"HISS!"
A vengeful Lu Lingxue stood atop Cloudpiercer Beak Peak; electricity crackled around her form like an untamed storm.
"Stinking bull! You can't hide from me!"
She unleashed a barrage of devastating lightning bolts towards Raphael who was darting through the skies like a drunken hummingbird.
WHOOSH! CRACK!
Still acclimating to Shao Jin's colossal body and enhanced senses, Raphael hadn't quite mastered the art of graceful flight. His movements were erratic, a chaotic symphony of dives, swerves, and sudden bursts of speed.
Desperately clinging to one of Raphael's massive horns, Lu Jade felt his scaled body getting whiplashed around. "Big Brother! Be careful! You're going to make me puke!"
"Puke later, little buddy, we're about to be barbecued if I stop moving," Raphael shot back as another bolt narrowly missed him and scorched the air with its potent heat.
"Issss fleeing the only thing you are good at, sstinking bull?!" Lu Lingxue taunted with arrogant laughter.
Fueled by a combination of human resentment and Shao Jin's pride, Raphael snorted back. "Just wait, you oversized worm. You're about to see what this 'stinking bull' can really do!"
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
He beat his massive wings; each flap was sending a shockwave rippling through the air, and with each flap, dozens of Shadow Bats poured forth, swelling into a terrifying horde, which blackened the sky as they screeched their battle cry and dove toward those serpents below.
"Big sissster! Bats! So many!"
Lu Pin coiled behind his sister, frantically searching for a hole in the ground to disappear into, however, there was none.
His twin was also staring with the realization dawning like the rising sun. They had chosen the wrong side, the wrong opponent to insult and provoke this day.
Their cries died as they watched Lu Lingxue remain unfazed by this swarm. Her eyes narrowed as she surveyed the approaching shadow army. Her scales glowed, and her fangs were bared. A sinister anticipation had those nearby clouds starting to crackle with yellow electricity.
"Foolish cow, relying on pathetic shadows to do your dirty work? You'll regret underestimating me. My strength is not mere brawn!"
She waited until those monstrous bats were within striking distance, then with an earth-shattering roar, unleashed a technique so powerful and terrifying!
"Slither Upon the Thunderous Heavensss – Rai Shen Long!"
Crack! Crack! Boom!
She reared back and spit a bolt of golden-yellow lightning into the stormy clouds above.
With a thunderous roar, a colossal serpentine form weaved itself from pure electricity.
A dragon of pure lightning descended with electrifying fury.
WHOOSH!
Hundreds of bats were instantly incinerated as the Rai Shen Long tore through their ranks. The air sizzled with the smell of burnt flesh.
Witnessing this scene of annihilation unfold before them, Lu Jade hissed in alarm. "Big Brother! You have to be careful! Big Sis Lingxue's lightning attacks aren't just brute force, they carry her very essence, her spirit. If that dragon touches you…"
Lu Jade didn't have to finish that dreadful sentence. The image of countless charred bat corpses spoke volumes. He knew about the carnage firsthand.
"Rai Shen Long drains a victim's Solar Essence, slowly breaking apart their Soul Orbitals before leaving those unfortunate soulssss nothing but empty husks to be feast on! Her Majesty, she perfected this technique after slaying Emperor Qi Hawk's third daughter. A vicious creature that was, terrorizing the Ho Eastern for months… but that's irrelevant now, run!"
Raphael absorbed the fear in Lu Jade's voice and watched as Lu Lingxue reveled in the carnage. That lightning dragon was dancing across those skies with terrifying might. This was trouble, indeed.
But Raphael needed to maintain an appearance of fearlessness, of dominance to survive. If those snakes and the entire Yama Yaguai ever realized he was nothing but a terrified human soul inside a borrowed form… well, they wouldn't just feast upon his essence. No.
He'd probably get vivisected as well.
Swallowing those dreadful thoughts of despair, and with a mask of arrogance firmly in place, he snort a fire stream at the dancing dragon. "You call that a powerful attack? You oversized eel! Such weak lightning is only good to wipe my ass! Hahaha!"
Lu Lingxue's scales pulsed even brighter now as her pupils turned to vertical slits, mirroring that of a predatory cat. She hated arrogant fools who dared to mock her lineage, and the bull was just that! An idiot, a nobody!
"You pathetic bull… KILL THAT DAMNED FART! Obliterate!" She pointed one razor-sharp fang at Raphael, sending an invisible signal of annihilation to that beast above.
"ROAR!"
The lightning dragon charged towards Raphael.
Lu Jade clung onto the bull's horns. His body was a trembling mass of scales and eyes opened wide with dread as those deafening roars shattered his very core. "We're gonna die! We're gonna…"
But then…
POOF!
The golden bull simply vanished when those wings flapped. Then with a startling WHOOSH! Raphael reappeared in a blink directly behind that imposing energy form.
The surprise was unreal. Lu Lingxue and her brothers watched in disbelief. Then those powerful wings, made of pure shadows and burning crimson veins…
SNATCH!
Two colossal, black, claw-like structures that matched the shadows on his back, materialized and snagged that terrifying lightning beast by its tail. The audacity of this act left everyone on that peak in awe.
Had this beast truly ascended? But to what cost?
But there was no time to ponder, only a desire to obliterate that bastard that dared mock his might.
"Now that I have your smelly tail. SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR STINKING MOTHER!" And with those bold declarations worthy of any golden bull lineage, he tossed that monstrous electric creature towards Lu Lingxue like she was a fly buzzing too close to his fire.
A bright golden yellow light blinded everyone before a thunderous explosion shook that landscape.
BOOM! CRACK!
"Arghhhh!"
