Chapter 776: A Battle with No Winners
Screech!
The clear ring of a sword echoed between heaven and earth. The brilliance of light and dark instantly spread from the planet itself.
Amidst the tremors of heaven and earth, everyone's face filled with terror as they clutched their hearts.
High in the sky, the Six Eyes all over Satoru Gojo's body were wide open. He used his 360-degree vision to watch this scene of heaven and earth wailing.
Black Face, gripping his continuously vibrating white tachi, wore a solemn expression.
"This is... a sword strike that cleaves the world..."
Artoria muttered to herself. Although she wielded the Holy Sword of the Planet, she had never truly unleashed this level of power.
This was a power that exceeded her understanding.
Has that guy really reached this step?
For some reason, Artoria felt this scene was like a firework burning to its end. Did that guy choose to unleash everything with such absolute resolve because he knew his Destined Death had arrived?
No, she immediately overturned her own thought. As practically the first spirit resurrected by Mercenary Tao, she knew very well that the guy probably truly didn't care about his own life or death.
This sword strike wasn't an outburst of desperation facing death; it was the Path of a Seeker of Truth!
In the sky on the other side, Mori-Summer, who had just severed the head of VenomMyotismon with a single strike, watched the terrifying black-and-white sword light that plunged into the world and rose into the night sky.
Her scalp tingled.
This sword strike wasn't particularly unique in any technical sense, but it contained the truest, most undeniable power.
No technique was needed, no "entering the Realm of Law through technique" was required. With only the purest power, it could cleave everything!
Hum!
Mori-Summer's mind wavered, and the radiance of her Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light quickly dimmed. VenomMyotismon's headless body suddenly swung a massive palm, actually sending Mori-Summer flying.
Reinhardt, whose mind was in similar turmoil, didn't even notice Mori-Summer's abnormal state. It was Roman who formed hand seals, the Kuji-in (Nine Syllable Seals) appearing sequentially.
A massive sealing array instantly sealed VenomMyotismon, while the Soul Insects fluttered out to catch Mori-Summer.
Pfft!
Within the golden ocean, Sousuke felt the unparalleled terror of that sword strike. The star-destroying blow directly crushed the very essence of the [Child of the Stars] trait.
A massive amount of golden blood erupted from his body, turning red a split second later.
Squelch!
The sound of flesh and tissue being completely sliced open occurred. A clean, severed cut appeared across his chest, and then his body snapped in two. A large amount of flesh, blood, and internal organs spilled into the ocean.
RUMBLE!
The next moment, he felt the thunderous shaking of the seabed below. A rift had already pierced through everything. A massive suction force appeared in the ocean. The wails of sea beasts, the terrified roars of magical beasts...
Everything was unsustainable.
Sousuke reached out to touch his chest. A heart floated in the water, beating slower and slower.
"To think you actually reached this step. Mercenary Tao... No, Kaito Shirogane, you really are... quite something~"
Sousuke had envisioned many scenarios of his death, but none of them involved being killed by a Reincarnator.
Even the one closest to their tier, [Yoko], was still far from being able to kill him.
But he never expected that Kaito Shirogane, this anomaly fabricated by Sosuke Aizen, would actually reach this level in this world.
He was also well aware that Kaito Shirogane's current state was abnormal. He had highly likely merged deeply with Azi Dahaka, and the power of Another Cosmology wasn't something easily touched.
And this also corresponded to the other party encountering his [Destined Death] in this world.
Merging with Azi Dahaka granted extraordinary power, but it also meant accepting the destiny of the [Demon Lord of Absolute Evil]: to be defeated by the power symbolizing [Good].
Sousuke sank towards the rift in the seabed. His consciousness began to drift. At this moment, his fear had dissipated considerably. He even started wondering what color the Crimson Drop Card he manifested would be, and what the Space could leave for latecomers from his remains.
However, it was quite a pity. Kaito Shirogane, the one who killed him, would also die in this world. These two powerful forces were ultimately lost.
Sorry about this, Space. I, the great me, am going to die first!
"Ah!"
Kaito Shirogane roared at the sky. Unleashing power of that level made his spirit feel immensely liberated.
It was as if the desires he had suppressed all along had been satisfied. This genuine sense of completeness and fulfillment was something Kaito Shirogane experienced for the first time in his life.
He clutched his chest. There, his heart beat fiercely. It wasn't just his Heart of the Thunder God, nor the Mad King's heart he had placed in his chest. It was deeper...
His true self was overjoyed!
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Rings of murky grey halos rippled outward from Kaito Shirogane's body. They quickly merged with the black halos naturally generated by the intense force field surrounding him.
