Raiga stepped forward until only a few meters separated them. Lightning crackled faintly along his twin blades as he looked Erza up and down.
"So you're Erza Uzumaki—the one who changes her clothing mid-battle to gain different boosts in strength," he said. "It's very similar to how our mystical swords work… the weapons of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
What he said was true. Just as each of the Seven Swords possessed a unique ability—like the Kiba blades in his hands, which could channel lightning directly from the atmosphere—Erza's armours were viewed the same way by outsiders. In the Naruto world, her re-equip armours functioned almost identically to the legendary swords.
Erza met his gaze without flinching.
"You're quite accurate with your deductions. I wasn't expecting to fight a lightning user today," she said. "But it's not like I'm unprepared to face one."
She raised her hand.
"Re-equip Magic: Lightning Empress Armor."
A burst of golden light enveloped her from head to toe. The air hummed, vibrating with electrical energy. When the glow faded, Erza stood transformed—clad in the gleaming Lightning Empress Armor, a long spear crackling with electricity gripped firmly in her hand.
Raiga, intrigued by the sudden shift in Erza's aura, didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, twin blades raised, lightning crackling wildly along their edges. Erza met him head-on, her spear striking the crossed blades with a sharp metallic clash.
The moment her spear touched the Kiba blades, a burst of powerful lightning surged outward, racing straight into Erza's body.
But she didn't even flinch.
The Lightning Empress Armor absorbed the voltage effortlessly, golden sparks glimmering across its surface. The armor granted Erza near-total immunity to lightning attacks, and even the strongest techniques were severely weakened against her.
Erza's eyes narrowed.
"You struck me with lightning… now take mine."
She channelled her own lightning through her spear. A brilliant beam erupted from its tip—sharp, blinding, and fast—shooting straight toward Raiga like a lance of pure light.
Raiga crossed his twin blades just in time.
The beam slammed into the Kiba swords, forcing his arms back. The ground beneath his feet tore up as he was dragged backward for a long distance, carving a deep trail across the battlefield while lightning danced violently around him.
Raiga steadied himself, then lifted both Kiba blades high toward the sky.
"Fangs of Lightning!" he roared.
Lightning shot upward from the twin swords, ripping into the clouds. A heartbeat later, the heavens answered—multiple bolts speared down toward Erza with ferocious speed.
Erza planted her spear, her voice calm and sharp.
"Lightning Barrier."
A dome of concentrated lightning formed above her, crackling with intense energy. The descending bolts slammed into the barrier, exploding with a deafening boom. A blinding flash washed over the entire battlefield, turning everything white for an instant.
When the light finally faded, Erza still stood unmoved beneath the humming barrier—completely unharmed.
She didn't wait.
With a burst of speed, she shot forward, closing the distance between her and Raiga in a blink. Their weapons clashed—her spear against his twin blades—sparks of lightning scattering with each impact.
Even as she fought Raiga head-on, Erza never let the battlefield slip from her awareness. Whenever she saw Kirigakure ninjas getting away from her, she would swing her spear and fire razor-like beams of lightning. The stronger enemies were blasted backward, grievously wounded; the weaker ones died instantly where they stood.
In this relentless manner, Erza held her ground—allowing not a single Kirigakure shinobi to advance toward the Uzumaki village.
…
Guy, on another stretch of the battlefield, fought with a sword gripped tightly in his hand. His blade clashed again and again against two deadly opponents—Yagura and the head of the Kaguya Clan.
The Kaguya clan head's body was covered in deep cuts, each one carved by Guy's relentless strikes. Yet the man refused to fall. The Kaguya clan's natural defense and their terrifying bone-manipulation kekkei genkai made them incredibly hard to kill. Their willingness to throw their lives away just to take down their enemy only made the fight more troublesome. The clan head fought with exactly that suicidal determination.
And standing beside him was Yagura—an opponent far more dangerous.
Every elemental attack Guy tried—fire, water, ice, anything—Yagura reflected perfectly using his Water Mirror technique, sending the attacks back at him just as they were. It was like fighting a flawless copy of himself every time he cast a spell.
But Guy was not one to be cornered.
Thanks to his space-teleportation ability, he was never forced to stay locked in combat with both enemies at once. Whenever he sensed that the Kirigakure forces had pushed too far forward, he vanished in a flicker of space distortion—reappearing directly in front of the advancing troops. In an instant, he cut them down until Yagura and the Kaguya clan head caught up to him again.
Like this—teleport, reappear, strike, vanish—Guy held his front with unbreakable resolve, allowing no Kirigakure shinobi to pass toward the Uzumaki village.
…
Antares carved through the Kirigakure forces with devastating ease. His fists blazed with fire, each punch sending shockwaves across the battlefield. None of the ninjas around him could stand against his overwhelming strength; they fell in droves as he advanced step by step.
But as more and more Kirigakure shinobi closed in and Antares pushed forward, he suddenly halted.
A strange scene unfolded in front of him.
There stood a completely ordinary-looking man—weak, unremarkable, his chakra no more than that of a low-level Genin. Yet he was being restrained by Kirigakure ninjas from four directions, ropes pulled taut as if they were barely containing him.
Antares frowned, confusion etched across his face. Why restrain someone this weak?
He extended his sensory technique—this time far deeper, probing beneath the man's surface.
And what he sensed made his eyes widen.
Under that frail, Genin-level exterior… lurked an enormous, monstrous quantity of chakra. It was dense, oppressive, overflowing with pure malice.
Antares instantly understood exactly what this kind of chakra meant—
or more precisely, who possessed such a chakra.
----
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