Fu Xuan watched Ultraman X silhouette vanish into the depths and then glanced back at the battlefield he had cleared with a single strike, finally allowing herself a long quiet breath.
Even though she and General Jing Yuan had prepared for the worst, they had never imagined that the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus would be insane enough to procure a Stellaron capable of serving as nourishment for the Ambrosial Arbor.
Nor had they expected the Antimatter Legion to cooperate with them.
Had the people of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus gone mad?
To collaborate with the Antimatter Legion.
If the Legion's aims were truly fulfilled, Luofu would follow the tragic fate of countless civilizations crushed beneath their march!
Surely those madman didn't believe that the power of Abundance alone would spare them from the Legion's hands?
Fortunately… if not for that foreign Emanator, even a victory today would have come at the cost of countless Cloud Knights.
From here on, everything depended on the General and the others.
—————————————————
Ultraman X massive body surged through the vast primordial sea, descending deeper into Scalegorge Waterscape.
And there, coiled like a slumbering titan was the colossal dragon-shaped mass born of the Ambrosial Arbor roots, long sealed and unable to grow.
Before that vast root-dragon, Jing Yuan and Jingliu were fighting side by side. Around them lay heaps of torn, frozen, or thunder-scorched Abundance spawn and broken Voidrangers.
And opposite them burned a solemn golden flame.
"Both the former Sword Champion and the General himself welcoming me? How flattering."
A mocking voice rippled from within the flames. forcing Jing Yuan to confront his enemy directly.
Jing Yuan raised his Starfall Reverie in his hand pointing at Phantylia, expression sharpening.
"Phantylia… is that your name?"
"I never expected that the Doomsday Beast threatening our Luofu would turn out to be merely… a heliobus." he continued sternly.
"A heliobus who rose to the rank of a Lord Ravagers surprises you, General?"
"You heliobi should have been cast into the Flamewheel Forge with the Flint Emperor back then to be it's fuel." Jingliu said coldly, raised her frost-blade.
The Flint Emperor, also known as the Primordial Flame, is the leader and progenitor of the Heliobi.
After being defeated by the Xianzhou Alliance during the Heliobi Wars, it was imprisoned on the Xianzhou Zhuming as its plaguemark with many of their kind, sentenced to serve as a power source for the ship's engines and furnaces for the rest of its eternal life.
"Oh? You're just a mere former Sword Champion, yet you speak with such arrogance?"
Phantylia's golden fire rippled with mocking laughter.
"You lack the spiritus or weapon the Arbiter-General received from the Hunt Aeon… and weren't you traveling with that outworld merchant earlier? Why stand with the Luofu now?"
"People always change." Jingliu replied, unleashing a wave of glacial sword aura.
"Besides, my goal is already achieved."
But her attack shattered inches before reaching Phantylia's flame-body.
"So you and that trader schemed against me after all?"
"Unfortunately, before absolute power, your schemes are futile!"
Phantylia rose atop a lotus of cyan flame, lifting into the sky as the petals turned gold, steeped in both Destruction and Abundance.
"Ah, as expected… the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were right to covet this Ambrosial Arbor legacy. This power truly grants regenerate and rebirth."
Her voice remained lazy, but beneath it trembled a faint anxiety.
Moments ago, the Arbor's fruit had abruptly stopped maturing, she had feared something irreversible had occurred. Preventing the fruit, which was about to be fully matured from being born.
Fortunately, the fruit resumed maturing within minutes of this unexpected event.
The plan hadn't gone wrong.
The golden lotus began to bloom and the surrounding roots surged toward it, pouring oceans of Abundance energies into Phantylia's forming vessel.
Then—
*BOOM!*
Streaks of light beam struck and detonated several roots. But more grew to replace them, desperately binding themselves to the golden lotus.
"You—!"
Phantylia's voice cracked as she recognized the arriving silhouette.
He had destroyed her Doomsday Beast only ten days prior, then stood against her personally.
This entire deviation from the original plan… was largely his fault.
Why was he still in the Luofu!?
Ultraman X landed before Jing Yuan and Jingliu, his towering figure shielding them completely.
"…This—"
It was Jing Yuan's first time seeing X true form. Even his own spiritus the Lightning-Lord was not this overwhelmingly larger.
Jingliu having seen the human-sized version before, still remained composed.
[You two alright?]
X turned to look behind him. Once certain they were unharmed, he turned toward Phantylia.
The Abundance lotus behind her unfurled into a colossal female figure—her new vessel woven of Abundance and strengthened by Destruction.
"Ah, this power is truly..."
Phantylia gazing with pleasure at the abundance power within.
"With Abundance as flesh… and Destruction as bone."
Phantylia raised her hand admiringly as golden energy coiled around her.
"Feast your eyes upon my most beautiful form."
As the plan was completed, Phantylia confidence skyrocket.
The immortal abundance combined with the all-annihilating destruction, each power had its own function, yet they completed each other perfectly.
A round fan materialized in Huanlong's hand. With a gentle wave sent hurricanes roaring outward, shaking Scalegorge itself.
X crouched down bracing against the gale, shielding both Jing Yuan and Jingliu with his body.
