“Hmph! How do you like KISSING THE FLOOR, you damn snake?!” Raphael’s arrogance had returned in BOLD CAPS! Shao Jin would be damn proud.
Now fueled by the 'Devil Star Fruit's' potent energy, Raphael exuded a laugh that shook the Heavenly Imperial Palace and made the Shadow Bats above buzzed with terrified admiration for their leader's strength.
This was indeed a Golden Bull Thork in his prime!
“This strength… How…?” Lu Ignis’s monstrous head was pressed against those jade floors as a chilling realization slammed into his mind.
“The Devil Star Fruit! It… has amplified this bull’s strength by untold levels!” He recalled the potency of that crimson fruit he’d stolen centuries ago from a dragon’s lair.
"This is Impossible! Even with this creature’s monstrous stamina and resilience. His energies shouldn’t be this potent, at least not with him being under ten million years old!"
Then as those golden glows grew even brighter, he remembered another horrifying fact. "This bull has ascended to the Emperor Calamity 1st Layer! It appears the Devil Star Fruit IS more potent than I initially believed.”
Lu Ignis's contemplation was interrupted by another sound: A bellow of dominance, a declaration of might that promised a swift and brutal end to their confrontation.
“Hmph! Trying to make a comeback? I won’t let you!”
Raphael slammed a second hoof onto Lu Ignis’s head, then a third.
“GOLD PRESS! GOLD PRESS! GOLD PRESS!”
He grinned, relishing in this turn of events, as three enormous, golden, spectral hooves, pulsing with those energies of a hundred thousand souls, descended and trapped Lu Ignis’s head to the floor.
"HAAA!"
Raphael channeled his essence into his horns, those familiar tingles of pure destruction that tasted of pure gold and lightning crackled. It wasn't mere fire now, this was… a furnace.
"HELIOS SPHERE!"
“Ughhh… YOU! You arrogant BULL!”
The pressure was immense. Lu Ignis struggled desperately to free himself as a terrifying orange glow began to radiate from beneath those trapped scales. His beard was sizzling now as those aromas of sulfur mixed with charred beard permeated the palace with its fowl stench.
"For this humiliation… I’ll pulverize your SOUL!”
Despite his head being pinned to the ground, Lu Ignis was an ancient being. Those powers that had caused so much death and destruction were his to command and use with such terrible elegance. Thus, he wasn’t done.
“HISSSS!”
Without warning, Lu Ignis’s tail whipped forth from behind like a giant, bronze steel beam, aiming to crush Raphael into oblivion.
"It’s coming!” Raphael instinctively sensed that strike coming.
WHOOSH!
He leaped into the air with a swiftness that defied his bulk, and thanks to the 'Devil Star Fruit’s potency, he narrowly avoiding the attack. Then countered.
"CONDENSED BLOOD SWORD!"
From his released blood, a crimson blade appeared in a blinding flash. It was twice as long as its predecessor, wider and had even more power resonating within. This blade danced with the memory of spilled blood. And then…
“Blood Hands!”
His blood glowed with a brilliant scarlet before shooting out and solidified into two massive hands of pure coagulated blood. These ‘Blood Hands’ acted as his new limbs. They grabbed the Blood Sword's handle, and then swung downward with terrifying might.
WHAM!
Raphael’s attack, amplified by those combined energies of bull, human and forbidden fruit, was truly scary.
His blade cut through the tip of Lu Ignis’s mighty tail effortlessly, and the air exploded with the sound of breaking bone, shredded flesh and spurting blood that was as thick as tar and radiated immense heat as it splattered the palace walls.
"ARGHHHH! MY TAIL!" The roars that came were not just about pain, for that would heal. There was also a deep-seated humiliation, that rage, for never had those who crawled before him, had the audacity to even try such a feat, much less succeed.
This wasn’t about justice or power anymore, for pride had been wounded, his pride, and none challenged that and survived for long, but for how long could this bastard last?
“YOU… stinking bull…! You’re DEAD MEAT!”
Lu Ignis’s massive serpentine body that was slowly pulling itself away from that cursed floor, came gushing lava. The ground around him hissed as it liquefied, revealing a truly horrifying reality.
His power had reached its boiling point.
"LUMINOUS HELLBLAZE!"
The molten essence from those wounds, from those very lifeblood now bubbling wildly, morphed into a dozen serpents!
They dripped fire and burned with the intensity of a thousand suns, and they came rushing towards their Emperor’s target while leaving a trail of scorched earth in their wake
Seeing this attack take shape, Raphael snorted.
"Hmph! Pathetic molten snakes!"
“GOLD CARNAGE!"
Massive, solid gold bull statues began to materialize from the melted gold beneath Raphael’s hooves.
Each bull, impossibly large and monstrous, pawed the ground restlessly and glared with bloodshot eyes. They emanated ancient power against those who dared to question their dominance.
