Kuro immediately realized that the attack just now had not been enough to stop Gabriel.
Just as Gabriel was about to launch his next attack, a golden portal opened beside Kuro, and the Heavenly Chains of Enkidu shot out.
One end pierced through the blue flames still burning across the sky, wrapped itself around Gabriel's arm, and forcibly pulled him out.
"Eh?"
Before Gabriel could react, the chain hurled him in the opposite direction. At the same time, Kuro raised his left hand and opened a portal directly along Gabriel's trajectory.
Still being thrown through the air, Gabriel had no chance to change direction.
His body immediately passed through the portal.
A moment later, the scenery around him changed completely.
BOOM...!!!
His body slammed into the slope of a mountain before bouncing several times and crashing through a line of trees.
Tree trunks snapped one after another as he tore through them, before his body finally dragged across the ground for dozens of meters and came to a stop.
Dust and earth flew in every direction.
Gabriel slowly rose to his feet, brushing the dirt from his clothes. His gaze immediately swept across the surrounding area, and for a moment, his expression froze.
"This is..."
"Mirror Dimension."
Kuro's voice came from behind him.
When Gabriel turned around, he saw Kuro descending from the air and landing calmly on the ground. Afterward, Kuro swung his left hand.
Instantly, the world around them began to change.
The mountains folded like sheets of paper. The forest rotated. Forest paths bent ninety degrees before merging with the sky.
Buildings and structures from Kuoh Town multiplied, overlapped, and rotated in the distance, making it impossible to distinguish where the sky ended and the earth began.
Within seconds, the entire area had transformed into a gigantic geometric labyrinth that continued to shift slowly.
"Here," Kuro said calmly, "we can fight freely, Gabriel Michaelis."
Behind him, the folded mountains and overlapping buildings continued moving slowly, as though the world itself were nothing more than a toy that could be reshaped at will.
"Fuhahaha~"
A carefree laugh escaped Gabriel's lips.
From the very beginning, he had considered Kuro an interesting existence. Even so, Gabriel had not thought it necessary to take him too seriously.
Five to ten units of power output should have been enough.
However, after witnessing the scale of Kuro's abilities, his assessment began to change.
Apparently, he really would have to unleash his full output and abilities.
Otherwise, the stage he had discovered would become rather boring.
Despite thinking that way, Gabriel was not actually a battle maniac. He simply liked things that he considered cool, then turned them into part of a grand spectacle worthy of being remembered.
"In Ash's life," he continued with a smile, "there have only been a few who were capable of making me take things seriously. And now you, the Bringer of Chaos—no, let Ash change that."
His smile widened.
"Primordial Chaos. You are one of them."
Hearing that long-winded speech, Kuro tilted his head slightly.
This kid...
The corner of his mouth twitched faintly.
What did he eat before this? His way of speaking is ridiculously over-the-top. Don't tell me he's actually a chuunibyou.
At the same time, a massive amount of mana began flowing from Gabriel's body.
A familiar pressure of Haoshoku Haki spread throughout the Mirror Dimension, causing the space around them to tremble violently.
It was only natural that Kuro found it familiar. The Herald he had fought previously in the world of One Punch Man had also been a Haki user.
At the same time, pale-white mist flowed from behind Gabriel's coat, sweeping across the forest like a wave slowly swallowing the land.
On the other side, Kuro's hair and clothes fluttered gently beneath the pressure.
Rather than looking overwhelmed, however, a faint smile appeared on his face.
That smile slowly turned into a grin.
"Seriously..." he said. "You're one hell of a chuunibyou."
The moment those words left his mouth, Kuro casually raised his left hand.
At the same time, his black hair turned white, while an aura of Divinity Corruption began flowing from his body.
Hundreds of golden portals appeared throughout the sky of the Mirror Dimension.
One after another, the tips of Prototype Noble Phantasms of Rank A+++, B+++, and C+++ emerged from within them, all aimed directly at Gabriel.
Kuro swung his left hand.
Instantly, hundreds of Prototype Noble Phantasms shot forward like a golden rain covering the sky.
At the same time, white spears emerged from within Gabriel's pale mist and launched forward to meet them.
Explosion after explosion immediately filled the Mirror Dimension.
Blue flames and white light collided in midair, creating shockwaves that swept across the surrounding mountains and forests.
Several Prototype Noble Phantasms were destroyed in the collision.
However, their fragments immediately transformed into particles of light and disappeared.
