Chapter Sixty-Three: Thunder Punishes the Battle Dragon

Roar!
A magnificent dragon, stretching ten thousand fathoms long, surged through the endless black clouds. Its twin heads—one of water, one of fire—each bore a pair of icy, blazing eyes. Its entire body was armored in bristling scales, a tapestry of azure and crimson thorns, and it possessed nine legs and eight claws. The colossal form writhed and twisted, a living tempest straddling the sky.

A band of violet lightning twined about this dragon of water and fire, forever shadowing its movements, lashing again and again against its behemoth frame. The relentless assault left both the watery and fiery auras of the dragon layered with crackling arcs of electricity. Yet, for all its fury, the violet lightning could not pierce the formidable defenses of the dragon’s thorny scales.

“Damn this law of lightning—the speed is unfathomable. Even a water-fire dragon at the Divine Monarch level cannot keep pace with that shifting bolt,” Ao Yan, one of the spirits within the dragon, fumed as their vast body endured blow after blow, unable to retaliate.

Though the fused dragon boasted Divine Monarch strength and defense, it did not mean its speed or mastery over the laws matched that same level. After all, water-fire dragons excelled at power and resilience, not at swiftness.

“We must force our foe into direct confrontation. Otherwise, our time fused together will soon run out,” Ao Run and Ao Yan exchanged thoughts.

“Is this the best you can do? It’s barely enough to give me a tickle!”
The crimson head of the dragon glared with immense flaming eyes, mocking the Thunder Punishment King whose lightning ceaselessly battered its body.

Provoked, the Thunder Punishment King paused mid-strike, his form flickering from lightning to flesh. His features were cold and majestic; he sneered, “So be it. Receive my Heavenly Thunder Judgment.”

“Heavenly Thunder Judgment!”

With a furious bellow, the Thunder Punishment King unleashed a torrent of violet lightning, flooding the entire sky in purple radiance.

A mighty pillar of violet light burst forth, crackling with the power of thunder, spearing skyward.

Thunder rumbled—on and on—waves of darkness coalesced above the pillar, conjuring a boundless sea of violet lightning, boiling and wild.

“Not good! He’s conjured a sea of thunder. If we don’t defeat him now, the storm will only grow stronger. The consequences… are unimaginable!”
The water-fire dragon quailed before the overwhelming might and deadly intent roiling within the thunder sea.

“A sea of thunder?!”

The watching Primeval Kings and leaders of the great powers all gazed at the swelling violet tempest in the heavens, awe and apprehension in their eyes.

“To think His Highness the Thunder Punishment King’s mastery of lightning has reached such heights. He is but a step away from the Divine Monarch realm,” Fang Yan murmured in admiration, eyes fixed on the endless thunder sea overhead.

The other Primeval Kings nodded in tacit agreement. Though the gods did not all fully grasp the mysteries of lightning, they knew the thunder sea was a Divine Monarch’s exclusive power. A lightning monarch could conjure it with a gesture, wielding thunder to judge all beings.

In the Dragon Palace, Candle Dragon watched the thunder sea, worry for Ao Run and Ao Yan flickering in his heart. That their fused dragon, rivaling a Divine Monarch, had fought the Thunder Punishment King to a standstill was already astonishing enough. Yet now, the Thunder Punishment King had unleashed a sea of thunder—a power reserved for true monarchs—plunging the battle into deeper uncertainty.

The other great clans—the Phoenixes, the Qilins—looked on with interest, content to watch the dragons and thunder god clash, uninvolved and unmoved.

On the frozen throne atop Waterfire Mountain, Nan Luo stared at the vast cloud sea above, a chill of awe running through him. Yet a smile curved his lips. “So the Thunder Punishment has already glimpsed the true law of lightning. Only a single breakthrough remains before he attains the Divine Monarch realm.”

“If a single thunder god is already qualified to become a monarch, what of the other gods?”

Having witnessed the Thunder Punishment King’s might, Nan Luo understood the collective strength of the gods. None could be much weaker than the thunder god—after all, only the strong stand as peers.

He felt ever more assured of his decision to have the gods and great powers fight among themselves. The conflict would incur losses within a controlled scope, avoiding a blood feud between the soon-to-be-founded Divine Clan and the other great factions.

Moreover, as Divine Monarch, Nan Luo need not personally battle the lesser forces, sparing himself from lowering his dignity. At the same time, he could quietly observe the gods’ strength, identifying the chief powers of his future clan.

As Nan Luo mused, the battle between water-fire dragon and Thunder Punishment reached its climax.

Facing the thunder sea, the dragon dared not be complacent. It surged toward its foe, intent on shattering his focus and seizing victory before the thunder sea’s might could fully gather.

The thunder sea was a Monarch’s exclusive art—how could a mere King wield it so freely? A Monarch could summon it at will; a King must expend tremendous time and effort.

Though the Thunder Punishment King was a Primeval King, in the end, he was still a King—he could not conjure the thunder sea in an instant, but required preparation.

If not for this, the water-fire dragon would have had no chance; it would have surrendered without a fight. For once the thunder sea was fully formed, its boundless power could obliterate any being below the rank of Monarch.

Even a pseudo-Monarch like the water-fire dragon would be annihilated by its endless lightning.

Seeing the onrushing dragon, the Thunder Punishment King dared not be careless. “Though the thunder sea is incomplete, it is enough to duel the water-fire dragon!” he thought, feeling the infinite electricity overhead as his foe bore down.

An incomplete thunder sea versus a pseudo-Monarch dragon of water and fire—who would prevail? The outcome was uncertain.

A flash of divine light—Thunder Punishment King transformed into a streak of purple lightning, soaring into the raging thunder sea above.

“Heavenly Thunder Judgment!”

With his majestic cry, the thunder sea boiled violently. Its endless lightning rioted, straining to break free and lay waste to heaven and earth.

Roar!

Suddenly, from the depths of the thunder sea, a thunderous dragon’s roar split the sky. The boundless lightning within the tempest began to coalesce, taking the form of a colossal purple thunder dragon.

The gathered powers and gods looked on in mingled amusement and disbelief, speechless at the Thunder Punishment King’s mischievous choice. Only Candle Dragon and the dragons themselves turned ashen.

Of all things, why conjure a thunder dragon?

A thunder dragon against a water-fire dragon—was this an internecine struggle of the dragon clan?

It was an insult to all dragonkind!

Seeing the vast thunder dragon rising from the storm, all four of the water-fire dragon’s eyes blazed with unquenchable fury.

The thunder dragon roared to the heavens, its enormous, lightning-wreathed form surging from the thunder sea.

Roar!

The two dragons met, locked in mortal combat.

The water-fire dragon, especially, was determined to erase this insult to its kin—no matter what, it would slay the thunder dragon.

The two mighty dragons clashed above the sky, godly power surging as they collided with earth-shaking force.