City Center.
Smoke swallowed the sky.
Flames roared between shattered buildings.
At the heart of it—
Ernos.
Across from him—
Wang Wei.
Silence stretched for half a second.
Then Ernos moved first.
He thrust his arm forward.
A concentrated sphere of fire erupted from his palm— not ordinary flame, but compressed plasma, white-hot at its core.
It tore through the air like a newborn star.
Wang didn't dodge.
He raised two fingers.
The air bent.
Gravity shifted sideways.
The fireball curved unnaturally, slamming into an empty skyscraper instead of its target.
The building imploded inward under invisible pressure.
Dust exploded outward.
Ernos grinned.
"So it's true… you still play with the sky."
Wang stepped forward.
The asphalt beneath his feet cracked.
Invisible force pressed outward from him in controlled pulses.
"Fire rises," Wang said calmly.
"Gravity decides whether it stays."
He clenched his hand.
Instantly—
The pressure multiplied.
Ernos' flames bent downward as if crushed by an invisible ceiling.
The ground around Ernos cratered.
His knees dipped slightly.
For a moment—
It looked like domination.
From the rooftops, Sebastian and the others watched.
Asher's fists tightened.
"He's overwhelming him…"
But Ernos began laughing.
Low at first.
Then louder.
"You think that's pressure?"
The flames around him darkened.
Orange shifted to deep crimson.
Crimson shifted—
To blinding white.
The temperature spiked violently.
Windows across the city shattered.
Metal railings glowed red.
The very air began to distort.
Wang narrowed his eyes slightly.
Ernos raised both arms.
"Let me show you what I've become."
The sky above ignited.
A massive burning sphere formed overhead— not a simple fireball.
A miniature sun.
Solar flares lashed outward.
The heat wave rolled through the streets, melting asphalt like wax.
Sebastian immediately shouted:
"Evacuate the perimeter!"
Heroes scattered to protect civilians.
Wang increased gravitational pressure.
The air thickened.
But something was wrong.
The heat was interfering.
The rising thermals destabilized localized gravity compression.
Ernos smirked.
"You control the sky?"
He snapped his fingers.
The burning sphere above pulsed.
"I become the sun."
The miniature star detonated downward in a column of pure solar flame.
Wang extended his arm.
Celestial Dominion activated at higher output.
The space between him and the descending inferno compressed into layers— like invisible stacked plates.
The solar beam struck.
Impact.
Shockwaves blasted outward in concentric rings.
Entire buildings disintegrated from pressure alone.
The ground sank several meters.
Asher shielded himself.
"Wang!"
For the first time—
Wang slid backward.
Just one step.
But he slid.
The beam intensified.
The light was unbearable.
Heat carved molten rivers through the street.
Wang's coat burned at the edges.
His expression hardened.
Gravity surged.
The solar column bent slightly—
But not fully.
Ernos roared.
The flames around his body expanded into wing-like arcs of fire.
"I burned through continents in training!"
The temperature continued climbing.
Even Sebastian felt his lungs strain.
Wang's voice cut through the chaos.
"Enough."
He lifted both hands.
The sky responded.
Clouds spiraled violently.
Atmospheric pressure dropped sharply.
Then—
Spiked.
Celestial Dominion expanded.
Not localized.
Wide range.
The battlefield trembled.
Invisible weight descended from above like the hand of a god.
The solar beam fractured.
The miniature sun overhead compressed unnaturally—
Shrinking under immense gravitational collapse.
Ernos' grin faltered.
"You…!"
The burning sphere began folding inward.
Space warped.
Light bent.
A gravitational well formed midair.
The temperature destabilized.
For the first time—
Ernos stepped back.
But he wasn't finished.
His flames darkened again.
White shifted—
To blue.
Then—
To black at the core.
The heat didn't decrease.
It intensified.
Sebastian's eyes widened.
"That energy… it's evolving."
Ernos spread his arms wide.
"If I can't rise…"
The black-core sun pulsed violently.
"I'll devour."
The miniature star exploded outward in a horizontal shockwave of dark solar fire.
Wang immediately expanded his gravitational field to maximum defensive threshold.
The city trembled as opposing forces collided.
Gravity versus starfire.
The sky cracked with thunder.
Shockwaves ripped through blocks.
Asher gritted his teeth.
"Say the word…"
Wang stood at the epicenter.
Coat torn.
Hair whipping violently in distorted wind.
His voice carried through the chaos.
"Not yet."
The black solar flames pressed harder.
Even Celestial Dominion trembled.
For the first time—
Wang's feet sank deeper into the fractured ground.
Ernos laughed through the inferno.
"Is this your heaven?"
Flames spiraled upward.
The temperature reached catastrophic levels.
And then—
The sky above flickered.
For a split second—
Something else pulsed behind Ernos' power.
A darker presence.
Watching.
Wang felt it.
His eyes sharpened.
"This isn't just you anymore…"
Ernos' smile widened unnaturally.
"Maybe."
The battlefield had escalated beyond prediction.
Celestial Dominion was still not fully unleashed.
And Ernos—
Was no longer just fire.
The city center collapsed inward under the strain of clashing forces.
Sebastian whispered under his breath:
"This isn't a battle…"
"It's a natural disaster."
At the center of it all—
Wang Wei stood unmoving.
And for the first time—
He prepared to open more than he had ever shown.
The sky darkened.
Gravity deepened.
And the true storm was about to descend.