"Jie jie jie... You actually still intend to kill me? What an ignorant, arrogant mortal!" A sinister, venomous smile spread across Imu's face.
As the words left his lips, the Ancient Weapon Uranus—held firmly in his hand—began to shimmer with a cold, murderous light.
"Then pay the price for your hubris!"
With a low roar, Imu vanished. He reappeared instantly before Lin Xuan, the blade-morphed Uranus sweeping downward in a vicious arc. His speed was so immense that his afterimage remained fixed in his original position even as the strike fell.
A terrifying surge of power erupted from Uranus, a chaotic and violent energy that tore through the air toward Lin Xuan.
Lin Xuan's expression shifted slightly. His eyes rippled, transforming into the Rinnegan.
"Almighty Push!"
BOOM!
An earth-shattering explosion rocked the world. The ground beneath them disintegrated, collapsing into a massive crater. Violent shockwaves blasted outward, forcing the nearby onlookers to stumble back in retreat, their faces pale with terror.
However, Lin Xuan's body was flung backward like a cannonball. He was blasted away from the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, crashing into the distant sea and sending a colossal wall of water erupting into the sky.
He didn't stay down for long. Moments later, he soared back into the air, cutting through the spray.
A shallow, bloody gash now marked Lin Xuan's chest.
It was a wound left by Imu.
Even though Lin Xuan had activated "Almighty Push" in time to deflect the blow, the sheer power of Uranus had been too great. It had forcibly cleaved through the repelling force, striking him and sending him flying.
In truth, this result was only possible because of Lin Xuan's own monstrous strength. Had it been anyone else—even someone of Gol D. Roger's caliber—that single strike likely would have reduced them to bloody shreds.
Nevertheless, Lin Xuan's gaze grew solemn. He sighed inwardly, As expected of an Ancient Weapon. That power is truly formidable.
It seemed the strength of Uranus scaled with the user. When the Mother Tree utilized the weapon through Imu's body, the resulting power was leagues beyond what Imu could achieve on his own. Lin Xuan could feel it—that strike had been imbued with the raw, primordial power of the world itself.
High above, Imu gripped Uranus and looked down at Lin Xuan with icy disdain.
"You are strong, but before me, you are still far too weak. If you have any more trump cards, you'd best use them now. Otherwise, you won't get another chance." Imu spoke with absolute confidence, his eyes devoid of warmth.
His lips curled into a mocking sneer. Suddenly, the gargantuan vines below began to writhe. They coiled rapidly, forming a massive perimeter that completely encircled Mary Geoise and everyone within it.
"Don't even think about escaping."
Imu stared at Lin Xuan and continued, "Perhaps you have the means to flee this place. But if you do, I will slaughter every single soul trapped here!"
Lin Xuan's brow furrowed.
"Jie jie jie! In the face of true power, your only choices are to struggle in vain or die in despair!" Imu hissed.
"Hmph. Escape? I have never known the meaning of the word," Lin Xuan retorted coldly.
Imu let out a jagged, mocking laugh.
"Excellent. In that case, let's continue this game!"
Separated by hundreds of feet, Imu struck again. He leveled his sword and swung with everything he had.
The atmosphere screamed. A gray sword-light erupted, churning into a boundless storm of destruction as it swept toward Lin Xuan. The attack was even more devastating than the last; the chaotic energy shredded the very fabric of space, leaving a wake of terrifying instability behind it.
"Fine. I suppose it's time I got serious," Lin Xuan declared with a laugh.
In an instant, the Perfect Susanoo manifested, its towering form further reinforced by the deep, metallic sheen of Armament Haki.
A colossal black giant stood tall against the heavens. It raised its massive blade and swung. The counter-strike whipped up a hurricane-force gale, colliding head-on with the incoming gray light.
CRASH!
The smile on Imu's face froze.
To his horror, he saw his devastating sword-light get pulverized by the mere shockwave of Lin Xuan's casual swing. It dissipated into nothingness.
"How is this possible?"
Imu's eyes widened in disbelief. But he had no time to ponder, as Lin Xuan—shrouded in the black, Haki-clad Susanoo—charged toward him.
The world trembled as the two figures collided in mid-air.
They exchanged blows at a blinding speed. Below them, the sea erupted in a series of continuous explosions. Marine life fled in a frantic panic; those too slow to escape were instantly pulverized by the sheer pressure of the shockwaves radiating from the battle above.
Finally, after a flurry of world-shaking exchanges—THUD!
Imu's body jerked violently. He was sent spiraling through the air by a direct punch from the Susanoo.
"No... impossible! How can you be this strong?!" Imu gasped, struggling to stabilize himself in the air. A trail of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
He stared at Lin Xuan, his mind reeling. "This makes no sense! Where did this power come from?"
In that brief clash, it felt as though Lin Xuan had become a different person entirely. Even with Uranus in hand and his power boosted to its limit, Imu found himself unable to suppress the man.
Shock turned into genuine dread. Imu—or rather, the Mother Tree inhabiting him—began to tremble to its very core.
Lin Xuan looked at him with a calm, knowing smile. "In the end, this isn't your own body. Even if you use Uranus to forcibly augment your combat power, you are still restricted by the physical limits of your vessel. Just how strong did you really think you could get?"
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T/N:
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