"Rowan!"
The moment Yara saw Rowan arrive, her eyes lit up with joy. She ran over without caring about anyone else's gaze and clung tightly to his arm.
Around them, the planetary-level warriors exchanged knowing looks and chuckled quietly.
It wasn't exactly a secret anymore that Rowan and Yara were together, though Yara herself had never publicly admitted it. Normally she was a modest and rather reserved woman, but today she was acting boldly, holding onto Rowan's arm right in front of everyone.
Her gaze, however, wasn't casual it was sharp, filled with a mix of pain and pride as she looked toward a specific person in the hall.
Her eyes landed on Vanessa.
This wasn't a coincidence. It was deliberate. Yara's expression carried a hint of possessiveness and provocation. She wanted to make a statement to Vanessa, to the entire HR Alliance, and perhaps even to Rowan himself.
Vanessa, of course, was no ordinary woman. After Rowan's return from Mist Island, he had publicly announced that Vanessa would take over leadership of the HR Alliance. Everyone knew about her relationship with Rowan, and with his overwhelming strength backing her, no one dared object.
Under Rowan's guidance, Vanessa had grown tremendously. She was now a third-tier planetary powerhouse, capable of silencing any voice of dissent within the Alliance. Her connection with Rowan made her both feared and admired, and the Alliance members had willingly placed her in power.
After all, Rowan's strength now rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed, that of Magnus the once-undisputed leader of Earth's human race. A genius like him was someone every faction wished to align with.
Rowan, however, was less amused than the onlookers. He immediately sensed Yara's intent behind her affectionate gesture. He knew why she was doing this.
When he had decided to have Vanessa lead the HR Alliance, he'd done so with calculated precision. He wanted everyone to understand the true nature of his connection with her. Naturally, the Alliance had spread word of their "relationship" to other global powers, letting them know that behind Vanessa stood a figure so powerful that even the Wargod Palace treated him as an equal.
That knowledge alone elevated the HR Alliance's prestige overnight.
Of course, Rowan knew that word would eventually reach Yara. He had deliberately left the choice to her to either accept the truth and remain by his side, or walk away if her heart couldn't bear it.
He would never force her.
For weeks, Yara had avoided contacting him. Rowan had assumed she'd made her choice to leave. But seeing her here today, smiling by his side, proved she had made peace with it or at least decided she wasn't giving up on him.
Still, this was neither the time nor the place for personal matters.
"Where are Magnus and Thunder God?" Rowan asked as he sat down in one of the high seats that had been newly added to the Wargod Palace's conference chamber right beside where Magnus and Thunder God normally sat.
Yara stood dutifully beside him and replied softly, "Master Magnus and Thunder God have gone to hunt down the Golden Horned Beast. It's heading straight toward China, and its power poses too great a threat."
Rowan nodded slightly. So the beast had changed course again. It didn't matter what mattered was stopping it.
Vanessa rose from her seat, her calm face betraying just a trace of warmth when her eyes met Rowan's. Turning to Yara, she smiled faintly and activated the virtual projection screen.
On the massive display, Magnus and Thunder God were already in motion.
In the original timeline, they would not have appeared until the very end of the war. But now, the two legends had chosen to take action early.
"They didn't even call me," Rowan muttered with a smirk.
Yara glanced at him and said softly, "They wanted to prove themselves. Both of them feel they've been overshadowed by you, so they intend to slay the Golden Horned Beast and the other two Beast Emperors on their own."
"So I've managed to provoke them after all," Rowan said with a helpless laugh.
Everyone in the chamber shared uneasy looks. It was only natural that Magnus and Thunder God felt pressure. Rowan had surpassed them in just three years an achievement that defied all logic. For men who had carried humanity through the dark age of the Nirvana Period, it was impossible not to feel challenged.
On the screen, the two legends streaked across the sky like twin beams of light.
"They've encountered the Thunder Dragon Emperor!" Vanessa exclaimed.
