*RUMBLE!*
A deafening roar echoed in the distance, growing louder by the second. It was the sound of a massive object moving at terrifying speed.
With his Six Eyes, Charlie spotted Heracles far off.
Heracles charged in a straight line toward him. Each step left craters in the ground, and his mighty body smashed through every obstacle—ruins, standing buildings, even a six-story apartment complex—with brute force, leaving only destruction behind.
"Estimated 20 seconds until Heracles arrives."
Calculating the enemy's arrival in his mind, Charlie pushed aside the lingering discomfort and weakness in his body. His newly reattached limbs felt foreign and throbbed slightly, but there was no time to adjust.
"Let's end this drawn-out fight quickly. Don't give Heracles another chance to use Nine Lives. Otherwise, I'm afraid the previous incident will repeat."
Muttering to himself, he used Spirit Art, visualizing defying gravity, levitating two meters above the ground.
"Onii-chan. Don't lose."
Est's voice transmitted directly into Charlie's mind, serious and full of concern.
"Thanks for the encouragement, Est. I've been showing my pathetic side this whole time, haven't I? This time, let me show you my cool side!"
"To me, Onii-chan always looks cool."
"Really? Glad to hear that."
The brief exchange dispelled the remnants of fear lingering in his heart.
It would be a lie to say Charlie felt no fear in this situation.
Heracles wasn't just intimidating in appearance; his real power and ability to rise repeatedly could break anyone's spirit.
Ultimately, Charlie was human. Fear was part of him, one of the seven emotions and six desires binding humanity. What mattered was how he faced it.
"…"
No more words. Only the thunderous sound of Heracles' approaching footsteps, like war drums signaling the final act.
Time ticked on. Ten seconds, eight seconds, five seconds…
When Heracles was exactly fifty meters away, his figure emerged clearly through the dust haze, charging like a juggernaut. Charlie didn't hesitate. He seized the initiative, launching forward.
"Oblivion Strike!"
The shout marked the release of his original ultimate technique.
The Development Ability Strong Body at I-rank gave him raw physical strength equivalent to two tons—already beyond human limits. But with Mana Burst and Physical Enchant activated together, his body exploded with temporary power of eight tons.
*BZZZ!*
A silver-blue aura enveloped Charlie, shattering the air with a sonic boom as he surged forward. His speed reached Mach 12—over four thousand meters per second. Fast enough to tear air like thin paper.
But raw strength and speed weren't the only keys to the technique.
The true secret lay in the Development Ability Chain Attack. Though still at G-rank, its effect was insane: each consecutive strike doubled the power of the previous one.
*WHOOSH!*
*BANG!*
The first strike carried about 67.8 billion joules of kinetic energy. Charlie slashed Heracles with force capable of toppling a skyscraper.
*BANG!*
The second strike followed a fraction of a second later. Power doubled to 136 billion joules. Terminus Est's silver blade cleaved through Heracles' freshly healed shoulder. The second sonic boom shook the ground, blasting dust and debris dozens of meters away.
*BANG!*
The third strike slashed downward, carrying 271 billion joules of destructive force. Charlie moved so fast the surrounding air exploded into white plasma, leaving a silver flame trail in the sky.
*BANG!*
The fourth strike came from the right—542 billion joules, enough to obliterate a reinforced concrete bunker in one sweep.
*BANG!*
The fifth—1.08 trillion joules—shook the earth, striking the already mangled Heracles. The ground split, air formed pressure vortices, sweeping ruins within a hundred-meter radius clean.
*SWISH!*
And finally, the last slash. Charlie gathered momentum from the five previous strikes, his body spinning mid-air like a spiral of light. Chain Attack amplified the final slash thirty-two times from the start.
The sixth strike was unleashed.
The resulting sound was no longer audible. It was as if the sky itself screamed.
The kinetic energy released reached about 2.17 trillion joules, equivalent to 519 tons of TNT—approaching half a kiloton of tactical nuclear power.
*BOOOOMMMMMM!*
The explosion's center was Heracles' body.
A massive crater formed in the ground, nearly 150 meters in diameter, with scorched, glass-like melted walls.
The shockwave swept everything around it, crushing metal structures, bending steel, and pulverizing stone into fine dust. The pressure could wipe out an entire urban district in an instant.
In less than 0.0073 seconds, the six strikes were complete—forming a glowing hexagonal pattern in the air that slowly faded with the heat and dust.
What about Heracles' condition?
Charlie's countdown was the answer.
"Four."
Standing at the center of the crater created by Oblivion Strike, Charlie's breath came in gasps, chest heaving rapidly.
His usually neat white hair was now disheveled, trembling in the hot wind still radiating from the melted ground.
Heat waves emanated from his body, remnants of such immense energy release. Around him, only heavy silence remained.
"Next attack!"
Raising Terminus Est high, Charlie prepared another ultimate technique before his opponent could fully revive from death. He wouldn't give him time!
*SHUAAA!*
Magical essence rapidly compressed, forming a dark purple barrier dome covering a 100-meter radius around them.
Of course, Charlie deliberately limited the radius. This wasn't his upper limit. If he wanted, the attack could easily engulf all of Minato Ward, maybe more. But he didn't need to destroy more than necessary.
His target was one: Heracles.
"ROAAARRRRR!"
As expected, even after his body was obliterated without a trace, Heracles revived thanks to his Noble Phantasm, God Hand.
Scattered flesh and bone fragments pulled together like magnets, reforming the giant's mighty body. Heracles rose once more.
But the moment he fully recovered, he was met with another merciless attack.
"I Am Atomic!"
After Charlie spoke the technique's name, blinding light shone from within the purple barrier.
The next second, as if history repeated itself when American bombers dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Heracles now bore that explosion.
*BOOOOMMMMM!*
The blast shook the earth. A small but dense mushroom cloud shot into the sky, rising high before spreading. The sound was heavy, deafening to unprotected ears.
Inside the blast zone, everything—air, earth, ruins—was transformed into plasma. Just revived, Heracles had no chance to counter.
To mimic I Am Atomic, Charlie used Six Eyes' energy control to exponentially compress his magical essence. He pushed essence density beyond its stable limit, replicating the focused destructive power and heat of an atomic explosion.
"…"
When the light faded, the purple barrier vanished. What remained was a second crater, overlapping the first but far deeper and more scorched.
"Hah… Hah… Three."
Charlie staggered, Terminus Est stabbed into the ground to support him. He could barely stand.
Using two Strategic-Class attacks in succession within seconds had drained not just his stamina—despite Infinite Essence—but also his physical body, already at its limit.
"Just a little more! I can't collapse at the critical moment…"