Chapter 155: AEGIS OF THE ETERNAL FIRMAMENT

Chapter 156: AEGIS OF THE ETERNAL FIRMAMENT

Above them, the blue dome shrieked.

BOOOOOOM!

A sphere twice the size of the others smashed into the center of the arc. A clean, visible fracture ripped across the blue runes, spreading five meters in each direction.

Illamar’s knees buckled slightly in midair. "Damn it..."

Estelle watched from below. "His core can’t cycle the volume. The wall is going to give."

"Then we reinforce the shield while we figure out a permanent solution," Roan said, preparing to take flight.

"I’m coming with you, Dad," Asher said.

Roan looked at him. "You just broke through."

"I can manage," Asher said quietly.

Roan looked into his son’s eyes, saw the unwavering focus, and nodded. "Alright."

Asher circulated his newly formed Core Formation Qi. Reaching Level 6 allowed a cultivator to fly independently, though it consumed significant energy for a novice.

His boots slowly lifted off the fractured ground. A second later, he shot into the air, trailing a tail of brilliant golden Qi as he caught up with his father.

They flew up beside Illamar San, forming a wide triangle formation beneath the blue dome.

"Dad," Asher said as the wind whipped his black hair. "If we want to reinforce this shield properly, we need to use the Divine Art from the family sanctuary."

Roan’s expression tightened.

After the apocalypse began, a cultivation sanctuary called the Myriad Golden Tower had appeared within their family estate. They hadn’t fully explored its depths yet, but Asher had discovered a powerful defensive technique recorded on its lower tablets. However, the technique required immense spiritual pressure to activate.

"You are only at the early stage of Core Formation, Asher," Roan warned. "The strain could damage your meridians."

"Don’t worry, Dad," Asher replied, adjusting his grip on his sword. "I can handle it."

Roan took a brief second, then gave a firm nod. "Do it."

They pulled up alongside Illamar, forming a wide triangle beneath the shaking dome.

"Patriarch Roan. Young Master," Illamar grunted through clenched teeth.

"Hold the conversion channels," Roan commanded. "We are bracing the frame."

Roan raised his right arm. The Aegis of the Unbroken rose toward the center of the dome, its unadorned black sheath glowing with deep, ancient gold.

Ancient script appeared along the metal, radiating an immovable weight.

Beside him, Asher raised Myriad Forge toward the sky.

Golden Qi erupted from his chest, surging into the weapon.

SHIIIIING!

Thousands of needle-sharp golden sword silhouettes manifested behind Asher’s back, trembling with pure, unyielding intent.

BOOOOOOM!

Roan’s ancient defensive presence and Asher’s dense sword canopy collided—not in opposition, but locking together like teeth in a massive gear.

The Aegis of the Unbroken provided the immovable foundation. Myriad Forge wove the structure around it, spreading countless golden interlocking lines across the ceiling and anchoring them to the outer surface of Illamar’s blue domain.

The Blackwood family’s inherited Divine Art began to take shape.

It wasn’t Illamar’s power, nor did it replace his barrier. The Blackwood technique would reinforce the structure while Saint’s Sanctuary continued absorbing and processing the incoming energy.

[TRIUNE DIVINE ART: AEGIS OF THE ETERNAL FIRMAMENT!]

The dome stopped vibrating.

Golden-white armor plated the underside of the blue glass, turning the barrier from a flexible skin into an iron vault.

"Hold it, Asher!" Roan shouted over the roar of the wind.

"I have it!" Asher gasped, sweat stinging his eyes as the weight of thousands of projections pulled against his core like iron anchors.

Then a familiar, grinning shout rose from the earth below.

"You two really thought you were building a roof without me?!"

Adrian launched himself into the air, riding a platform of hovering iron plates.

Behind him, hundreds of weapons rose from his personal storage rings—broadswords, heavy spears, halberds, notched axes, and serrated iron spikes.

He didn’t make light shapes out of Qi. He worked with physical, cold-forged steel.

"Armament Master Art!" Adrian roared, slamming his palms together.

The weapons shot forward, embedding themselves at critical junctions across the golden leyline lattice, acting as physical reinforcement pins to distribute the pressure across the entire frame.

"TEN THOUSAND WEAPON BASTION!"

KRRRZZZZT!

The entire sky locked into place.

Where Asher’s ethereal sword lines threatened to fray under the falling fire, Adrian’s real iron took the kinetic bite. The strain on Asher’s core dropped by half in an instant.

"Adrian!" Asher yelled.

"You should concentrate, brother!" Adrian shouted back, veins bulging on his forearms as he manipulated the metal web. "I’ve got the corners!"

Roan’s lips twitched upward into the ghost of a smile.

"These lads."

He looked at Illamar. "Can you hold the drain?"

"With this frame?" Illamar wiped blood from his lip, his blue eyes blazing. "I can hold it until the clouds run dry!"

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sky exploded in fire.

The third wave of crimson spheres slammed down simultaneously.

The world went red, then blinding gold. Thousands of sword projections shrieked. Iron halberds buckled and snapped under the heat. The blue membrane stretched until it was transparent.

Yet the line did not yield.

The Blackwood formation distributed the worst of the impact across its interlocking structure, preventing the bombardment from punching directly through the barrier. But the energy was still too much.

Illamar absorbed what he could. Saint’s Sanctuary converted a portion of the captured force into usable Qi, releasing the purified energy as glowing blue rain that blanketed the survivors below.

The rest of the destructive force continued to hammer the formation. Illamar’s face twisted as a fresh line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Damn... it!"

His core was approaching its limit.

Asher’s hands shook on his hilt. Adrian’s knuckles bled against the wind. Illamar’s boots trembled. Roan stood between them like an ancient tree carved from iron, eyes fixed on the burning clouds.

"Stand firm!" Roan’s voice boomed across the vault of heaven, drowning out the thunder. "Nobody breaks! Not today!"

Below the golden roof, exhausted soldiers and cultivators looked up in disbelief. They had seen the shield crack.

They had watched weapons shatter beneath the bombardment. They could see the four men fighting to keep the sky from crushing them all.

And for the first time since the crimson spheres began falling, they understood something.

The barrier wasn’t invincible. The men holding it were simply refusing to let it fall.

Yet as the third wave continued, another fracture appeared across the golden-white armor.

Then another. Illamar’s Saint’s Sanctuary flickered.

Roan’s expression hardened. "Asher! Adrian! Prepare for the next impact!"​