Nagazora, on the outskirts.
"Boom!"
Burning flames clashed and intertwined with violent lightning.
Ever since their fight began, Fu Hua had been desperately trying to minimize the collateral damage to the surrounding area.
Now, she had been gradually luring Raiden Mei toward the ocean.
She had no choice. The shockwaves from their battle had already either shattered or scorched several of the nearby mountains.
Casualties had already occurred.
And the number was not small.
Fu Hua had already realized a heart-wrenching truth.
Right now, Raiden Mei's mental state was very unstable.
At first, she could still communicate normally, but suddenly, after a single sentence, she lashed out with her sword for no apparent reason.
After that, she stopped holding back, completely disregarding the surroundings and no longer restricting her power.
The vast majority of the terrain-altering attacks had been caused by her.
Even if Raiden Mei truly didn't care about the people of this era, Kiana might still be within range of her attacks.
Thirteen kilometers... This radius was no longer "beyond the limit" for experts of their level.
And on top of that...
"I can't get any closer, I can't get any closer..."
As they fought, Raiden Mei kept repeating these words.
It was as if she was already living in her own world, not even knowing who she was talking to.
By now, most of her waist-length purple hair had turned white.
Bloody tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
She looked like a bloodthirsty demon, a sight that would make anyone shiver with fear.
Finally...
Clang!
In an instant, Fu Hua, who had fully activated her Garuda Factor and entered an artificial Honkai Eruption state, blocked Raiden Mei's sudden downward slash with her gauntleted fists.
Immediately after, she launched a whip kick from the side.
Whoosh!
Raiden Mei instinctively sheathed her sword and leaned back, narrowly dodging the attack.
But then...
Boom!
In terms of pure technique and martial arts skill, Raiden Mei, who had only studied the Hokushin Itto-ryu for a few years, was clearly no match for Fu Hua, who had cultivated Shenzhou martial arts for thousands of years.
At this moment, Fu Hua naturally used the momentum of her whip kick to launch her other leg like a battering ram, striking Raiden Mei's abdomen.
Instantly...
Whoosh!
The two of them had already been nearing the coast. The impact of the kick sent Raiden Mei flying backward over the ocean surface.
Splash!
A massive amount of seawater evaporated as two fan-like curtains of water erupted into the air.
Fu Hua didn't stop her assault.
With a quick shift of her feet, two fiery wings of light from the Garuda Factor unfurled from her waist. She transformed into a flaming streak, chasing Raiden Mei in the direction she had been thrown.
In an instant...
"!!!"
Fu Hua caught up to the still-reeling Raiden Mei, clamped her left hand onto Mei's left shoulder, and forcibly dragged her.
Boom!
The sonic boom from their extreme speed created another colossal curtain of water.
As Fu Hua charged forward, the water wall stretched for dozens of kilometers. To an observer, it looked like a thousand-meter-high wall of water connecting the horizon to the sky.
At that moment, the two pale hair tufts on her back fluttered, making her look like a demon-slaying immortal descended from the heavens...
Suddenly...
"Old Timer, watch out!"
A sinister blade of light shot upward.
At the critical moment, several rainbow-colored feathers appeared around Fu Hua, forcibly diverting the blade's trajectory.
Instantly...
Bang!
A heart-stopping wave of negative energy transformed into a dark red, lightning-wreathed blade of light, slashing across the distance.
The ocean surface split apart, with countless arcs of electricity still coursing through the gaping wound.
A grey-white storm, like a spinning spherical tornado, suddenly expanded.
"..."
Fu Hua stopped her retreat mid-air.
Her left hand, which had been clamped onto Raiden Mei's shoulder, was now drenched in blood.
"That lunatic, is she really going all out? Doesn't she know you've been holding back the whole time?"
Xiao Shi's exasperated voice echoed in her mind.
Of course she understood what Raiden Mei cared about... but what did that have to do with her?
Right now, all she cared about was that father who spoiled her rotten, the era he lived in, and...
Hey, why are you reaching out so far?
