That ze was no ordinary fire; it was his lifetime of cultivation condensed-the Heaven-Burning Divine me.
Dark-gold tongues seethed, hot enough to liquefy stars; even space warped and sagged.
Wounded, he chose the most brutal answer: burn his own source, drag the enemy
into the pyre.
"Whoever you are die with me! Heaven-Burn Annihtion!"
He became a sphere of dark-gold fire wider than ten feet, rolling at Jared with world- ending weight.
Everything it passed over—formations, tiles—vaporized; the Star-Gazing tform floor slumped into magma.
Jared''s gaze sharpened. He had not expected such iron resolve, nor this suicidal bacsh.
He could not meet it head-on.
And letting the st leak outward would trumpet the fight to every corner.
Both hands carved frantic sigils. Gray chaotic force surged andyered shield after shield before him as he sprang away.
Boom-boom-boooom!
The dark-gold sphere mmed the chaotic barrier, thunder splitting the sky. Each shatteringyer swallowed chunks of the divine fire before ripping apart.
The shock punched through Jared''s chest, blood churning; he staggered back dozens of paces.
He seized the breathing space, hauled fresh chaotic force, and triggered his spatial art once more.
"Chaos Cage!"
Jared let out a lowmand.
Gray mist boiled off his sleeves, rushed outward, and filled the air.
Within a heartbeat the churning haze locked together, forming bars of solid-looking energy. A towering cage snapped shut around the dark-gold fireball that was Venerable Redme.
The inner wall of the cage quivered. Needle-thin cracks flicked open and closed by the thousands.
Each crack ground against the divine fire the way millstones chew grain, shaving sparks away and swallowing them into mute grayness.
"Ah-ah-ah! Give this venerable a break!" The roar burst from the rolling fireball, raw and ragged.
Enraged, Venerable Redme hurled himself against the bars again and again. Each collision rang along the grayttice and made the whole construct shiver.
Yet this pocket of space belonged to Jared.
The Chaos Cage refused to splinter; fresh chaotic force flowed from the surrounding void and welded every dent before it could widen.
Heartbeats passed.
The dark-gold sphere shrank to nearly half its size, and its scalding pressure dulled like a forge cooling too fast.
Sensing the ebb, a cold gleam shed across Jared''s eyes.
Fingers flew; seals knitted faster than thought.
He thrust one forefinger toward the cage''s heart, every muscle tight with intent.
"Return to the Void-Devour the Heavens!" His voice cut through the roar of mes, steady and merciless.
At the point his finger marked, darkness curled.
In an instant it spiraled into a cavernous vortex, a mouth wide enough to swallow mountains, its pull savage and relentless.
"No!" The single word tore out of Redme''s core, higher and sharper than anything he had shouted before.
The remaining divine fire—alongside flesh and soul—ripped loose and rushed headlong into the vortex.
Inside that spinning maw the pieces ground together, shattered, and sifted into motes of pure fire power and scatteredw fragments.
A few breathster the vortex winked out.
Without its anchor, the Chaos Cage dissolved like fog under noon sun.
Heat still shimmered over the Star-Gazing tform.
On the cracked tilesy a marble-sized clump of crimson divine power and several gleaming treasures, their metal casings still sizzling in the air.
Venerable Redme-gone, body and spirit alike erased.
Only the war-scarred silence acknowledged the fact.
Color drained from Jared''s face; opening a pocket world and casting Return to the Void back-to-back had cost him dearly.
He swept the spoils into his sleeve, then settled cross-legged, steadying breath until the surge of chaotic force leveled out.
His lips moved in a whisper the scorched stones alone could hear. "Three more." The chill in his gaze deepened.
Flesh and aura twisted; a heartbeatter the figure of Venerable cier stood where Jared had rested.
Without pause he strode toward Greenwood Hall, the next name on his list.
The memory of Redme''sst re lingered, sharpening caution rather than feeding pride.
Every silent step carried a vignt edge, as though hidden eyes waited behind each pir.
Venerable Greenwood, master of woodw, was known for a gentle temper and maintained a cordial bnce with cier.
Wearing cier''s face, Jared spoke of Redme''s erratic movements and rumored ties to outside rebels.
The half-true tale lured Greenwood to a secluded bend behind Divine Punishment Hall''s rear mountain.
The instant thest warding rune sealed the clearing, Jared struck-no preamble, no warning.
Chaos-drenched fingers sliced out, aiming to end the meeting before a single polite word could form.
Greenwood answered with instant vines and shimmering life aura, cords of emerald light looping to bind, repair, and defend.
Yet each time bark thickened or shoots sprouted, the gray power brushed across
them and the color bled away, leaving only brittle ash.
The duelsted moments more before the final emerald glow guttered out.
Greenwood''s life force copsed inward; body and soul dissolved together into silent dust.
Jared''s focus shifted to the next name-Venerable Terrabold.
Terrabold''smand of earthw forged walls even star-splitting strikes could scarcely dent; patience and weight were his signatures.
Still in cier''s guise, Jared proposed bolstering the hall''s defenses against potential siege.
Terrabold followed him into a stone-lined chamber buried deep beneath the sanctuary floor.
Down where light could not reach, Jared drew a thread of pressure from the Pentacarna Tower.
That weight pinned Terrabold''s mountain-like armor while chaotic force seeped in, cracking bedrock flesh and shattering the soul inside.
Three swift eliminations honed his use of chaotic force; every kill tempered instinct into practiced technique.
A cold, steady confidence settled behind his eyes.
Though realm boundaries held firm, the sharp edge of hisbat strength lengthened with rming speed.
Only the strongest and most suspicious-Venerable Celestial Metal still breathed.
Master of goldw, his strikes were a smith''s final blow: decisive, wless, nearly impossible to parry; keen insight matched the steel in his will.
With cier he shared no friendship, only a silent calction that kept swords sheathed.
Jared knew such restraint would never bend to simple bait.
So he chose a frontal path.
Open doors, open words, sharpened knives hidden beneath.
Wearing cier''s robes, he announced looming upheaval across the eastern region and summoned all Five Venerables to council.
Then he walked straight toward Celestial Metal Hall, pace neither rushed nor slow.
It was a n meant to be seen—a daylight stratagem any wary mind could catch.
Celestial Metal could doubt every syble, yet with three fellow Venerables already "agreeing," refusal would brand him guilty or afraid.
Celestial Metal Hall rose ahead, wrought from Starlight Silversteet, its surfaces pouring a cold silver
glow that felt sharp enough to slice exposed skin content
Inside, Venerable Celestial Metal sat upon the central throne, posture straight, presence like a drawn de waiting to strike.
Around thirty years of age, his face was cut from stone, sword-straight brows set
above bright, steady eyes.
He wore a suit of silver-white armor, and two sheathed longswords crossed behind
his shoulders.
Even standing still, the man felt like
a peerless de just drawn from its
scabbard, every breath throwinal??!
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an edge that promised to pierce anyt ything in its path.
Celestial Metal Venerable''s gaze flickered the moment he saw cier step through
the door alone; the rest of his face remained carved from marble.
"cier, you sent word that the eastern region faces upheaval and the Five Venerables must mee Where are Scarlet me, Greenwood, and Terrabold?" His
voice never wavered.
Jared kept cier''s frosty mask in ce; his eyes offered no warmth when he
answered.
"They will be here shortly. I came ahead because there is a matter I must verify with you alone."