From a distance, it looked as if the three-headed evil dragon Kaito Shirogane, merely tapping his toes on the ocean's surface, radiated concentric rings of black luster.
"This is..."
Even someone as strong as Azi Dahaka had never seen this kind of power. This unique power seemed to well up from the deepest part of an individual's soul, manifesting independently without relying on any Gift.
It was as if it were the manifestation of the most essential power of every independent individual, devoid of any external add-ons.
This power didn't exist because he bore the destiny of Absolute Evil, nor did it exist because of his Dragon Species bloodline. This was... power unique to a free individual!
The two were essentially of one mind and body at this moment. Kaito Shirogane's impassioned will quickly infected Azi Dahaka with a frenzied fighting spirit.
Roar!
Right at this moment, the demonic dragon Tiamat roared in anger because the world had been slashed. Instantly, the three-headed evil dragon looked around.
Every single powerful entity was reflected in his eyes. Without him realizing it, the crimson phantom had already appeared on Kaito Shirogane's body.
The Omen of the Evil God had triggered naturally. Everyone, including Izayoi Sakamaki and the Beast of Comparison, was marked by the Gaze of Pride in an instant.
Kaito Shirogane and Azi Dahaka harbored no other thoughts. Raising [Irreconcilable Enemy] high, their posture bent slightly.
The next moment, a streak of light moving at extreme speed erupted.
The Beast of Comparison turned into a streak of light, but the black-and-white sword light exploded in mid-air, slashing straight past the atmosphere.
The white Beast froze in mid-air, its size rapidly shrinking.
Because [Despair Savior] was active, and with the blessing of the Alaya Consciousness, [Primate Murder], as an enemy of primates, was targeted by the Counter Force almost immediately.
Kaito Shirogane similarly gained the special offensive property that made his attacks unavoidable and un-nullifiable against creatures hostile to primates.
With a single strike, this Beast of Twisted Human Order, which grew stronger as its opponent grew stronger, was bisected.
The instant the black-and-white sword light pierced the atmosphere and flew into space, the three-headed evil dragon had already slashed back in the other direction.
Pfft!
The two sword lights arrived almost simultaneously. As the Beast of Comparison was slain, reverting to its original size, and slowly faded away, the black-and-white sword light also sliced through the demonic dragon Tiamat's body.
This Mother Goddess of Creation let out a wailing roar. But in the blink of an eye, countless sword lights flared across Her body.
The dense sword light pulverized everything. Along with the Sea of Life and a massive number of magical beasts, everything was shattered by a single sword.
Outside the world, Ye Zi, who had just shown an expression of ecstasy, now stood frozen.
The world of the Gift Game was on the verge of shattering, but the future where she became a calamity and massacred hundreds of thousands of people still hadn't materialized.
She focused her gaze, only to see that between the city-states, Asuka Kudo, Black Rabbit, and others, allied with figures from the Salamandra Community, had actually managed to hold off the magical beasts' attack.
The magical beasts, which should have been boundless, were unable to achieve the reality of absolute annihilation because of the continuous appearance of white wyverns.
Indeed, a massive number of this world's natives were destroyed, but a huge portion of Underwood's residents survived.
In the end, all she had achieved was recreating a world she had once seen suffer a disaster, and then destroying that world again.
Without causing real casualties, she couldn't be called a calamity at all.
Of the Beasts of Twisted Human Order she had so desperately sought, one was infected by Sousuke's dying Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light and lost its hostility.
One was slain outright by the three-headed evil dragon formed by the fusion of Kaito Shirogane and Azi Dahaka.
And the last one... was already utterly defenseless before the three-headed evil dragon.
"Mercenary Tao..."
She watched helplessly as that lunatic Mercenary Tao destroyed Sousuke's miracle, allowing her plan to succeed, only to directly crush it head-on with his monstrous power on the eve of its success.
Ye Zi lost her composure somewhat. She stepped out of her hiding place. Hakumen and Madara Uchiha, hiding in the dark, had initially felt it was a pity that she had escaped using her bizarre ability. Now, their killing intent surged again.
"It shouldn't be like this. This kind of development... what meaning is left in any of this..."
The development at this moment, in Ye Zi's eyes, was truly the worst possible outcome.
In fact, not just from her perspective; from anyone's perspective, this development could be called a "trash tier" outcome.
For the Infinite Dimensional Space and the Reincarnator faction, this battle resulted in the death of one of the Supreme Three Kings, Sousuke. Although this was the inevitable result of him encountering that top-tier pantheon in another world—his Destined Death.
At the same time, the potential top-tier combatant, Mercenary Tao, would also be killed because of his fusion with Azi Dahaka.
Moreover, because neither of them died at the hands of other Reincarnators who could return alive, their information could not be perfectly recovered. This meant the Space directly lost two high-density blocks of [Information]!
