silver devil from breaking into the city — so long as he could prevent the city's people from being annihilated — even death would be worth it.

"You damned beast — I'll make sure you understand that invading our human city is the most foolish decision you've ever made!" Councillor Zhu Meng gritted his teeth and activated an Enchanted Gear he had held in reserve until this moment.

The Celestial Thunder Palace Armor.

They had been fighting since the dead of night, and the sky had already begun to pale at the edges of dawn.

Without warning, a bolt of pale lightning split down from the faintly brightening sky — bright enough to illuminate the entire city, like divine punishment handed down from the heavens.

Awe-inspiring in its ferocity, that pale lightning came down directly onto Councillor Zhu Meng. In a blaze of blinding radiance, armor threaded with arcs of lightning wrapped itself around him from head to ankle.

It was a magnificent suit of thunder armor, as though bestowed by the heavens themselves — and at the same time, a pair of flame wings unfurled at his back. Fully armed, this Mage had transformed into a warrior commanding both the supreme power of lightning and fire, his presence radiating sheer dominance.

Lightning and fire: the two elements with the greatest destructive power of all. Councillor Zhu Meng beat his flame wings and surged toward the Silver Dome Lord, and mid-flight he summoned another Enchanted Gear.

Flame roared to life in his palm — searing, blazing, spreading outward — until it coalesced into a crimson knight's lance.

The moment the lance blazed into existence, a deep crimson sun hung perfectly on the horizon between the mountain peaks. Councillor Zhu Meng drove through that rising sun with the lance in hand, as though drawing power from its radiance. The weapon flared fiercer still, scorching the sky a vivid red.

Compared to the Silver Dome Lord, Zhu Meng was impossibly small — yet the force in his grasp was staggering. The moment the Silver Dome Lord's blade Domain met the burning lance, it turned to ash in an instant.

Councillor Zhu Meng drove ferociously into the Silver Dome Lord's Domain. The razor blades that moved at the creature's will tried to slip around the searing flames and cut him to pieces, but every one of them was turned aside by the Celestial Thunder Palace Armor.

The blazing force tore through, leaving a shocking trail of fire-cloud in its wake. The silver defenses were shattered — waves of flame scorched through the better part of that silver Domain, its power staggering enough to leave Tang Zhong, Ah Li Tian, and Yun Feng slack-jawed.

The silver blade Domain had finally been breached — broken open by Councillor Zhu Meng's Celestial Thunder Palace Armor and his Rising Sun Lance. It was the only real gain they had made in the entire battle.

And yet none of it was enough to decide the Silver Dome Lord's fate.

The Silver Dome Lord watched Councillor Zhu Meng with cold arrogance, contempt flickering across its eyes. Just as Zhu Meng closed in, it raised its massive wings and brought them crashing down.

Even though Zhu Meng had pierced through the Silver Dome Lord's absolute Domain, even though his combined lightning and fire had struck the creature directly, his power was still not enough to punch through entirely. When those wings came down on him, he was sent hurtling away like a meteor of intertwined purple and red, plunging at a steep angle from thousands of meters in the sky.

Councillor Zhu Meng crashed to earth at the city's edge, and an entire city block was obliterated by the force of the impact.

Fortunately, the area had already been evacuated. Otherwise, the casualties would have been devastating.

Amid the long stretch of rubble, the Rising Sun Lance had guttered down to a slowly fading flame. His armor had kept him alive, but it was shattered beyond repair.

Councillor Zhu Meng coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood. He forced himself upright and stared at the Silver Dome Lord high above — that insufferably proud creature — with fury and helpless anguish.

The ruler of Xi Ling was far stronger than any of them had imagined. Even five Transcendent Tier Mages working together could not match it.

Spent and bitter, Councillor Zhu Meng turned to look back at the city behind him — its skyline bristling with towers, stretching farther than the eye could see. He could already picture the terrible ruins it would become, and how many people would lose their lives amid that rubble.

And all of it would be his failure.

High above, only three remained: Military Commandant Yun Feng, Chief Adjudicator Ah Li Tian, and Tang Zhong. Of the three, only Yun Feng's strength marginally surpassed Councillor Zhu Meng's; the other two Chief Adjudicators had not yet mastered Transcendent Tier magic to the point where they could wield it with ease.

Just as they stood there at a loss, a thunderous roar erupted from the city below. A swirling mass of blue-black mist lifted an enormous serpent whose body rivaled a skyscraper in sheer size.

The great serpent drove straight through the dense White Demon Eagle Legion. The toxic mist coiling around its body kept every White Demon Eagle from daring to approach, and it cut through that formation — the very wall the Mages had found impossible to breach — with contemptuous ease, flying directly toward the Silver Dome Lord's position high in the sky.

Throughout the entire battle, the Silver Dome Lord had kept glancing down at the ground. What it feared was precisely this: the Totem Xuan Serpent below.

When the Totem Xuan Serpent rose to the same altitude, the Silver Dome Lord shrieked over and over, recoiling as though terrified of the serpent drawing any closer.

It called to its white legion again and again, and the White Demon Eagle Legion flung themselves at the Totem Xuan Serpent once more — moths hurling themselves into flame — crashing into the toxic mist that enveloped its body.

The Silver Dome Lord had its blade Domain, which had left the Transcendent Tier Mages powerless against it. In the same way, the Totem Xuan Serpent had its own peerless Sovereign Domain: a cyan shroud of venom, like a living barrier unto itself.