The storm of energy that was wreaking havoc from the draconic fist launch by the dragonkin, Carter gradually subsided, a large portion of the once towering mountain peak collapsed, losing its once flourishing landscape.
Spatial cracks littered across the turbulent sky crackling with residual energy above the vast forest.
The energy of the attack still lingered in the air for a moment before dissipating a second later.
"Th-That guy, is he crazy?! Using a technique like that could easily destabilize the miniature world."
A young woman from the phoenix race who was endowed with exceptional beauty spoke with a dumbfounded expression.
Her beautiful gem-like eyes were blinking blankly at the destruction around her in astonishment.
She wasn't the only one, many of them had similar opinions. Although the miniature world that had appeared was of a high grade, using techniques that could potentially destroy the pocket dimension could also affect those inside as well.
Thankfully the higher laws of the miniature world were able to prevent its own destruction.
However, they shuddered at the thought of what would've happened had the laws been weaker, the consequences would've been inconceivable.
Draconic fist was a basic technique of the dragon empire, but the technique could easily reach the level of the upper tier depending on how much mastery one had, along with the quantity of magical energy imbued within the attack.
Considering the strength of the serpent-like beast, Carter had put a substantial amount of energy into his attack, which resulted in such destruction.
If the miniature world had collapsed, those inside would be swallowed up along with the spatial storm, before being ripped apart by the spatial blades.
Even as dragonkin's and phoenix's, who boasted incredible defensive and regenerative abilities their fates would still be miserable.
"I didn't expect anything less from a bunch of walking lizards who are all muscles and no brains." Another phoenix jeered mockingly, her voice dripping with contempt.
Kira's small, slender body shook slightly as she contained the violent wind pressure. Her long glossy black hair was ruffled messily.
"You foolish lizard, what do you think you are doing?! If you want to die so badly, then go die, but don't include us in your actions!"
Kira bellowed as she stared at Carter with a vicious expression. In her beautiful gem-like eyes, reflected the figure of the dragonkin, Carter.
"Oh, so it's you little bird, I had a feeling you and your group would flock here eventually, if you are interested in the resources here, I will not be in your way as long as you don't interfere in ours."
He said calmly, but his indifferent voice held not the slightest emotion. His words clearly indicate his reluctance to fight.
Despite her graceful appearance, Kira was a strong brawler. Although his pride would never allow him to say it out loud, he knew he'd have a difficult time dealing with her unless he used full draconification.
However, even that wouldn't have given him much advantage as Kira could also use Phoenixification as well. A fight in their full form could cause devastating damage to the surroundings. And Kira was able to fight equally on par with Clarck. And had mastered various techniques created by the Phoenix empress.
After all, as the phoenix empress's right hand, her phoenix bloodline was extremely pure. As such, her healing factor was even stronger than all of the phoenix gathered here. Furthermore, her mastery over sacred flames was unmatched by anyone other than the phoenix empress herself. All of the beautiful young phoenixes gathered glared at Carter with murderous intent.
Carter gritted his teeth in deep regret, it was a good opportunity for him to reduce the power of the phoenix empress by dwindling the numbers of her followers, but he was prudent enough to realize causing unnecessary troubles for them would only impede their efforts for collecting the resources here.
After all, the dragon emperor had said to prioritize obtaining the resources of this miniature world, the words of his emperor were absolute, and Carter had no interest in going against them.
However, his emperor had also said to eliminate those that hinder their goal, a dangerous glint appeared in his draconic eyes as he awaited Kira's decision.
"Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to take those resources to the dragon emperor, as long as that man's strength returns to its peak, my empress would not be able to sleep peacefully." Kira stated her intention clearly.
Originally, she only wanted to observe them from afar, but the appearance of such high-quality spiritual fruits made her rethink her initial plans. Those spiritual fruits could easily replenish the dragon emperor's strength and heal his wound quickly.
If he made a full recovery, he would launch another attack on the sacred mountain, which would be undesirable.
Hearing her firm reply, Carter's draconic eyes narrowed into slits as he growled, "So, you plan on hindering us after all? Kira I once thought of you as an intelligent woman capable of seeing through losses and gains, but perhaps I should reevaluate my opinion of you."
"Naturally, our objective is to follow the orders of our empress and to protect the sacred mountain, you should've already predicted something like this would happen, don't you?" Kira jeered coldly. The flaming wings burning behind her small, slender back suddenly flared intensely.
