The clash between celestial might and divine will reached a terrifying equilibrium. The mountain itself quaked under the strain, ancient peaks splitting apart as if protesting the violence being done to their bones. The Empress stood shrouded in a halo of molten gold, her celestial essence rippling outward like the heartbeat of a dying star. Across from her, the Guardian's presence filled the horizon, its form cloaked in argent mist, its body a mass of living silver flame that warped everything around it.
Their energies met again in midair, colliding with such force that reality itself seemed to tear. For an instant, the mountain vanished within a sea of blinding light, a storm of energy so dense that even the stars above dimmed beneath its glare. The ground beneath them turned to glass, molten rivers of Qi flowing where stone used to be.
