"I'm asking you, are you going to join the Deep Sea Cult or not!" Eugen was tired of talking nonsense with Illustrious and went straight to the point.
Illustrious shrugged. "I don't want either of the two benefits you mentioned, so why should I join?"
"Heh heh heh..." Eugen sneered. "After talking for so long and wasting so much breath, this is the answer you give me, making me return empty-handed."
"Is it my fault? It's clearly because the benefits offered by your Deep Sea Cult aren't tempting to me. So why should I give up my freedom and join you to become the seventh saint?" Illustrious said calmly.
"Then leave Free Iris and don't interfere with our plans." Although it was a pity she couldn't successfully invite Illustrious to join the Deep Sea Cult, as long as Illustrious left Free Iris, she could let Illustrious leave peacefully. After all, she didn't want to offend a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl like Illustrious.
"Sorry! I can't do that. I promised Atago I'd help them. If I just up and leave like this, it would make them unhappy." Illustrious refused flatly.
Illustrious's refusal made Eugen angry. It was one thing to refuse to join, but to actually interfere with their plans—then she couldn't let Illustrious stay. She had to eliminate the root of the problem.
"Hmph! Refusing the easy way only to be forced! Then don't blame me for being heartless." Eugen erupted with a powerful aura. This wasn't a normal aura, but the legendary Supreme Ship Qi. The Supreme Ship Qi pressed down hard toward Illustrious.
"Oh? Are we finally going to fight? I've been waiting impatiently." Illustrious also erupted with Supreme Ship Qi, which pressed back against Eugen.
As soon as Illustrious's Supreme Ship Qi came out, it said overbearingly, "Ignorant fool, to dare appear before me. Retreat at once, or I shall turn thee into ashes."
Eugen's Supreme Ship Qi said disdainfully, "Whence comes this ant, to dare order me about? Thou seekest death! I shall destroy thee!"
Illustrious's Supreme Ship Qi said angrily, "Such grand words! Try and touch me if thou darest!"
Eugen's Supreme Ship Qi said coldly, "I shall touch thee if I wish! Dost thou think I fear thee? From the moment I laid eyes on thee, I found thee an eyesore; I have long wished to strike thee!"
Illustrious's Supreme Ship Qi spoke, "Just in time, I'll destroy you right here! You shall never be reincarnated."
Eugen's Supreme Ship Qi replied, "I have killed many ants like you. A year from today will be the anniversary of your death."
Under the watch of Illustrious and Eugen, the two terrifying streaks of Supreme Ship Qi finally collided violently like crashing meteors, splashing out a sky-covering aftershock of Ship Qi.
Space began to vibrate incessantly; the sky shook and the earth trembled. Wild winds howled and lightning flashed, playing out a scene like the apocalypse.
The two streaks of Supreme Ship Qi were like two surging rivers colliding, constantly devouring each other's power. Only the strongest side could achieve the final Victory.
Since both sides were evenly matched, after contending with each other for a while, they eventually faded away into mid-air.
As Illustrious's Supreme Ship Qi was about to vanish, it spoke with great contempt to Eugen's Supreme Ship Qi, "It seems this time is a draw. But don't get cocky; next time, I will surely turn you to ashes."
Eugen's Supreme Ship Qi laughed loudly, "Try it if you have the ability! Anyone can talk big. I was careless just now and didn't dodge, which is why you survived so long. Next time, I'll destroy you in an instant and won't give you any chance to turn things around."
The two streaks of Supreme Ship Qi finally returned to their respective masters. Seeing that the Supreme Ship Qi couldn't affect Illustrious, Eugen reached into the void, and a Ship-Slaying Longsword appeared in her hand. She gripped it tightly, and as she swung the Ship-Slaying Longsword into a diagonal stance, a crisp sword cry rang out from it.
Golden Ship Qi circulated frantically within her body, and countless wisps of Ship Qi wrapped around Eugen like flames. Looking at Illustrious not far away, Eugen charged forward with her sword.
Looking at Eugen's golden Ship Qi, Illustrious said excitedly, "Golden Ship Qi plus a Domain! You really are a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl, hee hee! Wonderful! I was worried you wouldn't be strong enough and the fight wouldn't be satisfying! Now it seems I was overthinking."
Illustrious opened her right hand slightly, and her ship-slaying Tachi manifested in her palm. She gripped it tightly as golden Ship Qi erupted from her body. Looking at Eugen opposite her, Illustrious charged forward with her blade.
