Chapter 37: Arctic Emperor Reigns Part 3

"Get those containment control gates down. They are eight inches thick of pure hard steel. It should delay them for a few hours, even if they have bombs!" Agemo cried. "I want the facility on lockdown. Good thing we already deleted all the data and escorted all the children out of here. Grab whatever's left and head to our secret facility. Continue Project O there. Head Guard Hiroki-san, you know what to do."

"It was an honor to serve you and witness your ambition, Agemo-dono," Hiroki said, the rest of the guards nodding as they headed to their stations.

"Tanaka-san, please prepare Firestorm. I will remain here to delay them and keep them unaware," Agemo said, nodding at the remaining scientist.

"You'll die, Agemo-dono! We need you. Without you, Project O would not even have been approved or seen its first success. You are the first true success. We need you to continue the project," Tanaka protested.

"No. You only need my DNA and my research. There is a large safe about six feet in diameter. Inside are several containment units with my blood. There should be enough to replicate it and use it to analyze and improve the project. If they see me here, they'll believe I am hiding a crucial component of the project. My sensei and the world do not approve. No, they cannot believe that it is necessary. You and the others must continue the project. Those children are the future. I might be called a devil, but I won't let those kids die a meaningless death. They are not science experiments! They are my ideal. Science has always been made for the betterment of mankind. Some experiments are considered the work of a devil, but sometimes they are necessary acts of darkness to prolong the light. Go. I cannot see you off."

"Agemo-dono, forgive me," Tanaka said as he bent on both knees, bowed his head to the ground, and left.

Lu Shu cried as he returned to reality, falling to his knees in grief. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he thought. He died in a pretty cool way—staying behind and using himself as a distraction to buy others some more time. That was honorable. He wiped his eyes and stared at Yoshi, confused as to why the boy felt terror.

"Lu Shu, my son, are you alright?" Lu Yi asked.

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"I'm fine, Father. I was just reminiscing an old memory. I will defeat my opponent now. I won't fail you," Lu Shu said, his spirit force dissipating as he let his spirit energy flow through his body.

He stretched his wings as he tried to stabilize the immense spirit energy he had released earlier. However, the audience couldn't, no, didn't believe he was so strong. The next thing they saw him do terrified them even more. Ice began to form at the back of his waist, and three trails of segmented triangles shaped into long, plated tails. The tails seemed to have a life of their own as they swayed and lengthened. Even though the tails did not look like a scorpion's, a white-green liquid dripped from them, packed with highly concentrated amounts of the planet's life force. Such energy entering someone would instantly shatter their veins and arteries if they were not accustomed to it.

"You're not the only true Archon. I practice the Titan Creator true Archon body technique. I have made a pact with the planet and use its very life force in my cultivation. Not the spirit energy around you like most other Practitioners. Prepare yourself. I won't hold back against someone who dares to look upon me from a higher stage and wait, like a coward, for me to reveal my power first," Lu Shu said coldly, appearing tyrannical before Yoshi.

"True Archon?" one of the sub-branches gasped. "The main branch has someone like that?"

"This can't be," Lu Ce gasped as he fell to his knees. "This is his true power? He can control his elements with ease and even use them to such an extent as to form extra limbs. I truly lost against my brother. Why have the heavens always favored him and his family? Why?"

"Yoshi! Be careful!" Yoshida cried as he feared for him.

"These wings use a lot of vermillion energy; I should use them for a powerful attack to start and dispel them afterward," Shu thought as he rose into the air.

"Barriers!" Lu Rong cried as she suspected that the fight would soon commence.

Invisible barriers shimmered with a white light as they formed while Shu curled up, covering his body with his wings. Each feather seemed to shimmer with vermillion energy as he became like a sun, blinding the crowd and causing many to involuntarily cringe from the concentration of power. Shu yelled as he unfurled his wings into a full stretch, sending each feather at Yoshi like a field of arrows. As they rained down, the living water spirit technique retracted back into his body, recovering his spent spirit energy.

