Chapter 207: The Desert Strikes

Chapter 207: Chapter 207: The Desert Strikes

Ramses kicked his desk aside. CRASH!

The massive mahogany desk splintered against the far wall, scattering papers and golden pens across the marble floor. He stepped forward slowly. From his storage ring, he drew a curved golden sword — an A-Rank weapon.

His sand manipulation activated. Fshhhhhh. The entire penthouse filled with swirling sand. It rose from the floor, from the cracks in the walls, from the rubble and debris. Within seconds, the air was thick with cutting grains that stung exposed skin and obscured vision.

Ramses attacked first.

He was a Late Grand Core Realm cultivator with decades of combat experience. His A-Rank Sand Manipulation was versatile, deadly, and overwhelming in quantity. He launched a barrage simultaneously — sand blades from the left, sand spears from the right, compressed sand bullets from above leaving no gap for Lucian. FWISH. FWISH. FWISH. Pew. Pew. Pew.

Lucian countered. Blood Spears formed at his fingertips. Pew. Pew. Pew. They met the sand spears mid-air. CRACK. CRACK. CRASH. Light Blades materialized in arcs around him, deflecting the sand bullets. Clang. Clang. But the sand blades came from three angles. One grazed his shoulder. Slash. Another cut across his thigh. Slash. Blood sprayed.

Lucian fired a Light Bolt at Ramses. Pew! A sand wall materialized instantly, absorbing the bolt. Thud. The wall crumbled back into swirling sand.

Ramses pressed. Sand surged from beneath Lucian’s feet — a geyser of compressed grains that launched him upward. FWOOSH. Lucian twisted mid-air. Blood Chains erupted downward, latching onto Ramses’s arms. Clink. Ramses’s sand armor absorbed the chains, sand flowing over them like water. Fshhhh. The chains lost grip and fell away.

Lucian landed. Tap. His boots cracked the marble. He swung the greatsword. SWISH. A wave of sand met the blade. CRASH. The sand parted but immediately closed behind the cut. Ramses laughed.

The clash destroyed what remained of the penthouse. Walls collapsed. CRASH. Rumble. The floor cracked beneath them. Crack. Crack. Support columns crumbled. The ceiling groaned. Creaaaaak.

Lucian raised his hand. Light mana gathered. The air hummed with energy.

"Light Judgement."

FWOOOOOM!

A sustained beam of pure light erupted from his palm. It screamed across the penthouse, tearing through sand walls, tearing through marble, tearing through everything in its path. Ramses’s sand armor took the hit. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. The outer layer of sand vitrified — turned to glass under the intense heat — and shattered. Shatter. The beam struck Ramses’s chest. BOOM!

Ramses was launched. His body tore through the penthouse’s remaining wall, through the exterior glass facade, and out into the open night sky. CRASH! SHATTER! He plummeted twenty stories.

CRASH!

He landed on a moving vehicle in the street below. The car crumpled under the impact. The fuel tank ignited. BOOOOM! The explosion consumed the vehicle and its driver instantly. Fire erupted across the street. Crackle. Fwooooosh. Burning debris scattered across the asphalt.

People screamed. Aaaah! Civilians scattered in every direction, trampling each other in panic. Thud. Thud. Someone shouted — "Terrorist attack! It’s another terrorist attack!" The fear was palpable. After the attacks on New Geneva, the European All-Star Academy, and Athens, people were always in a state of heightened paranoia. Any explosion, any attack, any anomaly was immediately assumed to be the beginning of another catastrophe. Sirens wailed in the distance. Wail. Wail.

Ramses stood up from the wreckage. His sand armor was cracked all over — fissures running across his chest, shoulders, and arms. Blood seeped from a wound on his forehead. But his eyes were calm. He brushed burning debris from his shoulder without flinching.

Lucian descended. Flick. Flick. Light Steps carried him down the building’s facade. He landed on the street thirty meters from Ramses. Tap. The asphalt cracked beneath his feet.

Ramses raised both hands. Sand exploded from his storage ring — tons of it — pouring onto the street like a river. The sand swirled around his body, rising and compressing. Fshhhhhh. Rumble. A massive humanoid construct materialized around him — a sand avatar, fifteen meters tall. Its fists were the size of trucks. Its eyes burned with Ramses’s golden mana.

Lucian activated Crimson Vessel. His skin took on a deep crimson sheen. Blood circulated at extreme pressure. His body became a fortress. Light Armor formed over his torso, arms, and legs — layers of hardened light mana. Thrum.

Civilians ran. Thump. Thump. Thump. The street cleared in seconds, leaving only the two combatants and the burning wreckage.

Lucian charged. Flick. His fist met the sand avatar’s descending palm. BOOOOM!

The impact created a crater in the street. Crack. Asphalt exploded outward. Shockwaves rippled through the neighborhood. Cars parked along the street were sent tumbling like toys.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Storefront windows shattered. Tink. Tink. Tink. Glass rained down on empty sidewalks.

The avatar’s fist came down again. FWOOOOM! Lucian dodged with Light Steps. Flick. But the fist was massive. A glancing hit caught his left side. BAM! His Light Armor cracked. Crack. Pain flared through his ribs as he staggered but recovered. His right hand gripped the black greatsword. Sword Intent flared along the blade — dark, shimmering light.

"First Form — Falling Stars."

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Multiple slashes of condensed sword intent launched from the blade, each one trailing ribbons of dark light. They struck the sand avatar’s arm. SLASH! SHHHHK! The blade cut through the compressed sand, severing the arm at the elbow. Sand poured from the wound like blood from a stump. Fshhhhhh.

The arm reformed. Fshhhhh. Grains flowed back together, knitting seamlessly. Ramses laughed from inside the construct.

"You can’t cut the desert, boy."

Lucian’s eyes narrowed. Raw attacks wouldn’t work. Ramses could endlessly reform his sand.

Ramses pressed his advantage. He stomped the ground. BOOM. The street beneath Lucian’s feet turned to quicksand. Fshhhhh. Asphalt dissolved into loose, churning sand. Lucian sank. His feet disappeared. Sand compressed around him from all sides — a relentless crushing pressure.

CRACK. His ribs buckled. The pressure was immense like tons of compressed sand squeezing from every direction. His breathing shortened.

"Devouring Void."

A pool of darkness spread beneath him. Fwooooosh. The sand immediately surrounding him lost its mana cohesion. The grains fell limp. The crushing pressure vanished. Lucian burst free. BOOM! He launched himself upward, landing on solid ground ten meters away gasping for air.

But the Devouring Void had only lasted a few seconds. It drained his mana rapidly. He couldn’t spam it.

Mind Spike. Zzzng! Lucian fired it directly at Ramses’s consciousness through the avatar. Ramses’s mental walls were strong. The attack didn’t break through. But Ramses flinched for half a second. His concentration wavered. The avatar’s movements stuttered.

Lucian exploited. Light Bolt. Pew! It screamed through the gap in the avatar’s defenses and grazed Ramses’s shoulder. Sizzle. Blood sprayed. The sand avatar roared. RUMBLE!

Ramses enraged. His eyes blazed golden. He thrust both arms outward. FWOOOOOSH! Sand erupted in every direction — filling the air, the streets, the sky. A Sand Domain. Fifty meters of absolute sand control. The air became a wall of swirling, cutting particles. Visibility dropped to zero.

Lucian’s Light Armor cracked further.

Ramses realized something. This boy had immense mana reserves. More than he’d expected. More than any Early Grand Core cultivator should possess. In a war of attrition, Ramses would lose. The boy would outlast him.

He couldn’t allow that.

"I’ll end this with everything I have."

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