“Diamonds?” Shin’s pupils dilated, wholly caught off guard by the suddenness of the attack. He was the original elemental king, able to control the weather with just his thoughts. Yet, Lukman had turned the rain against him.

While Shin was busy getting surprised by the hail of diamonds, Lukman’s other Beasts of the Desert crept closer towards the floating Prince of Water. Sandy dunes popped like pimples, elevating the Sand Beasts while the Sand Army aimed their weapons to the heavens. They all were waiting for Shin to fall and ready to pounce on him like a predator cat. Furthermore, Lukman hiding in his sandy sphere was proving to be irritating. Shin didn’t know what abilities the Prince of Sand was hiding, and that unknown factor placed the Prince of Water at a disadvantage. Normally, Shin was the one controlling the entire battlefield with his array of abilities. But in a fight against yet another Elemental Prince, all of Shin’s techniques were reflected back at himself.

Furthermore, it seemed that Lukman had ever furthered his elemental affinity, taking it to the absolute peak of perfection. Changing sand into diamonds was no easy feat. It was far more difficult than changing water to ice or water to mist. He could even materialise his element in the skies now, something that was originally Shin’s domain.

Alas, Shin was no idiot. Yes, he was at a disadvantage in the elemental department. However, he had many advantages elsewhere.

“Tsk, annoying...” Spreading both his arms out, Shin supplied the Celestial Dragon with even more mana, allowing beautiful undulations to pulse out from its scales. An astral soul escaped the towering Spirit, turning into an elongated version of itself that was at least ten times its size. The five elements it was known for, Water, Light, Mind, Space and Time, morphed around the Celestial Dragon Avatar like a cyclone and a gigantic force field willed itself into creation.

Diamond continued to fall from the sky, piercing through the immense Celestial Aura with a wrathful vengeance. It wanted to see blood, Shin’s to be exact and it wasn’t going to stop until it drew it.

Snorting, Shin gave the order: “Ignite.”

INNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

The shard burst forth with its signature siren’s wail, sending surges of pure spiritual energies flying throughout the granular fields. Diamonds were meant to be the toughest material on the planet, but just like their cousins beforehand, they were disintegrated into fine dust, never to threaten the sovereignty of the Prince of Water again.

With the aerial threat gone, Shin turned his attention to the beasts roaming underneath his feet. They were clawing their way to the heavens, sending sand and grovel flying Shin’s way in hopes of shooting the man down.

“Useless...” Shin raised his right hand and pointed his index finger down at them. Once again, the shard screeched like a banshee as the fabric of space and time rippled in complete terror. Thousands of stars sparkled under the overcast sky as immense lunar energy spilt out from Shin’s pores.

The spectators from afar were aghast as they witnessed that scene. Their heads spun towards the black-haired woman, who was as cool as a cucumber. She wasn’t worried at all at her husband’s safety and was beaming with delight as he mirrored her signature move.

“What? It’s only natural for Shin to imitate Lunar Beam. Haven’t you seen him use it before?” Kanari replied calmly.

Lunar Beam was the one ability that Kanari was synonymous with. Like how Lukman and Shin were known for their first spiritual ability, elemental creation, Kanari’s signature ability to fame was the deadly beam attack which combined all three elements she had jurisdiction over. Though Shin didn’t have the fire and wind elements to completely replicate Kanari’s attack, the destructive power of his shard proved potent enough.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

In a flash of light, the stars burst into gorgeous aurora rays, descending upon the mortal plane like a hammer of justice. The Beasts of the Desert all tried to counter, many of them moving sand to protect themselves. Alas, it was all in vain. The Shard of the Azure Dragon was Shin’s most destructive ability, even till this day. Although it was once a fingernail from Zishen’s claw, Shin had perfected it to replicate the attack from the memory of the charred thorn, which was able to utterly evaporate the Flame Titan of Old.

Unshockingly, the damage output of the shard could easily match Zishen’s breath, and due to Shin’s absolute control over it, it was far more versatile.

