"Touchdown, big guy!"
The fifty-meter-tall obsidian giant plummeted from the sky like a falling star.
BOOM!
The earth groaned under the impact. The ground collapsed instantly into a crater hundreds of meters wide, sending plumes of dust and pulverized rock into the air. As the haze cleared, the Lava Iron Golem rose like a god of destruction. Its black obsidian skin pulsed with magma patterns that glowed like the rhythmic breathing of a furnace.
Steve explored his new body, sensing the raw, destructive potential within. With a thought, he unleashed his power.
Buzz!
The Frost Domain returned, but this time, it was no longer the fragile ten-kilometer zone he had struggled to maintain. Empowered by the Fifth-Order crystal, a wave of azure light exploded outward like a nuclear shockwave.
Fifteen kilometers... twenty.
A twenty-kilometer zone of Absolute Zero completely enveloped Zeus and Burning Void. Steve's eyes, burning with blue soul-fire, slowly lifted to meet the two figures in the sky. His voice, now a majestic, thunderous resonance, shook the heavens.
"It's been a while, gentlemen. My new domain expansion... how do you find it?"
Before they could respond, another violent aura erupted from the Golem. Within the sub-zero blizzard, a wave of incinerating heat swept forth. This was the result of the Golem's core resonating with the massive intake of Magma Blocks—the Lava Domain.
In an instant, the battlefield became a paradoxical duality of frost and flame. Snowflakes didn't melt; instead, warped by the conflicting laws of the two domains, they transformed into a burning, ice-blue rain of fire. The ground beneath them alternated between sheets of permafrost and geysers of molten rock.
"Dual domains?! This is impossible!" Zeus cried out, his pupils contracting.
Burning Void felt a crushing weight on his chest. His own Flame Domain, once rampant, now felt suffocated. The new Lava Domain was not just higher in quality—it was an elemental evolution that suppressed his power at the source. Combined with the freezing interference of the Frost Domain, his effective strength plummeted by thirty percent.
"What are you?!" Zeus's voice trembled. He stared at the black demonic figure below. "How can you jump between bodies? How can you transfer a soul so effortlessly?"
The arrogant Fifth-Order powerhouse was beginning to crack. It wasn't Steve's physical power he feared most—it was the terrifying unknown. If their opponent could swap bodies like changing armor, what was the point of winning? If they killed this Golem, would he simply return in a stronger vessel?
Steve, however, wasn't interested in a debate.
Too much talk.
He had no desire to play games. His mission was clear: seize the Divine Judgment Base, secure the technology for the Third-Order Awakening Potions and Second-Generation Enhancements, and pave the way for his soldiers.
"Compress."
With a mental command, the fifty-meter body began to shrink. Forty meters... twenty... ten. The immense mass wasn't lost; it was forcibly compressed by the gravity of the source crystal, driving the Golem's density to an impossible degree.
Finally, the Golem stabilized at a height of five meters. Though smaller, Steve now looked like a concentrated god of war, every motion radiating a sense of absolute solidity.
"This form... is perfect."
Steve clenched a fist, feeling a power that could shatter the world. He slowly raised a pitch-black palm.
Sizzle!
Deep red magma patterns surged down his arm, converging into a sphere of concentrated lava in his hand.
"Catch."
Boom!
A beam of molten energy, thick as a siege cannon, tore through the air toward the two commanders.
"Defensive positions!" Zeus and Burning Void screamed.
The Thunder Spear in Zeus's hand transformed into a massive lightning shield, while Burning Void thrust both palms forward, weaving his fire into a thick, swirling wall.
RUMBLE!!!
A titanic explosion bloomed, the shockwave clearing every cloud for miles. Though they managed to block the strike, the two were left visibly shaken.
"Such... such raw mass behind that heat," Burning Void gasped, his arms numb. The impact had rattled his very core. This was genuine Fifth-Order power, made deadlier by the explosive nature of the magma characteristic.
"Die."
Steve gave them no room to recover. He stomped his right foot against the air itself.
Bang!
The air detonated under his heel, creating a visible sonic boom. Using the sheer reactive force, Steve's heavy frame blurred into a streak of black lightning, hurtling toward Zeus.
"Get back!" Zeus unleashed his full potential in a desperate frenzy. His spear surged to a hundred meters in length, wreathed in apocalyptic purple lightning, and swung down toward the charging Golem.
He had noticed one thing: this new body did not carry the golden aura of the Totem.
It isn't immortal! he thought. If I hit it hard enough, it will break!
Rumble!
The thunderous strike, powerful enough to split a mountain range, landed squarely on Steve's shoulder.