CHAPTER 38: The Battle of the Golden Dragon Gates
*ARC 5: THE SOVEREIGN EMPIRE & THE IMPERIAL CONVERGENCE*
The roaring golden tsunami of twenty thousand elite Imperial Royal Guards surged across the white marble plaza, their heavy gold-plated armor rattling like thunder. At the front, the Four Imperial Marshals—their Late-Stage Martial Scholar Qi flaring into blinding crimson-and-gold aura blades—led the charge with lethal precision.
High on the dragon balcony, the Solari Emperor and the two Martial King Ancestors watched with cold, expectant sneers.
"They brought two teenagers to fight an army!" one of the Marshals roared, raising his seven-foot golden broadsword. "Dismantle them!"
Down on the plaza, Ethan and Elena stepped forward side by side.
Ethan didn't unwrap the linen from his wooden spear shaft. Elena didn't even draw her azure blade from its sheath. They simply took a deep breath, letting the gold-and-azure heat of their Imperial Sovereign Dragon-Physique surge through their veins.
STEP.
The two twins blurred into golden afterimages!
BOOOOM!
Ethan met the lead Marshal head-on. The Marshal swung his massive broadsword with enough mountain-splitting Qi to sever a city gate, but Ethan didn't dodge. He simply thrust the blunt, linen-wrapped wooden butt of his spear straight into the center of the golden broadsword blade!
CRACK-SHATTER!
The high-grade, spirit-forged broadsword exploded into a shower of metallic shrapnel!
The raw, physical impact of Ethan’s Imperial Sovereign Dragon-Physique traveled straight through the weapon into the Marshal's arms.
"GAHH!" The lead Marshal shrieked as his gauntlets shattered, his shoulder joints popping out of their sockets as he was blasted backward three hundred feet, plowing through fifty rows of Imperial Guards like a bowling ball!
Simultaneously, Elena executed her advanced dragon footwork.
SWISH—SWISH—SWISH!
She vanished from the physical realm for a microsecond, reappearing directly in the center of the remaining three Marshals' defensive triangle!
"Where is she?!" "Behind—!"
Before the Marshals could pivot, Elena delivered three rapid, bare-handed dragon-palm strikes to their chest plates! She didn't use Qi—just pure, gold-tempered physical kinetic force!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
CRACK!
All three Marshals' heavy golden breastplates caved in completely! Their bodies shot backward into the charging guard ranks, knocking down hundreds of soldiers, completely unconscious before their bodies hit the stone floor!
In less than three seconds... all Four Imperial Marshals were completely neutralized!
"W-WHAT?!" "They didn't even use Qi!" "The Marshals were defeated with bare hands?!"
Panic spread through the twenty thousand Imperial Guards like wildfire. The charging golden formation broke into utter chaos as the soldiers halted their boots, staring in absolute, paralyzing horror at the two teenagers standing calmly in the center of the plaza.
Ethan rested his wooden spear over his shoulder, looking up at the high balcony with a calm, bored expression.
"Is this the absolute strength of the Central Capital's Imperial Guard?" Ethan called out, his voice echoing clearly across the entire plaza. "You guys talk big, but your stances are full of openings."
Elena adjusted the wraps on her wrists, her azure eyes glowing with a quiet, razor-sharp brilliance. "If you won't step down, we'll open the gate ourselves."
STEP.
Elena took a single, gold-tempered dragon step toward the fifty-foot-tall, adamantite-reinforced Golden Dragon Gates!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A shockwave of pure physical pressure detonated beneath her boot! The fifty-foot adamantite gates—designed to withstand bombardment from high-tier siege engines—cracked down the middle, the massive iron hinges shearing off completely as the doors crashed inward into the palace courtyard!
On the dragon balcony, the Solari Emperor’s face went completely deathly pale! His hands trembled violently against the white jade railing!
"M-Monsters..." the Emperor stammered, stepping backward. "They're not scholars... they're physical monsters!"
One of the white-haired Martial King Ancestors stepped forward, his face twisted in utter humiliation and bloodthirsty rage.
"Impudent commoner brats!" the Ancestor roared, drawing an ancient, six-ringed imperial broadsword. "You dare destroy the gates of the Solari Household?! Today, this ancestor will personally refine your flesh into blood pill fuel!"
BOOM!
The Martial King Ancestor leaped off the high balcony, his terrifying Early-Stage Martial King domain erupting into a thousand-foot golden dragon projection mid-air, descending straight toward Ethan and Elena with world-crushing force!
"DIE!"
Before the Martial King Ancestor’s domain could even touch a single hair on the twins' heads—
Gabriel took a single, gentle step forward.
He didn't raise a fist. He didn't draw a blade. He simply opened his dark golden dragon pupils, releasing a fraction of his Peak-Stage Martial Saint pressure!
SOVEREIGN REALM — DOMAIN CRUSH!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The thousand-foot golden dragon projection unleashed by the Martial King Ancestor was instantly vaporized into nothingness like a candle flame caught in a typhoon!
And mid-air, the terrifying Martial King Ancestor felt an invisible, celestial mountain slam directly onto his chest!
CRASH!
The Martial King Ancestor was slammed face-first into the center of the marble plaza at Gabriel’s feet! The marble floor shattered for five hundred yards, forming a massive crater as the Ancestor spat a fountain of golden blood, pinned completely motionless to the earth, unable to move a single finger!
Gabriel stood at the edge of the crater, his dark dragon-silk coat fluttering in the wind, looking up at the terrified Solari Emperor on the balcony with cold, absolute dominance.
"Your Martial King couldn't hold his ground," Gabriel said, his voice echoing across the entire Central Capital like a decree from the heavens.
Gabriel pointed his index finger toward the inner palace halls.
"Now... open your vault."