Elder 1's arms trembled under the force of the power coursing through them, the sigils carved into his skin burning brighter and brighter. Qi surged to his fingertips—swirling, condensing, sharpening.
Then, with a pulse of cold light, a blade formed in his grasp.
It wasn't forged of metal.
It wasn't shaped from stone.
It was crafted from pure intent.
The weapon shimmered into existence—a long, crescent-shaped arc of pale radiance. Its edge glowed with a cold, silvery light. The blade hummed softly, like a whisper of wind cutting across a still night. Serene in shape. Merciless in purpose.
Elder 1 exhaled.
"Lunar Severance…"
The name slipped from his lips like a reverent prayer.
As he lifted the glowing crescent, the moonlight above seemed to bend toward him. Threads of silver drifted downward, gathering along the blade's edge. The very air dimmed. Even the lizard felt it—its golden eyes widening, its battered body freezing for the briefest instant as instinct screamed danger.
The arms of stone tightened, dozens constricting in unison.
Elder 1 stepped forward, the moon-forged blade trailing a soft, silver arc behind him.
"Moon-Cleaving Art… First Form—Crescent Execution."
He swung.
The blade didn't merely travel through air—it slid across space itself, carving a path of luminous inevitability. A bell-like tone rang out, impossibly gentle for a technique that could cleave mountains.
The silver arc expanded as it swept forward—cutting through the lightning dome, through the sparks, through the strained night itself.
It descended upon the bound lizard—unstoppable, divine.
The lizard saw it coming, the silver crescent splitting the world in two. Its jaw clenched, muscles bunching beneath crackling scales. Instinct screamed. Pain roared. Panic trembled—but pride blazed hotter.
It would not die without a fight.
Lightning gathered violently in its throat. Its maw opened wide, glowing with an intense, blinding blue. The air shook, humming with electrical pressure.
Then—
A thunderous roar erupted.
This was no simple cry.
It was a Lightning Sonic Wave.
A compressed blast of sound and electricity, dense enough to shatter boulders and tear apart mountainsides. Rings of blue-white lightning spiraled outward from its jaws, roaring like the wrath of a storm god unleashed.
The wave struck forward—
—and met Elder 1's descending crescent head-on.
The collision was instant.
And catastrophic.
A deafening BOOM tore across the battlefield, violent enough to rattle the heavens. Silver moonlight and blue lightning twisted in a blinding tangle, grinding against each other in a spiraling tempest of Qi.
Then it detonated.
The shockwave didn't simply ripple outward—
it erased everything in its path.
A sphere of blinding silver and blue lightning expanded violently, exploding from the meeting point of the two techniques. The world convulsed beneath the impact.
The surrounding earth shattered.
The stone arms disintegrated into dust.
The ground split into massive fissures, stone erupting upward like broken spears.
Because the explosion was closer to the lizard, it suffered the full force of the detonation.
The creature was blasted backward like a cannonball. Its white scales flashed as it flew, smashing into a ruined building with an earth-shaking crash. Entire walls collapsed around it in an avalanche of rubble.
Still, the momentum carried it further—skidding, bouncing, carving trenches across the fractured ground before it finally came to a halt.
Dust and debris rained down around its battered form. For a long moment, it did not move.
Then—
With agonizing effort—it lifted a claw.
Its body trembled, wings flickering weakly as it pushed itself upright. Pebbles slid from its back. A shard of broken stone fell from one wing.
Its golden eyes rose.
And when they found Elder 1—
They burned.
Hovering above the battlefield, framed by drifting dust and fading motes of silver light, Elder 1 appeared almost divine. His robes whipped in the turbulent winds left by the explosion.
And in his hand—
Lunar Severance still glowed, its crescent edge shimmering with cold, silver brilliance.
Elder 1 stared down at the lizard, breathing hard but unmoving. His silhouette seemed carved against the shattered sky.
The lizard bowed its head slightly, lightning sputtering across its broken scales—
but its gaze held firm.
The battle wasn't over.
Not yet.
---
Elder 1 lowered the glowing blade, its silver edge humming with restrained lethality. He hovered above the ruined street like a judge descending upon a condemned soul.
He exhaled slowly—calm, too calm—as confidence settled into his bones.
"So." His voice carried clearly through the devastated courtyard.
"You still rise."
The lizard's claws dug into the fractured ground. Lightning flickered faintly along its spine. Yet its golden eyes never left him.
Elder 1 continued, voice tightening with quiet contempt.
"You should have fled when you had the chance."
He raised the crescent blade slightly, the silvery glow casting sharp shadows across the rubble.
"I gave you openings. More than you deserved. Instead of retreating into whatever hole spawned you… you chased me."
His eyes narrowed.
"Again. And again."
The lizard's injured wings twitched—pain flaring, yet defiance unbroken.
Elder 1's lips curved—half sneer, half grim smile.
"You hounded me like prey," he said softly, almost conversationally. "Darting in and out… striking at my back… vanishing into the night as though you were the hunter."
He shook his head.
"Ridiculous."
A spark of lightning snapped across the lizard's scales—small, defiant.
Elder 1's voice sharpened, his cultivation rippling through the air like an unseen tide.
"You mistook persistence for dominance. You mistook my retreat for weakness."
His expression hardened.
"You mistook a Fourth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivator… for prey."
He descended a few steps through the air, moving slowly, deliberately—like a judge approaching a kneeling criminal.
"And now look at you."
He gestured toward the battlefield.
"Barely standing. Wings torn. Scales cracked. Lightning sputtering like a dying candle."
A pause—low and cold.
"You could have left me to my path. You could have lived."
He lowered the crescent blade until its point hovered inches above the lizard's skull.
"But you chose to bare your fangs at me."
His eyes gleamed with lethal certainty.
"And now… little beast…"
Moonlight bent around the weapon, drawn to its edge like water to a blade.
"…you meet your end at the hands of the one you dared to hunt."
The lizard's eyes narrowed—gold deepening, sharpening—not with fear.
With defiance.
Elder 1 tightened his grip, preparing the killing stroke.
"Struggle if you wish," he murmured. "Pray if you can. It changes nothing."
Silver light flared along the crescent's edge—
—
and the night air trembled.