In an instant, Illustrious arrived in front of Eugen, swinging her ship-slaying Tachi in a diagonal slash toward her.
Seeing the diagonal slash coming from Illustrious, Eugen swung her Ship-Slaying Longsword in a diagonal slash of her own.
Clang!
The blade and sword collided fiercely. A low-pitched sound of impact suddenly rang out from the point of contact, and a shockwave of energy that caused space to ripple surged forth, eventually spreading in all directions.
Failing to land the hit, Illustrious flashed behind Eugen and slashed down hard toward Eugen's undefended back.
When Illustrious flashed and disappeared, Eugen had already used Precognition Ship Qi to predict the position where Illustrious would appear. Eugen suddenly performed a spinning back-slash. Just as Illustrious was about to strike her back, she intended to cut Illustrious in half first.
After cutting Illustrious in half, Eugen felt no joy, because this Illustrious was actually an afterimage.
Illustrious had now flashed behind Eugen again. She had just used Precognition Ship Qi to predict that Eugen would use a spinning back-slash, so she left an afterimage for Eugen.
Looking at Eugen's back, Illustrious slashed down fiercely with her ship-slaying Tachi, and Eugen was instantly split in two.
After splitting Eugen in two, Illustrious wasn't happy either, because what she had cut was an afterimage.
Eugen flashed and appeared above Illustrious's head. While performing the spinning back-slash earlier, Eugen had actually used Precognition Ship Qi to predict that Illustrious would appear behind her, so she flashed to appear above Illustrious's head instead.
Aiming at Illustrious below, Eugen slashed down fiercely with her longsword.
Looking at the longsword slashing down, Illustrious had already swung her blade in response. When she split Eugen's afterimage in half, she had already used Precognition Ship Qi to predict that Eugen would appear above.
Clang!
The blade and sword clashed fiercely once more. Seeing that they hadn't hit each other, the two flashed and disappeared again, then reappeared in mid-air. Every time they appeared, their blade and sword would collide.
Clang clang clang...!
The two continuously flashed and clashed in mid-air. Every clash produced intense sparks and a loud sound of impact.
After clashing over a hundred times, Eugen retreated a distance and raised her right hand. One-tenth of the pink five-petaled flowers within her Domain, Twilight Garden, rose into the air and flew toward her.
Thousands of flowers surrounded Eugen. Under her control, these flowers transformed into pink swords of blossoms.
After condensing over a thousand pink blossom swords around her, Eugen swung her Ship-Slaying Longsword to point at Illustrious nearby.
"Take this! Thousand Blossom Sword Fall!"
A cold shout! The cry resounded through the sky as over a thousand pink blossom swords shot out.
The majestic thousand blossom swords pierced through the sky and vanished in a flash. That indomitable and powerful momentum seemed as if it would destroy everything blocking its path.
Illustrious, hovering in mid-air with an unchanged expression, calmly watched the thousand blossom swords shooting toward her. "A Domain Combat Technique? Hmph! You're not the only one with a Domain Combat Technique!"
Illustrious also deployed her own Domain. She erupted with a golden beam of light that shot into the sky, spreading golden radiance in all directions.
The golden radiance only stopped after spreading across half of this world.
"Legendary Secret Domain — Sovereign of Ten Thousand Swords!"
After a short while, the golden light vanished, and golden longswords were seen stabbed into the ground.
Countless golden longswords dyed the earth into a golden land, looking magnificent and imposing.
This world was divided in half: one half was a world of flowers, and the other was a world of swords.
Illustrious raised her right hand, and one-tenth of those golden swords stabbed into the ground rose into the air and flew toward her.
With over a thousand golden swords surrounding her, Illustrious looked at Eugen with a serious expression and pointed her ship-slaying Tachi at her.
"Domain Combat Technique — Golden Extinction!"
A low shout! The cry resounded through the air as over a thousand golden swords shot out.
Over a thousand golden swords pierced the horizon accompanied by sonic booms. Their destructive aura caused the space they passed through to vibrate.
Under Illustrious's Gaze, the thousand golden swords collided fiercely with the thousand blossom swords that attacked like lightning. Thunderous sounds rang out from the point of impact, and countless explosions erupted. From the contact point of the explosions, numerous energy shockwaves surged forth.
After a while, Illustrious crushed the last energy shockwave attacking her. Looking at Eugen opposite her, she said with an excited face, "Hee hee! How satisfying! As expected of the Deep Sea Cult's sixth saint, your strength is indeed powerful! However, compared to me, you're still a bit lacking. That was just a warm-up. If you only have this much power, you won't be my match next."
