Dragons begin with courage

Lu Mingze's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. Lu Mingfei made an unexpected move—he suddenly raised his hand, not to grasp the inviting hand, but with an almost brutal decisiveness, slapped Lu Mingze's hand away!

Snapped!

The crisp striking sound was exceptionally loud in this space where thoughts raced.

For the first time, a crack appeared in Lu Mingze's smile. He looked down at the back of his slightly reddened hand, and when he looked up at Lu Mingfei, a faint but genuine look of surprise flashed across his usually playful eyes.

He saw the golden pupils burning in Lu Mingfei's eyes. The light was no longer passively lit as usual, but as intense and violent as a lava eruption, filled with a kind of unruly will that he had never expected!

It was as if a golden lion, long imprisoned, had finally broken its chains and roared with its head held high!

"I refuse." Lu Mingfei's voice, transmitted through his consciousness, was cold and calm, yet carried immense force, each word striking Lu Mingze's heart like a hammer blow. "I'll say it one last time—"

"I refuse!"

His "voice" echoed in my mind, carrying an almost tangible impact: "Caesar's coronation, Zero's dance, Nono's recruitment... and your devil's deal!" "All the 'fate' you arranged, all the seemingly 'only' choices..." "I reject them all!"

The moment the words fell—

boom!!!

An indescribable, blood-red, violent current of energy suddenly erupted from the core of Lu Mingfei's consciousness! It wasn't heat, but a boiling of a more primal and violent life energy! The current swept around, even causing Lu Mingze's eternally elegant and composed figure to lean back slightly. The black umbrella groaned under the strain, and the smile on his face vanished completely, replaced by a mixture of surprise, solemnity, and even a hint of barely perceptible...excitement?

Lu Mingfei's "voice" was like the final roar of a wounded beast, squeezed out from the abyss of his soul, filled with endless anger and resentment: "My life, Lu Mingfei's life—" "I decide for myself!!!"

"Violent!!!" "Blood!!!"

The boundary between reality and accelerated thought shattered with that roar!

That roar, bursting forth from the depths of his soul, did not echo in the air, but exploded deep within every blood vessel, every bone, and every cell of his body!

A scorching heat, far more primal, more violent, and more irresistible than the hunger emanating from the blade of "Lust," erupted from the deepest part of his marrow like an ignited oil vat, instantly engulfing his entire body!

"Ughh ...

In reality, Lu Mingfei suddenly arched his back, letting out a agonizing, inhuman roar. It wasn't a sound from his throat, but a resonant groan from his entire body's muscles, bones, and internal organs, forcibly altered by some terrifying force!

Visibly, on the surface of his skin exposed outside his tattered combat uniform, countless fine, pale golden veins appeared, bulged, and pulsated as if they were alive! Immediately afterwards, these golden veins were quickly covered and swallowed by a viscous, blood-like, and lava-like crimson current!

Crimson blood energy gushed out from every pore of his body!

It wasn't smoke; it was more like a mixture of liquid flames and materialized life energy, carrying scorching heat and a terrifyingly violent pressure that completely enveloped him! His blood energy surged and changed shape constantly, sometimes like a burning cloak of flames, sometimes like viscous blood-red armor!

In the golden eyes, there was no longer any confusion, fear, or hesitation in the light; only the purest, cold killing intent and resistance belonging to a predator remained!

It was almost the instant it broke through the environmental space created by Lu Mingze.

"Clang—!!!"

A slam of a knife rang out, even more violent and brutal than when "lust" awakens!

At some point, Lu Mingfei found himself holding the largest of the Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath! That grotesque, massive horse-slaying sword, with a blade over 1.5 meters long and a back as thick as a hand, shot out of its sheath on its own.

The already enormous blade of the Blade of Fury began to grow and expand wildly, as if it were alive! The metal was not extending, but rather reorganizing and multiplying from its internal structure! On the dark blade, countless originally dull alchemical dragon patterns lit up one after another, not in a ghostly blue, nor in a dark gold, but in a dazzling, blood-red color that shared the same origin as Lu Mingfei's blood energy!

1.5 meters... 2 meters... 3 meters...

Finally, a mythical-grade giant sword, over five meters long and nearly a foot wide, materialized in Lu Mingfei's hand! The hilt automatically adjusted, perfectly fitting his bulging veins in his right hand. It was no longer a weapon used by humans, but more like a battlefield dominator prepared for some ancient giant god or a fully-formed dragon king!

The moment he held it, Lu Mingfei felt a surge of violent intent, like a landslide or a tsunami, rush into his mind through the hilt of the blade, creating an unprecedented and perfect resonance with his boiling dragon blood and burning will! The Blade of Wrath, in Lu Mingfei's blood-red state, seemed to have found its destined wielder!

All of this, from Lu Mingfei shouting "Blood Burst" to his furious attack, happened in the blink of an eye, faster than the limits of ordinary people's visual perception!

For the first time, a clear look of astonishment appeared in Norton's golden vertical pupils.

He saw the terrifying blood energy erupting from Lu Mingfei, far exceeding the scale of ordinary mixed-blood "blood rage," and felt the bloodline pressure that suddenly surged and even faintly touched a dangerous boundary.

Lu Mingze, who remained at the edge of the accelerated thought space, slightly widened his dark pupils, a barely perceptible, almost horrified ripple flashing across the depths of his eyes. He sensed... something beyond his script was unfolding!

The flapping of a butterfly's wings on a stormy night has long since unleashed not a gentle breeze, but a destructive storm that sweeps across the fabric of destiny!

Amid Norton's astonishment and Lu Mingze's stunned silence—

Lu Mingfei, in his berserk state, moved!

Facing the massive fireball of the Monarch Flame, which was hundreds of meters long, Lu Mingfei still held the unconscious Nuonuo tightly in his left hand, while holding the giant horse-slaying sword "Rage" in his right hand. He raised it high, the blade not pointing at the incoming Monarch Flame.

"Get out of here!"

The blade slashed down!

The enormous "rage" was as light as a feather in his hand, drawing a perfect arc of death, a blend of blood red and dark gold, rising from bottom to top to meet the hundred-meter-long fireball that was almost burning his hair!

"roar--!!!"

Lu Mingfei and the "Rage" in his hand simultaneously unleashed a deafening roar! It was a roar of blood boiling to the extreme, and also the hungry cry of a ferocious weapon yearning to drink the blood of the Dragon King!

Blade and Flame, a head-on clash!

boom!!!!!!!!!!

An extreme explosion of light, heat, sound, and impact, beyond description, instantly engulfed everything!

There was no stalemate, no resolution.

In the reflection of Norton's suddenly dilated pupils, an unforgettable scene unfolded—