In a mere ten seconds, all Lukman’s Beasts of the Desert evaporated into sand particles. The numerous starlight beams were capable of destroying Spirit Kings and injuring Spirit Emperors, let alone some Desert Beasts that Lukman created. To top it all off, Shin mixed in some of his shard’s energy into the falling rain, turning them into absolute teardrop monsters. N

Time stood still. No matter what Lukman tried, it was just too little. Shin had overwhelming power on his side, and he was most definitely going to use it all to his advantage.

‘Hah… This battle was fruitless from the start,’ Shin sighed mentally. He was peerless amongst Spirit Venerates and could hold his own against Spirit Saints and Primordial Beasts. Yes, Lukman was talented, and his battle experience had propelled him to the Spirit Emperor stage ten years before anyone of his generation. However, against the freak that was Shin, Lukman was just too inferior.

‘Also, it looks like Lukman isn’t going to surrender this easily.’ As the Shin stared at the defensive sand sphere, he could sense more and more spiritual energies being pumped out. Not only that, the Desert beneath him started to twirl, turning into a vast whirlpool which sucked all creation under. Even an idiot could guess that Lukman was preparing his next move.

‘Hmmm, whatever… I’ll just use that ability… I haven’t tested it against anyone yet.’ Shin pondered for a moment before turning his frown into a smile.

The Prince of Water spread both his arms out wide, looking deep within his astral soul. In there, all of his nine crystal obelisks were calling out to him, in desperate need of attention. They were screaming out, agitated by the fight in the mortal plane and were willing to lay out their everything for their owner.

In particular… The ninth and newest one.

It gleamed with five colours, all pulsating out with an angel’s joy. Like a kid in a kindergarten class, it wanted to be picked by Shin, so much so that it would sprout out colours to seek attention.

“Come out.” Shin obliged the obelisk, sending a surge of energy through its veins. Five distinct figures emerged, each one more towering and intimidating than the next. They were all brimming with confidence, ready to go to war with their commander-in-chief. Unfortunately, Shin had other plans.

“No, I only need one of you. The rest of you will remain sealed until the time is right,” Shin willed four of the Titans into the obelisk, much to their utter dismay. And soon… Only the gorgeous fluttering butterfly remained.

Shin reached out his left hand, taking an unassuming pose. He was beckoning for the Titan, waiting for it to accept his invitation. The butterfly flapped happily before finally calming down, morphing into a shape fit for a human. Now, it looked no different from any other butterfly, save the mesmerising cosmic wings on its back.

In a flash of light, Shin merged with the butterfly in his astral realm, and his consciousness was instantly transferred into the mortal plane. Lukman was ready to launch his next attack and possibly his final one based on the elemental energy he was putting out. The entire Desert was shaking, and billions of sand particles floated in the air like a poltergeist had manipulated them up. No Spirit Emperor should have that kind of power, and that made Shin feel yet another wave of awe towards his fellow Elemental Prince.

“Beautiful… Our Alliance really does have hope for the upcoming fight after all,” Shin mused. The younger generation of cultivators were really growing at breakneck speeds. All of his comrades from Guardian Sword reached heights that were unprecedented for their ages. So did the Luminaries from the Lantis Republic. However, none of them could touch the level that Lukman had reached. Even Kanari would lose to the monster that was the Prince of Sand.

However, Shin knew that he would never lose. Particularly after he created his Spirit Venerate spiritual ability… The Old Titans.

Merging with the Space Titan, the Cosmic Butterfly, the same cosmic wings sprouted out from Shin’s back, morphing him into a human butterfly. Vast amounts of Space-Elements dripped from his body, messing up the fabric of space and time. The energies turned the world illusory around Shin even though no Mind-Elements had been manipulated. It was all just the disturbances of having the Cosmic Wings in the material plane.

Shin didn’t notice the shock in the spectator’s face and was wholly concentrated on the sand sphere that was levitating in the air. Shin couldn’t see it, but Lukman’s face turned blank after the two surreal wings popped up. The Prince of Sand had even lost control over his sand, leaving a small vulnerability in his protective sphere.

And sure enough, Shin’s hawk eyes caught sight of that exploit.

“Let’s go, partner.”