Minutes before Jouryuu decided to intervene, the battlefield between Naoki and Rairen had transformed into an apocalyptic wasteland.
*SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!*
Rairen's barbed hair—now as hard as tempered steel and sharp as a razor's edge—rained down from the upper atmosphere like thousands of javelins. The relentless whistling of cloven air echoed as the attack tore through the sky, plummeting toward the exact coordinates where Naoki stood.
Unfortunately for her, the impossible repeated itself. No matter how much raw, cataclysmic force Rairen poured into her assault, Naoki's Infinity remained unshakeable. To any onlooker, the spears appeared to freeze mid-air, hovering in a static halo around Naoki before losing their momentum and dropping harmlessly to the dirt.
"I refuse to believe you're invincible, human!"
Rairen thrust her colossal hands toward the swirling black abyss of the sky.
*⚡⚡⚡⚡!*
Instantly, a deluge of plasma bolts, far more destructive than anything she had unleashed before, cascaded down upon Naoki the moment she dropped her arms. Yet, an attack capable of vaporizing an entire city block in a heartbeat still failed to graze the skin behind the layer of Infinity.
"Alright, I've had my fun. It's time to end this little game."
Naoki's voice resonated calmly through the curtain of never-ending lightning.
"As it happens, there's a new technique I've been wanting to test. Rairen, you're the perfect lab rat."
"How dare you!!! I'll kill you!!!"
At the suggestion of being a mere test subject, Rairen's fury boiled over. The intensity of the plasma storm reached a fever pitch, grinding the surrounding landscape into fine powder.
*SHING!*
Naoki activated another Peach Blossom Blessing within «Pandemonium». In his mind's eye, a new slot on the Qliphoth Tree diagram began to pulse with a blinding radiance.
A'arab Zaraq — «Night Storm»!
The moment he gained Aerokinesis from «Night Storm», Naoki raised his right hand toward Rairen. Without any wasted motion, he took direct control of the very air the goddess was inhaling.
"Cough!"
Rairen didn't even have time to process what was happening. An agonizing, white-hot pain suddenly flared up, radiating through her internal organs.
"Gwah!"
The colossal giant clutched her chest, hacking up a massive spray of blood. A volatile cocktail of shock and wild rage surged within her.
"Lowly human! What... what have you done to me?!"
"..."
Naoki had no intention of providing a lecture on his combat mechanics. Explaining one's abilities mid-fight was a ridiculous trope better left to fiction. To him, only a fool would let an enemy understand the inner workings of their power before they drew their last breath.
What Naoki had actually done was replicate the lethal physiological effect divers experience when surfacing too quickly.
By manipulating the air, he drastically spiked the pressure inside Rairen's lungs the moment she inhaled. The result was a brutal, internal rupture of the lung tissue—an instantaneous pneumothorax. The air leaking into her chest cavity began to crush her heart, creating unimaginable agony with every remaining beat.
As for the name of the technique... Naoki was too lazy to name it. Real life wasn't a shounen manga where you had to scream your move before using it. It might look cool, but it was fundamentally impractical.
"How dare a human like you wound me? Human... just die!!!"
*RUMBLE!*
As if answering Rairen's rage, the massive plasma mass in the sky shuddered, unleashing a concentrated volley of lightning directly at Naoki. But the scene played out like a broken record; every strike halted against the Infinity just inches from its target.
(How can a mere human be this strong?!) Rairen groaned internally, staring at the reality before her in utter disbelief.
They, the Eight Thunder Gods, were the true sovereigns of the Mato Dimension, having wiped out humanity across seven different worlds. Yet, this was the first time they had encountered a foe as insurmountable as Naoki. Rairen felt as though she were the butt of a cruel cosmic joke.
"Your role ends here, Rairen. Goodbye."
Naoki rampaged the internal pressure within his opponent one last time. Suddenly, the fifty-meter titan collapsed forward.
