Location: High Altitude – Stratosphere
Time: Impact minus 60 Seconds
The sky was screaming.
The massive Pagoda-Ship 'Beast-Tamer', weighing millions of tons, was in freefall. It was no longer a vessel; it was an artificial asteroid. The friction of the atmosphere turned its golden hull a burning, violent red. The clouds evaporated instantly around it.
On the ground, ten miles below, the wind pressure was already flattening forests. Roof tiles were ripped from the buildings in the capital. The citizens huddled in the streets, looking up at the burning "Second Sun" falling to crush them.
Emperor Qin Long knelt on his balcony, weeping. There was no strategy for this. There was no politics. This was just physics.
[System Alert: Extinction Event Imminent.]
[Impact Force: 500 Teratons.]
[Survival Probability: 0%.]
But directly in the path of the falling star stood a speck of dust.
Aris Thorne stood on the head of the Azure Dragon. The Dragon coiled tight, its body trembling not from fear, but from the sheer intake of mana.
"System," Aris whispered, his voice calm amidst the roaring wind. "Unlock Safety Protocols."
[Warning: Planetary Authority is intended for Divinities.]
[Host is Nascent Soul.]
[Risk: Body disintegration. Soul fracture.]
"Unlock it," Aris ordered. "I didn't collect these keys just to look at them."
The Fusion of Four
The Four Divine Seals began to spin around Aris.
The Blue Tortoise Scale.
The White Tiger Fang.
The Red Phoenix Feather.
The Green Dragon Scale.
"North. West. South. East."
Aris grabbed the empty air in front of him and pulled.
"Converge."
The four seals slammed into Aris's chest.
AGONY.
It felt like his blood turned to lava and his bones turned to ice. The conflicting concepts—Fire and Water, Metal and Wood—waged war inside his meridians. His Abyssal Sovereign Body began to crack, purple light leaking from the fissures in his skin.
"Hold..." Aris gritted his teeth, blood spraying inside his mask. "Hold it together!"
He poured every drop of his Void Qi into the mix. The Void acted as the binding agent, the grey glue that forced the four colors to merge.
[System Notification: Synchronization 100%.]
[Activating: The Avatar of the World.]
The Manifestation
A pillar of multi-colored light erupted from the Dragon's back, shooting up to meet the falling ship.
Inside the light, Aris vanished. In his place, a form began to grow.
First, a skeletal structure made of Black Tortoise Diamond.
Then, muscles woven from Azure Dragon Vines.
Next, armor plated in White Tiger Steel.
Finally, massive wings erupted from the back, burning with Vermilion Phoenix Fire.
The light faded.
Floating in the sky was a Titan.
It stood three thousand meters tall—a humanoid giant made of elemental energy. Its face was a smooth, faceless mask of Abyssal Violet. It had four arms.
The Titan looked up at the falling city-ship.
It didn't dodge.
It raised all four hands.
The Catch
[Impact in 3... 2... 1...]
The Pagoda-Ship smashed into the Titan.
BOOM.
The sound was loud enough to be heard on the other side of the planet. A shockwave ring of condensed air exploded outward, clearing the sky of clouds for a thousand miles.
The Titan groaned. The White Tiger Armor on its shoulders buckled. The Phoenix Wings flared, thrashing against the air to generate counter-thrust.
The ship pushed the Titan down.
1,000 meters.
500 meters.
They were falling together. The heat of the ship's re-entry burned against the Titan's palms.
"HOLD!"
The voice didn't come from Aris. It came from the planet itself—a chorus of the four beasts speaking in unison.
The Titan's lower arms glowed Blue (Tortoise).
"IMMOVABLE."
The Titan's upper arms glowed Red (Phoenix).
"REBIRTH."
The Titan dug its heels into the very fabric of space. The air cracked like glass under its feet.
SCREEEEEECH.
The sound of metal groaning against divinity tore through the sky.
The descent slowed.
Stopped.
The massive Pagoda-Ship hung suspended in the air, five miles above the capital. It was caught in the Titan's grip like a toy boat held by a giant.
The Stare Down
Location: The Bridge of the Beast-Tamer
Elder Kong was thrown from his command chair by the sudden deceleration. He scrambled to his feet, bleeding from a head wound.
"Report!" he screamed. "Why have we stopped? Did we hit the ground?"
"No, Grand Elder!" the sensor officer yelled, his face pale with terror. "We... we were caught."
"Caught?"
Kong ran to the viewport.
He looked down.
Staring back at him was a three-kilometer-tall face of violet void. The Titan's four hands were gripping the hull of the ship, its fingers digging deep into the Celestial Gold plating.
"Impossible," Kong whispered. "That... that is a Dharma Idol. But an idol that size requires a True Immortal cultivation! How does a backwater savage have this power?!"
The Titan's faceless head tilted slightly.
A voice projected directly onto the bridge. It was Aris's voice, but amplified to god-like volume.
"YOU DROPPED THIS."
The Counter-Throw
The Titan's muscles bulged. The Green Dragon Energy surged through its frame, granting it infinite torque.
"GET IT OFF MY PLANET."
The Titan pushed.
It didn't just push the ship up; it threw it.
With a roar that shook the tectonic plates, the Titan launched the Pagoda-Ship upward.
The massive vessel was sent careening back toward the exosphere. The g-forces inside the ship were catastrophic. Crew members were plastered against the floors. The hull groaned, structural integrity failing as it was forced back against gravity.
The ship tumbled end-over-end, spinning out of control, flung back into the cold embrace of high orbit.
The Dissolution
As the ship disappeared into the black sky, the Titan began to dissolve.
Maintaining that form for 30 seconds had burned through 99% of Aris's mana and the stored energy of the Seals.
The giant form shattered into motes of light.
Aris fell from the sky, unconscious.
"I GOT YOU."
The Azure Dragon swooped down, catching the falling boy on its snout gently.
"REST, LITTLE KING," the Dragon rumbled, gliding down toward the capital. "YOU HAVE BROKEN THEIR NOSE. BUT THEY WILL BE ANGRY WHEN THEY WAKE UP."
The Aftermath
The Azure Dragon landed in the Main Plaza of the capital.
The citizens, who had been bracing for death, opened their eyes. They saw the golden ship gone. They saw the Dragon. And they saw the tiny figure lying on its head.
Silence. Absolute, stunned silence.
Then, Lin Chen, battered and one-armed, raised his remaining fist.
"VICTORY!"
The roar of the city was louder than the impact would have been.
But Aris didn't hear it. He was deep in the Abyssal Dream, floating in a dark void.
And in that void, a notification blinked.
[System Update]
[Feat Achieved: Planetary Defense.]
[Reward: The Attention of the Dying God.]
[Incoming Message...]