High above in the sky.
The thick, cotton-like clouds were constantly torn apart and shredded into huge voids, like fragile silk.
Because it was not the first time they had fought each other.
Both sides understood the other's multi-stage methods; at this moment, any concealment or probing seemed meaningless and a waste of time.
Therefore, this battle entered a white-hot state almost the moment they made contact, without any reservation.
Both chose to abandon flashy techniques and evasive tactics.
They did not shy away, clashing head-on, attacking with attacks, and breaking force with force.
The Red-Iron Dragon, wreathed in destructive golden lightning and black-Red Dragon Qi, had his extra arms—constructed from pure Dragon Qi—and his main body arms, which looked like they were cast from refined steel, dancing wildly.
With four arms dancing together, every swing was peerless in power, revealing his formidable nature.
He left a sky full of dazzling, lethal afterimages that flickered incessantly.
Opposite him.
Every Golden Dragon scale on Alberto's body shone with holy and pure golden light, and the crown atop his head, flowing with materialized Sacred Oath energy, was even more brilliant, illuminating the sky like a second small sun.
Oath of the Crown + Conquest, both Sacred Oaths were activated to their extreme state simultaneously.
The Conquest Sacred Oath halberd, gripped tightly in his claw, was swung with astonishing power and speed, piercing through the sky fiercely time and time again. From afar, it looked like a golden rainstorm pouring down, unleashing madly toward that strong figure.
Clang!
A deafening roar exploded.
The sharp, glowing blade of the Conquest Sacred Oath halberd slashed fiercely onto the Red-Iron Dragon's thick right Dragon arm, which was made of Dragon Qi energy and resembled a siege ram.
Dazzling red energy sparks burst forth like fireworks, splashing in all directions.
At the same time, Garros's other arm, condensed from Dragon Qi, viciously slapped at Alberto's head, which was covered in holy armor.
At the critical moment.
Alberto's free left claw lifted; the claw, covered in golden scales, was instantly reinforced to be incredibly hard by the condensed Sacred Oath energy, resisting the attack.
However.
At the moment when Alberto's old strength had just faded and his new strength had not yet arisen, the other Dragon Qi arm struck the center of Alberto's chest with lightning speed.
The holy armor constructed from Sacred Oath energy shattered upon impact.
And at this very moment, when the holy armor shattered and a fatal gap appeared in his defense, Garros's physical left claw, wreathed in flame-lightning and Dragon Qi, followed.
It pierced through the gap in the broken holy armor with pinpoint precision, slamming solidly and without any flair into Alberto's chest, which had lost its armor protection.
A teeth-gritting sound of scales disintegrating rang out.
Alberto's originally brilliant and dazzling golden dragon scales caved in, cracked, and shattered over a large area, centered on the point of impact.
The flesh beneath was like mud hit by a heavy hammer, collapsing and rotting.
"Ugh..."
Alberto let out a muffled groan of pain.
His entire massive, heavy dragon body trembled, uncontrollably recoiling violently, plowing a path of shattered air waves in the sky.
Garros flapped his wings violently, pursuing the victory.
His pair of fully extended, razor-sharp dragon wings had air currents like tangible flames surging at the tips.
These huge dragon wings began to rotate at high speed, using his body as the axis, and with a whistling sound that tore through the air, they fiercely slashed toward Alberto, who was still recoiling.
Feeling the power of this blow, Alberto's pupils shrank.
While retreating, he twisted his waist violently, forcing his massive body to move sideways in the air.
Swoosh!
The wing blade grazed past his soft abdominal scales, breaking the holy armor, bringing up several shattered golden scales, and splashing strands of blood.
Before he could stabilize his figure and organize an effective counterattack, a lightning-fast, blade-edged ferocious dragon tail appeared in the corner of Alberto's vision, tearing through the air with a shriek that pierced the eardrums, whipping directly toward his head with almost no interval.
Too fast.
Snap!
A heart-stopping, dull explosion sounded.
The holy armor covering Alberto's face was instantly smashed like a fragile eggshell.
The power of the dragon tail decreased slightly, but it still slammed solidly onto his faceplate.
In an instant, a huge, bloody gash with shattered dragon scales and upturned skin appeared on his face.
The Red-Iron Dragon had now transformed into a fighting machine.
Claws, four arms, dragon tail, wings.
Every part of his body had become a dangerous weapon.
The combat techniques derived from the Martial Dragon Path were brought to an impeccable extreme.
One move after another.
One link after another.
Like an endless tide.
The fierce attacks fell upon the body of the Golden Dragon Alberto time and time again, like a storm.
Alberto was not without the power to fight back.
The hellish special training over the past five years was by no means meaningless.
His strength, under the extreme pressure of his vows, had indeed gained significant and astonishing growth. Moreover, because he was constantly practicing the Sacred Oath Dao, the Sacred Oath energy flowing within him had become purer and more majestic.
He could occasionally catch the counterattacks made in the gaps of Garros's attacks.
The force was extremely heavy.
It could even forcefully shatter the layers of hard Frostburn Scales covering Garros's body surface, which had amazing defensive power, and leave clear spiderweb-like cracks on the Red-Iron Dragon's second line of defense—his tougher, main body black-Red Dragon scales.
However.
Every time he hit Garros, he would inevitably suffer from the cold erosion and the damage from those sharp spines.
Moreover, he often only managed to seize an opportunity to leave an insignificant wound on Garros, only to have to endure three or four, or even more, fierce counterattacks from the opponent like a storm in the next second.
His proud Sacred Oath armor was torn apart again and again like paper.
His indestructible Golden Dragon scales were shattered again and again like porcelain.
Scalding dragon blood kept spilling.
This head-on, unyielding, hard-hitting assault was intense to the extreme.
