Chapter 796: Shirogane VS Yoko
BOOM!
Kaito Shirogane threw a punch, and the world trembled simultaneously.
In this instant, Kaito Shirogane activated the Sixteen-Fold Kaio-Ken. His very presence exerted a pressure so immense that space could hardly bear it. Extremely intense Ki transformed into a brilliant golden pillar of light, tearing through the sky from the territory of France.
Many tech-side Reincarnators and major nations controlling nearby orbiting satellites clearly detected the terrifying disturbance from space.
The next moment, a ring-shaped shockwave centered on an unnamed rural town in France violently expanded in all directions.
It was a grey ripple expanding so abruptly that it could be clearly seen even from beyond Earth.
An indescribable sense of anxiety and panic indiscriminately assaulted everyone within this environment.
Even An Zhiyuan, standing in the air, felt an uncontrollable panic after the time-stop effect was lifted.
He felt the distortion of the world. Those rippling distortions were materialized shockwaves and kinetic force.
An Zhiyuan's pupils trembled violently. At the edge of his vision, Mercenary Tao, who had undergone an unknown transformation, punched the woman suspected to be the King of Destiny in the chest.
Various traces of profound and mysterious powers seemed to flow on the surface of the King of Destiny's body. Just the ones An Zhiyuan could clearly recognize included the shadows of the highest-tier characteristics from the Lord of the Mysteries world and the Authorities of the Three Fates.
There were also a massive number of power traces that even An Zhiyuan had never seen before.
In this instant, An Zhiyuan also believed the legend within the Space: this mysterious King of Destiny, the Reincarnator known by that title, was probably truly a guy who had survived from the previous infinite era.
He possessed power systems that the current Infinite Dimensional Space lacked.
Pfft!
The next moment, An Zhiyuan's pupils contracted so sharply they almost scattered. The myriad of profoundly mysterious power traces on the surface of the King of Destiny's body collapsed simultaneously, ultimately transforming into a symbol of destiny, representing the Sovereign Monarch of the destiny faction.
An Zhiyuan had, of course, seen that concept—[Destiny]—but never in such a solid form.
Crack~ Snap!
The Concept shattered, followed by the Authorities, and then those abilities.
Everything was useless. Under the absolute brilliance of those two layers of stairways, Mercenary Tao exuded a pitch-black hue, while the King of Destiny was enveloped in a layer of white radiance.
The black and white colors formed an absolute contrast within the world. Everything else seemed to be out of phase with these two; simply put, it was as if they weren't on the same layer.
Even the Concept of Destiny was stripped away from within.
Subsequently, the King of Destiny's body directly exploded into a pool of blood mist, which Mercenary Tao casually dispersed with a wave of his hand.
BOOM!
As the terrifying shockwave struck, black and white light flared on An Zhiyuan's body. He briefly exiled himself to evade the damage in the real world.
On the other side, Daemon, whose body had been restored but was equally bewildered by the current situation, instinctively crossed his arms in front of his chest and was then directly blown away by the twisted kinetic force.
He offered no resistance, but the concept of [Absolute Defense] in front of him didn't shatter. This led him to guess that the attack Lord Mercenary Tao used to shatter the Concept couldn't be unleashed casually.
Perhaps it required that sword, or the power represented by that sword, to shatter a Concept.
Because the other party's target at that moment was the King of Destiny, he was spared.
Daemon wasn't worried about the King of Destiny. In his mind, that King was practically an immortal and indestructible existence.
Capable of manipulating time and destiny, performing a time stop of over half a minute, and reversing causality—such a guy was already impossible to defeat in the conventional sense.
Daemon lowered his eyelids, allowing his body to be caught by the kinetic force and blown directly out of the atmosphere. In just an instant, the familiar small town shattered and turned into a black speck.
He had probably been thrown tens of thousands of meters away.
High in the sky, he clearly saw the trembling of the earth and the distortion of the air.
If Mercenary Tao's terrifying punch had struck the ground, France, or perhaps even the continental plate beneath it, would have probably shattered directly.
Fortunately, Mercenary Tao aimed this strike at the King of Destiny in the air.
Screech!
Intense sword hums rang out. Several silver-white sword pressures flared from different directions, collectively cleaving open the distorted shockwave.
Daemon caught sight of the absolute monarch of the West District at a glance. The other party was also the only figure flying towards France in such a terrifying shockwave without feeling any hindrance.
Although the others cleaved the air and shockwave with their sword pressure, their forms inevitably looked like they were traversing a gale.
