Inside the Black Tortoise, Zoran watched the man and the demon on the battlefield with a look of mild resignation.
He understood Shendu far too well. The demon was simply here to "play." Even the way he drew upon the Hetero-Energy allotted by this world was done with a sense of playful caprice. At this very moment, Shendu had forcibly elevated his Hetero-Energy to the level of a Black Hole, likely just to prolong the pleasure this battle brought him. Zoran understood this, and Master Wyatt saw it clearly, too.
In the heart of the battlefield, how could the Whale Shark King fail to realize it? His already deep-blue complexion had turned murky, as if shrouded in a layer of dark miasma.
He was right. In this world, as long as one possesses sufficient Hetero-Energy, there is almost nothing one cannot achieve. He certainly had that power, but Shendu was not lacking in the slightest. Far from it. If all the Hetero-Energy currently hovering above, waiting for Shendu to absorb it, were to be gathered together, it would likely rival his own supreme leader, Hades.
The Whale Shark King had his own unique advantages; the planet beneath his feet was his reliance, granting him the trait of growing stronger the longer he fought. But Shendu could likewise absorb the Hetero-Energy from the heavens at any time and in any place. And when it came to combat techniques, the ones Shendu had displayed from the start were as numerous as the stars.
Am I going to lose? The Whale Shark King clenched his teeth, a sudden tension gripping him.
"You will pay the price for your arrogance!" the Whale Shark King roared.
In an instant, he seized the initiative. The Whale Shark War God hunched its form and unleashed a devastating punch.
"I look forward to it."
Shendu laughed heartily, his body expanding rapidly. A punch that would have injured him when they were of equal size was now firmly blocked. As his form swelled to match the scale of the Whale Shark War God, Shendu gave an effortless shove, sending the War God reeling backward. Scaling his size up or down was a trivial ability for him, he had mastered it long ago.
But this time was different. He had the augmentation of Hetero-Energy.
The vortex above rotated for a heartbeat, and Shendu opened his maw. A Black Hole's worth of Hetero-Energy, pushed by his own innate power, converged toward his throat. Dragon Blast, a move he already knew. But this time, it was an enhanced version amplified by Hetero-Energy!
A beam of energy, brilliant as a starlit torrent and as thick as a mountainside, roared toward the Whale Shark War God. For a brief moment, the very world was illuminated. The same technique, yet compared to its previous iteration, the difference was night and day.
The Whale Shark King, caught off guard and unable to evade, could only assume a defensive stance before taking the full force of the reinforced Dragon Blast. Like a compact car on a highway struck head-on at full speed by a heavy-duty freight truck, he was sent flying backward instantly.
He carved a deep trench into the desert, the Whale Shark War God hurtling uncontrollably away. He slid for miles, shattering one colossal stone pillar after another, until he finally came to a halt on the edge of the horizon, wreathed in thin, black smoke. The architecture the Golden Elephant Tribe had spent ten thousand years constructing was largely decimated in the blink of an eye, and a new canyon had been gouged into the desert floor.
Shendu studied his handiwork with satisfaction. Only the word "perfection" could describe this moment. He then shifted his gaze toward the distance.
Possessing a Black Hole's level of Hetero-Energy, the Whale Shark King was, of course, not dead. But having taken Shendu's strike head-on, his energy had plummeted to rock bottom, teetering on the brink of a complete breakdown. If even a single foot soldier or slave were to toss a stone at him, it would likely force him to revert to his basic armored state.
Inside the Whale Shark War God, the Whale Shark King coughed incessantly. There was, indeed, a Golden Elephant slave standing nearby. But the slave's legs were knocking together, his body trembling uncontrollably with fear. His ingrained servility made him recoil, and even knowing the Whale Shark King was in a weakened state, he dared not step forward to deliver a finishing blow. This was the hegemon who had ruled them for ten thousand years; even if he were to hold a spear against the King's own heart, he wouldn't dare apply an ounce of pressure.
Such was the nature of the Golden Elephant Tribe, largely. Beside them, Galvas let out a helpless sigh, shook his head, and averted his eyes. Finally, the slave, terrified out of his wits, turned and fled into the distance.
Simultaneously, countless azure particles of light detached from the desert, drifting toward the Whale Shark War God and merging into his body. He was drawing energy from the planet, rapidly replenishing himself. The battered Whale Shark War God, refreshed and renewed, stood once more.
The Whale Shark King braced himself against the ground and climbed to his feet. As for the fleeing slave, he didn't even deign to glance at him. Reverting to the Whale Shark Ultra Beast, he swam through the subterranean depths and returned to the battlefield, standing before Shendu.
And Shendu, as unhurried as ever, simply waited for him. At this moment, this local host was the true challenger.
Swimming beneath the sands, the Whale Shark King's voice rose upward. "If you had absorbed all that Hetero-Energy, it would have been enough to destroy me in an instant..."
"But you didn't. The arrogance of the strong will be your undoing. This is the one and only chance you have."
The Whale Shark King's voice was deep. He leaped out of the desert, stood upon the earth, and raised his arms high. Countless azure motes of light swarmed into his body like moths to a flame.
"Black Sea Abyss…"
This was his most powerful technique, realized only after the Tsunami Calamity. A pitch-black, bottomless vortex formed above his head, suddenly beginning to draw everything toward it. On the scanners, the Whale Shark King's Hetero-Energy was pouring out relentlessly. To maintain and expand the abyss held between his arms, his energy dropped continuously, yet it was replenished in the next second, fueling the vortex further.
Gambling every shred of Hetero-Energy the planet could provide in this short window, he unleashed the most powerful technique of his life. A colossal abyss manifested, and even the Black Tortoise, far away at the limit of the range, was being pulled toward it.
The Black Sea Abyss, the Whale Shark King's ultimate move, had a nature that was simple and absolute. It was the opening of a channel leading to the Netherworld Black Hole, forcibly swallowing the enemy and casting them inside. The Netherworld Black Hole was the realm controlled by Hades. In other words, it meant handing the enemy over to Hades himself.
A vast gravitational pull tugged at Shendu's body, dragging him toward the Black Sea Abyss. Facing this unprecedented powerhouse, the Whale Shark King had transcended his past self. Linked to the planet beneath his feet, his Hetero-Energy surged to 1.5 Black Holes. This was his all-out, full-force assault.
Such an opponent left even Kino and his friends back on the Black Tortoise in silence. It turned out that the Whale Shark King they had fought at the beginning hadn't even been trying.
"Go and face Hades!" the Whale Shark King roared.
This, the most powerful Black Sea Abyss in history, created a pull from which not even a Black Hole's worth of energy could escape.
However, Shendu made no attempt to escape. He allowed the Black Sea Abyss to pull at him, letting it swallow his form. He blinked, peering at the Whale Shark King with newfound interest, and suddenly asked a question that made little sense.
Pointing toward the swirling depths of the Black Sea Abyss, Shendu asked, "Are you trying to tell me... that there's an even greater expert inside there?"
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