"Hahaha! I see you left some for me, Old Luan! Excellent! Now, it is the my turn to play!"
The roar was not a sound. It was a physical force, a concussive wave of pure, boisterous power that tore through the already-devastated clearing, shattering the last few remaining trees into splinters.
A golden-brown meteor slammed into the ground, the impact shaking the very bedrock of the forest. From the center of the new crater, the Mighty Lion Douluo rose, his wild, white mane of hair and beard bristling with an ecstatic, battle-hungry energy. His golden-brown eyes were blazing with a pure, unadulterated joy.
He looked at the pale, panting form of Tang Hao, at the colossal black hammer he wielded, and his grin widened. "So, you are the little rat who killed Little Xunji," he boomed, his voice a jovial, terrifying sound. "You have some guts, I'll give you that. To face down Old Luan and still be standing… not bad! Not bad at all!"
The Azure Luan Douluo descended gracefully, landing beside his companion with the soft, silent touch of a falling leaf. His handsome face was a mask of calm, academic interest, but there was a new, sharp light in his blue eyes.
"Be cautious, old lion," he said, his voice a calm, even sound that was a stark contrast to his companion's boisterous roar. "He is not a simple opponent. His hundred-thousand-year-old ring is a troublesome thing."
"Hah! Troublesome is what I live for!" the Mighty Lion Douluo roared back. He cracked his massive knuckles, the sound like a volley of cannon fire. "Enough talk! Let's get to the fun part!"
He did not waste another moment. The air around him exploded in a torrent of golden-brown energy.
"Seventh Spirit Ability: Golden Lion Avatar!" he bellowed.
His old, powerful human form dissolved, replaced by a magnificent, terrifying beast. He was now a six-meter-long Golden Lion, its fur the color of molten gold, its eyes two burning, sun-like orbs. A pair of sharp, wicked-looking goat horns curled back from its massive head, a sign of a powerful, ancient bloodline.
The battle had just escalated from a one-on-one duel to a two-on-one execution.
Tang Hao stood his ground, his face a grim, stony mask. He knew, with a cold, hard certainty, that his chances of survival had just plummeted from slim to almost nonexistent. But the Clear Sky Douluo did not know the meaning of the word 'surrender'.
The Mighty Lion, now in his full avatar form, moved first. He was a creature of pure, overwhelming force. He did not bother with subtle techniques or clever maneuvers. He simply charged.
He was a golden-brown blur of motion, his massive, clawed paws tearing up the ground, his roar a physical, tangible wave of pure, destructive sound.
Tang Hao roared in defiance. He met the charge head-on, his own colossal, mountain-sized hammer swinging in a wide, devastating arc.
The clash was a beautiful, terrifying, and utterly, completely, and world-shatteringly loud thing. The golden claw of the lion and the black head of the hammer met in a shower of brilliant, golden sparks. A shockwave, even more powerful than the last, erupted from the point of impact, tearing through the already-ruined landscape.
Tang Hao was thrown backwards, his feet skidding across the ground, the force of the blow so immense that the old, unhealed wounds in his body screamed in protest. The Mighty Lion was also pushed back a few steps, a flicker of genuine, surprised shock in its golden-brown eyes.
'He is strong!' the Mighty Lion Douluo thought, his initial, playful amusement giving way to a grudging, professional respect. 'To match my avatar's strength in a direct clash, even after fighting Old Luan… this boy is a true monster.'
But he did not have time for a second charge. The Azure Luan was already moving.
"Wind Blade Array!"
The attack was a familiar one, but no less deadly. A storm of razor-sharp, azure-blue wind blades shrieked through the air, a beautiful, deadly blizzard that sought to tear Tang Hao to shreds while he was still off-balance from the lion's charge.
Tang Hao was in a desperate situation. He was caught between two powerful, perfectly coordinated attacks. He had no choice but to use the techniques of his grandfather.
He began to spin, his colossal, black hammer a blur of motion, a vortex of pure, defensive power.
"Clear Sky Absolutes: Absolute Shield!" he roared.
The hammer rotated with an impossible, breathtaking speed, its massive head becoming an impenetrable, whirling wall of black steel. The storm of wind blades smashed against the shield, shattering into a million, harmless motes of blue light.
But the shield was not just a defensive maneuver. It was a counter-attack. The final, brilliant move of the technique was to use the momentum of the spin, the very energy of the opponent's attack, and to redirect it.
With a final, guttural roar, he swung the hammer, not as a block, but as a disruptive force. The whirling, black vortex of the shield slammed into the path of the oncoming wind blades, not just blocking them, but shattering their rhythm, their formation, sending the remaining blades careening off in a hundred different, harmless directions.
