Mercy’s bloodline armor returned, covering her whole body, and she finally unleashed her Dark Tide Incantation to its fullest.

Though even Mercy herself tended to forget, every one of the techniques in the Book of Eternal Night was one that Malice considered powerful enough for a future Monarch. This technique was the foundation of an entire Path in the Trackless Sea.

It could be used as an ordinary full-body Enforcement, but only with training and mastery could it reveal its true power.

Mercy caught Sophara’s blow in one gauntleted hand.

The strike still forced her down, the impact cracking the ground beneath her feet, but Mercy’s armor protected her. For the moment, Mercy could stand up to Sophara’s full strength.

Mercy didn’t have time to see the shock on her face, but she felt it in the hesitation of the other woman’s spirit.

The Akura bloodline armor was notoriously difficult to control. When summoned over the entire body, it made the user clumsy and slow.

On the other hand, Mercy’s Puppeteer’s Iron body gave her perfect control over her movements. And the Dark Tide Incantation flowed with the flexibility of water and shadow.

Mercy punched Sophara in the gut, launching her backwards, but snagged her with a quick String of Shadow before her body could fly too far. Mercy whirled Suu into a staff strike.

The Imperial Aegis returned, blocking one of the attacks, and Sophara used her tail to brace herself on the ground, launching another dragon’s breath.

The other end of Mercy’s staff punched through it, catching Sophara in the face. The rest of the Flowing Flame madra washed over her armor.

Sophara’s body flew backwards, crashing into the far end of the river, but Mercy was already there to slam her back up to the ceiling. As soon as she hit, the dragon was dragged back down by Strings of Shadow.

Sophara broke every technique she could, but Mercy was always using the next, filling her with arrows of shadow.

When she finally landed an arrow loaded with the Nightworm Venom, that was the end of the battle. Sophara’s spirit eroded, her madra losing cohesion, each Striker technique fainter than the one before.

Mercy’s armor faded when she ran out of madra to support it, and she was heaving for breath, but she had enough power left for a Shadow’s Edge.

She swiped her fingers down, Sophara’s flying golden shield blocked it, and as Sophara tried to use another technique, Mercy put an arrow into her eye.

Five more followed.

Only when Sophara’s eye socket looked like a vase stuffed with flowers did she dissolve into white light.

“Victory to Akura Mercy!” the Ninecloud Soul announced.

Mercy heard no cheers, so she gave one of her own.

Sophara returned to her waiting room panting like a dog.

What was that?

How had a human met her fist-to-fist? Mercy had never shown anything like that! Not even in the rumors! Physical strength was her weakness!

In the second round, Sophara had single-handedly outclassed everyone on the Akura and Blackflame teams together. Even if Mercy had learned to unlock more of her Path of Seven Pages, she couldn’t have improved her body so much in such a short time.

Unless she had been holding back, even then.

Sophara opened her void key, and the armored serpentine Remnant tilted its head in confusion as she reached in.

This time, she didn’t want her sister’s comfort. She wanted the natural treasures.

At her beckoning and a quick use of wind aura, she summoned them all. Stones that burned with eternal flame and those that wept spring water, goblets filled with rain clouds, torches that blazed green. And those she didn’t use for her usual advancement: feathers that carried a deadly white mist, bells that rang with haunting tunes.

She shoved Ekeri’s Remnant back in, hauling all her treasures out and then shutting the door.

The longer she remained at the Underlord stage, the more stable her spirit would be. And the greater her chance of becoming an Archlady before her permanent spiritual injuries slowed her down too much.

If she lost.

But she didn’t intend to lose.

She spread the artifacts out in a circle and calmed herself, focusing on the pool of soulfire within her. Humans had to discover truths about themselves in order to trigger their advancement, but sacred beasts were different. They had to choose to change their forms.

Sometimes, these advancements could take weeks, but Sophara had been certain of her primary form since she was a child. Most of the gold dragons spent as little time in their serpent bodies as possible.

Say what you would about humans, but their bodies were elegant.

She connected herself to the unity of aura, focusing on her new form. A dragon’s transformation was often slower than a human’s advancement, but she still had the Gate of Heaven elixir inside her.

The soulfire from the burning treasures passed through her quickly and easily, transforming her from the inside out.

It was painful, in her state of imbalance. Unbelievably so.

But rage and fear carried her through.

Her madra channels had been strengthened by the Symbiote Veins, which drained her of vitality even as they allowed her to use more powerful techniques quickly. Now, those channels were fortified, but so were her Symbiote Veins.

Her core grew denser, thicker, wider. Her claws shrunk until they were little more than sharp fingernails. Her remaining patches of scales faded into smooth skin, and she finally had glistening golden hair instead of strands of scales.

When she finished advancing, she reached back into her void key to pull out a stand mirror. Ekeri’s Remnant watched as she examined herself, twisting in the mirror.

She was smooth. Beautiful. Perfect.

And even more powerful.

The spirit of an Overlady radiated out in her waiting room. This time, she would juggle Akura Mercy. Not only was she stronger in every way, but now she had a better idea of her opponent’s capabilities.

Her mental power elixir, the drop of white liquid hovering at the base of her skull, was refreshed and ready to use. It hadn’t done her much good in the first fight, but she had fallen into Mercy’s trap.

Her Madra Engine churned, processing blood and life essence into madra. She could keep fighting almost forever. And the Crystal Nexus floated over her core, strengthening her madra at the cost of extra strain on her channels.

She was ready now. She knew what to do.

So when she went out to face Mercy, she didn’t start by cycling her Enforcer technique. She started one of her two Ruler techniques.

Mercy didn’t seem intimidated, though Sophara didn’t veil herself. She wanted everyone to know that she had advanced, but Mercy merely nocked an arrow.

Water aura drifted toward Sophara as soon as Northstrider announced the beginning of the duel.

Mercy fired a volley of arrows, but this time Sophara burned her mental elixir immediately. The pale droplet in her spirit vanished, and Sophara slipped between the attacks, using Quickriver in the form of a saber to knock the arrows aside.

Her sword would be a blur to the onlookers, as would the arrows, but to Sophara everything floated along. It was child’s play to continue gathering water aura into a globe over her head, reinforcing it with Forged madra.

As the two forces combined, a sphere the size of Sophara’s torso began to shine blue. Azure Moon Reigns was one of the most complicated techniques in her arsenal, combining a Forger and Ruler technique. It looked like a softly shining azure cloud inside a clear bubble, but just by existing it turned water aura against Mercy.