The war outside the main gates of Prisma raged on with unyielding fury. The orthodox alliance was pinned against the high stone walls, struggling desperately to hold the line as the dark host pressed forward. By now, the majority of the dark operatives had unsealed their Demon Transformations, trade-off parameters granting them monstrous physical strength and unnerving durability.

The defenders fought for every second, maintaining tight defensive formations to stall for time while casualties mounted rapidly on both sides. Yet, with their overwhelming numerical superiority, the dark army held a clear tactical advantage in open-field attrition.

On one wing of the field, the duel between Warlord Tora and Warrior Jiro reached its absolute climax. Both combatants had unsealed their ultimate parameters, trading high-yield strikes across the basin. Jiro had not anticipated that beyond the Five Gates, Lord Demon Shura commanded such terrifying warlords among the 10 Annihilation Demons—monstrous figures hidden in subterranean exile for two decades, waiting for the moment of global subjugation.

Every cultivator on the field fought with unyielding resolve, knowing that a single lapse in focus meant instant death. Jiro felt his internal reserves dwindling under the continuous strain, forcing him to maintain high-tier spiritual circles to feed mana into his pathways. Across from him, Tora felt a similar awe. The warlord had never imagined a mortal warrior could match his combat output blow for blow—even after he had unsealed his Demon Transformation to multiply his parameters several times over.

"I acknowledge your martial prowess, warrior!" Tora bellowed, his voice echoing through the heavy bone visor of his transformed vessel. "I have locked blades with countless grandmasters across my life, yet you are the first to force me into my absolute peak state. I am thoroughly entertained! This campaign is far from the boring slaughter I anticipated. I had assumed the righteous sects were fragile glass waiting to be shattered—I humbly admit my error!"

Tora relished the thrill of an equal match. It was a rare, sacred pleasure for a true combatant. He held genuine respect for Warrior Jiro, recognizing that orthodox cultivators faced natural limiters: they relied on traditional, arduous conditioning rather than forcibly absorbing the internal parameters of fallen foes.

The warriors of the light path earned their strength through unyielding discipline and endless perseverance. They refined their internal aura through honest, painstaking effort. Out of a thousand practitioners, only a solitary master possessed the unshakeable resolve to endure the grueling, mind-numbing repetition required to purify their soul and rouse their core. They sought no shortcuts, driven solely by the pursuit of absolute martial perfection.

"You are a true master—a warrior who forged his vessel through relentless, unyielding discipline," Tora praised, his tone carrying genuine honor. "I respect your dedication. Let us cast aside all distractions and conclude this duel as true knights!"

Coming from a supreme warlord of the 10 Annihilation Demons, the praise was a sincere tribute to a lifetime of honest cultivation.

"Very well, Tora," Warrior Jiro replied smoothly, dropping into a low, balanced stance. "I honor your desire for a fair duel. Let us bring this clash to its absolute end and savor every second!"

Jiro recognized that this was the most formidable opponent he had ever faced in his lifelong crusade against darkness. Tora stood three meters tall, wrapped in a thick, metallic bone carapace that resembled a hulking obsidian dreadnought.

"I have waited decades for a battle like this," Tora declared, his voice ringing with absolute clarity. "Meeting you on this field is a profound honor, Jiro. Should I fall here today, I shall harbor zero regrets. All my life, I have sought only one thing: a peerless adversary with whom I could trade ultimate strikes in a duel of life and death!"

Their high-speed exchange had lasted for hours. Jiro had repeatedly driven Tora into the soil with heavy kinetic strikes, only for Tora to counter with devastating chain flurries, matching Jiro's velocity and aura output blow for blow as they drew upon natural mana and dark magic respectively.

Both grandmasters were nearing absolute physical exhaustion. Earlier, when a detachment of dark operatives had attempted to intervene and flank Jiro, Tora had personally struck down his own subordinates. He refused to allow anyone—not even Lord Demon Shura—to interfere with his sacred duel. Once his warrior spirit was ignited, his honor was absolute. That was the true essence of Tora the Dark Knight.

"Then let us finish this, Tora!" Jiro roared, centering his mind.

A radiant surge of internal aura erupted from Jiro's frame as he unsealed his highest-tier spiritual circle for ambient mana absorption. His internal pathways blazed with incandescent light as his aura synchronized with the lingering celestial fragments of the Heart Dragon artifact embedded within his core.

Jiro focused his entire being into a single, final counter-attack. He knew he had only one opportunity against a warlord operating at the absolute peak of his Demon Transformation.

His parameters reached an unprecedented zenith. His internal aura field surged so violently it felt close to detonating, saturated with refined natural energy. It was the ultimate strike—a life-and-death gamble condensed into a single moment.

