Pillar of Yita

Princess Rupert awoke from her daze, gently flickering her eyelashes, instinctively reached out, and searched for her sword among the rubble. But her fingertips had just touched the cold cross-hilt when she suddenly stopped.

In the sliver of her opened eyelids, she saw that beam of brilliance, dazzling, radiant, azure like emerald, piercing through the shadow wings spread by Lifegard. The tall figure wielding the lance was like a knight forged from steel, with four steel spikes extending behind streamlined shoulder armor, flickering dimly in the dark.

The giant dragon let out a shriek, as if drawn by that beam of light, its massive body veering to one side. Yet it still flapped its damaged shadow wing, sweeping towards the knight with a claw from the other side.

Fang Hong stood behind the knight. The latter’s dark eyes reflected the gradually enlarging claw — the claw on the first toe was missing a segment, with a smooth mirror-like break, precisely the work of the Energy Angel — he remained motionless as the knight thunderously raised his left arm.

The steel arm steadily caught Lifegard’s claw, the knight took a step back, his right foot digging into the ground, the floor cracked into fragments. Some flying stones even hit Fang Hong, with a muffled sound.

But Princess Rupert saw him undaunted, merely raising his hand to gently wipe dust off his face.

The steel knight once more raised his right arm amid a low growl, while Lifegard missed the strike, extending its left claw. With a ’bang’, the knight’s right hand caught its left claw.

It seemed like a sharp low whistle, the princess saw nearly all the movable parts and buffer devices beneath that tall construct shell shifting layer by layer, heat sinks opened simultaneously, and a white trail streamed from the gaps below.

Yet it held firm, steadily taking the blow. The next moment she heard Fang Hong’s voice, ”Now.” Every crystal on the steel knight, every path of magic guidance simultaneously lit up at that instant, those four upright steel spikes were turning extraordinarily bright.

It stepped forward with its left foot, a ’boom’ erupted, grasping Lifegard with both hands and forcefully pushing forward, the unparalleled power surging from the Main Core Crystal was being channeled through every pipeline, through every shining magic guided path, to its arms.

The light of Ether glimmered, vaporizing from Xiuma’s arms into flecks of sparkles, akin to fluttering fireflies, scattered into the dark.

That power, the highest masterpiece from Dragon Soul and magic guided engineering, surged forward like a mountain collapses, in Lifegard’s seemingly incredulous eyes, sending it flying out.

It crashed through pillars, smashed through stone walls, brilliant light surged in from outside, flowing into the dark hall. Lifegard wailed as it tumbled down the cliff with debris, desperately flapping its broken shadow wing, clawing to catch something, but grasped only soft soil, along with the collapsing cliff—

The second shadow entered Princess Rupert’s vision, it was another dark giant dragon she couldn’t name. She opened her mouth wanting to alert, but realized she was too weak to produce any sound, her mouth full of rust-like taste, and her chest seemed torn with pain.

However, amid the low rumbling, the steel knight was already turning around, the dark red glow beneath the helmet, like a gaze. The Greyflame shrieked, flapping its wings, spewing a black fiery flame from mid-air.

In front of the knight appeared a ripple-like fluctuation, like a layer of shield, as soon as the black dragon flame touched the ripple, it deflected sideways.

”Still seventeen thousand four hundred Shield Value, Mr. Knight.” Miss Tata’s voice, calm as her heart.

Fang Hong nodded.

To him, that’s an astronomical number.

He knew this was Xiuma at full strength, compared to the scarred ancient relic atop Elfendo Spire, this was its true form when facing Nikopolas.

To use against a phantom, frankly, it’s like using a bull to kill a chicken.

The tall knight raised his lance, stepped forward, parted the flames like an arrow shot towards Greyflame in mid-air. Before it could react, the knight already grabbed its tail.

From above he pressed downwards, forcefully driving Greyflame into the ground. It let out a sharp cry, crashed into the ground with a thunderous sound, the hall’s floor seemed to shake, Princess Rupert against the stone pillar, couldn’t help but cough lightly.

The tall knight leveraged into the air, gently spinning — the narrow vision within his faceplate also spun within Fang Hong’s sight. But Fang Hong stood quietly, the spinning vision within the frame not affecting his clear perception of every detail around.

The knight turned mid-air with perfect posture, holding the lance, reflected in his gaze was the dragon’s spine trying to rise. He raised the lance with both hands, the next moment, a meteor fell.

Greyflame wailed, that silver light descended, piercing into its spine, causing it to drop heavily again. Its immense black body nearly unable to maintain form, edges turning to dust, ascending into the air.

And from its spine the knight leapt down, with gauntlets shining with metallic coldness, grabbed one of its horns. Then raised the lance again, piercing through there, the tip thrusting straight from the back of its head to the throat, golden blood overflowed, fell to the ground, turned to flames, transforming into granules of black dust, fading away.