The Thunder Dragon Emperor was closing in on a massive military base in America, home to over fifty thousand people. It was the most immediate threat, and so Magnus and Thunder God had chosen it as their first target.
A deafening roar split the heavens as the colossal dragon sensed their approach. Its entire body crackled with lightning, and the skies darkened beneath its fury.
"Magnus! Let's end this quickly Domain, open!" Thunder God shouted, his body exploding with blinding arcs of electricity. A storm of lightning formed around him, stretching over two hundred meters in diameter.
Magnus raised his spear, golden light swirling around him. "Light Domain open!"
"Thunder Blade, Ninth Form!"
"Judgment of Extinction!"
Their twin voices echoed as one. The fusion of lightning and light erupted into a blinding scarlet flash that tore through the dragon's chest before it could even react.
The Thunder Dragon Emperor didn't stand a chance. It disintegrated in an instant, its body raining down in pieces.
The two heroes didn't stop. Without a glance back, they shot toward the Golden Horned Beast.
Cheers erupted across the Wargod Palace. Even the stoic generals leapt to their feet.
"They did it! Thunder God has achieved Domain mastery too!" one shouted. "They're unstoppable together!"
Yet Rowan remained silent, studying the projection with narrowed eyes.
Magnus's strength had grown far beyond the version he remembered. After absorbing all five Woodya Crystals Rowan had given him, his power had risen to the eighth level of planetary rank, his domain refined to its third stage.
Thunder God, though newly mastering his own domain, was now a planetary-level nine powerhouse nearly invincible among his peers.
Their teamwork was extraordinary, and their growth undeniable.
Soon, they found the Golden Horned Beast a towering monstrosity covered in dark crimson scales traced with glowing golden lines. Its aura radiated destruction.
It was only eighteen hundred kilometers from China. At its speed, it would reach the country in less than a minute.
Most of the observers in the Wargod Palace now believed victory was at hand.
But Rowan didn't share their optimism.
Magnus and Thunder God intercepted the beast midair.
"Magnus, something's wrong," Thunder God said, his face tightening. "Its presence it feels… overwhelming. I'm at ninth-tier planetary level, and yet I feel crushed beneath it."
Magnus's brow furrowed. "No matter what, we can't let it reach the mainland. We end it here."
They launched forward, domains flaring.
"Lightning Domain!"
"Light Domain!"
Both shouted at once.
The Golden Horned Beast turned toward them. For a moment, it seemed to regard them as nothing more than dust. Without slowing, it barreled forward to crush them with its sheer mass.
"Thunder Blade, Ninth Form!"
"Judgment of Extinction!"
Their attacks met the beast head-on.
The explosion was apocalyptic. A blinding flash engulfed the sky, the shockwave shattering clouds and splitting the ocean beneath them. For hundreds of miles, the horizon was torn apart by the blast.
Every eye in the Wargod Palace was glued to the screen.
Rowan exhaled softly, patted Yara's hip, and logged out of the virtual feed.
Back in the chamber, the others waited breathlessly for the smoke to clear.
Two figures suddenly crashed out of the explosion, tumbling helplessly across the ocean before slamming into the waves.
From within the smoke, a deep growl echoed.
As the haze scattered, the Golden Horned Beast reemerged half its head blown apart, yet still alive.
Its mutilated face twitched, bones reforming, scales reweaving themselves. Within seconds, its injuries had completely healed.
The warriors in the Wargod Palace froze in disbelief.
"It's regenerating? How is that possible?!"
Even Magnus and Thunder God stared in shock as they surfaced, their armor cracked and bodies bloodied.
"If not for our Black God Suits absorbing the worst of it," Thunder God gasped, "we'd both be dead."
The beast roared again, its colossal wings blotting out the sun. The battle had only just begun.
And far away, Rowan's eyes opened calm, unreadable, yet burning with a light that promised retribution.
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