If she hadn't remained constantly on guard just now, Fu Hua might have reacted in time, but... she probably wouldn't have saved her left arm.
Especially now, if one looked closely at the wound on her body...
Sizzle, sizzle...
The eerie black mist continuously interfered with the Garuda Factor's ultra-fast regeneration.
Fortunately...
Whoosh!
Fu Hua acted decisively. She unleashed the blazing flames around her body without trying to resist or eliminate the black mist.
With expert precision, she used a cauterizing burn to separate all the corrupted flesh on her left arm, along with the healthy tissue around it.
Then, without changing expression, she flung the seared flesh away as if scraping poison from a bone.
The corrupted flesh completely vanished into nothingness in mid-air.
Freed from the negative effect, Fu Hua's left arm quickly regenerated thanks to the Garuda Factor's ultra-fast healing.
She tried clenching her fist again...
"That power..."
Fu Hua stared gravely at the figure below, who stood silently on the ocean surface. Her face was obscured, but the sea beneath her feet had already faded to a colorless void. It was a figure both familiar and strange.
"Raiden Mei, what exactly are you..."
"Class Monitor."
Below, the purple haired girl with white streaks looked up and stared at Fu Hua with blood red eyes. "Are you also going to become an uncertain factor that endangers 'her'?"
"If that's the case, then..."
Raiden Mei sheathed the strange long blade.
But this wasn't a gesture of peace.
Instead, it was a quick draw preparation stance.
"..."
In midair, seeing that Raiden Mei had no intention of continuing the conversation and was even preparing to strike a killing blow, Fu Hua's expression grew grave. She raised her right hand.
She formed a sword finger gesture in front of her.
"Perhaps it's time to end this," she whispered.
A diamond shaped light pattern lit up on Fu Hua's forehead.
In her mind...
"Old Timer, let me do it," Xiao Shi said in a low voice. "You've known her after all, haven't you?"
Hearing this...
"No, only I can do it."
Fu Hua rejected Xiao Shi's offer. "This is my choice, so it's also my responsibility."
"It cannot and should not be passed on to you."
As the words fell...
"Sigh..."
Xiao Shi said no more. "Have it your way."
Along with this sigh of acceptance...
Fu Hua, who had cast off her immortality and returned to the mortal realm, saw her once shattered Sword Heart become whole again.
"Eminence!"
In the sky, a Blade of Calamity seemed to appear.
This strike was not just a simple move.
It would simultaneously attack the designated target's body and spirit.
Its momentum was overwhelmingly vast.
It made the opponent below seem like a tiny ant in comparison.
Even from far away, the people living around Nagazora in the Far East witnessed the flaming radiance with their own eyes.
At one point, a strange crescent-shaped blade of light shot up from below and clashed with the tip of the giant Blade of Calamity...
"BOOM!"
The world changed.
The mere shockwave triggered massive tsunamis.
In an instant, the weather turned violent, and the ocean churned.
Nearby ships... even the warships that had rushed to the scene, were all overturned or sent flying.
Countless ordinary people suffered without cause from this battle between super-powered beings.
But afterward...
"Hiss..."
"Hiss, hiss..."
A massive gash appeared on Fu Hua's body in midair, stretching from her left shoulder to her right waist.
This time, the flames from the Garuda Factor couldn't immediately cut off the wound like a brave warrior severing his own arm. They could only keep fighting against the strange black gas.
Fu Hua began to gasp for breath, but... her life was not in danger.
And she still had the ability to move.
Below...
Below, no other figures could be seen anymore.
Raiden Mei seemed to have completely vanished.
However, outsiders... including the severely injured Fu Hua... didn't know...
"Heh heh~"
A streak of blood was rapidly entangling itself around a body covered in wounds.
At one moment...
"Swish!"
As if the body was reacting on its own, a strange blade of light flashed through the seabed for a split second.
The blood threads withdrew.
But they took their trophy with them.
It was a severed arm dripping with blood.
Crimson, ominous Manjusaka flowers were blooming from its wrist.