"Ah… a Preservation Emanator."
Phantylia raised an eyebrow, watching Ultraman X actions as he protected Jing Yuan and Jingliu then sneered.
"Do you still intend to protect these Xiānzhōu people?"
"Then let me see how many times can you shield them!"
She flicked her hand again. This time, instead of creating a gale, golden lotuses began to bloom on the ground, in the air, and even in the void.
{Cyber Doomsday... Loading!}
The power of destruction filled X body, The next moment, the silver-purple armor materialize across X body.
{Cyber Doomsday Armor — Active!}
Without hesitation, Ultraman X construct a long sword from pure destructive energy and cleaved through the field of golden lotuses. Then, the severed lotuses began to explode.
"You bastard… you've taken up the Path of Destruction?"
Phantylia stared in disbelief.
"A Preservation Emanator wielding Destruction—what a joke!"
Before her retort could deepen, Nanook's blessing surged within X, corroding her Abundance-forged body from within—turning it dark gold.
"Straight to your third phase aren't you!?" Daichi said surprised.
X raised his sword and took step forward to strike—but Phantylia caught his sword bare-handed. Nanook's destruction seeped from her palm, corroding the weapon.
"Your false Destruction cannot rival that which Lord Nanook bestowed!"
A bright sphere formed in her grasp.
"Allow me to show you the true Destruction!"
She tossed it lightly.
X and Daichi instincts screamed. He raising his arms gauntlets, forming a X Barrier Wall.
The sphere detonated.
*BOOM!*
A meteor-like force slammed him into the ground, carving a deep crater after crater until he finally stopped.
"You endured that?" Phantylia hissed.
Her follow-up strike was intercepted—by a towering Lightning-Lord.
"You seem to forget," Jing Yuan's voice echoed.
"That this battlefield has more than one Emanator."
On the ground, Jing Yuan expression was sharp. He swung the Starfall Reverie in his hand, and the golden figure made the same move.
The divine Lightning-Lord swung its thunder-wreathed halberd, narrowly forcing Phantylia back.
"Tch… troublesome."
She began gathering energy for another orb, only for a massive shadow to rush in.
"We're not done yet!" Daichi roared.
His fist nearly smashed into her face before she slipped away, forcing X to spin through his missed punch and launch another blow.
This time, Phantylia no longer dodged, but clenched her fists. Engaging in a brutal, bone-crushing duel with X.
A brutal fist-to-fist brawl erupted—golden flame versus dual-colored gauntlets, each collision tearing through the battlefield. In an instant, the entire Scalegorge Waterscape trembled.
The two fought fiercely, and with Jing Yuan controlling the Divine Lord to launch surprise attacks from unexpected angles.
Phantylia was constantly surrounded, sometimes forced to withstand damage and resort to trade blows.
However, the painstakingly inflicted injuries would soon be healed by the power of the Abundance.
Daichi realize something crucial.
"She… knows martial arts!?"
Her elegant dress belied the vicious, precise way she threw punches. With the Ambrosial Arbor as her power source and Nanook blessing, she was easily the strongest foe Ultraman X had ever faced since Daichi and X met.
The Doomsday Armor Destruction was being overwhelmed by her true Destruction.
Aside from the Doomsday armor, they had nothing else...
Wait.
"X! The Spark Doll I gave you—can you turn it into a Cyber Card!?"
[I've been working on it since I received it Daichi! …Just a little more… there!]
A red card materialized in Daichi hand.
It depicted the full image of Cyber Abundant Ebon Deer.
X second Cyber Card—complete!
"Just in time X!"
As X clashed fists with Phantylia again and forced open a brief gap, Daichi placed the card into X Devizer.
{Cyber Ebon Deer... Loading!}
X silver-purple armor dissipated and then, a green data stream with a glowing emerald light enveloped X body.
Futuristic root-like tendrils wrapped around his body, forming armor reminiscent of the Arbor with huge X golden shaped in his chest.
A huge navy blue colored deer-head-shaped heavy armor appeared on X left shoulder and then a huge sharp antlers like blades were connected to his right arm, forming of gauntlet-swords on X right hand.
{Cyber Ebon Deer Armor — Active!}
"The armor on your body has changed?"
Phantylia closest to X murmured. This sudden change made her wary.
Phantylia then froze.
The aura… the feeling…
Nanook destruction had vanished from Ultraman X.
Replaced by something overwhelmingly Abundance path.
He felt like… a Emanator of the Abundance.
Her expression darkened. Having controlled the power of the Ambrosial Arbor, her sensitivity to the power of Abundance was profound, but even so it was precisely this that made her expression darken.
This guy is actually the Abundance Emanator?
This conclusion made Phantylia face turn ugly.
But X didn't intend to give her time to think.
He charged, antler-blades flashing against Phantylia.
Phantylia somewhat hesitant, didn't dare to meet the attack head-on. She tried to deflect X attack with her own hands but the moment she made contact with him, her face twisted.
Her power… was draining.
The Abundance she commanded…
Was being stolen.
Her golden flames sputtered in panic as she stared at X glowing green body.
This armor was seizing her control over the Ambrosial Arbor.