"Silver Moon Douluo, what is the meaning of this?" Arthur showed not the slightest trace of panic. On the contrary, he was remarkably calm and composed.
That reaction surprised Cai Yue'er. To face her directly and still remain this unrattled.
Cold light flashed in her eyes. Immense soul power surged outward, carrying the full pressure of a Titled Douluo, and the surrounding air turned brittle with the chill.
"What does it mean? A Soul Elder killing a battle armor master above their rank? That's simply impossible!"
Even Yun Ming had never managed that.
"There must be something underhanded going on. You people plotted this to shatter Shrek's glory!"
"If you don't tell me the truth today, this place will be your prison."
"We people?" Arthur clicked his tongue in amusement. "So Your Highness already knows I have a certain backing, and you still dared to move against me?"
"Agravaine, that's all." Cai Yue'er scoffed. "What can he do to me?"
"Old man, did you hear that? Someone doesn't think much of you." Arthur couldn't help laughing as he glanced past Cai Yue'er's shoulder.
"Tricks." Cai Yue'er took it for a last desperate bluff. She had not sensed anyone behind her. Agravaine could never approach without her detecting him.
The words had barely left her mouth when a crushing pressure descended like an invisible mountain.
"Who's there?!" Cai Yue'er went pale. What she had come here to do was never meant to be seen.
"Behind you."
A voice, laced with restrained fury, rang out. Cai Yue'er spun around and found four imposing figures standing there, having appeared at some point she could not account for.
"Impossible!" The moment she recognized them, she cried out.
Never mind Agravaine.
How could Zhen Hua and Mu Chen have slipped past her perception?
Her gaze finally locked on Mu Ye.
Was it because of him?
Agravaine shook his head, his disappointment plain. "The rumors going around the Federation weren't wrong after all. You really are a fool. I can't believe you actually moved against him."
With Shrek's backing and a decent level of strength behind her, Cai Yue'er had always done whatever she pleased within the Federation, notoriously willful.
In an instant, Agravaine's three-word battle armor enveloped him. "You're not leaving here today. This place will be your prison."
Cai Yue'er trembled. As she watched the radiance of Agravaine's three-word battle armor flare around him and a phantom of the Dragon Sparrow take shape within it, her pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Agravaine was serious?!
Her own three-word battle armor blazed to life in the same breath, the brilliance of the Silver Moon shimmering around her. Her expression turned grave in a way it rarely did.
Agravaine she could manage. What truly put her on guard was Mu Ye, whose depths she could not begin to measure.
"Agravaine! You dare touch me? Shrek will never let this rest!"
"Stop making me laugh. Since when do you speak for Shrek?" Agravaine let out a sharp snort, and his violet-gold soul power bore down like something solid. "You moved against a junior on your own authority, and you think Shrek will cover for you? Today I'll discipline you on Yun Ming's behalf!"
"Don't bring up Yun Ming!" Cai Yue'er's temper flared.
The two collided in an instant.
Violet-gold Dragon Sparrow phantom and silver moonlight crashed together. The deafening impact shook the soul train station to its foundations, and waves of invisible soul force radiated outward with the two of them at the center.
Arthur felt the isolating barrier that had cut them off from the world shatter.
All six of them reappeared inside the soul train station, visible once more to the world.
Agravaine and Cai Yue'er carried their battle into the sky.
His three-word battle armor, Dragon Sparrow Heaven, blazed with fierce golden light. The Dragon Sparrow's wings spread wide, its phantom swelling without end, like a great sun cresting over the horizon.
Cai Yue'er's Silver Moon Darkness armor let moonlight flow and eddy around her. The silver moon behind her exploded to thousands of meters in height, a full moon rising over Skysea City.
The sky above Skysea City was cleaved in two.
One half was scorched by the golden Dragon Sparrow, its flames sending the clouds churning in billowing waves, each sweep of those wings scattering cascades of light.
The other half was held by the silver moon, its cold radiance sharp as ancient ice, washing the entire district in a pale, deathly white.
All of Skysea City erupted in chaos.
The crowds that had packed the soul train station plaza screamed and scattered in every direction. Someone's bag hit the ground and burst open, its contents scattering across the tiles.
Further along the streets, shop signs were torn away by the shockwaves. Hovering soul vehicles ground to a halt, their speakers alive with startled cries.
"What is that? It's so pretty." A small child pointed up at the spectacle in the sky and tugged at a parent's sleeve.
The parent scooped the child into their arms without a word.
Half the sky blazed gold, the other half crowned with a silver moon. The extreme energies colliding sent the cloud layers into violent convulsions. It looked like the end of the world.
"Three-word battle armor masters! Two Titled Douluo!"
An elderly soul master cried out in a trembling voice, pulling the person beside him toward shelter inside a nearby building. "Get inside! At that level, even the shockwaves can tear us apart!"
Younger soul masters had their soul communicators out and were recording frantically, the images on their screens shaking violently, their excitement impossible to contain. "Oh god! That's the Silver Moon Douluo, Cai Yue'er! Who's the other one? That Dragon Sparrow phantom... could that be the Dragon Sparrow Douluo?!"
Every soul master in the Federation grew up knowing the Titled Douluo by name.
The upper echelons of Skysea City reacted without delay.
Inside the city hall, a councilman slammed his palms on the table and shot to his feet. He stared at the live feed on the soul screen, his face ashen.
"Activate the highest-level city defense barrier immediately! Notify the Federation Army's Skysea City division, full alert! The fighting must not reach the civilian districts!"
His secretary was already drenched in cold sweat, fingers flying across the soul control panel. "City Lord, the barrier is activating! But the energy levels from both Highnesses are too high. The barrier can absorb thirty percent of the shockwaves at most!"
At the Skysea City harbor naval base, a sensor operator stared at the readings spiking across their screen, voice trembling as they opened an emergency channel. "Headquarters! Special-grade combat incident in Skysea City! Two Titled Douluo-class three-word battle armor masters engaged in combat! Energy peak climbing!"
"Ninety-one, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six and still rising?! Requesting emergency support!"
With the amplification of their three-word battle armor, Agravaine and Cai Yue'er's soul power far exceeded their base levels.
Arthur quickly retreated to Mu Ye's side, staring up at the sky in astonishment. "My great-uncle is actually holding his own. Cai Yue'er is rank 96, isn't she?"
At the Titled Douluo level, the gap between each rank was immense, especially past rank 95, the Super Douluo threshold.
Each rank was its own world. Every breakthrough was a qualitative change.
Mu Ye grinned, his gaze fixed on the battle raging above. "Don't let the rank fool you. When it comes to harmony with her three-word battle armor and how well her soul skills work with it, Cai Yue'er still falls short of your great-uncle."
"Your great-uncle's three-word battle armor has been continuously refined and updated."
"More importantly, he's pushing the armor to its absolute limit right now. He's clearly going in ready to burn it out completely."
"Ready to burn it out?!" Arthur looked more carefully.
Agravaine's Dragon Sparrow Heaven armor was now completely engulfed in golden flames. The feathers of the Dragon Sparrow phantom stood fully erect, each one like a burning blade, but hairline fractures had begun spreading from the joints of the armor. Those were the signs of an overloaded system.
"Damn it all!" Mu Chen erupted instantly. "He gets to play the hero, and who's going to be left cleaning up the mess? Me, that's who!"
---
The author's note at the end reads: I found Cai Yue'er frustrating to read at first. I thought it was a slow build-up before the main cast got to put her in her place. Turns out it just kept staying low. Also, the original's portrayal of Titled Douluo power is all over the place, it was uncomfortable to read. I've adjusted things here. A strike that can level a city feels right for that level, at minimum.