The Mighty Lion Douluo saw his opening. The boy was focused on the bird.
He charged again, his golden form a blur of motion. "Let's see you block this, little rat!" he roared.
He was on Tang Hao in an instant, his massive, clawed paw raised, ready to crush the life from him.
But Tang Hao was ready.
As the lion's claw descended, a new, strange, and incredibly dangerous energy pulsed from the black hammer.
"Clear Sky Absolutes: Absolute Shock!"
The hammer swung, not as a block, but in a strange, rhythmic, vibrating pattern. Pure, black light rippled out from the head of the weapon, a silent, invisible wave of pure, concussive force.
The Mighty Lion Douluo's claw touched the black light, and his entire, massive body seized. He was thrown backwards as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, his golden fur standing on end, his muscles convulsing violently. He had lost all ability to move.
The Azure Luan Douluo saw his companion's plight, and a flicker of genuine, serious concern entered his calm, blue eyes.
'Tang Chen's techniques…' he thought, his mind a cold, analytical machine. 'They are even more formidable than the legends say. Not just simple attacks, but complex, multi-layered abilities that can defend, counter, and disable in a single, fluid motion.'
He knew they could not continue this piecemeal assault. They had to coordinate.
The Mighty Lion Douluo shook his head, the effects of the shock wearing off, his golden-brown eyes now blazing with a furious, humiliated rage.
"That little bastard!" he roared. "He's tricky!"
"Then let us stop playing games, old lion," the Azure Luan Douluo's calm voice echoed through the clearing. "Let us end this. Together."
The Mighty Lion nodded, a grim, determined snarl on his bestial face.
They attacked in unison.
"Ninth Spirit Ability: Soul Shattering Death Roar!" the Mighty Lion bellowed.
He opened his massive, golden jaws, and a phantom, ethereal projection of a magnificent, ancient lion rose from the very ground beneath him. The phantom then let out a silent, soul-shattering roar, a visible, shimmering wave of pure, destructive sound that tore through the air, shattering the very stones of the ruined clearing into dust.
At the same time, the Azure Luan unleashed his own attack. He raised a clawed foot, and a small, swirling ball of pure, compressed wind energy began to form.
"World Ending Wind Ball!"
The two attacks, one a wide-area, spiritual assault, the other a concentrated, devastating projectile, screamed through the air towards Tang Hao, a perfect, inescapable pincer of death.
Tang Hao saw the two attacks coming, and he knew. This was it. This was the decisive moment. He had to give it everything he had.
He roared, a sound of pure, desperate, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly defiant fury.
"Clear Sky Absolutes: Absolute Break! Absolute Shatter!"
He swung his hammer twice, two perfect, brilliant, and impossibly fast strikes. The first, Absolute Break, was not a physical blow. It was an attack on the very rhythm, the very frequency of the oncoming sound wave. The black, chaotic energy of the hammer slammed into the shimmering, ethereal roar, and a strange, discordant thrum echoed through the clearing as the soul-shattering sound wave was disrupted, broken, its power dissipated into a harmless, echoing hum.
The second strike, Absolute Shatter, was a direct, head-on collision. The colossal, black head of the hammer smashed into the small, swirling wind ball. The clash was a beautiful, terrifying, and utterly, completely, and world-shatteringly explosive thing.
A brilliant, searing fusion of black and azure-blue light consumed the entire clearing, and a shockwave of pure, destructive force tore through the forest, a second, even more powerful cataclysm that was a testament to the sheer, unadulterated power of the three beings who were now locked in a battle of gods and monsters.
When the light faded, Tang Hao was still standing. Barely.
He was panting, his body trembling with exhaustion, a fresh trickle of blood running from his nose. His Clear Sky Absolutes had saved him. But they had also drained him. The old wounds in his body were no longer a simmering fire; they were a raging, all-consuming inferno.
He looked at his two opponents. They were unscathed. They were still fresh. And they were still coming.
He knew he had only one option left. One final, desperate, and suicidal gambit.
He let out a final, guttural, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly resolved roar.
"Great Sumeru Hammer!"
The words were not a shout. They were a vow. A prayer. A declaration of war against the heavens themselves.
The nine spirit rings that had been circling his body, a beautiful, terrifying halo of power, suddenly shot forward. They did not fly towards his enemies. They flew into his hammer.
One by one, they were consumed by the colossal, black weapon. The yellow, the purple, the black, and finally, the blood-red. They all merged with the hammer, their immense, ancient power being condensed, purified, turned into a single, absolute, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly pure concept: Attack Power.
The black, mountain-sized hammer began to change. The intricate, golden and white patterns that had been a subtle, beautiful detail now blazed with a brilliant, almost blinding, light. The hammer itself seemed to shrink, to condense, its one-hundred-meter-long form becoming a smaller, more manageable, but infinitely more dense, and infinitely more dangerous, thirty-meter-long weapon.
