CHAPTER 378: SOLARS AND SHADOWS

The wind cracked as Arkas punched again, fist laced in lightning.

But the tiger caught it.

A single clawed hand closed around Arkas’s wrist, and his golden eyes narrowed with amusement.

"You’re slow," the tiger said, voice deep and rumbling. "Slower than I expected for a bald idiot."

He tilted his head. "What’s in that skull, hmm? Lightning and pride? Because it sure ain’t brains."

Arkas growled. His body flared blue, electric current bursting from his back.

The tiger didn’t budge. Instead, he twisted Arkas’s arm and threw him straight down. Arkas smashed through a layer of clouds like a cannonball, streaking toward the earth below.

Cilian caught him mid-fall.

He extended an arc of frost under his body, sliding him back into position. He nodded once and turned skyward, jaw clenched.

"I’ve had enough of this guy," Arkas muttered.

"You think I haven’t?" Cilian replied, eyes cold.

The tiger floated above them, arms crossed, claws still humming with golden light. "Cute teamwork," he said. "But you’re still humans. That means this is already over."

His chest lit up.

A golden sheen spread across his body, and the clouds around him began to thin, like his presence was pushing the air away.

"Feran Law: [Dominion Prowl]."

His form blurred.

One second he was still above them. The next, he was behind Cilian.

His claws slashed downward.

Arkas intercepted.

"[Thunder Lock]."

A ring of electric chains snapped into existence, wrapping around the tiger’s arm mid-swing. It slowed him just enough. Cilian slid aside, the claws grazing his shoulder and tearing fabric but not flesh.

Blood ran, but he didn’t fall.

He raised both palms, and the air froze.

"[Glacial Death]!"

A spear of pure cold, long as a tree trunk and sharp as a needle, formed instantly and shot forward. It didn’t fly through the air, it cut space itself, warping mist and light as it aimed straight for the tiger’s heart.

The tiger tilted his head.

Then, smiled.

"[Silent Breath]."

He twisted, mid-air, in a movement too sharp for a body that size. The spear missed by inches. Then he spun and drove his knee into Cilian’s gut. The impact knocked him back, breathless, spinning through the air. He managed to land, but the ice steps cracked beneath him.

Arkas flew in again, faster this time. Both his arms crackled with wild, untamed lightning, sparks flying off his fists like fireworks in a storm. His eyes were locked on the tiger, and his body moved with pure force and fury.

"[Blinding Cross]!" he shouted.

He swung both arms in an X-shape. Two massive bolts of lightning tore through the sky, crossing paths with a loud crack, forming a glowing X that blazed toward the tiger like a giant blade made of thunder.

The Feran Grandmaster didn’t flinch. His golden eyes narrowed, and he muttered under his breath, almost calmly, "[Dominion Breath]."

Then he opened his mouth wide and roared.

A golden beam of energy exploded from his jaws. It was thick, burning, and hot like the sun itself. The beam clashed with the lightning cross in mid-air, and the sky shook from the collision.

BOOM!

The two powers slammed into each other, light flashing in all directions. The shockwave from the impact pushed clouds apart and lit up the battlefield below. For a second, it was hard to see anything but blinding white and gold.

Arkas pushed forward through the blast, teeth gritted. The tiger roared louder, his feet sliding back slightly in the air as he held his ground.

But the tiger suddenly released a burst of Essence from his body, breaking the clash instantly. The lightning scattered, the golden beam vanished and just like that, it was over.

He grinned, eyes gleaming, and looked straight at Arkas.

"What’s the matter?" the tiger said, advancing. "Getting tired already, bald boy?"

Arkas said nothing, but his breathing was heavy. The golden glow from the tiger’s body hadn’t faded. It was still rising.

And on the other side of the sky...

The Roc spoke.

His voice was smooth, high, and sharp like a whistle. "This world of yours," he said, gliding above Cassian and Edgar, "isn’t even fit to clean the shit off my tail feathers."

Edgar’s form melted in and out of shadow as he chuckled at the bird’s words.

The Roc looked down, eyes glowing. "All this struggling... for what? This sky, these castles, your pride? You people still think you’re worthy of war?"

He opened his wings.

White feathers glowed, then turned black,one by one.

"Feran Law: [Devourer]."

Wind screamed. A vortex formed above him, pulling clouds upward into a swirling funnel. Light flickered and bent. For a second, I couldn’t tell where the sun was. Everything blurred.

Then he dived.

He didn’t flap his wings, he fell like a missile.

Cassian raised his hands.

"[Solar Pillars]!"

Beams of burning light erupted in a grid, forming a cage of gold around them.

The Roc pierced through it.

One by one, each pillar cracked, shattered, and folded behind his wings. The Roc didn’t even slow down.

Edgar rose from the shadow just in time, pulling Cassian out of the dive’s path. But the shockwave from the Roc’s dive still hit them both.

They tumbled as multiple cuts appeared over each of them.

Cassian recovered first, flaring with light again.

Edgar sank into a pool of shadow that floated mid-air.

When the Roc turned, he looked annoyed.

"Are we playing tag now?"

Edgar’s voice was low. "You talk too much."

He emerged behind the Roc, shadow blades in both hands again.

"[Dual blades: Twin Cuts]."

He slashed once, twice, targeting wings and neck. But the Roc spun and blocked with one wing. The shadow blades cut feathers, but didn’t reach flesh.

"[Reversal]," the Roc hissed.

He twisted his body and used the wind itself to blast Edgar away. A sudden gust flipped the shadows, dispersing them. Edgar was forced to blink away, reappearing behind Cassian.

"Together," Edgar said.

Cassian nodded.

"[Brilliant Day]!"

A wide burst of solar energy erupted around Cassian. Edgar stepped into it and for the first time, the shadows around him didn’t vanish. They darkened, sharpened.

Light and shadow fused.

Together, they surged forward.

Cassian threw a beam of sunlight.

Edgar rode it like a shadow surfing a blade of gold.

They struck the Roc clean across the chest.

His body flinched. His wings folded in. For a moment, it looked like they had him.

But he just let out a breath and looked down.

"Fine," he said. "You want real power?"

He lifted both hands.

The sky around him dimmed. His body flared with pale violet light.

Then he whispered, almost too quietly to hear.

"[Heavens Blade]."

The clouds parted.

No, shattered.

And something massive began forming above him.

My eyes narrowed.