“Rooooar!”
In the sky above the imperial capital, a beam of golden light pierced through the clouds. Qin Tian, transformed into a divine dragon, streaked across the heavens and reached the Mutant Beast Observation Center in an incredibly short time. But by the time he arrived, the area had already become a battlefield—every building had been reduced to rubble.
The ground was littered with the bodies of both humans and mutated beasts. Even now, ability users were still locked in brutal combat with the creatures. To Qin Tian’s surprise, he even spotted a giant panda going head-to-head with a snow leopard.
Without overthinking it, he gathered a massive sphere of blazing light in his maw. A crimson beam tore through the sky and crashed down onto the earth.
“BOOM!”
Under the scorching impact, every mutated beast caught in the blast was pierced clean through.
Qin Tian reverted to his human form and landed on the ground, his face utterly expressionless. He stretched out his right hand, and a blade forged from crackling thunder manifested in his grip.
“Kill!”
Endless arcs of lightning surged across his body. With a burst of speed, he charged straight into the heart of the battlefield.
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
With extreme velocity combined with the ferocity of lightning, Qin Tian was like a god of war on the battlefield, reaping the lives of mutated beasts without mercy.
“Hiss… hiss…”
At that moment, a colossal python lunged at him.
“BAM!”
He pivoted on his heel and unleashed a whip kick, carrying devastating force that sent the giant serpent flying. Then, he hurled the lightning blade from his hand—it transformed into a serpent of electricity that chased down the beast and pierced straight through its body.
“The Dragon Emperor! The Dragon Emperor is here!”
At the sight of Qin Tian, relief washed over the faces of all the ability users.
After all, Qin Tian was one of the strongest ability users in all of China—his power completely overwhelmed these mutated beasts.
Though one man alone wasn’t enough against such overwhelming numbers, his presence still gave them a much-needed boost in morale.
Qin Tian frowned, his hands never stopping. Every time that blue-violet arc of lightning flashed, it claimed another beast’s life.
But it wasn’t enough!
The monsters on the battlefield were no longer just the ones from the observation center—more mutated beasts from the surrounding areas were converging on this spot. At this rate, wiping them all out would take far, far too long.
He needed greater power.
And so, he had no choice but to choose a path now.
There was the Thunder Dragon, the Golden Dragon, the Azure Dragon, the Black Dragon… While he wouldn’t be able to freely wield the powers of other dragon types as he could now, the purity of his chosen path would increase, allowing him to unleash the true might of dragonkind.
“Then… I’ll choose the Thunder—”
The power of lightning was what Qin Tian was most accustomed to. Moreover, lightning excelled in both speed and destructive force—choosing it would accelerate his cleanup of these beasts. But just as he was about to commit to the Thunder Dragon evolution route…
Time itself in the area where he stood came to a halt.
The mutated beasts, the ability users, the attacks hanging in the air, the splattered blood—all of it froze in place. Though he could still move, he found himself unable to use any of his abilities.
“Rooooar!”
A dragon’s cry echoed beside Qin Tian’s ear. Then, in front of him appeared a crimson crystal shard engraved with a dragon’s head, along with a summoning device shaped like a clawed gauntlet, etched with flame runes.
“The Flame Dragon Summoner?”
Surprise flickered in Qin Tian’s eyes. He was around the same age as Huo Yu, so of course he’d watched Armor Hero as a kid and even fantasized about becoming an armored hero himself. But a fantasy was just a fantasy—it could never become reality.
“Is it… him?”
Bai Xuan’s figure surfaced in Qin Tian’s mind. He didn’t know that Bai Xuan possessed the ability to manifest characters and worlds from film and anime—aside from Huo Yu, only the highest echelons of the Chinese government knew that secret.
But one thing he understood clearly: if there was anyone who could create the Flame Dragon Armor, it could only be Bai Xuan!
He was a man with the might of a god!
Qin Tian had fought Bai Xuan once before. He’d lost disastrously—even going all out, he was utterly crushed.
No matter what attack he threw at Bai Xuan, it had absolutely no effect.
His supposedly formidable physique was casually overwhelmed.
In the end, Bai Xuan had simply manifested five elemental dragons and watched as they toyed with Qin Tian.
The gap in power was just too vast.
According to Chen Bing, Bai Xuan could easily suppress his abilities with a thought.
He wouldn’t even be able to use his powers.
[Natural Authority] —a force almost divine in nature.
If anyone could create the Flame Dragon Armor, it was him.
You gave this to me… because you know I’m lost right now, don’t you?
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Qin Tian’s mouth. He strapped the summoner onto his arm, inserted the Fire Crystal into the device, and declared:
“Flame Dragon Armor—COMBINE!”
As his voice faded, the frozen flow of time resumed. And then—a dragon’s roar, accompanied by an overwhelming pressure, swept across the battlefield. Every human and every beast froze in place, their bodies rendered immobile beneath that oppressive force.
“Armor—COMBINE!”
A solemn, righteous voice rang out. A fiery red dragon-shaped armor encased Qin Tian’s body. A moment later, a terrifying burst of flames erupted from him, shooting upward as a crimson pillar that tore through the clouds.
Meanwhile, at Bai Xuan’s home, Bai Xuan—who had been playing with Pikachu—seemed to sense something. He looked up toward the sky.
“So the Flame Dragon Armor chose Qin Tian as its master.”
“A divine dragon paired with the Flame Dragon…”
“Not a bad match.”
Bai Xuan withdrew his gaze and gave a nod of approval at the armor’s choice.
Qin Tian was raised by China, came from a family of soldiers, and held deep loyalty to his country in his heart.
For him, the nation and its people stood above all else.
In terms of justice alone, some might argue that his brand of righteousness was limited only to China, not the world—that it wasn’t inclusive enough.
But China was enough.
For Qin Tian, he didn’t care how the rest of the world turned out. What he cared about was China—and only China.
“The Flame Dragon Armor is something I manifested, perfectly preserving the characteristics from Armor Hero. Its upper limit is theoretically based on me, but for you, it’s more than enough.”
The Five Elements Armors have no fixed ceiling—their power depends entirely on their summoners.
And Qin Tian, having awakened the Divine Dragon ability with a body as tough as a dragon cub’s, would undoubtedly surpass Xin Nan from the original series when clad in the Flame Dragon Armor.
Even in just his Flame Dragon form, the power he could unleash was terrifying.
“The Flame Dragon Armor chose Qin Tian… I wonder who the others will choose.”
With a light chuckle, Bai Xuan turned his attention back to playing with Pikachu.
