Chapter 430: That Was the Best Lance in All of Rome!

Dragon laughed wildly, mocking the foolish bravery of this feeble life,

the heroic knight clad in golden armor rode a steed as black as night, wielding a lance shimmering with silver-white light, charging toward the Dragon,

the sound of hooves and the lance cutting through wind meant nothing against the storm the Dragon summoned,

flames of malice burned in the Dragon's eyes; it extracted energy from the very structure of matter, propelling an electron to move endlessly through spacetime, transforming it into a cyan-blue lightning bolt,

it seized the lightning with claws dripping mercury-like metal and hurled it like a spear toward the knight,

thunder roared like a tidal wave, swallowing the sandy earth and drowning the knight in an ocean of current,

the Dragon laughed savagely, ready to devour the knight's soul, twisted by agony and despair from the searing lightning,

but the sound of hooves rose at that moment, louder than the thunder it had summoned, like drums pounding the earth, the roar of reality itself,

a neigh tore through the thunder; the steed leapt high, carrying the unharmed knight out of the storm,

beneath the helmet engraved with an eagle, the knight's face emerged—brown-skinned, eyes sharp as a hawk's,

his gaze merged with the spear's tip, growing larger and larger before the Dragon's eyes until it pierced its face,

immense force from beyond the sea pressed upon the Dragon's scales,

the Dragon's body crashed uncontrollably to the ground, jagged cracks spreading beneath it,

the Dragon felt bewildered, utterly confused,

it, the Divine of the Material Universe, the Dragon that had possessed eternal divinity since the universe's birth,

had been speared into the air by a knight from a backward medieval planet?

What the hell happened to the laws of physics?

the Dragon was perplexed, and the knight was perplexed too,

the knight was baffled that his spear had not killed the Dragon outright,

he sensed that the spiritual energy he had poured into the lance had been suppressed upon contact with the Dragon's body,

even the pure silver tip, forged by Rome's finest smith after thirty years of savings, had failed to pierce the Dragon's hardened scales—strange indeed.

"You're confused now?" Zhou Yun stared blankly at the brown-haired boy beside him.

Zhou Yun was inside the Dragon's dream, clearly sensing the Dragon's emotions, understanding its bewilderment and shock,

the Dragon was like a child carrying boiling water to an ant colony, pretending to be a god before the ants,

to a Star God, the Dragon was as fragile as a child—but even a child could crush humans as easily as ants,

yet now, that child pretending to be a god had nearly had its neck twisted off by an ant—of course it felt bewildered and stunned.

But the Emperor's confusion? Zhou Yun couldn't understand it.

"Why can't I be confused? How many beings on Earth could defeat me?"

"Back then, those who survived my spear were exceedingly rare."

the brown-haired boy turned his head away and said:

"I rode a horse bred over three hundred years, wielded the best lance in all of Rome, and was stopped mid-journey by an alien Divine of the Material Universe—why can't I be confused?"

"That was the best lance in all of Rome!"

the Dragon grew enraged; the fabric of reality trembled. Energy, liberated from dimensions folded within the microscopic world, surged forth as searing, molten light aimed at the knight's head,

the knight's helmet was knocked off, his brown hair fluttering in the wind—but that was all—the helmet only flew off,

the Dragon roared and collided with the knight; uncooled molten blackstone surged like a tidal wave toward him,

the knight raised his shield violently; molten blackstone struck the shield, spiritual energy and anti-spiritual force clashing violently,

the knight thrust his lance from behind the shield, aiming straight for the Dragon's abdomen,

the Dragon's scales rippled like mercury, revealing the searing blackstone hidden within its body; instantly, anti-spiritual force spread outward, striking the knight's lance,

the lance shattered into a thousand fragments, like a sudden silver downpour scattering everywhere.

the knight roared in fury,

"That was the best lance in all of Rome! It was my thirty years of military savings! You bitch!"

the knight's face began to glow amid thunder and storm, spiritual energy flooding out like a tide, swirling into a brilliant halo behind his head, like a newborn sun,

the knight drew his sword from his belt; fiery spiritual energy ignited along its blade, sizzling as it burned reality itself,

the Dragon roared, unleashing power that warped reality; the knight bellowed, venting spiritual energy from another world,

their clash was like a battle between the dimensions of reality and the warp,

the Dragon rewrote the laws of physics, causing the air itself to ignite; the black horse beneath the knight's saddle caught fire, its lungs burning as flames devoured it whole,

"You killed my horse?!"

the knight charged forward atop his flaming steed, slashing his burning sword against the Dragon; the Dragon was pinned to the ground, rolling in agony,

but the Dragon's body was too resilient, too resistant to the power of the Highest Heaven—the knight's blade still could not pierce its silver scales.

the Dragon laughed savagely, full of malice,

even though its body, authority, and power were shattered,

its body was still forged in its prime, a perfect fusion of living metal and blackstone, among the most durable substances in the entire Material World—and blackstone itself could weaken the power of the Highest Heaven,

it was nearly invulnerable, unless this knight knew its weakness,

the gap once carved beneath its left wing by Val, the Eldar god of forging, using a blackstone fortress.

Zhou Yun couldn't help but feel curious—how had the Emperor discovered the Dragon's weakness back then?

the knight and the Dragon battled endlessly across the sandy earth, until they fought up to the heavens, into the void,

in the void, neither had to fear harming Terra or its people, and they unleashed their power without restraint,

they hurled fire at each other on the Moon, then used it as a springboard to battle deeper into the void, until they crashed onto Mars, then still a wild wasteland,

the knight pinned the Dragon's head and slammed it hard against the crimson rocks of Olympus Mons,

but the Dragon fought back, coalescing blackstone into a scythe, mimicking the posture of its kin, the Nightbringer,

the Nightbringer had once spread terror across the galaxy; its form, as primal fear, was deeply etched into the minds of all races—even those that had never seen the Nightbringer,

as the Dragon had predicted, the knight's movement revealed a fleeting opening.

"Actually, I just wanted to steal that scythe to replace my lost silver lance," the brown-haired boy explained.

Regardless of motive, the Dragon's scythe slashed through the knight's breastplate, leaving a wound on his chest; bright blood gushed forth, splattering into the hot Martian air.

the knight grunted, raised his flaming sword again,

and at that moment, a voice—sharp, laced with a twisted laugh, its tone shifting constantly—echoed from the Highest Heaven:

"Knight, strike beneath its left wing—that's its weakness."

(Feeling terrible—headache, intercostal pain too. Next chapter will be late.)

(End of chapter)