"Flare storm!" Kira's soft, glossy lips parted as her beautiful melodious voice boomed. The temperature suddenly grew abruptly.
At the same time, a torrent of scorching blue flames was sent hurtling towards the surrounding forest.
The vast forest was bathed in an intense heatwave. Many trees directly ignited into flames, they withered away as the spiritual fruits disintegrated into ashes, dissipating into the atmosphere.
It was extremely rare to find spiritual fruits of such high quality and in such abundance, Kira's brow was furrowed as she felt pity.
Although they had the resources of the sacred mountain, finding such high-quality spiritual fruits would've been nigh impossible considering their rare qualities, but this was the best option she could think of at the moment.
Destroying the spiritual fruits would've easily caused irreconcilable grievances between the twin goddesses and the phoenix empress, but she couldn't sense their presence anywhere nearby.
Carter's slit pupils contracted into the size of pins as his fury grew, "Don't you dare!" His loud voice boomed across the vicinity as his draconic energy shielded the spiritual fruits against the searing hot flames.
Kira's actions had completely angered him, without any hesitation, he accelerated towards her at an impossible speed. With his fist arched back, he lunged forward.
However, Kira was prepared for his attack. Without missing a beat, she manipulated the sacred flames around her and sent them hurtling towards him.
The searing heat of the flame burnt the air it approached. "Howl of Annihilation!" He roared, sending out a violent shockwave towards the azure flames. Both attacks met from a single point in the sky, dispersing the clouds as they struck.
Both Carter and Kira closed the distance as they exchanged blows, each of their attacks sent a ripple through the sky.
With their mobility as phoenix and dragon respectively they were at their best in aerial combat.
Both flew faster than the speed of sound, as they struck. Kira knew she was at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength, so she summoned a crimson sword from her storage ring.
It was a sword which had many intricate formulas carved onto the surface of the blade.
The sword had runes which helped her raise her physical prowess.
Seeing the sword in her hand, Carter furrowed his brow as he raised his vigilance, sensing that the sword in her hand was a magic weapon of high quality.
Since he couldn't detect the presence distinct to those of spirits from the blade, he was certain it wasn't a spirit sword.
Carter quickly closed the distance, a flurry of punches approaches Kira's slender body, each force behind the punches could shatter boulders with ease, but Kira brandished her sword with perfect mastery.
She easily parries each blow, using the flat side of her sword. Suddenly, as she had diverted a punch aimed at her side, the blade of her sword ignited into flames as she slashed out, releasing an arc of flame.
But Carter indifferently deflected the slash of flame nonchalantly with a wave of his hand.
"Tch, turn to cinders, azure burst!" Kira swung her sword horizontally as a vortex of flame was sent hurtling towards him.
"Hmph, it doesn't matter what kind of weapon you use! I'll rip it apart!" He lunged forward without the slightest hesitation.
He swung his arms to generate a violent storm of wind to disperse the vortex of flame as he moved forward.
However, "Flame wall!" Another young black-haired phoenix recited a spell, conjuring up a wall of towering flames to block his approach.
"Tch, don't get in my way!" In his enraged state, Carter partially turned his arms into dragon claws and directly tore apart the flame wall. The force of his swing directly caused the air to shudder violently.
Like an enraged bull that could see nothing but its targets, Carter accelerated towards Kira with the momentum of a speeding arrow.
Even as the heat of the dissipating flames scorched his shimmering golden dragon scales his movement were still sharp, seemingly unbothered, the flames dispersed and dissipated as his claws moved forward at lightning speed without weakening.
Reading the path of trajectory, Kira swung her sword to offset his claws, diverting it from her heart and shifting it to her side.
Spurt!
Kira's beautiful face turned ashen as she violently coughed out a mouthful of blood against her will. Carter's claws had directly pierced her torso.
Furthermore, his dragon claws radiated heat evaporating her blood and destroying her internal organs in the process.
Naturally, with her speed and agility, evading his claws would merely be child's play. And yet, she deliberately chose not to move.
Was it pride?
Or was it confidence?
Realizing that Kira had chosen to intentionally take an attack she could have otherwise avoided easily, Carter's expression contorted into a cold sneer.
