NOVPUBThe dragon swallowed slowly, every instinct in his ancient body screaming the same word.
Run.
The small area instantly exploded—stones cracked and trees keeled over.
White Fur looked like she was on her way to kill.
Midas bolted so fast the air cried out in protest. "IT WAS A JOKE! A JOKE, I SWEAR!" his voice echoed from the rapidly vanishing blur of his escape.
White Fur followed like divine retribution wrapped in silk.
Liu Mei, perched atop the tyrant bear, leaned forward with innocent curiosity.
"Little Aoki… is that flirting?"
The bear didn't respond. It was too busy thinking of ways of playing dead.
Right on cue, an explosion lit the sky beside them—violent, blinding.
A surge of soul force slammed into the earth nearby, but White Fur's barrier held firm. Not a single scratch reached Liu Mei.
"Hey, Little Aoki," she said again, kicking her feet like a girl watching fireworks.
"If White Fur wins… do you think I can tame that dragon?"
The bear let out a low, haunted growl.
It wasn't just a no.
It was a please-don't-ask-me-that-while-I'm-trying-not-to-die-from-terror
kind of growl.
The sight ahead.... one ancient being chasing another with murderous elegance sent cold shivers straight through his bones.
At that moment, the bear wasn't just afraid.
He was spiritually, emotionally exhausted. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
And deeply, deeply regretting letting the little devil adopt him.
Meanwhile up in the sky:
The sky cracked open as Midas twisted midair, his wings slicing the clouds apart.
He turned sharply, a glowing ball of soul force forming in his palm, its brilliance rivaling the sun.
White Fur, unhindered by gravity or fear, lunged forward with a streak of silver light trailing behind her.
Her own soul force coalesced, pure, icy white, wrapped in sharp threads of killing intent.
They launched their attacks.
BOOM!
The shockwave tore through the valley, flipping boulders and flattening trees for miles. Birds dropped from the sky.
A mountain in the distance lost its peak like a candle snuffed out.
Midas flipped through the air with surprising agility, claws shimmering with ancient runes. "I said I was sorry, you fluffy maniac!" he roared, unleashing a sweeping arc of soul fire.
White Fur answered by punching straight through it—through the fireball—her fist glowing with condensed spiritual fury.
The explosion behind her looked like a divine comet had landed.
Liu Mei watched all this with sparkling eyes, resting her chin on the bear's head like she was at a theater.
"Aoki, do you see that? They're so dramatic… I love it."
The bear, still unable to find a safe way to play dead, gave up and just closed its eyes in despair.
Meanwhile, above them, the two ancient powers clashed again.
White Fur zipped behind Midas in a blink—her speed was unnatural, like space itself was giving her shortcuts.
Midas barely raised a barrier in time as she swiped her paw, leaving glowing claw marks in the sky.
"You're supposed to be a dragon! Fight with pride!" she snarled.
"I'm trying to survive, you psychopath!" Midas snapped, sending a barrage of soul darts backward like a panicked porcupine.
White Fur's body shimmered mid-dash, her form bending light itself to evade the barrage of soul darts.
With a thunderous snap, she transformed—her silver-white coat glowing under divine soul force as eight ethereal tails unfurled behind her like heavenly banners.
Midas also didn't hesitate as, Black scales erupted across his body as his humanoid form twisted and surged upward—limbs expanding, horns curling into the sky, wings slicing through clouds like razors.
In a flash, the Black Dragon was born.
Elegant and terrifying, his body shimmered like obsidian glass etched with golden veins of ancient runes. Each flap of his wings summoned storms, his eyes glowing like molten stars.
They faced each other, the air trembling between them.
Then they moved.
CRACK!
Soul force surged as the two clashed mid-air, tails versus claws, light versus darkness.
White Fur's tails lashed out like divine whips, wrapping around Midas's neck, wings, and tail—binding him mid-flight.
Midas roared and twisted violently, unleashing a pulse of soul force that shattered three mountains and vaporized a small lake behind them.
With a powerful heave, he broke free and spun, his tail slamming toward her like a whip of judgment.
White Fur disappeared.
Then reappeared on his head.
BOOM!
Midas plummeted from the sky, crashing into the earth with enough force to make tectonic plates second-guess their alignment.
Liu Mei clapped slowly, still seated atop Aoki.
"That's three times he's been headbutted. I'm starting to think she's doing it on purpose."
A moment later, the ground exploded as Midas soared back up, now looking significantly more ruffled and significantly more pissed off.
"I was going easy!" he yelled.
"Good," White Fur said, floating with all eight tails fanned out behind her. "Now try hard and entertain me properly."
Below, the bear, unable to take it anymore, suddenly scooped up Liu Mei like a treasured dumpling, clutching her against his broad, trembling chest and charged away from the battlefield.
"Hey! Hey!" Liu Mei protested, squirming in his grip. "I was watching that!"
But even as her words flailed, her expression betrayed the truth: a smirk tugged at her lips.
Little Aoki knew better.
He knew exactly how real protests felt... from when she easily carried him up and threw him around to trigger traps.
This? This was her version of playful disappointment.
And Little Aoki valued his fur. Hugging her close, he barreled through the trees, heading straight for Shan Yifeng, who sat cross-legged in the distance—glowing faintly, deep in the midst of enlightenment.
As they reached the boy genius, Aoki gently deposited Liu Mei beside him, then turned back to stare at the ongoing battle like someone watching a house fire that might spread at any second.
Meanwhile…
BOOM!
A mountain exploded in the background.
Midas spiraled through the air, chunks of debris clinging to his majestic black scales.
He snarled and flared his wings, trying to recover balance.
White Fur descended like a heavenly executioner, eight tails swirling with wild, divine energy.
"You said you were going easy," she said, eyes glowing. "Turns out… you just suck."
Midas coughed up a boulder and wheezed. "I'm… strategically losing… to build tension."
Another blast sent him flipping end over end into a crater.