“KILL!”
“KILL!”
“KILL!”
"RAAARGH!"
“HISSSSSS!”
The bulls charged those molten serpentine entities in a clash of titans that shook the very heavens!
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Flames billowed out!
Chunks of gold flew through the air!
It was a chaotic symphony of roars, hisses, shattering horns, and the terrible beauty of annihilation.
A battle between fire and gold, and yet, above this carnage, while those beasts clashed below, Lu Ignis was recovering.
He’d successfully freed himself from the ‘Gold Press’ and was slithering upwards his golden trident once again with those bleeding wounds regenerating with remarkable speed.
Upon reaching his favorite perch he glanced down at Raphael then at his severed tail.
“Hm! That accursed Devil Star Fruit. If I hadn’t wasted my essence restraining that earlier attack, that bull would be food for those lesser snakes now.
Being pinned by a bull and having a chunk of his mighty tail severed. It wouldn't be forgotten. He, Lu Ignis Emperor Calamity would not simply execute this bull. He’d make an example.
“Hmph! For this transgression… I will obliterate every speck of you! YOU HEAR ME?!”
Those burning words were meant for one creature, and one alone. He didn’t care about Qi Hawk’s involvement, nor that pathetic Jade Serpent. But that bull, it had pushed him to the brink.
Lu Ignis began channeling his ancient power, drawing those chaotic energies into his very core. The air around him fractured as he glared menacingly towards that bull.
RUMBLE! BOOM!
The palace trembled violently. Cracks spider-webbed across the walls. Shockwave of unimaginable power rippled outward from his very being; it extended beyond the Heavenly Imperial Palace, throughout Hebikuni, and into the very foundations of Ho Eastern territory.
“Oh, Father… Why are those mountains rumbling?”
“The heavens… they’re shaking! What could it be?”
Across those lands where serpents reigned, those beneath his reign trembled before this mighty force that promised oblivion to those who dare disobey. This was the wrath of a ruler, a Calamity’s true essence, and it was magnificent.
Back inside the palace, Raphael sensed those tremors building and shivered uncontrollably.
“That bastard… just what is he planning now?” He nervously tapped those massive golden hooves against the broken floors as smoke rose from those wounds those molten snakes had inflicted earlier.
Even his most resilient hide could only withstand so much. Those flames of his that devoured and crushed everything.
“Whatever it is. I WON’T LET HIM FINISH IT!” Raphael then launched himself towards those trembling skies as a golden glow surrounded him and that familiar warmth in those horns began buzzing.
His escape was already sealed, that much he understood, but surrender, those words didn’t exist in Shao Jin's vocabulary. Hence neither would it exist in his.
"HELIOS STREAM!"
He unleashed those blinding energies directly at Lu Ignis who stared straight at those destructive incoming energies.
But Lu Ignis didn't even bother to flinch. His long beard swayed gracefully to a melody of despair.
“Bull. You may have ascended to Emperor Calamity Stage, but you’re five million years too young to challenge ME! Let me show you the difference.”
He paused dramatically, then with a cold, calculating smirk those jaws opened and the ancient whisper of annihilation was spoken with the fury of a thousand thunderstorms.
“SCORCHING VEIL DOMAIN!”
BOOOM!
A blinding flash of crimson energy engulfed those golden beams as a massive explosion rocked the Heavenly Imperial Palace. Those doors shattered! The very foundation cracked and crumbled as those elders outside were blown backward with cries of agony and disbelief at the waves that slammed into them.
“Such… potency…"
Their scaly bodies ached, bruised and bleeding!
Even from such a distance, that heat was too intense for them to withstand, and that aroma of scorched meat, it was unmistakable, truly terrible!
But they couldn't simply run away, not when their Emperor was locked in such a deadly confrontation with a being they now truly feared. So after regaining their composure, they rushed back into the throne room with frantic whispers.
"HIS MAJESTY! That attack… What if…”
“The Bull… is he alive? Did… he survive?"
But they found that chamber deserted, all that remained of that chaos were flickering flames, shattered jade, and those molten serpent that were slowly cooling on the ground. There wasn’t a single trace of those monstrous contenders that had occupied those very spaces mere moments ago.
But something else was missing that had those elders truly baffled.
“The trident?”
Lu Mongue slithered closer to that platform that used to hold his master with devotion and awe and noticed the trident had vanished. The only clue as to its absence was those dust trails and those shattered sections beneath that pedestal where the tip had touched earlier. It was gone.
"I…I ssssee… I understand now." He looked towards his old friend and spoke, “His Majesty has transported that beast! To his Domain!” A chilling silence followed this revelation.