Kuro recalled them into the Treasury to repair them before using them again as projectiles.
The process did consume a considerable amount of OD.
But with Eldritch Magic and a reserve of mana crystals worth millions of OD, he had absolutely no qualms about burning through as much as necessary.
Amid the barrage of explosions, Gabriel began moving forward.
It was obvious that he intended to break through the storm of projectiles and bring the battle into close quarters.
However, before that could happen, a golden portal opened beside Kuro.
From within it emerged a gigantic Divine Weapon with a blade that appeared to have been forged from a sea of flames.
Sul-sagana: The Horizon of Dawn that Purifies the Seas.
The sword carried the concept of the horizon—the meeting point between sky and sea, the boundary where everything ultimately melted into one.
Dubbed the Sword that Cleaves the Ocean, Sul-sagana was a colossal furnace that melted everything when its direction was turned toward the dawn.
Purifying flames continuously flowed from its blade without end.
Before the dawnlight of that sword, right and wrong, friend and foe alike would ultimately be melted down and become part of a new day.
Kuro halted his barrage of Prototype Noble Phantasms and immediately moved his right hand.
The sword swung along with him through telekinesis.
BOOOOM...!!!
A sea of flames swept across the world before him.
A golden wave of heat stretched as far as the eye could see, resembling a colossal tidal wave swallowing everything in its path.
Trees, earth, mountains, and pale mist were instantly swept away and burned apart in a single devastating sweep that stretched far into the distance, as though the world before them had simply been erased.
The scorching air struck Kuro's face, causing the tips of his white hair to flutter backward.
He watched the sea of flames for several moments.
"...Was I a little excessive?" he muttered. "That's a really big fire."
A moment later, however, his eyes narrowed.
He could still sense Gabriel's presence.
Amid the sea of flames, a purple orb continued to shine brightly, and from within it, Gabriel's body continued regenerating at an abnormal speed.
Melted bones reformed. Scorched flesh recovered.
Even so, the process was clearly anything but comfortable.
As his face and vocal cords regenerated, a restrained groan immediately escaped Gabriel's mouth.
Apparently, Sul-sagana had not merely burned his body. It had also damaged part of his soul.
There was no way that could simply dull physical pain.
But injuries to the soul were another matter entirely.
"So you can still recover..." Kuro chuckled softly. "Looks like I really wasn't being excessive."
Once all the damage to his body, clothes, and equipment had completely healed, Gabriel extended one hand to the side.
From the void, a pale-white shovel of unnatural beauty slowly materialized in his grasp.
Seeing it, Kuro smiled faintly.
"Well, finally decided to use it," he said. "That shovel of yours."
Gabriel returned the smile before pointing the shovel's tip toward Kuro.
"Of course," he replied. "Otherwise, it would be an insult to Ash. Facing an opponent like you while holding back would be improper."
Although his tone remained casual, his thoughts were moving rapidly.
The previous attack from Sul-sagana had nearly killed him.
The difference between raw destructive power and a concept-based Divine Weapon was far greater than he had anticipated.
Even the Shikai, Mugen Kyoen, which he had activated earlier, had failed to withstand the flames when confronted with that sweeping attack directly.
If not for his regenerative ability, his body would have long since been reduced to ash.
Strangely enough, Gabriel did not feel the slightest bit of fear.
Not because he was immune to fear, but because that feeling had long since lost its meaning to him.
Throughout his journey, only a handful of things had ever been capable of making him truly cautious: Cid Kagenou, the limitations of the system, and the Infinity Tower.
Outside those three things, almost nothing was capable of occupying the same position.
That was precisely why, in Gabriel's eyes, Kuro had only become more interesting.
"Sword of Ruin: Ragnarok."
As the weapon's True Name was revealed, the pale-white shovel began to crack and peel away layer by layer.
Its disguised form collapsed.
What remained was a beautiful white sword, radiating an aura that was both majestic and dangerous.
Kuro's eyes flashed for a moment.
Through Sha Nabqa Imuru, he had already seen various possibilities involving that sword, including futures in which the weapon was wielded.
Even so, knowing something and witnessing it with his own eyes were two entirely different things.
That was why he still couldn't suppress his admiration as Ragnarok revealed its true form.
____
Author's note:
Creating something, even a fanfic, is not easy! Please support me! Leave comments, reviews, and some (or all) of your Power Stones! 😎
Hei. Don't ignore meh! Plz notice me senpai~
(•_<) Just Kidding, Tehe~