The Fall of the Lieutenants – One by One
The battlefield burned with spiritual energy and blood-soaked dirt. Emerald Sovereignty's brilliance surged with every passing second, carving a path of devastation through Wu Feng's elite.
Lieutenant One: The Spear Breaker
Sylas faced off against a bulky, iron-clad warrior wielding a meteor hammer. The lieutenant's technique relied on overwhelming force and earth-bending strikes. He launched a seismic slam, cracking the earth in all directions—but Sylas danced through the destruction with blade-light precision. In one elegant motion, Sylas' twin swords formed a spiral arc that cut through both hammer and wielder. The explosion of force sent shards of spiritual steel raining down. The lieutenant collapsed, unconscious, buried beneath his own fractured weapon.
Lieutenant Two: The Gale Fang
Skylar took on a nimble, wind-elemental wielder. The enemy weaved between attacks with ghostly grace, striking with blade after blade. But Skylar's patience won out—he anticipated each flicker of movement. With a twisting dual blade maneuver, he redirected the lieutenant's final strike into the ground, then slashed twice at the exposed sides, finishing with a spinning slash that sent the lieutenant sprawling, unconscious and broken.
Lieutenant Three: The Ember Chain
Bai Xu's arrows were countered by flaming chains that lashed through the air like vipers. The lieutenant sought to close the distance, but Qiao Ling transformed her rose Death Arms into a wall of shifting shields and thorns. With every failed charge, Bai Xu rained arrows—guided by wind, each one struck with the precision of fate. The final arrow shattered the lieutenant's arm guard and pinned him to the ground by his robes. Flames flickered out. He was done.
Lieutenant Four: The Mind Spike
This one attempted to attack with illusions and mental disruption, targeting Bai Xu next. But Qiao Ling's rose blossomed into a lotus that pulsed a counter-frequency, dispersing the illusions. She lunged forward in a rare offensive move, turning her whip into a vine spear and striking directly into the lieutenant's chestplate—disabling him with a surge of thorned vines that knocked him unconscious and drained his spiritual energy.
Lieutenant Five: The Titan Shield
This hulking defender stood against both Sylas and Skylar at once, blocking even their twin attacks with an indestructible jade tower shield. But with a nod, the brothers circled him like twin predators. Sylas struck low, feinting, while Skylar slashed with a crescent arc from above. Finally, Sylas used a blade-draw technique that shattered the shield's edge, and Skylar's finishing strike disarmed and dropped the lieutenant with a single vertical slice to the chestplate—knocking the air out of him and ending the clash.
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The Great Bamboo Rush – Feng Lieren's Wrath
At the center of the chaos, Feng Lieren stood bleeding, shoulders heaving, his bamboo Death Arms shimmering with a strange rhythm. All across the battlefield, unnoticed until now—fallen leaves had scattered from his previous bamboo strikes, embedding in corpses, stones, even drifting on the wind.
He closed his eyes.
The leaves pulsed with green light.
"Great Bamboo Rush."
With a thunderous boom, the battlefield erupted in a cyclone of bamboo. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of bamboo shoots erupted from the scattered leaves, creating a forest storm—whipping through enemy troops like bladed spears. Roots and vines churned the ground, devouring structures. Stalks impaled spiritual barriers, reaching for the heavens.
The very battlefield turned hostile.
Weaker troops—both enemy and allied—were forced to retreat, shields raised, many succumbing to spiritual backlash. Cries of panic and awe rang through the storm. It was beautiful and terrifying—a living manifestation of Feng Lieren's rage.
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Wu Feng's Last Stand – Titan of the Halberd
Staggering back but not broken, Wu Feng raised his halberd.
"Fine then, druid prince," he growled. "You want to see strength? Witness the peak of mine!"
His halberd tripled in size, runes along its shaft igniting in black and red. He spun it once, generating a vortex of air, and then roared:
"Sky-Rending Slash!"
He swung.
The halberd's air slash was a titan's roar made real—cutting through the Great Bamboo Rush like a tidal wave of destruction. The bamboo forest screamed as stalks were shredded, explosions of leaf and light colliding midair. The attack surged toward Feng Lieren with the weight of a collapsing mountain.
Feng Lieren stepped forward.
His body flickered—half-plant, half-man—as he extended both arms. Bamboo wrapped around him in spirals. The battlefield shook as two opposing forces collided in a thunderclap that cracked the clouds.
A beat passed.
Then Wu Feng's halberd snapped at the base.
Feng Lieren walked through the fading remnants of the halberd slash, battered but standing tall. Bamboo pierced the ground around him like divine judgment.
Wu Feng dropped to one knee. He gasped, coughing blood. "Impossible…"
With one final motion, Feng Lieren struck the ground. Bamboo rose in a circle and constricted around Wu Feng—his defeat sealed.
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Victory – The Chain Shatters
High above the battlefield, standing atop a tower of green crystal, Ling Chen appeared with glowing robes, arms crossed. His voice echoed across the chains:
"Victory to the Emerald Sovereignty."
His hand moved in a fluid gesture—and suddenly, light exploded across the battlefield.
Each person, friend or foe, was consumed by a glow of teleportation. The floating chains vibrated—then one of them shattered, symbolizing the end of the trial.
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The Emerald Sovereignty had become the first faction to defeat the trial.