The Infinite Dimensional Space and the Reincarnator faction suffered a massive loss.
As for her own side, she failed to become a calamity, and she failed to foster the timeline where Reincarnators became a massive disaster. The Halloween Queen, Shiroyasha, and that group of 4-Digit and 3-Digit Gods and Buddhas would not intervene in the Dimensional War.
She lost the Queen's trust, the power of the End of Rhapsody, all the reputation she had accumulated in this world, and... the trust those people had in her.
She was even prepared to bear the guilt of killing hundreds of thousands of people, but in the end, she gained nothing.
She too, suffered a crushing defeat.
For the Halloween Queen and the Little Garden factions, they had expended a great deal of effort, only to ultimately witness a tasteless exhibition match.
Bland. Exceedingly bland!
Ye Zi couldn't accept this ending. She knelt on one knee in devotion before the Halloween Queen and Shiroyasha.
"Queen, please grant me power once more. I must, I absolutely must—"
Hum~ Screech!
An intense sword ring echoed at this moment. The Halloween Queen opened her eyes. She raised her hand, and the black-and-white sword light flared from the parchment, shattering just before her palm.
Pfft~
Ye Zi felt a sharp pain in her neck; it had actually been sliced almost halfway through. This sword strike came incredibly abruptly and powerfully.
To think that from inside the Gift Game, from within the effects of the End of Rhapsody, someone attempted to directly slay the mastermind outside of those effects.
Ye Zi had never seen this kind of power.
It felt as if, even separated by a world, Mercenary Tao had spied her location.
No, "spied" might not be accurate. It was more like he had locked onto her. Like a beast hunting all prey, he had included her on his menu.
"Heh, it seems I did something unnecessary~"
The Halloween Queen's move to block was unintentional. Realizing what she had done, she felt a slight sense of loss.
Shiroyasha opened her folding fan again, clear amusement in her eyes.
She was already certain that Black Rabbit and the others wouldn't face any danger. This so-called great calamity, or even a new [Final Trial of Humanity], would ultimately not be born.
For her, this was a rather good outcome.
She had no fondness for this human woman stirring up trouble before her, and she nodded as well.
"Yes. You did something unnecessary. In the end, it made the finale of this play less than perfect."
Her gaze peered sharply over her fan, looking clearly towards a certain spot on the street.
There, Hakumen's heart was beating so fiercely it felt like it would leap out of her chest. The intense beating, almost threatening to rupture, made her feel incredibly unaccustomed to having a flesh-and-blood body again.
She unconsciously gasped for air.
Hey, you old Uchiha fossil. That guy... the meaning behind what that great one said is practically hinting at—
No, it's explicitly telling me to act, isn't it?!
Hakumen prided herself on being smart and adept at reading the room, but at this moment, she hesitated and wavered.
Killing someone in front of the Halloween Queen and Shiroyasha required a lot of courage.
She was quite certain that the Halloween Queen muttering to herself about doing something unnecessary was a hint that she could act now and kill this mastermind.
Shiroyasha's gaze was practically an explicit command for her to strike.
Those two disliked the person hiding behind the scenes. She had done so much, yet ultimately achieved nothing besides causing the deaths of some innocent people in Underwood.
Having received the Queen's Gift, it was time for her to pay the price...
But even understanding all this, Hakumen... lacked the courage.
In this moment, she clearly felt the gap between herself and those guys, the gap between her and Mercenary Tao.
Her canine teeth bit into her lip. She used the pain and the humiliation of acknowledging she was inferior to others to stimulate herself, trying to overcome her so-called reason and fear.
Gritting her teeth, Hakumen raised her hand. Fox fire burned behind her.
Izayoi Sakamaki threw a punch. Golden radiance exploded. He actually blocked that world-cleaving power with a single punch.
Moreover, Izayoi Sakamaki instantly realized that this sword contained a power similar to his own.
That Truth Unknown Gift had transformed into a sword in the hands of the three-headed evil dragon.
Izayoi Sakamaki looked at the white evil dragon, who, after a single strike, stood firmly upon the ocean that was now as stable as a mirror.
He felt a peculiar sense of destiny.
The other party stood upon the world. Although He radiated an unsolvable, pure malice, simultaneously, He seemed like the one bearing the world. The starry sky, the ocean, the water, the air—everything followed His will.
Izayoi Sakamaki himself was the one acting as the enemy of the world.
He shook his head, shaking off that uncomfortable feeling.
"This time, it's my turn to shatter this world. Demon Lord—no, Martial Artist!"
The [Third Perpetual Motion Machine] began to howl within Izayoi Sakamaki's body.