Rairen rolled across the earth, dust billowing as her massive frame slammed into the ground. She clawed at her own throat and chest, her eyes wide with excruciating pain while blood continued to seep from her mouth and nose.
*WHOOSH!*
Just as Naoki prepared to deliver the coup de grâce, Jouryuu materialized, throwing a death-blow of a punch toward him.
However, Jouryuu met the same fate as Rairen. Her fist, carrying the weight of the earth itself, ground to a halt several feet from Naoki, caught in the invisible expanse of infinite space.
"It's not your turn on stage yet. Leave."
Naoki calmly opened a dark portal beneath Jouryuu's feet.
Before she could resist, Jouryuu was swallowed by the void. Naoki had teleported her fifty kilometers away—the absolute maximum range of «Ame-no-Mitori». Even if Jouryuu attempted to return at the speed of lightning, she would be far too late.
Naoki glanced toward Tenka, who was still trading blows with Shikoku in the distance.
Unlike Kyouka and Yuuki, who had been pushed back, Tenka was clearly dominant. If not for Shikoku's Shadow Manipulation—which allowed her to slip into the darkness to evade Tenka's spatial strikes—she would have been defeated long ago.
"No more interruptions."
Naoki turned back to the helpless Rairen.
"Die."
With a casual flick of his wrist, Naoki unleashed a Reality Slash.
*SWOOSH!*
*SQUELCH!*
The spatial blade tore through the air soundlessly, severing Rairen's colossal neck with surgical precision. The giant's head slid from her shoulders, marking the end of one of the Eight Thunder Gods at the hands of the human she had so fatally underestimated.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
"Rairen is actually dead... This is why I warned her to be careful, but she was always too arrogant to listen."
Sensing Rairen's life force vanish completely, Shikoku glanced toward the crater. Her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she witnessed the sight of her comrade's decapitated head. Though fury began to burn in her chest, she refused to let hatred blind her into a suicide mission. Shikoku knew perfectly well that without Jouryuu by her side, she stood zero chance against Naoki.
She slowly lowered her guard, dismissing her black snakes.
"It seems I have no intention of continuing this fight," she said, her tone eerily calm. "From the start, our plan was just a trial to test the strength of a Chief, but this situation has spiraled far beyond our predictions. Rairen was utterly crushed, and even when I intended to save her, that man read my movements and forced me to reveal myself. I can only say, that man is truly something special among humanity."
"He is an anomaly that shouldn't exist."
Hearing the praise directed at Naoki, Tenka flashed a proud, triumphant smile.
"I appreciate the compliment toward my boyfriend. He's always been dependable, hasn't he?"
Shikoku snorted softly, her body beginning to sink into a pool of black shadow forming beneath her feet.
"Don't get too comfortable, Sixth Unit Chief. We will certainly meet again. For today, I believe we've seen enough."
Tenka reacted instantly, reaching out to seize the space around Shikoku to prevent her escape. "Don't think you're just walking away!"
But Shikoku was far faster when it came to a disappearing act. The shadow snapped shut, swallowing her whole. Tenka's spatial slash cut through nothing but empty air; Shikoku had vanished completely from her sensory range.
Realizing the primary threat had retreated, Shushu and Himari raced anxiously toward Kyouka, who was still kneeling in pain, and Yuuki, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"Chief! Hang in there!" Shushu cried out, helping Kyouka to her feet, while Himari checked Yuuki's pulse with trembling hands.
Nearby, Naoki approached with a leisurely stride, showing not a single sign of fatigue. His hair and clothes remained perfectly tidy, a stark contrast to the devastation surrounding him. Yachiho walked beside him, staring at him with a look of pure adoration that had only intensified after witnessing the slaughter of a "God."
The two of them walked over to Tenka, who stood staring at the spot where Shikoku had vanished.
"She got away, huh?" Naoki asked, standing by her side.
Tenka let out a long sigh and turned to Naoki, her smile returning. "Yeah, she's as slippery as a snake, just like she looks. But at least you took one of them down beautifully, Naoki-kun."
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