Chapter 21: The Battle Beyond the Golden Heavens Part 4: The Clash of Two Paths The sky had become a battlefield between two different eras. On one side... The Golden Heaven Formation. The final protection of the Garuda clan. A formation created from countless generations of inheritance, strengthened by the power of the Celestial Golden Sky Citadel itself. On the other side... The Originless Celestial Domain. A power that had never existed before. A path created by Adrian alone. The two forces collided. BOOM! The heavens shook. Golden light and silver light covered the entire sky. The Garuda warriors watched with fear and admiration. Their homeland was being pushed to its limit. The three ancient elders stood behind the ancestor. They could feel it. The Golden Heaven Formation was using everything the Citadel had. The ancestor was fighting with the determination to protect the last symbol of their civilization. But Adrian... Was still advancing. Inside the Originless Celestial Domain, Adrian stood calmly. The Void Sovereign Skyblade floated beside him. The sword was different from before. It no longer carried only sharpness. It carried understanding. Every battle. Every enemy. Every moment of his journey. All of them had become part of the sword. The Garuda Ancestor looked at Adrian. "You continue creating new techniques during battle." "How far can your path evolve?" Adrian did not answer. Because the answer was not something that could be explained. It had to be shown. The Garuda Ancestor raised the Sky Emperor Feather Blade. The golden formation behind him gathered. "Ancient Garuda Supreme Art." "Nine Heavens Divine Execution." The entire sky changed. Nine enormous golden wings appeared behind the ancestor. Each wing represented an ancient era of the Garuda clan. The first wing carried the power of the ancient battlefield. The second wing carried the power of endless skies. The third wing carried the power of the bloodline. The remaining wings contained countless years of accumulated strength. Then... All nine wings descended. The attack was not a single strike. It was an entire era falling upon Adrian. The Naga warriors felt their souls tremble. Even the three elders were forced to retreat. "That is the ancestor's strongest technique..." The first elder whispered. "No enemy has ever survived it." Adrian looked at the incoming golden wings. Then... He closed his eyes. For a brief moment. The battlefield became silent. The sword in his hand became still. A sword did not need endless power. A sword needed clarity. The Void Sovereign Skyblade moved. Not forward. Not backward. Sideways. As if cutting through the space between two moments. "Originless Time Sever." A silver line appeared. There was no explosion. No massive shockwave. Only silence. The first golden wing reached Adrian. Then... It stopped. A crack appeared across it. The second wing stopped. Then the third. One after another... The nine golden wings began breaking apart. The Garuda warriors stared in disbelief. The technique was not destroyed by force. It was separated. The connection between the attack and its existence had been cut. The Garuda Ancestor's eyes widened. "You cut the relationship between the technique and reality..." Adrian lowered his sword. "Everything exists because of connections." "If those connections are severed..." "Even the strongest attack will disappear." The remaining golden wings shattered. The entire sky became filled with golden fragments. But the Garuda Ancestor did not retreat. Instead... He smiled. "Excellent." "Very few beings have ever forced me to use my true power." The golden fragments around him gathered again. The ancestor's aura became even stronger. The three elders were shocked. "Ancestor..." "He is using the origin of the Garuda bloodline." The golden feathers on the ancestor's body began changing. They became brighter. Older. More powerful. The pressure increased. "This is..." The Naga King looked serious. "His original form." The Garuda Ancestor spread his wings. The wings were no longer simply physical. They represented the entire existence of the Garuda race. Their pride. Their survival. Their history. Their endless struggle. "Human." "Your technique is powerful." "But can you cut through an entire civilization's will?" The ancestor moved. The sky disappeared. The Golden Heaven Formation transformed into a massive golden sword. A weapon created from the entire Citadel. The ancestor held it. Then... He slashed. "Garuda Final Heaven Slash." The attack descended. Even space itself trembled. Adrian looked at the approaching slash. The previous techniques were not enough. The Originless Path was not about repeating the past. It was about creating the answer needed for the present. The Void Sovereign Skyblade trembled. New understanding appeared. Sword. Space. Will. Existence. A new technique formed. Adrian stepped forward. The Originless Celestial Domain changed. All silver formations gathered into the sword. "Originless Empty Heaven." The sword moved. The slash contained no destructive aura. It was empty. Pure. Absolute. The golden slash and silver slash collided. For several seconds... Nothing happened. Then— Crack. A line appeared between the two attacks. The golden light began splitting. The Garuda Ancestor's expression changed. Because Adrian's technique was not fighting against his attack. It was creating a space where his attack could no longer exist. The golden sword shattered. The shockwave spread across the heavens. The Celestial Golden Sky Citadel shook violently. Several ancient towers collapsed. The three elders looked at Adrian in silence. A new technique. Created in the middle of battle. A technique that even they could not understand. The Garuda Ancestor looked at Adrian. For the first time... His expression was no longer only pride. It was respect. But the battle was not over. The ancestor still stood. And behind him... The deepest part of the Celestial Golden Sky Citadel began awakening. Something even older than the Garuda Ancestor himself. Something hidden beneath the foundation of their civilization. The true secret of the Garuda clan. Was about to appear.