A cold shiver ran down Elder 5's spine. He felt the weight of inevitability pressing against him like a mountain. Every instinct screamed to run, to hide, to dissolve into the night—but running was no longer an option. The predator's golden gaze was locked on him, patient, calculating, knowing every heartbeat, every breath, every movement before he even made it.
Elder 5's resolve snapped into steel. His pulse hammered in his ears, but his breath remained steady. No matter what, he thought, I will not die here without a fight. Even if the odds were impossible, even if the heavens themselves opposed him, he would not surrender. That was the path of a cultivator—to defy fate, to challenge the impossible.
Qi surged around him, hot and bright, crackling against the cold night air. His fingers flexed; his palms pressed forward. Slowly, deliberately, he manifested a barrier, a shimmering dome of energy that hummed with both defense and defiance. He stared at the lizard crouched on the ceiling tiles, wings unfurled, lightning dancing along its scales, every fiber of its body coiled like a predator ready to strike.
A heartbeat passed. Two. Then the lizard moved.
Lightning struck where it had been, a deafening crack splitting the roof tiles—but when Elder 5 blinked, it was gone. Not advancing, not attacking—simply vanished from the spot, leaving only the faint echo of power lingering in the air.
Elder 5's teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached. His mind raced. Impossible… it should have been here! I've prepared everything, manifested everything! How—
He snapped his hands together, trying to summon another strike, another countermeasure. Qi flared violently around him, but the lizard had already passed him, moving like a strike of inevitability, untouchable and unbothered, without touching the barrier, without striking a single blow. Its golden eyes, calm and knowing, seemed to study him.
The elder's heart hammered. A chill ran down his spine—not just fear, but a sense of awe.
This was no ordinary Third Layer. Every strike, every movement, every absence of movement carried absolute precision. The lizard wasn't reckless. It wasn't hasty. It didn't need to prove itself—it was the predator, and he, despite every ounce of cultivated power, was merely an obstacle in its path.
Elder 5 gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing. The wind rustled the shattered tiles around him, carrying the faint hum of Qi and residual lightning. He clenched his fists, chest heaving, Qi crackling across the barrier like storm-laden clouds. His mind raced, every rational thought and cultivated instinct screaming in disbelief.
> "It… it didn't attack? But why—?!"
Elder 5's eyes widened, pupils shrinking as a sudden clarity struck him like a thunderbolt. His mind raced, connecting the dots of what he had seen—the lightning, the vanished strikes, the eerie calm of the predator.
It wasn't random. It wasn't aiming for me.
It's not after me.
The lizard wasn't coming for him—at least, not yet. Its attention had already shifted the moment Elder 1 had fled.
The memory of Elder 1's desperate retreat slammed into his mind—the flicker, the burst of Qi, the way he had vanished into the night. And now he understood: the lizard had been observing, letting the stronger prey reveal itself. Elder 1 had fled, leaving only him, the last obstacle, standing firm.
He swallowed hard. Qi roared through his body, heating the cold night air, causing his barrier to flare brighter, jagged shards of energy spinning outward. Every rune etched in its surface glimmered in defiance.
Elder 1 shot through the night sky like a streak of light, Qi flaring around him in chaotic bursts. His heart pounded, his mind a whirl of terror and calculations.
I have to escape… I have to survive… I can't die here… not like this…
But before he could even consider a path or safe haven, something impossible happened.
A figure appeared.
Lightning flared, blindingly bright against the frozen night, and there it was—coiled, crouched, wings folded but quivering with deadly potential. Golden eyes locked onto him. Every fiber of the lizard's being radiated intent. Every scale sparkled faintly with electric energy, tracing the contours of its lethal form.
Elder 1 froze mid-flight, Qi surging uncontrollably around him. His breath caught in his throat.
Impossible… how did it—
The lizard's gaze held him. Golden, unblinking, predatory. It was everywhere and nowhere at once. Its wings twitched slightly, sending arcs of lightning flickering along the night air. The faint hum of power—so immense, so precise—washed over him like a tidal wave.
Elder 1's mind raced, scrambling for a strategy, a counter, a miracle. But he realized, with cold clarity, that this was not a creature to reason with. It didn't chase blindly. It didn't hesitate. The moment he fled, he had marked himself as prey.
His eyes widened in terror. The lizard had appeared beside him, faster than sight, faster than thought, like a shadow made solid by lightning itself.
Time seemed to slow. Qi flared chaotically around Elder 1 as he tried to maneuver, but the lizard's presence dominated the air, its golden gaze cutting into him like a blade of pure intent.