Death Valley VIII

Beta Eterna Divine Beast: Luminous Wyvern.

The creature descended from the fractured sky like a herald of divine judgment. Its wings, shimmering with radiant light, spanned the breadth of the clearing, each beat sending ripples of force that bent the air and shook the earth. Its barbed tail swayed with languid menace, the sharp points glinting like deadly jewels, while golden scales reflected the misty light into a dazzling, otherworldly aura.

The genus of wyverns, often dismissed as lesser dragons, had long endured as underlings in the natural hierarchy. But like all beings in this world, their potential to evolve defied initial assumptions. Over millennia, their genetic code had twisted and sharpened, branching into countless variations until, eventually, they reached the zenith of their genus: the Celestial Wyvern.

The Luminous Wyvern was one such branch, a Golden Wyvern that had absorbed the traits of other divine beasts, encoding their essence into its own genetic tapestry. This process elevated it to the Beta Eterna biological grade. And this particular Luminous Wyvern, known as Laha, was the undisputed Monarch of Death Valley, one of the Five Forbidden Zones.

A fully matured, twelve-core Beta Eterna beast.

The students could only stare, rooted to the spot. Even Kael, typically calm and composed, felt his confidence waver as his Royal Dragon instinctively coiled closer to him. The beast before them was incomprehensible in its magnitude. For those who had thought Aria invincible, this was a stark reminder of the hierarchy of power in the world. Laha existed on a plane so far above their understanding that even their strongest seemed insignificant.

Aria, however, was not merely observing. Her black eyes studied the wyvern with a meticulous focus, even as her shoulders subtly tensed. Her earlier clash with the beast had left its mark. The strike had been a warning—a lazy swipe of its tail—but even so, it had nearly shattered her Unbreakable Vajra Body. The fact that she had blocked it at all was a testament to her resilience, but she wasn't unscathed. Cracks had begun to form, her defenses stretched to their absolute limits.

For only the second time in her existence, Aria felt helpless.

Laha's gaze shifted briefly, his radiant eyes catching sight of the Amethyst Snake coiled around Medea's neck. A fellow twelve-core creature, the Prime Luminara Miasma Beast was no lightweight. Yet, in the presence of Laha, it recoiled instinctively, retreating with a swiftness that underscored the chasm between them.

Having dismissed the snake, Laha's focus returned to the clearing. He studied Aria first, his gaze sharp and calculating. Then, with deliberate slowness, it shifted to her summoner.

In his ancient mind, the pieces clicked together.

'A Diamond-grade summoner.'

Laha's thoughts raced, dissecting the implications. This one couldn't belong to an Empire—they would never allow a Diamond-grade summoner to wander into a Forbidden Zone unprotected. Nor could she hail from a Tier 1 Kingdom; they were cautious, protective, and resourceful. No, this child must belong to one of the Tier 2 Kingdoms—a backwater lucky enough to produce a prodigy but ignorant enough to send her into his domain.

'The Kingdom of Thane.'

Laha's golden eyes flicked back to Aria. Unlike the summoner, she intrigued him. Her title, her presence—it was unlike anything he had encountered.

"What is your title?" he asked, his voice like molten metal, rich and overwhelming.

Aria tilted her head, her black dress rippling faintly as she replied, her tone unyielding. "Prime Eterna Miasma and Divine Beast: Heavenly Demon."

The words hung in the air, resonating like a thunderclap. Laha's eyes narrowed, his gaze sharpening as he processed the title.

Heavenly.

It wasn't just a title—it was an anomaly. Beings of his caliber aspired to reach the Celestial prefix, the pinnacle of evolution within their genus. Laha himself was striving for that very goal, hoping to ascend to Celestial Wyvern and, perhaps, attain the Prime Eterna grade in the process. But Heavenly? That prefix was beyond even his vast comprehension.

His mind churned. Evolution was a painstaking process, one often requiring generations of genetic refinement. A rare shortcut was to consume the genetic code of higher beings, integrating their essence into one's own to accelerate the process. But this girl—this Heavenly Demon—was already beyond what his body could adapt to. Her genetic code was too refined, too evolved. Even with all his intelligence, all his Traits, he couldn't see a way to incorporate her essence.

'She dares to desire my divine cores?' The thought didn't stir anger—only disbelief. The audacity of it stunned him.

"Heavenly Demon?" he murmured, tasting the words. They didn't fit within the framework of his understanding. They defied it.

For a long moment, the clearing was silent, save for the faint crackle of divine energy lingering in the air. And then, Laha came to a decision.

She was an enigma—one he couldn't afford to ignore. But she was also weak. Too weak to threaten him now. And while he couldn't take her essence, her existence alone was a revelation.

The Luminous Wyvern's golden eyes flared, locking onto Aria with a mixture of curiosity and finality.

"You will leave my domain," he commanded, his voice rumbling like the earth itself. "For now."

And with that, he spread his radiant wings, casting a shadow over the clearing. The wind howled as he launched into the air, his golden form disappearing into the kaleidoscope of fractured space above.

Aria stood rooted to the spot, her fists clenched. For the first time, she didn't move to chase or fight.

"Why didn't you…?" Elara's voice faltered, trembling with the weight of the encounter that had just passed.

"I'm not strong enough," Aria replied, her tone calm and flat, as though she were stating the weather. Her black eyes, however, betrayed a flicker of something deeper—a quiet, simmering resolve that burned beneath her unflappable exterior.

The tension in the air lingered, heavy and suffocating, as if the shadow of the Luminous Wyvern still loomed over them. The others remained frozen, their expressions a mixture of relief and unease. No one dared to speak, each replaying the scene in their minds: Aria, facing down a fully matured Beta Eterna, and Laha, sparing them not out of mercy but sheer indifference.

It was over.

Or so they thought.

With a resounding thud, several glowing objects dropped from the fractured sky above, landing in a neat cluster in front of Aria. The ground trembled beneath the force of their arrival, and a soft hum of divine energy radiated from the pile, tingling against their skin.

"Divine cores…" Kael breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.

Aria blinked, her gaze locked onto the cores. Then, with the unceremonious decisiveness of a child opening a bag of sweets, she crouched down and began picking them up. One by one, she devoured them, her movements swift and efficient, as though this were a mundane task rather than a surreal display of power.

"Aria—wait, what are you—?" Elara began, stepping forward in alarm.

"Balanced now," Aria muttered as she swallowed the last core. She straightened, brushing her hands together before looking skyward, her gaze fixed on the direction where Laha had disappeared.