"Hah, you arrogant birds are always so overly reliant on your regenerative ability, it was the same for that woman when she fought our emperor all those years ago as well." Carter spats resentfully, his voice laced with undisguised contempt.
"Ah, lady Kira!"
"You bastard, let go of the commander!"
"Burning torrent!"
Witnessing the state of their commander, many of the young phoenix's bellowed out furiously and unleashed their own respective attacks. Several high tier magical attacks directly shot towards Carter with unstoppable precision.
However, "Useless." He said coldly, soon, a transparent barrier in the shape of a square surrounded them.
Each of the attacks launched by the young beauties of the phoenix race were all strong enough to be in the third highest tier of attack magic, but without exception, the barrier was able to nullify the magical energy within the attack, weakening the spells significantly.
As the attacks came within reach of his body, Carter sneered as he dispersed the attacks with a flick of his dragon tail.
{Jasmine, use the annihilation of the phoenix avatar.} Kira sent a message through telepathy towards the pinked-haired phoenix.
{Wh-What! You want us to use such a powerful formation! B-But you are within range?!} The pink-haired phoenix who goes by the name Jasmine voices her concerns, her face clouding with doubt.
{Hmph, I'll be fine, if the worst comes to worst, I'll abandon my physical body. This barrier isn't simple.} Kira explained, her eyes scanning the barrier surrounding her.
{I…I understand.} Jasmine said with a bit of hesitation. However, perhaps realizing there was no other option available, she sighed heavily as a look of resolution came across her face.
As the magical energy within the attacks had waned, the attacks had lost a significant amount of attacking power.
A young woman with long, flowing pink hair suddenly shot forward with lightning speed, "All of you, get into position, prepare to use the annihilation of the phoenix avatar formation!"
"Wh-What... Th-The annihilation of the phoenix avatar?!"
"Has the situation become that dire that we have to rely on such a powerful formation?!"
"If we use it here, won't it be bad?"
"B-But… Lady Jasmine, won't we run out of magical energy if we use that here?!" Several young beauties of the phoenix all voiced their concerns.
"Enough with the pointless chatter, get into position!" Jasmine ordered.
At her orders, five young phoenixes quickly got into positions and formed triangular seals with their hands.
As they change hand seals constantly a mysterious magic formation surrounds the barrier, the air trembles as the formation glows with a resplendent intensity.
The formations radiated intense heat; flames of ambers scattered across the forest from the crimson formation.
In matters of seconds, an illusory figure towered above their heads. It was the graceful, alluring figure of the phoenix empress.
The presence she exudes was overwhelming. It seems to rewrite the laws of the miniature world, changing its very essence. Its body solidifying as her majestic presence grew stronger.
Inside the barrier, Carter's expression changed slightly as he felt the overwhelming presence of the formation. Although the formation only had a sliver of the phoenix empress's essence, its might was still potent enough to shatter worlds.
"Th-This is the annihilation of the phoenix avatar formation created by the phoenix empress."
His eyes were stern as he felt his dragon bloodline becoming suppressed by its presence, but he snorted coldly as his lips curved upwards into a mocking smile.
Under normal circumstances such a high tier annihilation formation would have easily doomed him.
However, his barrier wasn't an ordinary barrier. It was something he created specifically to use against magic, so long as the spell contained mana, he was confident his barrier could easily nullify it.
However, despite remaining composed outwardly, he was panicking on the inside, 'My barrier can weaken the magical energy within the attack, but… Even my anti-magic barrier cannot stop the essence of the phoenix empress.' He thought, slightly troubled.
The phoenix empress was a lofty existence on par with the feared dragon emperor, there was no way his puny barrier could stop or suppress the essence of such a mighty being.
The beautiful figure of the avatar imbued with the fiery essence of the phoenix empress commenced its attack, her towering figure slowly raised its slender, fiery hand skywards, before lowering her palm towards the barrier creating a great disturbance in the surroundings, alarming several beasts within the vicinity.
Incidentally, the dragonkin's nearby along with the demigods and demigoddess all felt this disturbance.
Space twisted erratically as enough energy capable of destroying several higher worlds was concentrated into a single point.
"H-Hey, won't the miniature world be destroyed at this rate?" A young phoenix voiced her concerns as she watched as spatial cracks appeared in the sky with pale faces.
