Chapter 196: THE NINE AGAINST THE JADE TYRANT

Chapter 196 — THE NINE AGAINST THE JADE TYRANT

The battlefield had stopped looking like Earth.

Where plains once stretched between cities, the land now resembled a broken mirror—miles of shattered rock, molten glass, and vast emerald crystal veins spreading like a disease through the soil.

Five cities were already gone.

The sixth still stood behind the Nine.

Smoke rose from the horizon like funeral incense.

Above the devastation—

The Jade Dragon hovered.

Six kilometers of ancient power suspended in the sky.

Its wings moved slowly, each beat compressing the air like invisible gravity waves. The emerald veins beneath its scales pulsed brighter than ever.

It was adapting.

Growing stronger with every exchange.

Below it—

The Nine regrouped.

Blood on armor.

Breathing heavy.

But still standing.

Dean Xu Canglong raised his sword again, the blade humming softly with azure light.

“Again.”

General Han Dae-Woo wiped blood from his knuckles and grinned.

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

Dr. Elena Kovács’ voice echoed through their tactical channel.

“Warning. Dragon resonance stabilizing faster than predicted. If we stop applying pressure it will fully recalibrate.”

“Then we don’t stop,” Commander Rafael Ibarra said flatly.

Phoenix flames erupted beside him.

Dean Feng Yanrui rose into the air, crimson fire blazing around him like a living sun.

“Strike pattern three.”

The Nine moved again.

Astra Nyx — Void Crescent

Space folded.

Astra Nyx appeared above the dragon’s left wing joint, her blade glowing with distorted gravity.

She swung once.

“Void Crescent.”

The attack was not a slash.

It was absence.

A crescent-shaped tear opened across the dragon’s wing joint, momentarily separating the scales from the space they occupied.

The emerald armor flickered.

A small fracture appeared.

The dragon’s wing dipped.

“Now!” Astra shouted.

Dean Xu Canglong — Azure Heaven Severance

Canglong was already moving.

His sword flashed with quiet brilliance as he stepped into the fracture Astra had created.

“Azure Heaven Severance.”

One strike.

A line of pure azure light carved across the wing joint.

The blade did not shatter the scales—

But it cut between them.

Three jade plates split apart.

Emerald blood—if it could be called blood—spilled like liquid crystal into the air.

The dragon growled.

The first real damage.

General Han Dae-Woo — Titan Breaker

Han dropped from the sky like a cannonball.

Every muscle in his body ignited with kinetic reinforcement.

“Titan Breaker!”

His fist slammed directly into the opened fracture.

The impact produced a thunderclap that flattened the terrain for hundreds of meters.

The crack expanded.

Five scales shattered.

The dragon’s wing jerked violently.

Han was thrown backward by the recoil—

But he laughed as he flew.

“That one landed!”

Commander Rafael Ibarra — Leviathan Spear

Water surged upward from every surviving river within miles.

Entire waterways twisted through the air like serpents.

Ibarra clenched his fist.

“Leviathan Spear.”

The water compressed into a spiraling drill of ocean pressure.

It slammed into the fracture.

Steam exploded across the battlefield.

The jade scales hissed under the pressure.

Another crack formed.

Dean Feng Yanrui — Phoenix Sovereign Descent

The sky burned crimson.

Behind Feng Yanrui a colossal phoenix formed from pure flame.

Its wings spread wider than the battlefield.

“Phoenix Sovereign Descent!”

The phoenix dove.

It struck the dragon’s wounded wing like a meteor made of fire.

Crimson flames exploded across the scales.

The emerald armor blackened under the heat.

The dragon roared.

For the first time—

Pain.

Headmaster Suryavansh Rao — Solar Cataclysm Beam

High above the battlefield—

Suryavansh Rao raised both arms.

A miniature sun formed between his palms.

“Solar Cataclysm Beam.”

The beam descended like a column of daylight.

It struck directly into the fractured wing joint.

The phoenix flames ignited.

Solar plasma erupted.

The damaged scales began melting.

Dr. Elena Kovács — Resonance Collapse Field

Her drones spread into a massive circle.

“Engaging harmonic override.”

Hundreds of soundless waves struck the dragon simultaneously.

“Resonance Collapse Field.”

The jade scales vibrated violently.

The dragon’s crystalline lattice destabilized.

The fractures expanded further.

Grandmaster Tenzin Dorje — Mountain Suppression

Dorje placed one palm on the ground.

The battlefield sank.

Gravity multiplied tenfold.

“Mountain Suppression.”

The dragon’s wounded wing collapsed downward under immense pressure.

Its massive body tilted.

The fractures widened again.

Kaito Veyron — Chains of the Abyss

Dark chains erupted from Kaito’s arms.

“Chains of the Abyss.”

The void-forged chains wrapped around the damaged wing joint.

They tightened violently.

The dragon’s movement slowed.

The wounded area was trapped.

For the first time—

The Jade Dragon staggered.

Its massive wing sagged.

Three kilometers of its body dipped toward the ground.

The Nine pressed forward.

Dean Xu Canglong lifted his blade again.

“Finish the joint!”

General Han surged forward once more.

Commander Ibarra gathered another tidal wave.

Phoenix flames intensified.

Solar plasma raged.

But the dragon adapted.

The emerald veins across its body ignited brighter than ever.

The dragon roared.

Not the catastrophic roar.

A shorter pulse.

But the shockwave alone blasted the Nine backward.

Han was thrown across the battlefield again.

Ibarra crashed into a ridge.

Phoenix flames scattered.

The chains snapped.

Gravity collapsed.

The dragon spread its wings.

The fractured scales began glowing.

Dr. Kovács’ voice shook slightly.

“It’s rewriting the damage!”

The emerald glow intensified.

The melted scales solidified again.

The fractures closed.

Not healed.

Reconstructed.

The dragon lifted its head slowly.

Emerald eyes blazing.

“You… improve.”

Its voice rumbled across the battlefield.

“But improvement does not equal victory.”

It moved.

Faster.

Its claw descended like a falling mountain.

General Han blocked—

The impact sent him crashing through the ground.

Its tail swept sideways—

Ibarra barely dodged.

Its wing beat shattered the sky.

Astra Nyx was forced to teleport away.

Dean Feng Yanrui reignited his phoenix flames—

But they were weaker now.

The Nine attacked again.

And again.

Azure blades.

Solar beams.

Phoenix dives.

Ocean spears.

Void chains.

Gravity fields.

Harmonic strikes.

Kinetic blows.

They were damaging the dragon.

Small fractures appeared across its armor.

Emerald blood spilled again.

But the dragon was still overwhelming.

Every exchange pushed the Nine farther back.

Their breathing grew heavier.

Their movements slower.

The dragon’s emerald aura expanded again.

The sky darkened.

And the glow in its throat began building once more.

The Nine had hurt it.

But they were still losing.

[Chapter ENDS]

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