Kino lunged with a flying kick.
The very next second, he was sent flying backward, uncontrollably slamming into the wall. Solita slowly withdrew her leg, brushed it off lightly, and glanced at the airborne Kino with disdain. "Arrogance requires substance to back it up."
"It seems you have none."
And so, Kino, the "Human Punching Bag," officially began his career of taking a beating.
"This woman is no pushover!" Kino gasped, clutching his chest. He looked at Devin and yelled, "Hurry up and get your master out of here! He's cramping my style!"
If it weren't for the instructions Zoran left before he departed, he wouldn't have bothered with this old man at all.
Master Wyatt's voice crackled in his earpiece, warning him that the woman before them was none other than the Scorpion King, one of the Four Guardians under Hades. She was their opponent here.
Hearing Kino's words, Devin nodded, hoisted Rowan onto his shoulders, and sprinted out of the palace.
Solita looked furious. She lifted her foot, ready to give chase, but Kino intercepted her path.
"Your opponent is me." He struck a battle stance.
"And me!" A blue streak crashed into the hall. Phoebe, arriving late, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kino, blocking the path of the Scorpion King.
"It seems there is no shortage of people who overestimate themselves." Solita scanned the two of them and strolled toward the palace entrance. As she walked, her Hetero-Energy swelled, becoming increasingly formidable.
Killing Rowan was a necessary step in her revenge. One hundred thousand years ago, her father, Valen, had died at the hands of his clan. How could she ever forget such a blood feud?
Opposite her, Kino and Phoebe exchanged glances and lunged toward Solita.
"Scorpion King, Solita. Hetero-Energy levels reaching 0.7 Black Holes. Kino and Phoebe are no match for her," Lisa reported to Captain Wyatt aboard the Black Tortoise.
"Even with Devin added to the mix, they cannot defeat the Scorpion King, unless Rowan of the Azure Dragon Clan has a change of heart and finds his fighting spirit," Lisa added.
At the control console, Master Wyatt lowered his gaze.
"They don't need to defeat the Scorpion King; they only need to stall for enough time," Master Wyatt murmured. "They must wait for Thales and the others to change everything."
"What has been is what will be; what has been done is what will be done again. Such is the nature of our world. But, if a change can be made 100,000 years ago, it might influence the present. The prerequisite is that Kino and the others hold out."
Just as Master Wyatt finished speaking, two silhouettes, one red, one pink, were sent flying out of the palace hall.
"Is that all? And you thought you could stop me?" Solita stepped gracefully out the door, looking down at Kino and Phoebe as they scrambled to their feet.
"What if you add me to the mix?" A blue blur flashed into existence. Devin, having finished dropping Rowan off, had returned to the battlefield. The three stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing Solita.
"You three... are quite good," Solita said, her tone suddenly shifting into something sharp and lethal. "Ultra Beast Force!"
As she spoke, a stream of light radiated from beneath her feet, expanding into a circular formation. Two giant pincers erupted from the ground. Her Ultra Beast form, the Demonic Scorpion War God, revealed itself. She drifted into the air, her chant fading as she merged with the beast: "Perhaps the nature of the soul is inherently bloodthirsty; revenge merely provides a reason for that bloodthirst!"
Her voice shook the very foundation of Dragon City. By the time the echo died down, she was already encased within the Scorpion God.
"Oh... come on! How are we supposed to fight that?!" Kino complained.
The Ultra Beast form was the pinnacle of Hetero-Energy manifestation. Before an Ultra Beast, an ordinary soldier in an armored state had a hard time even surviving, let alone fighting back, unless, of course, you discounted the Nebula Body, a peak alternative rare even across the seven parallel universes.
The Demon Scorpion War God erupted with raw power, making Dragon City tremble in fear.
"Demon Grudge Calamity!" Without further ado, Solita unleashed her ultimate technique. A force capable of shattering the soul barreled toward Kino and his allies.
Meanwhile, in the palace of Dragon City 100,000 years in the past.
The result of the duel had been decided.
Rowan's signature Frozen Palm had clashed with Valen's Cold Shadow Technique. The two figures had passed through each other in a blur of motion, and the icy aura began to dissipate. Rowan knelt on one knee, while Valen, wiping blood from his cheek, stood firm in the center of the arena.
"I declare Valen of the White Dragon Clan the winner!" the Elder announced, glancing around the hall.
The cheers from the White Dragon side were thunderous. Solita, still a little girl, looked at her father with eyes full of adoration. On the Azure Dragon side, however, spirits were crushed; heads hung low in defeat.
Suddenly, a roar of fury erupted from the ranks of the Azure Dragon Clan.
"I don't accept this! Valen cheated by practicing our secret technique! This is unfair!" a tribesman shouted, raising his hand.
"That's right! How could the Frozen Palm lose to the Cold Shadow Technique? Valen won dishonorably! If they had both used the Cold Shadow Technique, our master Rowan could never have lost!"
"Bullshit! Your master Rowan is just unskilled and you're making excuses!" a White Dragon tribesman retorted.
The arguments grew increasingly heated. The Elder on the throne coughed, waving his hand helplessly in an attempt to quiet the noise.
"Ahem… the result of the duel is clear. Valen is the winner," the Elder croaked. The two clans had never been on good terms, and this tournament had merely served as a pressure valve for their long-standing resentment.
"Master Rowan, if he hadn't stolen our Cold Shadow Technique, how could you have lost?" a tribesman cried out indignantly.
"Quiet! Everyone, be quiet!" The Elder tried in vain to suppress the budding riot.
Just then, a member of the Azure Dragon Clan stepped forward, pointed a finger at the Elder, and snarled, "It's clearly you, you old geezer! You're shielding them! You're biased toward the White Dragon Clan!"
He turned to his people and shouted, "Brothers! The Elder is unfair! He's protecting these White Dragon bastards! Let's show them what we're made of!"
The Azure Dragon clansmen exchanged looks, their faces instantly twisted with murderous intent.
"Stop! Everyone, stop!" Rowan tried to call for a halt, but having just emerged from a grueling battle, he was quickly swallowed by the surging crowd of his own tribesmen. In his heart, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of resentment as well.
The Cold Shadow Technique and Frozen Palm were simply in different leagues when it came to destructive power. For a warrior wielding Hetero-Energy, beyond physical skill, the outcome usually hinged on who possessed the superior technique.
Rowan gritted his teeth and glared across the arena. Valen stood cold and stoic, facing the rising tide of Azure Dragon warriors.
"It seems fate is a calm lake; any interference is bound to cause ripples," Zoran mused softly, observing the scene in the hall from high above.
Everything had changed.
Valen, who should have died, was alive. If this continued, Valen would end up slaughtering the Azure Dragon Clan in retaliation.
"Is the power of the cycle truly this strange?" Zoran closed his eyes in thought. "Is this some kind of self-correction?"
Below, the argument had become irreconcilable. In the blink of an eye, the two sides were ready to draw weapons. This experimental field of the Second Parallel Universe was pushing the cycle in the opposite direction.
"Is there no pivot point for balance?"
While he pondered, Zoran inadvertently pressed his hand downward toward the hall. An indescribably vast, majestic aura descended.
In an instant, the expressions of every Dragon Clan warrior shifted. Everyone looked up in terror, only to see a chubby figure plummeting from the sky toward the palace hall.
Thales landed in the center of the room. Surrounded by countless gazes, he looked thoroughly awkward.
"What are you looking at me for? Look up!" He brandished his kitchen knife.
The sight of him waving a kitchen knife around actually had a certain menacing effect, causing countless eyes to continue drifting toward the ceiling.
"Hiss... there's... another expert?"
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