"All of you, create a barrier to contain the energy!" The pinked-haired phoenix exclaimed as she imbued the formation with her magical energy, synchronizing herself with the avatar.
At the same time, Carter's pupils contracted as the massive palm closed in on him with devastating power.
Under the suppression of the strike, he, a powerful dragonkin, felt death looming over him. For a moment, it was even difficult to draw breath from his lungs.
On the contrary, Kira was completely indifferent as she saw the towering hand large enough to blot out the sky approaching her. This was an attack which contained the essence of her empress.
Let alone defensive artifacts, even Kira could not survive a single strike from this attack.
Fortunately, she was of the phoenix bloodline and carried within her a sliver of her empress's essence.
Phoenix's all had strong regenerative healing abilities, even if her body was destroyed, so long as her spiritual body survives, she could rise from the ashes once again. Witnessing Carter's panicked expression, her soft, rosy lips curved up into a delighted smile.
Even the dragon emperor would be left half dead if he had taken such an attack head on without turning into his complete dragon form and raising his defensive prowess. Carter instinctively withdrew his hand, and tried to flee from the range of the attack, but—
"Ara, where do you think you are going? Do you actually think I'd let you leave? Heh, you initially created this barrier with the intention of trapping me here, who would've thought that you'd be the one trapped instead." Kira mocked, as she grasped his arm tightly, thwarting his plans to leave.
Realizing she had no intention of letting him leave, Carter's draconic eyes turned bloodshot in rage as he went into a frenzy rampage to free himself.
"Howl of annihilation!" He bellowed out furiously, as he shot out a supersonic wave from his mouth, the attack held enough force to shatter the mountain, and Kira was hit from point blank range.
The supersonic waves left her momentarily disoriented as blood poured from her eyes and ears, but she gritted her teeth as her regenerative abilities healed her wounds.
This was the perfect opportunity for them to eliminate him.
"I… I won't let go." She mumbled as she coughed out blood.
She was also troubled about the rest of the remaining dragonkin's, even as she was embroiled in battle, Kira had spread her spiritual sense to surround the forest, in her senses, she could see that Clarck and a large group of dragonkin's heading into their direction at an absurd speed.
"Tch, you bitch! Let go of me." Carter roared furiously. In terms of physical strength, he was far stronger than Kira, but his claws was in so deeply that he was having a difficult time retracting them.
The air shuddered and exploded as the palm of the phoenix empress descended, the space within its path contracted as her palm directly struck the barrier.
The force behind the strike causes the barrier to caved inward as the palm strike pressed against the barrier.
However, as the palm made physical contact with the barrier, the strength behind the attack wane under the effects of the anti-magic, losing its power.
BOOOOM!
With a deafening sound, a vast portion of the remaining mountain range collapsed, the once vegetation of the land was left charred black as a massive crater of unknown depths in the shape of a handprint was left in the middle of the forest for roughly several hundred kilometres.
Crack!
Several cracks appeared on the surface of the barrier as the light flickered fiercely.
The pinked-haired phoenix along with the remaining five who were controlling the avatar all turned pale as their magical energy drained away.
The remaining phoenix's all used high tier defensive spells and high-quality artifacts to contain the residual energy from going berserk.
"Th… That should've dealt the finishing blow to the barrier." She mumbled weakly; exhaustion evident on her face.
This was an attack imbued with the essence of the phoenix empress, a higher tier annihilation formation, unless one had combat prowess superior or equal to that of the phoenix empress their death was certain.
The wind stirred roughly as thick clouds of dust filled the air, obstructing the vision of those present.
"Wh-What… Im-Impossible! This is impossible!" The pink-haired phoenix exclaimed in disbelief.
Although the dust clouds had yet to settle, her spiritual senses could clearly see the cracked barrier which was slowly repairing itself.
"Th-This… An anti-magic barrier." The woman with long, waist length pink coloured hair widens her eyes in surprise.
Anti magic was the opposite of magic, it had the ability to suppress or completely destroy the essence of magic entirely.
Naturally, learning such magic was incredibly difficult, as someone more compatible with magic, she knew how exceptionally difficult it is to use such magic while being a magic user.
"… Carter you, you actually learnt how to manipulate anti-magic, and to create such a high levelled barrier with such wondrous energy."
The pinked-haired phoenix, Jasmine was also a loyal servant of the phoenix empress, she had been serving her for several hundred years, so she had learnt many high tier spells and techniques herself.