The aura it radiated was no longer just one of power. It was one of pure, unadulterated, and almost physically tangible annihilation.
The Azure Luan Douluo and the Mighty Lion Douluo stared, their expressions, for the first time, a mixture of pure, unadulterated, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly profound shock.
"This… this power…" the Mighty Lion rumbled, his voice a low, disbelieving sound. "It's… it's even greater than my own!"
"It is not just his power," the Azure Luan Douluo corrected him, his own calm, analytical mind struggling to process the impossible sight before him. "His Deathgod Domain… it has changed. It is more solid. More… real. The aura… the essence of it… it is on a level that I have only ever felt from the Grand Enshrinement himself."
They did not know what they were sensing. They did not know that the power of the Great Sumeru Hammer was a technique that bordered on the divine. They only knew one thing.
The attack that was coming was a life-threatening one.
Tang Hao did not give them time to think. He raised the condensed, glowing hammer high above his head. And then, he brought it down.
"Exploding Ring!" he roared, the name of the technique a final, desperate, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly suicidal declaration of war.
But it was not just one ring.
The two Super Douluos watched, their expressions, for the first time, a mixture of pure, unadulterated, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly profound shock.
His first, yellow spirit ring, which had been absorbed into the hammer, did not just flare. It detonated. A wave of pure, violent, and surprisingly potent energy flooded into the already-monstrous weapon, amplifying its power, wreathing it in a shimmering, golden-yellow light.
Then the second yellow ring exploded. Then the first purple. Then the second.
With each detonation, a new, more powerful, and more ancient wave of energy was forcibly fused into the Great Sumeru Hammer. The golden-yellow light was consumed by a deep, majestic purple, which was then consumed by a menacing, ancient black as his fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth rings detonated in a rapid, concussive sequence.
The colossal, thirty-meter-long hammer was now a thing of pure, black, destructive light, its aura so immense, so profound, that the very air around it seemed to warp, to collapse in on itself, creating a small, localized black hole of pure, unadulterated power.
And then, the final ring, the blood-red one, the one that had been a silent, beautiful, and terrifying presence throughout the entire battle, exploded.
The black light was consumed, annihilated, replaced by a brilliant, beautiful, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly apocalyptic blood-red. The very concept of color in the clearing seemed to change. The grey, misty oppression of the Deathgod Domain was stained crimson. The azure-blue of the sky, what little could be seen, turned a deep, bloody purple.
[A/N: This is Asura God's divine power that he had used to assist Tang Hao at this moment or else Tang Hao wouldn't have survived after exploding all his nine rings at once.]
The aura the hammer now radiated was no longer just one of power. It was one of pure, absolute, and almost physically tangible annihilation.
The Azure Luan Douluo and the Mighty Lion Douluo stared, their usual calm and boisterous confidence completely gone, replaced by the cold, hard, and deeply instinctual fear of a creature that is about to die.
"This… this power…" the Mighty Lion rumbled, his voice a low, disbelieving sound that was devoid of its usual, jovial roar. "It's… it's even greater than my own!"
"It is not just his power," the Azure Luan Douluo corrected him, his own calm, analytical mind struggling to process the impossible sight before him. "His Deathgod Domain… it has changed. It is more solid. More… real. The aura… the essence of it… it has a quality, a purity, that I have only ever felt from the Grand Enshrinement himself."
They did not know what they were sensing. They did not know that the power of the Great Sumeru Hammer, fueled by the explosive, suicidal detonation of all nine of its spirit rings, was a technique that bordered on the transcendent.
They only knew one thing.
The attack that was coming was not just a life-threatening one. It was a life-ending one.
They did not have time to think. They had to act.
"All power to defense!" the Azure Luan Douluo commanded, his voice a sharp, urgent sound. "He has burned his own life force for this one strike! If we can survive it, he will be a lamb for the slaughter!"
The Mighty Lion Douluo roared in agreement, a sound of pure, desperate, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly defiant fury. He did not retreat. He did not cower. He stood his ground, a mountain of golden-brown fury against the oncoming, apocalyptic storm.
He unleashed his defenses, one after another, layering them in a desperate, brilliant, and ultimately futile attempt to weather the storm.
"Sixth Spirit Ability: Roaring Sun Armor!" he bellowed. A thick, brilliant, and furiously burning layer of golden-flame energy erupted from his body, encasing his avatar form in a secondary, personal shield of pure, defensive fire.