Uninterrupted by the chaotic war around them, the two grandmasters vaulted into the sky simultaneously, ascending to meet their fates.

Hovering in mid-air, Tora spread his arms wide. The heavy iron chains coiling around his forearms detached, reconfiguring into a pair of massive, spiked metallic wings extending from his back, each wing bearing five razor-sharp iron feathers angled skyward. At the center of his spine, the curved cleavers from his chains locked together to form a perfect ring, glowing with volatile dark magic and eerie azure flames.

Extending his palms forward, Tora condensed a high-density orb of dark magic between his hands. The compressed energy rotated violently, resembling a swirling, miniature dark galaxy. The glowing ring on his back discharged a continuous stream of dark magic into the orb, magnifying its destruction potential exponentially.

What a glorious end! Tora thought, a quiet satisfaction filling his core. He felt like a true knight at last—not a butcher crushing weaklings beneath his boots, but a warrior standing equal against a peerless opponent. For twenty years, he had slaughtered lesser men, feeling more like a monster than a knight.

His legion had always cleared the path before him, denying him true martial glory. But today, Warrior Jiro had proven a worthy equal. Tora refused to rely on his troops; he would finish this duel one-on-one, as a knight of the abyss.

Channeling the entirety of his remaining dark parameters into the galactic orb, Tora brought the technique to absolute density. This strike would carve his name into the historical archives forever as Tora, the Dark Knight of the Annihilation Demons.

Win or lose, mortal existence was merely a fleeting memory passed down to future generations. To live without leaving a legacy was as though one had never drawn breath at all.

That was Tora's unshakeable creed.

Opposite him, Jiro prepared his own absolute output. A true warrior who had spent nearly forty years mastering physical combat, operational velocity, and elemental refinement, Jiro had dedicated his life entirely to the martial path, eschewing worldly comforts and superficial pleasures. He had conditioned his body in solitude, hardening his resolve to honor the legacy of his idol: the legendary Saint Thunder Striker.

The Thunder Striker was the ideal Jiro had pursued his entire life. When he had tested Aji during the trials at Dompai—discovering that Aji, as the direct successor to the Thunder Striker, possessed parameters capable of overcoming him—Jiro had felt zero resentment. Instead, it had ignited a renewed fire in his spirit, proving he still had higher realms to reach. Since that day, he had trained with relentless intensity, refining his internal channels to support maximum output.

His natural mana absorption exceeded standard physical limits, operating in perfect harmony with the purified fragments of the Heart Dragon artifact within his vessel. Aji's prior purification of the Heart Dragon had been flawless. During the final joint training session with the Sky Squad, Jiro had derived the single greatest parameter boost among all participants.

Because his vessel had been conditioned through four decades of rigorous discipline, Jiro's internal channels could withstand parameter density far beyond his younger disciples. During the final absorption phase, Jiro had forced his body past its safety limiters, assimilating every remaining drop of unrefined Heart Dragon energy. He had stored the purified celestial energy deep within his core behind a localized spiritual seal, saving it for the ultimate crisis.

And that crisis had arrived. Facing a life-and-death clash against Tora the Dark Knight, Jiro unsealed the stored Heart Dragon parameters.

The celestial energy surged from his core, rushing into his right forearm. Jiro's right fist blazed with incandescent light, radiating a heat field as intense as the midday sun.

The dazzling glare illuminated the entire battlefield, drawing the eyes of orthodox defenders and dark operatives alike. The brilliant light forced combatants to shield their eyes, yet Tora offered only a broad, satisfied grin.

He is truly the right opponent! A true knight does not step back!

Energized, Tora prepared to unleash his galactic dark orb.

Jiro concentrated his total remaining parameters into his right fist, welding every fragment of his life force into this final strike. As Tora thrust his palms forward, launching the massive, azure-black dark orb across the sky, Warrior Jiro pulled his blazing fist back and surged forward like a falling star.

"HAAAAAAA!"

"HAAAAAAA!"

Both grandmasters unleashed their absolute, explosive output. The galactic dark orb streaked through the atmosphere toward Jiro, met head-on by Jiro's sun-like celestial strike.

The two supreme parameters collided in mid-air, casting a blinding glare across the entire province that brought the surrounding war to a temporary, stunned standstill.

Even at the center of the dark host, Lord Demon Shura leaned forward on his elevated throne, staring in genuine astonishment at the massive energetic collision. The shockwaves radiating from the epicenter were so dense they pricked Shura's own skin, sending an instinctual chill through the Demon Lord's core.

BLAAAAAM!

An absolute, blinding light consumed the heavens, swallowing the battlefield in a silent, incandescent glare.