In terms of seniority, Jasmine was stronger than Carter, she had always had absolute confidence in her strength, but seeing someone she had originally seen as weaker than herself grow so much in such a short amount of time had taken a huge blow to both her ego and pride.
She bit her lips bitterly, unwilling to accept this.
Despite her disadvantageous situation, Kira's calm expression didn't falter, her beautiful eyes only grew sharper as she grasped the claw still embedded into her torso.
"Hehe, no wonder that woman was able to leave our dragon emperor in such a weakened state in their last battle, my anti-magic barrier was able to weaken the magical energy within the formation, but alas it could not stop the essence of that woman from attacking me."
Carter's voice was extremely feeble, as he spoke a large quantity of blood flowed from his mouth.
Despite his words, his large reptilian eyes shone with hatred, as he failed to suppress his murderous intent.
He was no longer in human form but had completely turned into a large western golden dragon.
The essence of the phoenix empress had damaged his internal organs, and even now he could feel it rampaging throughout his body, had he not transformed into his dragon form, he would've directly parish from the attack.
Under the assault of the strike, he given up trying to suppress the attack, and had reliant entirely of the defensive prowess of his dragon form.
"I had a hunch such an attack wouldn't be able to finish you off in a single blow. However, just knowing that you ended up in such a state is already advantageous enough." Kira smirked gleefully.
"Hehe, I admire your courage or is it arrogance. To be so calm even in this situation is truly remarkable, or should I say as expected from you, Kira?"
"Hmph, Is there any other race as arrogant as you lizards?" Kira replied with a cold smile, blood trickling down her soft, glossy lips.
Blood coated Carter's arms which had pierced her torso, as it slowly trickled and dripped down his claws.
"Perhaps not, either way, if you had chosen not to get in the way then at least you could have prevented the death of your companions."
Kira's expression changed abruptly when she heard his words.
"All of you, get away from here!" She screamed. At the same time, the energy emanating from the barrier suddenly grew fiercer as six thin beams of light shot straight towards the sky.
Each moving at an incredibly fast speed, directly pierced the hearts of five of the young phoenixes in their path of trajectory. They were the ones maintaining the formation.
Blood filled the sky as the beams of condensed light pierced the hearts of five phoenix's, their flames grew slightly weaker as they fell out of the sky as a pillar of flames.
Jasmine coughed out blood as she held her shoulders.
At the last minute, she was able to move slightly out of the beam's path of trajectory, only her shoulders were grazed by the beam, her regenerative ability healing her injured shoulder.
However, the more fatal the injury, the longer and the more energy it would require healing.
Kira's eyes burst into flames as she transformed into a large, majestic bird, coated in azure flames.
Skiii!
The cry of a phoenix echoes through the vicinity.
In the skies above the forest, both dragon and phoenix clashed, sending fierce tremors throughout the miniature world.
…
"Sigh, how troublesome, to have the miniature world created by that person be treated in such a profane manner, utterly unforgivable." Such an angry voice echoes from deep within the forest.
The man's green eye blazed with fury as he stared at the disturbance in the far, distant sky.
"… Isn't it interesting to see a phoenix and dragon again… And here I thought those beings had gone extinct since our master's era." A young, alluring voice resounded. The speaker wasn't visible, but her voice had reached his ears perfectly.
"Phoenix and dragons, humph, those beings aren't entirely phoenixes and dragons… Although they do possess a sliver of their bloodline, they are merely humans with the abilities of those noble beings." The young man corrected.
"In any case, at this rate, the world that he had created with so much effort will be unravelled. And yet, there is not much we can do… The spirit of the world had yet to awaken otherwise it could've easily expelled these outsiders."
"Perhaps, but there is no telling when it will be discovered again, right?" The voice of the young woman spoke again.
"Indeed, this is an invaluable lesson, we have to—Oh, it seems this disturbance had actually managed to awaken that thing." As he was pondering to himself, he suddenly directed his gaze into an eastern direction as he narrowed his eyes.
…
In the easternmost part of the forest, beneath a vast lake, the ground trembles violently as the waters churn, the palm strike from the attack launched by the avatar of the phoenix empress had destabilized the lake, awakening the artifact which had slumbered here for centuries.
It radiates the powerful presence of an epic grade artifacts.