Ed’s face was deathly pale. He glanced at the two behemoths in the sky about to collide, then looked back at Raylo. His lips moved, but ultimately, he said nothing to dissuade him.

He knew Raylo’s mind was made up.

"Yes, my lord!"

Ed yanked hard on his reins and roared at the Knights behind him.

"Protect the Giant! Full speed ahead!"

The Griffin Knights snapped out of their stupor. Forcing their agitated mounts under control, they quickly reformed their ranks to guard the Hill Giant as it began to move again, fleeing for their lives toward the other side of the ridge.

Raylo didn’t retreat with them.

He wheeled the Storm Griffin King around, directing Baofeng to climb higher. Like a circling Giant Eagle, he watched the impending battlefield with cold detachment.

His left hand rested lightly on the Soul Horn at his waist, its surface cool to the touch.

His right hand hovered over the hilt of the Divine Weapon Broken Stream Sword on his other side, poised to strike at a moment’s notice.

He trusted in the Sun’s Power, but that didn’t mean he would go in unprepared.

The moment Ed and the others were about to crest the ridge, the Black King finally arrived on the battlefield.

It wasted no movement, simply opening its abyssal maw.

In the next instant, black Dragon Breath surged forth like a cataclysmic flood.

It was not Flame, nor acid, but pure Shadow Energy, thick with the stench of destruction and decay.

Space itself groaned under the strain wherever the Dragon Breath passed. Mountain rock was silently annihilated, and a deep, smooth chasm was carved into the unyielding earth.

Faced with this apocalyptic strike, the Sun neither dodged nor evaded.

His golden Domain Power exploded outward, and a world of light and heat instantly enveloped the surrounding sky.

"Within my Domain, I *am* the Sun!"

He too opened his mouth, but what erupted forth was a torrent of gold.

It was a combination of Holy Light and Flame, condensed to its absolute limit. Like a true solar flare, it carried the power to purify all evil.

BOOM!

Black and gold—two ultimate forces—collided violently in midair.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only an eerie, deathly silence.

At the epicenter of the collision, Light and Shadow eroded and annihilated one another, forming a distorted, ever-expanding sphere in space.

The resulting storm of energy swept outward, instantly shearing the top off a nearby mountain. Countless boulders were hurled high into the air, only to be pulverized into dust before they could fall.

High above, Raylo rode Baofeng, his robes whipping wildly in the violent airstream.

The Storm Griffin King beneath him let out a low whimper, clearly shaken by the aftershocks of the Dragon Mighty below.

"Easy, Baofeng."

Raylo patted its neck gently.

"Our fight hasn’t started yet."

Raylo’s gaze remained locked on the center of the battlefield, not daring to relax for even a second.

This was no longer a simple contest of Power, but a confrontation between Domains, a clash between Laws.

The Sun’s golden Domain was the "Solar Furnace." Within it, he was the incarnation of light and heat, the supreme being who judged all.

Golden brilliance flooded out like quicksilver, dyeing half the sky a blazing gold. Every inch of space pulsed with searing, purifying Power.

Across from him, the Black King finally revealed his true Power.

ROAR!

A deeper, colder dragon’s roar echoed.

With the Black King at its center, an endless darkness surged forth like a tide, rapidly eroding the Sun’s golden Domain.

Light was devoured, sound was stripped away. Even space itself seemed to sink and perish within the darkness.

This was the Black King’s Domain: "Eternal Night Abyssal."

Within the Eternal Night Abyssal, the Black King was the absolute Monarch of darkness, the very personification of the end of all things.

The sky was cleaved in two, a stark division.

On one side was the "Solar Furnace," blazing with immeasurable golden light, as hot as a star. On the other was the "Eternal Night Abyssal," all-devouring and silent as the grave.

The two Domains crushed against one another in the most brutal fashion, neither willing to yield an inch.

They were like nemeses from the dawn of Creation: Light and darkness, existence and oblivion. Coexistence was impossible.

The Demon Fire Crow Group circling the edge of the battlefield let out shrill screams.

The destructive aftershocks from the clash of the two Domains were a cataclysm they could not possibly withstand.

Dozens of Fire Demon Crows, unable to evade in time, were caught in the dissipating energy. Their black feathers instantly incinerated and vaporized. Their wails were cut short as their charred bodies plummeted from the sky like kites with their strings cut.

RUMBLE...

At the boundary between the two Domains, fine cracks began to spiderweb across space, like a shattered mirror.

The Black King’s vertical pupils turned crimson. It stared intently at the "Sun" across from it as shockwaves crashed through its mind.

Just a few months ago, this Golden Dragon was a mere fledgling, propped up only by the power of his bloodline. He hadn’t even mastered a Domain.

But now, not only had he awakened a Domain, its strength and integrity were in no way inferior to its own!

’Such a growth rate is simply inconceivable.’

An unprecedented sense of alarm rose within the Black King.

It realized that if it allowed this Golden Dragon to continue growing, it wouldn’t be long before the sovereign of the Black Stone Mountain Range was dethroned.

But crushing him today would be no easy feat.

A confrontation of Domains was an ultimate test of will and Power. Against a Golden Dragon who had now established his own Domain, it had no guarantee of victory.

And off to the side, that minuscule Human Knight—the one that put it on edge—was still watching like a predator.

Weighing the pros and cons, the Black King made its decision.

The Sun was not faring well either.