March's remaining two arrows struck the massive, divine Abundance projection that Shuhu had summoned.
But the projection hesitated—as if sensing something fundamentally wrong within the very concept of the arrows.
Then, a gaping hole burned right through its absolute, sacred barrier.
Shuhu's ultimate defense was completely gone.
Thwack. Thwack.
The two arrows buried themselves deep into his mutated flesh.
He screamed, a horrific, tearing sound ripped from his very core.
"AAAAHHHH—!!!"
"Impossible! How dare you defile the Sanctus Medicus's protection?!"
He collapsed to his knees, staring at March 7th with absolute disbelief and burning hatred.
The arrows cut far deeper than mere physical flesh. They tore violently at his very soul. He writhed in unimaginable agony.
March proudly puffed out her chest.
"Told you! You're not winning today!"
"Emanator? I'll shoot right through you!" She dismissed him with a confident huff.
Himeko stared at March in absolute disbelief. She had genuinely thought March couldn't possibly fight an Emanator. But that divine projection... Himeko highly suspected exactly who it was. And if she was right... the fact that March's arrows had pierced it was a miracle defying all cosmic logic.
"Don't celebrate yet, little girl."
"The Abundance's true power is far beyond your mortal imagination. This little scratch means absolutely nothing." Shuhu gritted his teeth, intensely focusing to marshal his remaining strength.
"Mighty Sanctus Medicus! Grant me your boundless mercy!" He called out, his voice echoing with fanatical reverence.
Behind him, the massive projection stirred. It hesitated. Then, one of its six divine arms moved, gently scattering a shower of faintly glowing dust over his prone form.
The divine dust held a concentrated vitality a hundred times stronger than the golden trees that had bloomed earlier.
The dust fell upon Shuhu. The sheer vitality surged wildly through his veins.
Then—it vanished. It was completely eaten by something unseen.
Shuhu violently coughed up thick, golden blood.
"No! I'm... I'm fading!"
He desperately clutched at the deep wounds where March's arrows had struck him. The physical arrows themselves were gone, but something conceptual lingered. A strange, undeniable energy was actively gnawing at his flesh, aggressively devouring his very life force.
His horrific wounds wouldn't heal. Instead, they began to slowly, painfully spread.
"What is this?!"
"Even the Sanctus Medicus's divine power cannot stop it?!"
He was utterly stunned. At this rate, his soul would soon be completely consumed.
"Hah!"
"Abomination! This is your preordained fate!"
"Shuhu. All of you. You all deserve to die!"
Jingliu had finally snapped back to reality. Watching her ancient enemy writhe in agony, she began to laugh—a sound that was almost manic, teetering on the edge of weeping.
"Hahahaha... See? This is exactly what Abundance filth deserves..."
"If only you could see this, Baiheng..." Her voice trailed off into a broken, mournful whisper.
Himeko sensed an incredibly tragic story there. But there was still a desperate battle to finish.
Behind Shuhu, the Abundance projection silently examined the devouring conceptual energy currently eating away at its Emanator. It slowly reached out a divine hand to touch the wound.
A sudden flicker of pain crossed its featureless, sacred face.
The massive projection abruptly crumbled into golden dust and blew away in the wind.
"No! Sanctus Medicus! Do not abandon us!" Shuhu screamed in pure terror.
The avatar of Yaoshi was gone.
"Alright, ugly! Time to finish this!" March raised her black-and-white bow, drawing the string back for the final, lethal shot.
Shuhu's golden eyes went completely wild with despair and madness.
"Ha... hahaha..."
He staggered heavily to his feet.
"Girl. You are unexpectedly strong. But... this is just an avatar. A mere possession."
His layered voice cracked horrifically. "You think killing this physical body means anything?"
"Kill this body? Go ahead. It means absolutely nothing."
Shuhu's sudden, twisted smile deeply unsettled March. A terrible feeling stirred in her gut.
"But since I am already here, I refuse to leave empty-handed."
His remaining energy suddenly surged outward in a violent, chaotic vortex.
"Let this dying avatar... take this entire planet... and take all of you... with me!"
He poured out every last drop of his corrupted power. His massive, wooden body began to rapidly swell, turning into a living, planetary bomb primed to annihilate everything within a thousand-mile radius.
"He's insane! There are thousands of his own people still here!" March's face drained entirely of color.
"March! Now! Stop him!" Jingliu shouted desperately. End him before the catastrophic blast.
Shuhu had completely anticipated this reaction.
"Useless, little girl."
"I am a heavily over-pressurized balloon. One tiny prick and I burst. Your arrow won't stop the detonation. It will simply pull the trigger."
"You will be the one who officially killed this planet." He laughed, utterly triumphant even in the face of his own localized death.
Then, Yuki calmly rose from his crystalline throne.
"Seriously. All you Abundance fanatics always have a few screws loose in your heads."
"A literal suicide bomber? Really?" Yuki casually drifted down toward the center of the battlefield.
Seeing him, March's rising panic instantly subsided. He was her absolute, steady ground.
"Who are you?" Shuhu asked, startled by the unfathomable newcomer who hadn't been factored into his calculations.
"Your end," Yuki replied smoothly, not even looking at the swollen monster. He simply glanced sideways at March.
"Idiot. You said you wanted to see my swordplay?"
"Watch closely."
"This is what a real sword looks like."
Yuki reached out his hand into the empty space in front of him, his fingers slowly closing.
The fabric of space violently cracked open. A pristine blade forged of pure, conceptual energy materialized perfectly in his grip.
He casually raised it.
And swung.
In that singular moment, the entire world completely lost its color, fading into stark, monochromatic tones.
The howling wind stilled. The swirling dust clouds froze perfectly in place. The entire universe went absolutely silent. There was no sound, no physical law, no forward motion.
A single, silent flash of blinding light smoothly severed reality itself. It cut effortlessly through time and space. It cleanly sliced through fate and reincarnation. It made all things—every concept, every grand existence, every divine being—seem impossibly pale and infinitely small.
It lasted for only a fraction of a second. Then, the vibrant colors of the world instantly resumed.