Daemon didn't resist, nor did he forcefully use his abilities to change his flight path. He knew very well that what followed would highly likely be the world's "gamble of destiny."
The survival of the world would be held in the hands of those two monarchs.
If Yoko of the West District and Mercenary Tao of the East District insisted on fighting fiercely in this state, the Eurasian continent would highly likely crumble.
The ensuing sharp decline in population would inevitably shake the Infinite Dimensional Space's "troop source." In the subsequent Dimensional War, this world would be reduced to a colony and a slaughterhouse.
Just like those derivative worlds ruined by Reincarnators, this world could only become a playground for a victorious Space.
What a fragile world...
BOOM!
Daemon crashed into the ocean.
In the sky, Kurushi, flying at extreme speed, withdrew her gaze. In such a terrifying shockwave, her twin-tails shook like two long whips.
"Hey, No. 1! That was the Second Seat of Destiny just now, wasn't it!"
Although she knew communication between them didn't require such a loud volume, the high-speed flying Kurushi intentionally shouted at the top of her lungs.
Subsequently, the Numbered No. 1 with a hollow hole between his eyebrows frowned, just as expected. He found Kurushi's voice increasingly grating and noisy.
"Yes."
He couldn't be bothered with idle chatter. The indisputable fact that Daemon had been defeated by Mercenary Tao was a waste of life to discuss further. And conveying the information hidden within it to a crazy girl like Kurushi was also meaningless.
Therefore, he said nothing more.
His gaze merely followed the brilliant golden shooting star ahead. The other party was like a beam of light, directly breaking through all obstacles and charging towards the origin of the impact with almost no hindrance.
BOOM!
The golden shooting star crashed to the ground, and smoke and dust similarly scattered in a ring.
This layer of shockwave continuously neutralized the aftershocks generated by Kaito Shirogane's strike. In the end, they actually canceled each other out, sparing this area—which had almost become ruins—from more severe damage.
Yoko Ekaterina stood up from the dust and dirt.
With her white robe draped behind her, the woman's expression was calm, carrying an indescribable elegance.
Her emerald eyes crossed the distance of hundreds of meters, meeting the gaze of Mercenary Tao, who had just blown apart the King of Destiny's body with a single punch.
"Hello, Mercenary Tao."
Yoko wasn't enraged as Kaito Shirogane might have expected, nor did she question why he unleashed such a terrifying attack in the real world.
She merely offered a calm greeting, like an old friend not seen for many days.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Following that, several sounds of impact rang out, and three Reincarnator figures emerged from the massive crater.
Echo, Seigai, and a giant man Kaito Shirogane had never seen before walked out of the crater.
These three followed Yoko, directly utilizing their flight abilities to streak across several borders at extreme speed to get here. They bore marks of being injured by the shockwave.
All three looked warily at Mercenary Tao. This Reincarnator, who had unknowingly grown to such a terrifying level, now genuinely exuded an oppressive aura as fearsome as [Yoko]'s.
It was a feeling distinctly different from a Sovereign Monarch that one could perceive with just a glance.
It was as if standing between heaven and earth naturally attracted everything, becoming the focal point of the world.
The corners of Kaito Shirogane's mouth curled up. Before he could speak, several more sounds of landing occurred the next moment.
Swoosh~ Swoosh~ Swoosh!
The movements of the few people who appeared this time were very light, as if they had no weight. They moved from the air with steps almost akin to teleportation, arriving directly behind Kaito Shirogane.
"Yo, Mercenary Tao! You really have become a big shot now!"
"Lord Aizen was right. You're not just an unpolished gem; you're an unpolished gem that can carve and evolve itself!"
Kurushi leaned forward, her face brimming with a smile.
She seemed oblivious to the current tension and the tragic state of affairs.
But Echo and the others clearly felt the meaning behind the words of this No. 3 of the Throne of Illusion and Reality.
The King of Souls and Mercenary Tao had a deep relationship. These people didn't come here to besiege and suppress Mercenary Tao for the sake of the world's safety.
On the contrary, No. 1 [Tyrant], No. 3 [Kurushi], and No. 4 [Scaled Fish] were here to prevent Mercenary Tao from being besieged by their side.
Kaito Shirogane's smile widened. His multi-colored eyes looked at the rumored Empress Yoko. This woman...
A masterpiece!
This was the first time he used such a word to describe a Reincarnator other than himself.
Even the [Mad King] from that day couldn't compare to this woman at all.
The Mad King was indeed a rare powerhouse who smoothly integrated all of a Reincarnator's abilities.
