As a high-pitched dragon’s roar echoed through the heavens, the platinum-gold sphere of light shot forth. Where it passed, space twisted and shattered, revealing the pitch-black void behind it.
The primal dragon breath Cantia had hastily unleashed collided with it in mid-air, only to be instantly devoured by the golden flames upon contact!
“No... Salenzo promised...”
Her mournful cry was cut short within the golden fire. In the instant the light swallowed her body, everyone clearly saw her crystal-like blue scales melt away like wax before turning into a cloud of drifting ash.
As the world-shattering platinum-gold light gradually dissipated, the figure of the Frost-Glow Dragon King was nowhere to be seen in the sky.
The once-arrogant Cantia, one of the four Dragon Kings and one of the most powerful beings on the continent, had simply vanished from the world.
Only the crystal that had been embedded in her chest remained, floating quietly in the air, seemingly unaffected by that devastating power.
“Is it... done?” Po Kong muttered, staring blankly at the spindle-shaped crystal floating in the sky.
As if in response to his voice, the crystal suddenly lost its buoyancy and plummeted downward, heading straight for where Starlight was standing.
“Hiss! This is bad! Little Star!”
Seeing the direction the crystal was falling, Po Kong was struck with sudden alarm.
When the crystal had been on Cantia’s chest, it hadn't looked particularly large, appearing only as a brilliant point of color.
In reality, it was a good three or four meters long with razor-sharp edges. If it hit someone, it would be a disaster!
THUD!
The bloody scene they imagined didn't happen. The massive crystal passed through Starlight’s body like a phantom, plunging straight into the ground until only its tip was left visible.
“What are you getting so worked up for? They’re still in the parallel space. Things from this side will naturally pass right through!” Yserazor flicked his tail irritably.
He wasn't as anxious as Po Kong, but he soon realized something was wrong.
“The fight is over, so why hasn't he deactivated the spatial displacement yet? He couldn't possibly have failed to notice, could he?”
...
On the other side, Starlight was indeed facing a problem. He found that he could no longer actively deactivate the spatial displacement effect!
It was strange. When Yserazor had transferred the authority of the entire parallel space to him, he had felt not only intense pain but also a mountain-like pressure.
However, as time passed, that sensation had gradually diminished, replaced by a peculiar... comfort?
Like soaking in warm water, Starlight could feel his consciousness slowly merging with the spatial laws.
The once-violent spatial power was now gently wrapping around his soul. Most terrifying of all, he was actually beginning to enjoy the feeling of becoming one with the void!
“Starlight! Don't let it take you!”
It wasn't until Noah’s warning that Starlight snapped back to his senses.
“Something’s wrong...” Starlight struggled to move his eyes, realizing his fingertips had become somewhat transparent. “I’m being... assimilated by space...?”
He wanted to call for help, but he found he couldn't even make a sound. The anxious faces of his companions nearby seemed so distant at that moment.
Yserazor’s massive form flashed to Starlight’s side, his eyes fixed on the anomaly occurring on the boy’s body.
“Damn it! How did a spatial backlash happen?”
The dragon's body suddenly began to contort. In a burst of silver light, he reverted to his round, chubby human form and dove straight into the parallel space.
“The rest of you, get out.”
Without waiting for a response from the others inside the space, Yserazor moved with lightning speed. He grabbed Lian by the back of her collar with his left hand and seized Moen’s arm with his right, tossing them out of the parallel space like sandbags.
Lions was about to speak when a kick to the rear sent him flying out as well.
“Hey! You—”
Before Xia Duo could finish her sentence, she felt her collar tighten and was spun through the air as she was flung out.
Seeing this, the two dragons, Imira and Idra, withdrew of their own accord.
Finally, only Starlight—whose hands were already semi-transparent—remained. Yserazor took a deep breath and slowly pressed his chubby hand against Starlight’s chest.
Yserazor wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead, looking satisfied at the cleared parallel space.
Without the energy interference from the others, the pressure Starlight was enduring should be significantly reduced—at least in theory.
But even as the Rift Dragon King, he didn't know that Starlight wasn't feeling any pressure at all right now.
With spatial power flashing on his hand, Yserazor tore directly into the spatial membrane enveloping Starlight.
His idea was simple: since he was the one who had constructed this space, he only needed to destroy the framework sustaining it, and Starlight would naturally return to normal.
“What the hell?!”
Just as Yserazor prepared to act, he discovered to his shock that the basic framework he had built had somehow vanished.
Within the space surrounding Starlight’s body, all he could sense now was pure chaos.
“Strange... what is this situation?”
The Rift Dragon King’s small eyes went wide. Even in his thousand-plus years of experience, he had never seen such a bizarre circumstance.
“Hiss... was the parallel space I made neutralized by something? Or what? This is the first time I've ever seen this!”
Seeing that Starlight’s body was not in immediate danger, Yserazor lowered his hand and began circling the boy, muttering to himself.
The group outside the parallel space didn't dare move recklessly upon seeing the Rift Dragon King like this. Even Seranox, who had just descended from the sky, stood quietly to the side and waited.
Starlight’s guess was not wrong. He was indeed being assimilated by space, but it wasn't as dire as he had imagined.
Taking over the parallel space in a moment of crisis had clearly exceeded Starlight’s current capacity.
Under such heavy pressure, a single mistake could have resulted in his body being crushed flat.
However, under that extreme pressure, the storage space hidden within his chest had opened on its own.
Starlight’s storage space was built upon the souls of both himself and Noah, and with Eventador’s assistance, the entire space was unprecedentedly stable.
The spatial power overflowing from the storage space had actually easily neutralized the pressure from the parallel space.
As the two forces intersected, Starlight’s body had entered a deeper level of space.
His current situation was very delicate. If space could be measured in layers, he was currently in the crevice between the second and third layers.
From here, he could see the expressions on everyone’s faces outside and see Yserazor pacing in front of him, but he couldn't make a sound, nor could his body perform any movement.
“Noah, are you there?” Starlight asked.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Noah’s response came immediately, his voice carrying the same confusion. “Interesting... we seem to be trapped in a unique spatial crevice.”
Hearing that familiar voice, Starlight’s tense nerves finally relaxed.
With Noah around, even the most bizarre situations seemed less frightening.
Starlight took a deep breath and tried to circulate the elemental power within his body, only to find that the once-smooth energy had become incredibly sluggish.
This sensation was completely different from a typical suppression of power. There was no discomfort or pain; it was simply as if his entire being was immersed in thick honey, with every movement requiring ten times the effort.
“Don't struggle, Starlight. From what I can see, you’ve accidentally triggered a temporal disruption during the collision of the two spaces,” Noah said.
“Time? No wonder I feel like everything has become so slow!” Starlight realized. If that was the case, it made sense. “So what should I do?”
“What you need to do is nothing at all,” Noah explained slowly. “Time and space—these two powers do not fall under the jurisdiction of your Radiant Elemental Body. Trying to forcibly turn them back might trigger even worse consequences.”
“You have to understand, both of these powers are nearly equivalent to Ultimate Power. You wouldn't want to be torn apart by a spatial rift, would you? It’s a pity. If only Master were here.”
Rate on N.U.
