RUMBLE.
The voice alone caused the laws of the world to tremble.
A terrifying pressure descended. The sky turned pitch black as massive storm clouds gathered.
From the vortex, a colossal, jet-black dragon claw emerged. It was larger than the entire Golden Palace, covered in scales that looked like obsidian armor. The void around it cracked like a broken mirror.
"Quasi-Supreme!" an Elder gasped, his face pale. "That aura... it's a being just one step away from the Supreme Realm!"
"It's the Nether Dragon Elder!"
The guests realized who it was. The Nether Dragon was a legend of the Ancestral Dragon Nest, a monster who had once fought a Human Supreme to a standstill.
Ryuu Haotian, lying broken on the floor, laughed through his bloodied teeth.
"Hahaha! Elder Nether is here!" Haotian looked at Haruto with eyes full of spite. "You can't kill me now! You missed your chance!"
The massive claw paused in the sky, hovering like the Sword of Damocles.
"Junior of the Ryuzaki Clan," the Nether Dragon's voice boomed, echoing in everyone's soul. "You have won. Do not be ruthless. Let this matter end here."
He spoke with the arrogance of a superior being. He wasn't asking; he was commanding. He intended to take Haotian away and treat this as a minor scuffle between children.
The guests looked at Haruto. Surely, he would back down now. No matter how monstrous a genius was, defying a Quasi-Supreme was suicide.
Haruto looked up at the sky. His expression was calm. Too calm.
"Let it end here?" Haruto repeated.
He looked down at Haotian. "What, are you going to give me the classic villain line? 'Thirty years east, thirty years west, don't bully the young because they are poor'?"
"Hmph!" Haotian sneered. "My brother, Ryuu Tatsuya, will crush you! Just wait!"
"A pity," Haruto sighed, shaking his head. "You won't be there to see it."
BOOM!
Haruto stomped his foot.
40,000 Giant Elephant Particles erupted.
"What are you doing?!" Haotian screamed, realizing Haruto wasn't stopping.
"How dare you!"
In the sky, the Nether Dragon roared. The massive claw descended, smashing through the Ryuzaki Clan's outer defensive arrays like paper.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The claw aimed straight for Haruto, intending to crush him before he could kill the prince.
The pressure was suffocating. The floor tiles around Haruto disintegrated into dust.
But Haruto didn't even flinch. He didn't look up. He didn't defend.
He trusted his clan.
Instead, he moved faster.
WHOOSH!
Dark flames condensed in his hand. [Spear of the Underworld God].
PUCHI!
He threw the spear at point-blank range, nailing Haotian to the ground through his chest.
"Guh!" Haotian spat out chunks of internal organs.
Haruto descended like a demon. He raised his foot, glowing with golden Mana, and stomped directly on Haotian's heart.
CRACK!
The sound of the Dragon Prince's ribs shattering was louder than the thunder outside.
"My brother... will... kill..."
Haotian's eyes bulged. His life force faded rapidly.
Haruto reached down, plunged his hand into Haotian's bloody chest, and ripped out a glowing golden orb.
The Dragon Pearl.
"Thanks for the gift," Haruto whispered.
Ryuu Haotian twitched once, then went still. His eyes remained wide open, filled with regret and shock.
The Dragon Prince was dead.
"NO!!!"
The Nether Dragon roared in fury. The soundwave shattered the eardrums of weaker cultivators.
"You killed him! You killed the Prince! DIE!"
The massive claw accelerated, carrying the full killing intent of a Quasi-Supreme. It was an attack meant to erase Haruto from existence.
The guests screamed and scrambled for cover.
Haruto stood over the corpse, wiping blood from the Dragon Pearl. He didn't even look at the claw falling on his head.
Just as the claw was about to strike...
Hmph.
A cold snort echoed from the depths of the Ryuzaki Ancestral Grounds.
"Since when did a mere Quasi-Supreme dare to act so presumptuously in my domain?"
SHING!
A sword light, brighter than the sun, slashed up from the forbidden grounds.
It was a magnificent, terrifying light. It looked like the stroke of a calligraphy brush painted by a god of death.
SLASH.
The massive, obsidian dragon claw was severed cleanly at the wrist.
Black dragon blood rained down from the sky like a monsoon.
"ARGHHH!"
The Nether Dragon screamed in pain.
"The Eighteenth Ancestor!" Ryuzaki Kenshin grinned savagely.
"Old Ghost Ryuzaki!" The Nether Dragon's voice trembled with fear and rage. "You cut off my arm?! Do you want to start an Immortal War?! If you attack me, the Ancestral Dragon Nest will mobilize!"
An Immortal War. A war between two Supreme Powers. It would plunge the entire Empire into chaos. Billions would die.
The Nether Dragon thought this threat would make the Ancestor hesitate.
"An Immortal War?"
The Eighteenth Ancestor's voice was lazy, arrogant, and utterly domineering.
"So what if it's an Immortal War?"
"My Ryuzaki Clan has stood tall for countless eons. When have we ever been afraid of a few lizards?"
SHING! SHING!
Two more sword lights slashed into the sky.
[Immortal Slaying Sword Technique].
The first sword cut through the Nether Dragon's defensive barrier. The second sword cut through his neck.
"NO—"
The roar was cut short.
The clouds parted.
A colossal, headless black dragon corpse fell from the heavens. It crashed into the mountains outside the Ryuzaki Domain, shaking the earth for hundreds of miles.
Three Swords.
One Quasi-Supreme Dead.