Time ran like sand through my fingers. The second trial crept to its end—five, maybe six minutes left—and weariness draped me like a wet cloak. At first, their rhythm hit me like hail and hammer, but once I felt out Jixiu and Leixi’s patterns, the storm eased.
I still hadn’t opened my Sword Domain. It would make things easier, sure, but it guzzles strength like a thirsty furnace. If I opened it now, I’d be running on fumes. Even without it, my stamina burned low, exhaustion stacking like stones. The Cliff of Thunder has been the hardest floor I’ve fought—bone-deep tired, muscles knotted like twisted ropes.
The earlier floors let you catch your breath whenever. Not here. Only after weathering every strike did you get ten minutes of rest. I was close to crumpling. I stretched the ache out of my limbs and tasted bitterness. How am I supposed to handle the Guardian later? In this state, I’ve got no confidence. And the second trial isn’t even over.
I knew Jixiu and Leixi were almost spent—mana and muscle both scraped raw. But they still had a last hit in reserve. One final blow, stronger than all the rest. I needed to recover before they reset. I tightened my grip on the Shattered Light Sword, layered myself with a few recovery-type sword techniques, then drew in the surrounding lightning element, like pulling breath from a crackling storm, bracing for that last strike.
High above, the two dragons whispered across the wind.
“Our leftover strength can only manage one more hit. Jixiu, want to risk it—use that move?”
Yumigawa Sumeragi had shocked Leixi to the core. Not even an adult, yet his power grazed half-step Divine Realm. A Sword Wielder, born of the highest blood of the Mizumi Clan, face bright as spring and blade sharp as winter. For a golden child like that, Leixi wanted to paint a lesson in lightning.
“Not wise,” Jixiu hesitated, voice a low rumble. “That move needs us to unfold our magic domains. We’ve got nothing left to deploy them.”
“Then let’s draw lightning,” Leixi said, one iron claw pointing down at Yumigawa Sumeragi. “Look—Mizumi’s boy is busy recovering. He won’t notice a thing.”
“…Fine.”
Jixiu was strict, especially about trials. No mercy. He knew Sumeragi reached the sixth floor fast because earlier Guardians likely held back. On this floor, Jixiu would make sure the lesson burned.
Together, with one breath and no restraint, Jixiu and Leixi drained every thread of lightning element from the region and ground it down into their own mana.
Two minutes to the end of the second trial, their conversion finished. Urgency pressed like an iron band. They unfolded their domains without a heartbeat wasted.
“Thunderbane Domain!”
“Divine Thunder Hell!”
Rumble.
In an instant, the void for a hundred miles turned into a sea of lightning. Waves of colossal bolts rose and fell like storm-tossed surf, mountains of light collapsing and surging again. The energy spilling off them hit the high tier of half-step Divine Realm—two domains dovetailed into one roaring system.
Thunderwebs laced the sky. The heavy clouds were scoured away, leaving only a violet-blue blaze. From afar, that lightning ocean was terrible and beautiful, shock carved into beauty. In the outside world, ordinary folk would call it a wonder and pass the tale wide as wind.
The moment their domains settled, both dragons split their jaws, gathered mana like a cyclone, and loosed their last strike.
Two colossal beams met and braided into a tornado, a lance of light twisting into a devouring funnel. Its power peaked at half-step Divine Realm. It spun, a doom-wind meant to erase, its speed a razor at lightning’s limit. Eyes couldn’t track it—only the skin felt its cold.
I’d prepared, but not enough. No time to curse, no space to plan. I had to go head-on. I threw open my Sword Domain—without it, this was a straight path to death.
Above, a lightning ocean boiled. Below, a world of swords unfurled. Violet-blue against gold, two tyrant forces locked horns, neither yielding, neither blinking. The laser-tornado fell. I siphoned Sword Aura, drank in storm-light, pulled every thread of energy my Sword Domain held.
“Raging Thunder Flowbreaker Slash!”
A thunder-forged blade, more than ten meters long, slid over the Shattered Light Sword like a second edge. I swung with everything I had, driving that enormous blade up to meet the falling funnel.
It was the thunder variant of Netherflow Rage Flame Slash—stronger bite, harsher burst. With the Sword Domain and lightning-rich air behind me, its power almost touched the peak of half-step Divine Realm. Almost.
Sizzle—hiss—
The giant blade collided with the laser-tornado. Lightning meeting lightning meant no apocalyptic bloom, just grinding and gnawing, each shaving the other down. Stray currents and sparks tumbled to the mountain’s foot, chewing into the last scraps of forest. Smoke lifted like gray banners. One glance down, and fire had taken root—trees catching and collapsing, flames eating wood to ash.
“Not good.”
My blade thinned—waning like a moon at dawn. The funnel pushed it back. I had to pour more in. I dragged more lightning element into my lungs, funneled more Sword Aura through my veins, fed the blade with every drop of the Domain’s energy.
Still short. I wove Sword Intent into it—will made edge, heart made fire. The blade swelled back, heat and light rising, its power swelling to match the tornado: half-step Divine Realm peak, iron for iron.
“Break—!”
It all came down to this breath. I swung the Shattered Light Sword in a frenzy, trying to guide the giant blade to cleave the funnel. But equal storms cancel each other. For a long second, there was no victor.
At the exact end of the second trial, both energies guttered out together. Blade and tornado unraveled into threads of electric rain, fading into the air.
I’d held. The second trial’s final attack—blocked. I let out a breath, and my knees deserted me. I fell flat on the cliff’s rough stone. The cost had already blown past my limits.