His Right Arm Bone, a seventy-thousand-year-old treasure from a Golden-Eyed Mastiff, flared to life. "Spirit Bone Ability: Golden Lion's Aegis!" A massive, translucent, and incredibly solid-looking shield of pure, golden light materialized in front of him, its surface etched with the roaring visage of a magnificent, ancient lion.
And finally, he unleashed his most powerful, direct defensive skill. "Fifth Spirit Ability: Mighty Lion Barrier!" A massive, translucent, and furiously burning barrier of golden-flame energy erupted from his body, forming a third, outer layer of protection, a wall of pure, unadulterated durability.
The Azure Luan Douluo acted in kind, his own movements a fluid, beautiful, and incredibly swift dance of pure, elemental power.
His Torso Spirit Bone, a treasure of over fifty thousand years, flared with a brilliant, azure light. "Spirit Bone Ability: Cyclone Armor!" A swirling, translucent armor of pure, condensed wind energy materialized around his crystalline form, a personal, chaotic vortex that could deflect and dissipate even the most powerful of attacks.
His sixth spirit ring pulsed. "Sixth Spirit Ability: Thousand Winds Wall!" A massive, multi-layered, and almost invisible wall of pure, compressed air erupted from the ground before him, a silent, beautiful, and incredibly resilient barrier.
And finally, he unleashed his own, ultimate defensive maneuver. "Eighth Spirit Ability: Sound and Dust engulfed by the Blue Sky!" A vast, swirling, and disorienting storm of pure, azure-blue wind erupted from his body, not as a wall, but as a formless, grinding, and erosive domain of pure, chaotic energy.
They had erected six layers of defense. Three of pure, solid durability, and three of formless, elemental chaos. It was a fortress of power that should have been able to withstand the assault of a god.
But what was coming for them was not a god.
It was the fury of a man who had lost everything.
Tang Hao did not swing the hammer. He simply… let it fall.
The Great Sumeru Hammer, now a beautiful, terrifying meteor of pure, blood-red annihilation, descended.
It did not make a sound. It did not scream through the air. It simply… fell.
And the world ended.
The first layer it struck was the Mighty Lion's Barrier. The massive, furiously burning wall of golden-flame energy, a shield that could have stopped a mountain, did not shatter. It did not explode. It simply… ceased to exist. The blood-red light of the hammer touched it, and it was annihilated, its power, its very concept, erased from the world.
The second layer was the Thousand Winds Wall. The multi-layered, invisible barrier of pure, compressed air, a thing of formless, resilient power, was next. The hammer passed through it as if it were not even there, the layers of wind simply parting before its absolute, undeniable authority.
The third layer was the Golden Lion's Aegis. The solid, beautiful shield of pure, golden light, the manifestation of a seventy-thousand-year-old spirit bone, met the hammer. For a single, infinitesimal fraction of a second, it held. And then, with a silent, beautiful, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly final crack, it shattered into a million, glittering motes of golden dust.
The fourth layer was the Cyclone Armor. The swirling, personal vortex of pure, condensed wind energy that surrounded the Azure Luan met the hammer. It did not hold. It did not break. It was simply… consumed. The blood-red light of the hammer seemed to feed on the wind, to grow stronger, more vibrant, as it tore through the chaotic, swirling defense.
The fifth layer was the Roaring Sun Armor. The personal, fiery shield that encased the Mighty Lion Douluo met the hammer. The golden flames were extinguished in an instant, their light, their heat, their very essence, snuffed out like a candle in a hurricane.
The final layer was the Azure Luan's eighth ability, the formless, grinding, and erosive domain of pure, chaotic wind. It was their last, and most powerful, line of defense.
It held.
For a single, glorious, and ultimately, completely, and terrifyingly futile second.
The blood-red light of the hammer and the azure-blue chaos of the wind domain warred with each other, a beautiful, silent symphony of pure, apocalyptic power.
And then, the hammer won.
It smashed through their final, combined defenses and slammed directly into their avatar forms.
The two most powerful, most respected elders of the Spirit Hall were sent flying backwards, their avatar forms flickering violently, their own, human forms appearing, their faces pale, their bodies trembling, a thin trickle of blood running from both of their mouths.
They had survived. But they were injured.
And Tang Hao… Tang Hao was spent. The single, explosive strike had consumed all of his energy. He stood there, his own avatar gone, his face a pale, deathly white, his body trembling with an exhaustion so profound it was a miracle he was still standing.
He felt it then. A group of powerful auras approaching. Two Titled Douluos. And a Spirit King. He knew he could not fight anymore. He had to leave.
With a final, defiant glare at his two wounded, shocked opponents, he turned. He used the last, final dregs of his strength and, with a single, powerful leap, he disappeared into the deep, silent woods, a wounded, exhausted, but ultimately, completely, and terrifyingly unbroken legend.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon