Then they felt a pressure.

Coming from above.

Slowly, the four leaders raised their heads.

And froze.

Kyrian hovered dozens of meters above the ground.

In the sky.

His spine glowed through his torn clothes so intensely that every individual vertebra could be seen through the charred fabric.

Veins of orange light ran across his body like rivers of magma, flowing down his arms, climbing his neck, and spreading across his chest.

But the most impressive thing...

We’re the wings.

Two gigantic wings made entirely of fire and Qi.

They were not bird wings, nor bat wings, nor dragon wings.

They were something new.

Beautiful. Majestic. Terrifying.

Each feather seemed composed of liquid magma, bright, pulsing, and alive.

Every movement of the wings made the air vibrate, creating visible ripples in the atmosphere.

It was not Kyrian’s Qi that sustained those wings.

It was the Qi of the environment.

The volcano itself sustained those wings.

The wings beat once. Only once.

’WHOOSH!’

A wave of heat spread throughout the entire region, the surrounding stones began to melt, and the four leaders were forced to retreat.

The saber-wielder felt the skin on his face burn, not a superficial burn, but a deep pain, as if the fire were trying to penetrate through his Qi barrier.

The old man clenched his teeth so hard that one of them cracked.

He had never seen anything like this.

Kyrian observed the four from above.

His face was cold.

Emotionless.

His eyes glowed like divine embers, not the weak glow of a campfire, but the intense radiance of a miniature sun.

Then he raised a hand.

And felt it. The connection. The volcano. The magma. The fire. Everything.

It was like moving an arm. Like closing a hand. Natural and instinctive.

And the lava responded.

The scarlet sea flowing down the slopes, that ocean of fire Kyrian had summoned from the heart of the volcano, changed direction.

It was not a gradual change, like a river encountering an obstacle.

It was an instantaneous change.

Like an army receiving an order. Like a colossal serpent. Like a living tsunami.

It surged directly toward the four leaders.

The four turned pale.

Because they knew.

If that lava reached them...

They would die.

Even with their defensive treasures, spiritual barriers, protective talismans, and Qi armor.

Even with decades of combat experience.

Even as Spiritual Awakening cultivators.

It was magma from a real volcano. They would not survive it for long.

"RUN!"

The old man roared a desperate command.

A useless one, because all of them were already running.

Each leader shot off in a different direction.

Abandoning any formation. Any coordination. Any pride.

Thinking only of survival.

But the lava was fast. Far too fast.

Guided by Kyrian’s will.

The axe-wielder was the first.

He ran like a madman, his legs burning Qi at absurd rates.

He looked back.

And saw the scarlet wall approaching.

A fifty-meter-high barrier of lava advancing like the fury of the earth itself.

He tried to activate a defensive treasure, a bracelet that glowed blue and created a translucent barrier around his body.

It lasted less than a second.

The lava passed through it.

As if it did not exist.

Then it swallowed him.

His scream echoed across the mountain, a sound of pure terror, indescribable agony, and final despair.

It lasted only a few moments.

Then it vanished.

Along with him.

The swordsman was the second.

He had seen what happened to his companion.

He tried to run faster.

He used a movement technique that burned his own life essence, something that would shorten his lifespan by years.

His speed increased dramatically.

For a few seconds, he almost escaped.

Then a massive arm of magma rose from the ground before him.

Like a gigantic wave. Like the hand of an enraged god.

And struck him directly.

His body disappeared into the incandescent ocean.

His arms. His legs. His torso. His head. Gone.

Without leaving a trace. Without a scream.

The saber-wielder lasted longer.

Much longer.

He ran like a madman, not in a straight line but in a zigzag pattern, trying to confuse the lava.

He leaped over fissures, dodged rocks, and used his own fire technique in an attempt to redirect the flow.

He burned his life essence as well.

More and more.

Until his body began to wither.

His speed rose to insane levels.

For a moment, it seemed he might succeed.

That he might escape. That he might survive. But it was not enough. The lava caught him.

First his legs. They melted instantly. Then his waist. His spine snapped apart. Then the rest.

His scream of despair echoed for several seconds.

The sound of a man being consumed alive by the fire of the earth.

Until it disappeared completely.

Silence.

Three dead.

Only one survived.

The old man. The strongest. The most experienced. The one with the highest cultivation among the four.

He too was burning his life essence.

He could feel his life being consumed, his remaining years dwindling with every passing second.

His expression was one of complete despair.

Not the calculated anger from before. Not the arrogance of someone who believed himself superior.

It was the desperation of a hunted animal.

He ran frantically, his feet barely touching the ground.

He did not even dare look back.

Then...

Blood trickled from Kyrian’s nose.

One drop.

Then another.

Then a thin stream.

An extreme headache began to pulse within his skull, throbbing as though something were trying to claw its way out.

Controlling that power, the wings of fire, the manipulation of lava, and the connection with the volcano were forcing his body beyond its limits.

His meridians burned. His muscles trembled.

His brain felt as though it were on fire.

And his control was beginning to waver.

The Bone of the Heavens shone intensely, so intensely that Kyrian could see his own spine through his skin, every vertebra pulsing like a heart.

But it was already showing signs of exhaustion.

The glow dimmed.

The pulsations weakened.

The veins of light across his body darkened.

Kyrian wiped away the blood with his thumb.

Completely ignoring it.

His eyes remained fixed on the old man.

One was still alive.

Then he beat his wings.

Once.

’BOOM!’

The sound exploded across the sky, not an ordinary wingbeat but a sonic detonation.

His body became an orange blur.

The speed was absurd.

Several times faster than the old man, who was already at his limit, burning his life essence to run faster than he ever had before.

The world seemed to vanish around him.

The sky. The ground. The mountains. The ash.

In a single instant...

Kyrian appeared in front of the fleeing cultivator.

Completely blocking his path.