High above the clouds, the heavens were in a state of constant upheaval.
Imu stood brandishing Uranus, his strength surging to unprecedented heights. The sacrifice of the long-bearded and bald members of the Five Elders had served its grim purpose, further awakening the Ancient Weapon. Now, every strike from Imu carried the weight of a world-ending catastrophe.
The sheer pressure he exerted was leagues beyond anything he had shown before.
Even Lin Xuan found it impossible to suppress him single-handedly. Seizing the opening, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama lunged into the fray. The combined might of the legendary shinobi clashed with the master of the world, resulting in a series of terrifying explosions that rocked the firmament.
Boom!
Uranus pulsed with a blinding radiance. Countless streaks of molten fire rained from the sky, sweeping across the horizon in every direction. Below, the Red Line groaned and trembled as the very earth began to crack and splinter. It looked like the end of the world.
"Thunder: Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!"
Lin Xuan transformed into a thousand-meter-tall titan. Countless fists, wreathed in roaring thunder, punched outward with the force of a thousand storms. The barrage slammed into the descending fire, scattering the molten rain into nothingness.
"Sage Art: Yin Release Lightning Dispatch!"
Uchiha Madara followed suit, unleashing a violent surge of purple lightning that snaked through the air, darting toward Imu with predatory speed. Hashirama and the others joined the assault, each weaving their most potent techniques into a unified offensive.
Facing this overwhelming coordinated attack, Imu simply laughed. Uranus erupted with a divine glow as he swung the weapon in a wide arc. The blade sliced through the very fabric of the atmosphere, distorting space and shattering the void itself.
Rumble!
The collision shook the heavens to their core. The battle had reached a fever pitch, with sparks of energy and spatial turbulence tearing through the sky in every direction.
"Is this the true power of the Ancient Weapon Uranus? It's... monstrous," Whitebeard muttered. He stared up at the sky, his expression etched with a rare, solemn gravity.
The combat prowess Imu displayed through Uranus left him shaken. It was simply too powerful. Once, Edward Newgate had believed himself to be at the pinnacle of the world. He had dominated an era and possessed the absolute confidence that came with being the strongest man alive.
But looking at the sky now, he felt like a frog at the bottom of a well.
With Imu's current strength, the man could likely erase him in a single strike—leaving no corpse, no soul, and absolutely no chance of escape.
However, he noted that while Imu relied on the might of an Ancient Weapon, Lin Xuan and the others were contending with him through their own raw power. Even against the ultimate weapon of the World Government, they refused to yield an inch of ground.
Thinking of this, Whitebeard couldn't help but sigh again. "They really are a bunch of monsters."
"You said it," Red-Haired Shanks added, nodding deeply in agreement.
Monsters was an understatement.
By the gods, the title of 'Four Emperors' felt like a complete joke now. Maritime Sovereigns? In the face of Lin Xuan and his cohort, they weren't even worthy of being called "little brothers." They were just children waiting to be slapped around.
Still, seeing his former captain—the legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger—reduced to a background character in this fight made Shanks feel a bit more balanced. If the King was a spectator, who was he to complain?
The people nearby overheard the two Emperors' conversation, their faces pale with shock. They knew Lin Xuan was strong, but seeing the legendary Yonko speak of him with such reverence was another matter entirely.
Joining the New Era Alliance was definitely the right choice, many thought fervently.
The battle above was terrifying. Even with the powerhouses of the Ninja Guild blocking the aftershocks, the sheer aura of the conflict made it difficult for the common soldiers to breathe.
On the other side of the battlefield, Commander-in-Chief Kong was frantically ordering a retreat. His face was grim, his eyes bloodshot.
It was a massacre.
The shockwaves from the clash were leveling the surroundings. Mary Geoise, the Holy Land of the World Government, was rapidly being reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble.
The New Era Alliance was shielded by the likes of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, so they remained largely unscathed. But the World Government had no such luxury. The Five Elders were dead, and the ancestors of the Celestial Dragons had been wiped out. Only Kong, Sengoku, and Garp remained to desperately hold the line while trying to evacuate the survivors.
Despite their efforts, the casualties were staggering. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and the cries of the wounded, making Kong's heart bleed with every passing second. This was the brutal reality of war at the highest level.
"Hahaha! You continue to surprise me, but it is not enough!" Imu laughed, his grip tightening on Uranus. His confidence had reached a point of near-delusion as he felt the boundless power surging through him. "I will show you what 'unstoppable' truly means!"
In response, Lin Xuan entered his Six Paths Mode once more. His expression turned deadly serious.
The Six Paths Mode elevated his power and speed to an entirely different dimension. The aura radiating from his body was suffocating, a dark and holy pressure that rivaled the Ancient Weapon itself.
"Hmph," Madara snorted coldly, his chakra swirling violently as he prepared to unleash his most devastating techniques.
The group lunged at Imu again.
Rumble—!
A shockwave of ashen gray energy rippled outward—a burst of raw power from Uranus clashing against Lin Xuan's Truth-Seeking Orbs. The resulting explosion threatened to vaporize everything in its path.
"Protect everyone!" Lin Xuan's voice boomed down from the sky.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki didn't hesitate. She soared upward, her hands outstretched as she intercepted the cascading energy, neutralizing the shockwaves before they could hit the ground.
"When the gods fight, it's the mortals who suffer. I guess that's what we're seeing here," Deidara said with a manic grin, though even his eyes held a trace of awe.
Everyone stared upward, but the combatants were moving so fast now that their figures were becoming blurs of light and shadow, disappearing into the distorted fabric of the sky.
Unlike the New Era Alliance, the members of the World Government watched with conflicted emotions. Because Kaguya had stepped in to block the fallout, she wasn't just protecting her own side—she had effectively saved the remnants of the World Government's forces as well.
The very people they were fighting were the only reason they weren't already dust.
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T/N:
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