Seeing Illustrious standing in mid-air safe and sound, Eugen's expression turned solemn. She had still underestimated Illustrious's strength. She originally thought Illustrious would die to that move, but now it seemed that to kill Illustrious, she would likely have to use her trump card.
Taking a deep breath of the slightly cool air, Eugen said coldly, "Illustrious, don't get too ahead of yourself. I didn't use my full strength just now either. Next, I won't hold back anymore. I will use my full power to slay you here in one move."
"Slay me in one move? You seem very confident. Fine, I'll have to keep my eyes wide open and watch closely then," Illustrious said with a faint smile.
"Hmph! Enjoy your leisure while you can. I'll make it so you won't be able to laugh in a moment," Eugen said fiercely.
Eugen raised her Ship-Slaying Longsword high with her right hand, and Ship Qi circulated frantically within her. Countless wisps of golden Ship Qi wrapped around her.
Under Eugen's control, all the flowers in the world of flowers rose into the air and flew toward the space above her Ship-Slaying Longsword.
The flowers that arrived first condensed into a pink orb of light. This orb was only the size of a football at first, but as a continuous stream of flowers gathered into it, the orb grew from the size of a football into a pink energy sphere with a diameter of thirty zhang!
Once the massive pink energy sphere was formed, its destructive aura caused the surrounding space to begin to distort.
"Domain Combat Technique — Flower Emperor!"
With a low shout, Eugen swung her Ship-Slaying Longsword to point at Illustrious. The massive pink energy sphere slowly moved toward Illustrious.
The massive pink energy sphere carried an incomparable and powerful momentum, heavily piercing through the sky. Wherever it passed, series of booming sounds rang out, sounds like explosions from underground—dull and terrifying.
The terrifying Domain Battle Skill "Flower Emperor" was what Eugen had relied on back then to easily kill Bunker Hill, a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl under the Atlantic Governors Mansion; because the Atlantic Governors Mansion lost this Legendary Ship Girl, it was demoted from the head of the four Governor-Generals Mansions to the second.
Looking at the huge pink energy ball slowly approaching, Illustrious could easily dodge it given her speed, but as a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl, she possessed the dignity of the strong.
If she were to run away just because she saw a powerful move from an enemy, her state of mind would be planted with an inner demon, and inner demons torment one's will; to avoid developing an inner demon, Illustrious naturally would not flee, but instead would take this move head-on.
Illustrious held her ship-slaying great sword high, and golden Ship Qi erupted continuously from her body, surrounding her like flames.
Under Illustrious's control, all the golden swords stuck in the ground of the World of Swords soared into the sky.
All the golden swords that flew into mid-air flew towards the space above Illustrious's ship-slaying great sword.
The first golden sword to arrive stood upright above the ship-slaying great sword, and the other golden swords crashed into the blade of the first one.
The other golden swords shattered into fragments, turning into light that merged into the blade of the first golden sword; as each golden sword merged into the first, it began to grow slowly.
At first, it was the size of a person, then it began to slowly grow to the size of a fire truck.
As the last golden sword merged into the first, the first golden sword became a massive golden sword over a hundred meters long.
Once the massive golden sword finished forming, it hovered in mid-air, the immense power it radiated causing the surrounding space to tremble incessantly.
"Domain Battle Skill — Sword Emperor!"
With a cold shout! The shout resounded across the sky; Illustrious's expression was calm as an ancient well, and she gripped her ship-slaying great sword tightly, swinging it down fiercely towards Eugen in the distance.
The instant Illustrious swung the ship-slaying great sword down, the golden sword hovering in mid-air adjusted from a vertical position to a horizontal one, slowly attacking towards Eugen.
The massive golden sword cut through the sky, rushing forward with the power to destroy everything; its terrifying momentum seemed as if it would annihilate everything in its path.
Although Illustrious had only recently become a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl, the Domain Battle Skill "Sword Emperor" she unleashed was not inferior to the "Flower Emperor" unleashed by Eugen; the momentum of the Domain Battle Skills unleashed by the two was evenly matched, and to determine who was stronger or weaker, one would only know after fighting.
The massive golden sword tore through the sky, and under the Gaze of Illustrious and Eugen, it collided fiercely with the slowly approaching huge pink energy ball; this collision was like Mars hitting Earth, magnificent and vast; at the moment of impact, a thunderous explosion suddenly rang out from the point of collision, and a terrifyingly immense energy shockwave erupted from the explosion.
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