The clash of these two moves was nothing short of earth-shattering.
Among them, "Gundari Dragon Surge" was an enhanced version of the Whistling Arrow.
And "Great Might Thunder Bagua" was a powered-up version of Thunder Bagua.
With Conqueror's Haki condensed to its peak, even from dozens of meters away, Uchiha Hikari could faintly sense the terrifying energy coursing through Kaido's club. It was a mix of searing light and heat, like a sun about to rise, making even a battle-hardened warrior like her feel a twinge of unease.
"...Is this the power of the 'Strongest Creature'?"
"Not bad. A bit more impressive than I expected."
"In that case... I'll give you the respect you deserve."
As her thoughts raced...
Hikari gripped her blade with both hands, raised it high, and took a deep breath.
As the dragonbone katana was lifted, an invisible ripple burst from her body, sweeping across most of Onigashima.
With the spread of this ripple, everything began to slow down. Kaido's movements, Esdeath and Jin in the distance, Yamato, even the birds flying high above and the leaves drifting far off—all seemed to hit 0.5x speed, then slowed further to a near-frozen 0.1x. Every detail, from the smallest feather to the tiniest speck, became crystal clear.
—Word Spirit: Time Zero!
At this moment...
It was like a scene from the Hassaikai estate, replayed here.
Ever since receiving that time fragment from Lu Mingze, Hikari had been consciously exploring and honing its power.
She was still new to it, and her "Time Zero" wasn't as refined as Ango or Lu Mingze's, unable to fully stop time. But she could stretch it, creating a domain that covered the entire island, slowing time by a factor of about 30—equivalent to three to five seconds.
That said...
It was enough.
In those stretched seconds granted by "Time Zero," Hikari's aura surged, her body's power rallying as her joints cracked faintly. A silver spark ignited at the tip of her blade, gleaming like a newborn sun.
Then...
It surged like a tide, engulfing the entire katana!!
In that moment, the dragonbone blade, forged from the remains of a dragon's essence, glowed with blinding radiance.
Even before she swung, the air around her grew chaotic. Countless turbulent currents swirled around the blade and Hikari, radiating a terrifying heat that isolated everything nearby.
WHOOSH—
Above the four-meter-long dragonbone katana...
A phantom blade of pure silver light took shape, ballooning in an instant to a terrifying ten meters tall!
It could've grown even larger.
But...
Time was running out.
Under Hikari's gaze, Kaido's spiked club was already inches away, poised to crush her in the next second.
So...
At the final moment of "Time Zero's" extended effect, Hikari exhaled sharply, swung her arm with all her might, and unleashed the long-charged strike!!
"This move..."
"Is the true 'Starfall'!!!"
The blade's light was blinding.
Like a meteor crashing to earth!!
As Hikari swung her blade, the time-freezing effect ended. In her vision, Kaido's speed surged, his club whistling with a sonic boom and trailing afterimages. The next second, her blade's energy collided with the force erupting from Kaido!
From Hikari's perspective...
She saw purple lightning intertwine with silvery moonlight, blending into a violet-brown hue.
Then, the two energies formed a dazzling circular curtain, expanding outward like a rising sun, engulfing an area spanning several kilometers in an instant! A milky-white shockwave poured forth like a flood, pulverizing buildings into dust and tearing the earth apart with relentless cracks!!
Along with this "sun" came a heat intense enough to melt steel instantly, permeating every inch of the air. Even Hikari, cloaked in her "Fire Thunder God" veil, felt an unbearable dryness, as if all the moisture in her body was being evaporated!
In this chaos, vision was useless.
Even the Sharingan couldn't stare directly at a "sun" from such close range.
With her eyes closed, Hikari still felt a stinging pain through her eyelids, accompanied by deafening explosions from all directions, ringing painfully in her ears.
BOOM—
The sound of countless cannons firing in unison arrived late, catching up to the shifting lights and shadows.
Cones of fiery sound blasted outward, only to be swallowed by that "sun."
Finally, a massive mushroom cloud soared into the sky! The sea around the island churned with towering waves!
The earth trembled, and mountains shook!!
...
It was impossible to say how much time passed.
Maybe a second.
Maybe half an hour.
As the all-encompassing dust settled, Onigashima had transformed completely.
No...
Whether it could even still be called Onigashima was debatable.
The massive skull that dominated the island was gone.
Gone in the literal sense.
The explosion in the sky had ground it to dust, leaving barely any stones larger than a pebble. Fortunately, the island's armory, buried deep underground, was covered by debris before it could detonate, preventing an even greater catastrophe.
The surrounding land was scarred with crisscrossing ravines, the largest and longest stretching from near the fortress to the island's edge, nearly splitting Onigashima in two.
As for Kaido, Yamato, and the others...
They were nowhere to be seen.
The only relatively intact "structure" left was a massive ice dome, dozens of meters tall and nearly solid inside, built from Esdeath's ice.
Even this dome was riddled with holes from the explosion, like a doll trampled by an elephant.
Through the dozens of meters of ice, Esdeath's silhouette was faintly visible, along with Jin, lying half-dead at her feet, one wing torn off.
"...Is it over?"
A flicker of light shimmered in the sky.
Then, Uchiha Hikari's figure reappeared in midair, arms crossed, floating effortlessly.