"What do you mean, he transported that beast?! Surely, he doesn’t intend to…"
"Yesss, old friend,” Lu Mongue explained. “Lu Ignis has decided that a swift death isn't punishment enough for thisss transgression! They are now within the Emperor’sss 'Scorching Veil Domain'. An ancient and horrifying realm where he isss the sole ruler, where those he judgessss receive hisssss wrath without limitssss!"
“Hmmm. I understand. If his FULL MIGHT were activated here, within this realm… Not only would Hebikuni crumble to dust, but all who exist upon its bosom will also perish! This land would be barren for thousands of years.”
“Hisss Majesty does have a caring heart after all, doesn't he?” Lu Mongue then let out a relieved sigh that Lu Noid was eager to share. Their Emperor’s noble intentions had made them smile.
This fight was theirs to win now. After all, Lu Ignis wouldn’t fail. He was the Bronze Serpent Emperor. They chuckled in their newfound confidence, for all would tremble before their mighty leader, eventually!
…
Meanwhile…
"WHOA! Where am I?!"
Raphael gazed frantically at his new surroundings in confusion. Those amplified senses he’d tasted before now had a sickening sensation. He felt as if every single cell within his monstrous form was screaming,
RUN!
But could one even run, much less exist in this hellhole? He’d never encounter this place. It felt strangely familiar, a haunting melody playing those whispers of death.
Before him stood a massive stone platform, crafted entirely from black volcanic rock, encircled by a deep, steaming chasm. Jagged black pillars, reaching towards a starless sky like skeletal claws adorned with ancient, crimson inscriptions, dotted this realm, leaving a dreadful image of ancient power.
This wasn’t beauty. This was brutality!
And at the center of this desolate landscape, a colossal pyre blazed! It was an 'Eternal Pyre', fueled by those spirits of unfortunate souls who'd perished within this domain.
Those cries of agony and despair, so vibrant, so real. They whispered a story he couldn’t ignore.
Black ash fell from the crimson sky like snowflakes. It felt like the very air was choking him.
“Such a dreadful place. Where the hell am I?!" He glanced back, searching for that entity that brought him to this realm, but there was nothing.
However, seconds later, he saw it. The silhouette of Lu Ignis rose with such majestic presence from that fiery depths.
"That…"
He couldn't utter a single coherent sentence now, not when those whispers from his Shadow Bats came echoing, “DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! It’s Death!”
Lu Ignis’s form was majestic, terrifying! It coiled around the golden trident in a menacing embrace. His eyes burned with an infernal rage.
This was a power beyond those he’d tasted earlier. But what had Raphael truly speechless wasn’t those flames, nor the heat.
No… It was those glowing runes across the trident.
The air crackled.
“Bull…”
Lu Ignis hissed. He pointed the trident’s tip towards Raphael and spoke in a voice that could shatter those bones and crush any hope of escape.
“TRIDENT OF ANNIHILATION - SCORCHING JUDGMENT!”
Raphael couldn't breathe. The fear was real. It froze every single fiber of his stolen body.
And in that moment of despair, Lu Ignis’s serpentine form recoiled with enough force to shatter mountains in two. It was like a spring unleashing those tension of millennia to propel the very symbol of his dominion towards his enemy with a deafening snap.
The trident flew with a speed no eyes could even comprehend!
"HE'S GOING TO KILL US!"
Raphael’s vision blurred then a whisper came roaring,
"GOLDEN BUDDHIST DONKEY!”
It felt strangely familiar yet different. An ancient force that dwarfed even those potent energies Raphael had unleashed before. A memory, ancient, primal! It emanated from his very core.
Shao Jin’s ancient legacy had awaken!
From within Raphael's trembling, bleeding form, a blinding golden light erupted and solidified with unimaginable speed!
“HAAAA!”
Pushing away those surrounding crimson fire, an entity of unimaginable, and ridiculous splendor was revealed, stretching towards those dark pillars, bathing that entire domain in a light that could shame the very sun itself, but in a beautiful golden tone!
A majestic, golden Buddha of terrifying size and power now occupied that realm! It sprouted multiple arms, each hand bore that iconic finger sign; its face serene, a contradiction to those fiery orbs that seemed to burn everything it gazed upon with judgement and anger.
This spectacle wasn’t even the truly impressive part.
Upon the mighty Buddha’s broad shoulders, sat…
A Golden Bull!
The bull looked bored. It rested its chin on a hoof as it flicked its tail, its demeanor contradicting those monstrous, arms surrounding him and the sheer arrogance of sitting atop something as potent as this golden being.
Moreover, it wasn't just riding it, It was directing the Golden Buddha, Its movements, its power, they belonged to Shao Jin!
“GOLDEN BUDDHIST DONKEY! Obliterate that PUNY trident!”
BOOM!
The Trident of Annihilation clashed against the Golden Buddhist Donkey’s wrath.
Who would win?