They all screamed as lightning coursed through that world. Then as if nothing had happened, they were left singed and coughing. Even those magnificent scales were burnt to a char as evidence of that clash.
The arrogant bull's laughter resonated across that peak as he admired their defeated forms, but before their smoke haze could fully dissipate, he heard Lu Jade praising him.
"That… That was insane! Big Brother Raphael, your strength is amazing!"
"Don't worry, little buddy, I've got this." Raphael exuded an aura of calm and confidence that masked his own trepidation. Deep down, he was just as surprised by his power, but those words and confidence he'd inherited from Shao Jin, he needed to use them to survive. It was all part of his facade, which was working a bit too well.
His words, however, fueled Lu Lingxue's rage even further.
"Oh really?"
As that question was posed. She rose from the charred crater, and coated her entire form in sizzling lightning and charged at Raphael. Her speed matched the wind's as her fangs tore through the very air around her. It was clear now that her intent wasn't just to subdue this annoying pest, it was to annihilate it!
"This bull… I will have its horns as trophies to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of my ascension! His hide will adorn the Bronze Emperor's throne, as a message that NO ONE DISRESPECTS A VENOM TAIL VIPER, not without paying a price, especially this ugly bastard!"
WHOOSH!
"Bring it on then you damn worm!" Raphael charged forward as well.
Those golden hooves slammed into their target, sending tremors that were mirrored by those serpentine movements of his enemy's slithering attack as they both met with equal, but different kind of power. It was like watching mountains collide.
The ensuing battle shook that ancient peak to its core. Blinding golden lightning bolts mixed with terrifying beams of fire clashed continuously, creating explosions so intense, their echoes would reach other territories. The very air thundered with unrestrained power and rage!
CRACK! CRACK! BOOM!
The fight was a whirlwind of clashing fangs, deadly coils, and the terrifying force of a bull with a grudge to settle and a snake hungry for vengeance.
However, with each passing blow, a horrifying realization was dawning upon Raphael.
"This wasn't strength! This was brute force. Raw, destructive power! She was just toying with me!"
The odds of defeating Lu Lingxue were shifting against him with every dodged attack, every close call. This time his speed, that potent ability that had saved him before wasn't working.
Then a horrifying reality came crashing.
In a move so fast that he could only see blurs of bronze scales, Lu Lingxue struck! Coiling her immense body around his chest and golden hooves while simultaneously blasting those mighty horns before he could even scream! His strength paled in comparison to hers!
SNAP!
Rapahel's legs buckled; those massive hooves could no longer hold up his monstrous weight and with those wings pinned behind his trembling form, he slammed onto that charred ground.
His eyes could no longer make out colors or forms because as he struggled against those serpentine muscles, something even more sinister started to enclose his being.
"HAHAHA!"
"He's going to die! You lost, you stupid cow!" Lu Pan and his brother could barely contain their amusement as they hissed those hateful insults.
But in the midst of their arrogance, they noticed a Shadow Bat with an enormous, claw-like structure filled with sharp, black digits hovering ominously over their heads. This caused them to recoil backwards and scream in pure terror.
"Big sister! Save us!"
Lu Lingxue chuckled softly. "Foolish beast. You dare to attack my little brothers and provoke my wrath? Such arrogance. DIE" She spit out a bolt of lightning that obliterated that sneaky bat.
Then as she looked back at the squirming bull who had the misfortune of choosing the wrong day, the wrong opponent to mess with, she yelled, "Did you think you could escape punishment for disrespecting our lineage?! Or did your simple mind fail to recognize a being far greater in strength?"
WHOOSH!
The tendrils of lightning tightened around Raphael's body as a radiant glow intensified.
"Lightning Jail! Stay trapped, forever!"
BOOM!
Golden lightning arced wildly as Raphael screamed. It was futile. This technique, this golden cage that vibrated with death had trapped him.
It was over. He had lost.
"Hahaha! Looks like our big sister truly is the strongest!"
"We were wrong to doubt you! That ugly bull had it coming!"
Those words dripped with venomous laughter and cruel arrogance, and yet, just as their victory seem guaranteed, their smirks quickly vanished and were replaced with an even deeper fear than those bats of moments before. Their world had turned upside down again, it seems.
A chilling blue light emanated from beneath those golden shackles that illuminated their victory into something more gruesome than their feeble brains could even hope to compute.
"You're wrong again, snakes." Raphael's voice was now laced with a strength that was entirely his own. He felt his newly awaken Astro Soul Orbital pulsing! Specifically, that blood red planet with dark lightning deep within its chaotic core.
BOOM! CRACK! CRACK!
The Lightning Jail became strained and released bolts of doom to impale Raphael's flesh but they did no real damage, because he saw it, he knew it instinctively without even practicing a single blood art technique.
"My blood… It won't shed, not a drop!"
"Impossible!" They all screamed in perfect unison. It was unreal. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
However, what occurred next solidified those echoes of doubt.
"This… This is… what?!" Lu Lingxue trembled in disbelief now, for it seems those thousands of years living, killing and dominating had not prepared her for such a power, and perhaps today would be her last as well.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
CRUNCH!
The joints on Raphael's horns began to twists while releasing loads of crimson blood. This blood solidified then took a new form as Raphael yelled.
"CONDENSED BLOOD SWORD!"
It radiated with an intensity that left everyone but its user blinded. An enormous crimson sword with two wickedly sharp blades became apparent.
Raphael gripped the sword with his extended bat wing then slashed that electric prison to pieces in one mighty blow!
And as he stepped forward, the only sounds echoing atop that frozen peak came from his mouth; an utterance more ancient and horrifying than any dragon's roar or serpent's hiss.
"DIE!"