But this [Yoko Ekaterina] before him was like a top-tier player with OCD in one of those games—she had optimized everything to the absolute limit.
Swordsmanship comparable to Mori-Summer's, martial arts abilities approaching his own from the past, dual attributes breaking past critical limits and continuously enhanced to reach this stage, Authorities exceeding Tier 7, Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light nearly as intense as Sousuke's...
Just standing there, this woman seemed to be trying her utmost to hide her brilliance.
She was suppressing her power.
Much like the elf in the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, this woman was constantly suppressing her power, subconsciously hiding herself.
The magnetic force of Magnetic Field Rotation generated fine electric currents flowing in the air, but upon reaching Yoko, the currents automatically dispersed.
"Hello, Yoko."
Kaito Shirogane seemed unable to see the other figures.
He took a step forward. It was merely a stepping motion, yet it was as if several frames of time had been removed here. In the next frame, he had already appeared in front of Yoko.
The two clasped hands.
Seigai and Echo instinctively shuddered at this moment. They hadn't reacted to Mercenary Tao's speed at all.
If Mercenary Tao had meant to attack, they would have already been struck in that instant.
Seigai, who had clashed with Mercenary Tao once before, felt that the current Mercenary Tao was more than several times stronger than he was during the contention for the Sovereign Crown.
They simply weren't on the same level...
If the Mercenary Tao of that time possessed this speed and Martial Arts Mastery, then even if [Mist] possessed that special superpower, it would have been absolutely impossible to force the other party to unleash an ultimate technique like the Manifestation of the Cosmic Heavenly Deity.
The vast majority of top-tier Reincarnators wouldn't even be able to put up a fight in front of such a Mercenary Tao.
Echo even instinctively tightened her grip on the nodachi on her back, but gave up the next second. She exhaled a breath of stale air.
Mercenary Tao had indeed reached that level.
To them, the current Mercenary Tao was no different from Yoko. Even if they joined forces, they wouldn't have any advantage.
Unless...
The next moment, a figure emerged from the air.
Wearing a hood and a mask covering his face, [Dr. Hill] appeared.
As the newly ascended mental domain Sovereign Monarch, his abilities were quite bizarre: Mind Blast, Mind Control, Telepathy...
Dr. Hill could use almost all mental-type superpowers, and with astonishing intensity.
That mysterious Sovereign Monarch of the East District had fallen into a disadvantage precisely because Dr. Hill struck first.
Right now, only this guy had the possibility to intervene.
On the other side, Kurushi also noticed the gazes of Echo and the others.
A dangerous curve appeared on the corners of her mouth, and she slowly drew the aqua-green Zanpakuto at her waist.
"Hey, hey, hey, you Avalon folks. Don't show such dangerous looks."
"If you scare me, I might just Bankai right here~"
A Bankai from a Shinigami-type enhancement above a certain intensity would almost inevitably cause the large-scale death of weak souls.
And among them, Kurushi was probably the most notorious.
This young girl had used this ability to kill plot characters on a massive scale in multiple secondary and primary worlds.
Yoko raised her hand. Echo and the others immediately turned serious and didn't argue with Kurushi. Even the newly emerged Hill merely looked at Mercenary Tao with a strange gaze.
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he felt Mercenary Tao's spiritual power was extremely terrifying at this moment.
He didn't dare to rashly activate abilities like Mind Blast. His spiritual perception constantly warned him that the person before him was as dangerous as a black hole.
Therefore, Yoko's intervention actually made him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Mercenary Tao, are you certain you want to fight me here?"
Yoko didn't shy away; instead, she solemnly questioned Kaito Shirogane.
Her words carried a hint of presenting a choice.
As if she were handing the crucial decision of the world's survival over to this guy before her, whom many considered a beast.
Divine light restrained within. Massive amounts of divine power, Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light, and Authorities were all compressed inside Yoko's body. In Kaito Shirogane's eyes, she was like a furnace that could erupt at any moment.
Perhaps, for this woman, the urge to unleash all her power and destroy everything also surfaced in her heart every single moment.
Kaito Shirogane looked around. His gaze caught a corner where an old man was looking at him from afar.
He suddenly revealed a smile, and the terrifying aura around his body vanished instantly.
"Just joking, Empress Yoko. I don't want to destroy this world just yet."
"Why don't we wait until—"
BANG!
A gunshot rang out at this moment. The next moment, a bullet pierced directly through Kaito Shirogane's head.
An intense curse and intent of death erupted along with it.
An instant-death attack!
"The Saint of Killers?!"