Flashes of golden and red ripped through the desert.
Its once vast mounds of sand turned to glass pathways. The blood of mortal and divine alike tinged the glass.
Movements raged, an immense storm showing no care for self-preservation.
The Bixie's tail lashed out, a hook-like scythe, reaping through all that stood in its path. Its tip sliced towards Vera.
Raising his arms to a cross guard, Vera stopped the tail in its path. Flesh ripped open as blood fountained through the remains of his forearm; a bloody crazed grin split Vera's face.
Constructs of petrified sand turned to shards as the Bixie was dragged to Vera by its tail.
Its elegant bright imprints turned to a flash.
A dense golden qi lathered Vera's arms, its sheer mass causing Vera's veins to burst open.
The distance between them vanished. The Bixie's samadhi eyes shone bright over Vera's fist, casting a shadow that engulfed the sky of dawn.
A dull thud resounded through bedrock. The Bixie's jaw cracked open, its blood painting Vera's fists a shade of deep gold.
The two flew to opposite ends, crashing into piles of shattered glass. Burnt arms pressed into the pile of glass, allowing Vera to stumble back onto his feet.
30 paces between them were devoured by the Bixie. Its claws ripped away at Vera's chest, flinging his body through the pile of glass behind him.
With his core tensed, Vera shifted his centre of gravity, his feet stifling the momentum he was flung with.
The skin of his legs was ripping open as the fibres of his muscles bulged through it.
Barriers of wind ripped to shreds as he dashed back at the Bixie, speeds transcending that of transonic movement. Dense cones of air resounding through the desert in his wake.
His arms swung wide, the fibres on his chest rippling through his skin, the very earth ripping away at his approach.
A portion of the samadhi fire in the Bixie's eyes disappeared.
Vera stood eye to eye with the Bixie, albeit momentarily; at this point, time flowed for neither.
His fist, stained with the blood which is divine, hurtled through the air.
The Bixie's regal poise was long shattered; its maw was engulfed by a white light, ready to blow away the plains with its samadhi true fire.
An uppercut crashed into the Bixie's jaw. The sound of teeth grinding each other into fragments resounded.
Divine flames escaped its maw from the gaps in its teeth, burning through the flesh on Vera's shoulder.
The sanctimonious expression within the Bixie's eyes turned to an unsightly gleam, one that thirsted for battle.
A battle turned bloodless, simply because there was no more to spare.
Even so, Vera's strength only grew as his body paled.
The qi of a mortal and divine moved like a storm. In their wake, the short-lived forest of glass turned to a desert of glass.
Mortal devouring that of the divine. The Samadhi flame in the guardian's eyes stood empty, leaving only a dark void behind.
At the cost of his humanity, Vera inverted the heavens unto himself.
His hollow body knelt over the Bixie's corpse. Its divine visage turning to a golden mist retreating to the heavens that birthed it.
Clouds rolled over the light of morning.
Vera gazed at the now-darkening sky.
Blood seeped out of his eyes. But this wasn't from the cost of his battle. Something was coming... something Vera couldn't afford to see.
His consciousness faded.
Golden claws peered through the clouds that covered the sky. The magnitude of its body shielded the very sun.
"It has been nearly three millennia since a native last broke an apparition of my soul."
Its words resounded through the lesser heavens. All those across the five planes caught a blurred glimpse of its visage.
"Very well... Thou shalt receive a portion of the qualification."
The visage that consumed the skies disappeared. Its body turning to that of an elegant woman, descending through the skies.
Each step created a ripple through the air, its eyes crafted of divine flames. An elegant tunic draped her body. The divine light that shone from her body bore the immensity of a nebula.
All who saw would unmistakeably recognise her divinity; unable to bear the consequence, their consciousness rejected the moment itself.
Clouds soon returned, covering the heavens.
The woman stood beside Vera's body, her palm resting on his back. The ground beneath her turned to a disc of divine flame. Her manifestation engulfed her hand.
The mark of a qilin seared Vera's flesh.
Her eyes momentarily widened, reverting back to her calm expression.
"Inverted Heavens..."
"To think his technique still existed in the lesser heavens."
A silent smile appeared on her face.
A portion of the samadhi fire seeped into Vera's body; a momentary glow pulsed through his body.
A vague silhouette resembling a pair of eyes appeared in the sky; only the Qilin could see it.
The space around the eyes shattered; the immensity it carried could only be seen as a threat.
"Lower thy gaze, ascender... I only nudged the loom that shadowed his fate."
The Qilin spoke to the eyes that glared at her.
"Don't interfere with him anymore." The immensity within the eyes relented. Its raspy tone mirrored the mountain of corpses that stood beneath it.
"My disciple has his eyes on him."
His cacophonous melody dispersed into space, the eyes dissipated into the clouds, and the space around it slowly sewed itself back together.
"As irritable as always."
The Qilin murmured under her breath. Her visage turning to a golden pillar, returning to the Greater Heavens.