Not long after, Alberto's originally majestic and brilliant Golden Dragon body was completely soaked in his own scalding dragon blood, becoming covered in blood.
Even though he had activated both the Oath of the Crown and the Conquest Sacred Oath, possessing the powerful healing and buff effects of the Holy Dragon Path, he could not keep up with the speed of his body's injuries and power loss at this moment.
However, even with such heavy injuries. Even with slim chances of winning.
The young Golden Dragon still fought without retreating, refusing to admit defeat, as if this were not a sparring challenge, but a death match.
Until thirty seconds later.
Because of the intense battle and the ravages of the Frenzied State lightning, the Frostburn Scales covering Garros's torso finally could not bear the load, almost completely shattering and peeling off, revealing the dense battle-scarred patterns underneath.
Just at this moment.
Catching a slight stiffness in Alberto caused by severe pain.
Garros's thick claws stepped heavily onto Alberto's scarred chest.
Alberto was struck as if by lightning.
His massive, heavy dragon body was kicked away by this force like a snapped golden kite.
Immediately after.
Garros's wings flared again, his body churning with heat waves, causing the air to distort, as he pursued the still-recoiling, unyielding Alberto at high speed.
Just at this moment.
The young Golden Dragon, in the midst of being kicked away, took a deep breath, his gaze becoming exceptionally focused.
Whether he could defeat Garros depended on this move, on the skill he had comprehended a few days ago.
Oath of the Crown: Turn the Tide!
Conquest Sacred Oath: Desperate Counterattack!
Alberto roared silently in his heart.
Hum—!
The remaining Sacred Oath energy in his body erupted with unprecedented brilliant golden light once again.
And, these liquid gold-like energies converged madly toward his limbs and bones like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
Finally, without any reservation, it was all poured into the depths of his throat, ready to spew Dragon Breath.
Sacred Oath Enhancement — Sacred Flame Breath.
The next moment.
A beam of Dragon Breath, condensed like liquid gold and burning and boiling, spewed out violently from Alberto's wide-open dragon mouth like a rushing river of molten gold, shooting straight toward the Red-Iron Dragon who was chasing head-on.
Coincidentally.
The Red-Iron Dragon who was chasing also suddenly opened his huge mouth.
In the intense battle just now, the rolling heat accumulated inside his massive body now, as if obeying a king's command, madly collapsed, compressed, and converged toward his body, all surging toward his throat, which was about to erupt.
So much so that his crimson dragon scales instantly turned into a dazzling color like burning red iron, just taken out of a furnace and emitting a thousand-degree high temperature.
Especially the neck area; those battle-scarred patterns were all lit up at this moment, shining with destructive red light.
Thermal Enhancement — Destruction Dragon Breath!
Boom!
A destructive Dragon Breath, viscous like tangible magma and seemingly containing the terrifying power to burn mountains and boil the seas, spewed out violently from Garros's mouth like an erupting volcanic torrent.
Under Alberto's gaze, filled with disbelief.
This torrent of destructive crimson Dragon Breath, inch by inch, with a domineering posture of breaking dry wood and unstoppable force, frantically crushed and pushed forward, forcefully covering, suppressing, and continuously squeezing Alberto's holy golden Dragon Breath torrent backward.
"No—!"
Alberto squeezed his Sacred Oath energy, trying to reverse the situation.
However, it was all in vain.
Until the Dragon Breath was right before his eyes.
The rolling, surging Destruction Dragon Breath completely swallowed Alberto's struggling golden figure.
That terrifyingly extreme flame temperature could not be completely exempted, even with the Golden Dragon's very high flame resistance.
The dragon scales carbonized in mourning.
The flesh and blood withered in the high temperature.
And the flames were secondary; what was even more terrifying was the horrific impact capable of tearing steel, pressing the Golden Dragon's body downward.
Accompanied by a deafening roar and dust rising into the sky.
The charred, steaming Golden Dragon Alberto was embedded deep into the solid earth of the vast plain outside Dragon Valley, like a scorched meteorite.
A huge radioactive crater appeared on the scorched land.
And he lay half-dead at the very center of the pit, with almost no complete scales on his whole body, and wisps of blue smoke rising from the carbonized wounds.
A few seconds later.
The magnificent and formidable figure of the Red-Iron Dragon retracted his sky-blocking dragon wings and, with a slight sound of breaking wind, landed steadily on the steep, cracked edge of the deep pit.
Looking at the miserable Alberto, he flicked his tail and said:
"Sorry, the battle just now pleased me, and I accidentally went too hard."
However, what happened immediately after before Garros's eyes was completely beyond the expectations of this King of Molten Iron.
According to his understanding of Alberto's arrogant and stubborn character,
The Golden Dragon at this moment would either fall into incompetent rage due to a crushing defeat, letting out unwilling roars, or feel excited by the failure, with unyielding Battle Intent reignited in his eyes, or at worst, feel disheartened and show a sense of frustration.
But.
Garros never expected that.
In the deep pit, the weak Alberto had his cracked golden corners of his mouth twitch slightly, lift up, and finally, pull out a peaceful and comfortable smile.
Immediately after.
As if he had unloaded a heavy burden.
Alberto simply and neatly rolled his eyes upward, completely fainted, and his body went limp at the same time, almost kneeling in front of the Red-Iron Dragon with his head down.
And almost at the same time he lost consciousness.
A low, steady, loud snoring sound like rolling thunder began to clearly come out of his slightly open dragon mouth, echoing exceptionally loudly on this vast land.
Garros tilted his head, a look of confusion in his eyes.
What is the situation now?
Even the knowledgeable and steady King of Molten Iron could not help but fall into a brief, blank silence at this moment.