Yoshi cried out and desperately focused light spirit energy into his hands as he made several hand signs. Holding a magical item from his storage bag, he quickly created a formation barrier above him consisting of five layers. The first three layers broke as if they didn’t exist, and only a few of the arrows penetrated the fifth barrier. Yoshi screamed as some of them cut him while he desperately tried to block them with his katana.

Two of the scorpion tails stabbed into the ground, slowing Shu's fall to a stop and allowing him to land on his feet with ease. Shu laughed and ran forward. The area in front of Yoshi began to blur as Yoshi felt he was fighting four different swordsmen at once. Each of the tails moved in an unpredictable pattern while Shu's blade was too strong for Yoshi to block, pushing him back.

"Did the prince take pills to increase his spirit force? He has way too much spirit energy for someone at the fourth stage!" Yoshida cried.

"Silence. You dare accuse my son of something he didn't do?" Lu Yi roared while he inwardly smiled at his son's power. He really had to send gifts of high quality to General Meng Ce but didn’t know how to thank the Overseer.

"Magical beasts, to me!" Yoshi cried, and three large, black dragons appeared in the plaza, flying over the barrier and landing next to him. "Breathe your flames at Lu Shu!"

"That bastard!" Lu Xing roared, slamming his fist into the table as Bahamut flew into the air and enlarged to its full size.

Bahamut roared its own flames, blocking the fire from the other three dragons and shocking everyone in the crowd. Lu Shu smirked as he covered Bahamut with two of his scorpion tails, fully protecting its body with a thinner armor of ice around its wings. The last tail formed a large ball of ice that burst at Yoshi. The three other dragons hastily breathed flames at the thick ball of ice, but Yoshi still had to dodge it as they only reduced its size by half.

"You want to play with help? Fine, allow me to do the same. Bahamut, take care of those lizards. They are no match for an Emerald Steel Dragon," Shu smirked.

"Not if I—Argh!" Yoshi screamed as his storage bag was snatched away by Wraith. "What is that thing?"

"This? It's my puppet. Why? Expected a Practitioner to use a golem? Puppets are just tools, like that magical artifact you used to attempt to block my feathers," Shu said as he retrieved Yoshi's storage bag from Wraith. "Ah, good work. Didn’t expect you to do that."

"He dared to fight dirty in a one-on-one duel, master. I returned the favor," Wraith bowed before disappearing into his shadow.

"Now, what are you going to do now? No more sudden formations with magical items, and your dragons are otherwise preoccupied," Shu sighed as he tossed and caught the storage bag repeatedly.

Bahamut roared as it overpowered the other dragons. Emerald Steel Dragons were slow but had highly resilient scales and immense strength. It quickly bit one of the tails off one dragon, turned its body to use its wings as a blade, and cut another dragon with a deep slash in the chest. The third dragon quailed as Bahamut rammed into it and smashed a claw on its neck, moving to bite its head off.

"Easy there, Bahamut. I know you're eager to test your power since we left, but I can't have you kill those three. They aren't wearing collars, so they must be bound to this guy," Shu said, causing both Yoshida and Yoshi to sigh with relief.

"Now it's just you and me. Don't hold back and use only your skills with spirit energy and the blade. Let us fight like samurai," Lu Shu said as he motioned to a royal guard who gave the spirit bags to their respective fathers.

All four dragons left the plaza as the crowd watched the two boys circle each other. Yoshi had light green energy emanating from his body, using his wood spirit energy to heal his wounds. Lu Shu narrowed his eyes as wood spirit energy was known for its great healing abilities that nearly rivaled those of light mages. Earth spirit energy also formed on Yoshi's body, becoming armor as hard as diamond. Yoshi knew he could not hold back against the prince, who was at the fourth stage. He was already humiliated at being on even terms with Lu Shu and could no longer afford to lose the match.

"Remember not to kill each other," Lu Yi warned as he knew they were waiting for each other to make the first move.

"I won't lose!" Yoshi yelled

as Lu Yi clapped his hands once.

The recent memory flashed in his mind as Shu readied Arctic Emperor and said, "Then prove it and defeat my Arctic Emperor with your blade."