The moment the power of Divide took effect on Ren Kuroda—
Vali immediately felt an overwhelming surge of energy flood into his body.
The sheer volume of that power was so immense that even in his Juggernaut Drive state, he nearly lost control. For a split second, it felt as though his armor might shatter under the strain of absorbing too much at once.
Fortunately, at that exact moment, the massive light wings on his back flared to life. As his body reached its limit, the excess energy was forcibly expelled through the ends of those wings.
"…Just how much stronger has he become?" Vali muttered, his voice low with disbelief. "Even I, in Juggernaut Drive, almost couldn't handle that influx…"
Ren hadn't even made his move yet.
And already, from that single exchange of power, Vali could roughly grasp just how terrifying his opponent had become.
At their peak, the Two Heavenly Dragons could barely rank among the top ten strongest beings in the world—that was when Albion and Ddraig fully unleashed their sealed powers of poison and flame.
Vali, in his current Juggernaut Drive state, might not have reached Albion's absolute prime—but he was undoubtedly among the top twenty.
And yet—
Even as one of the top twenty strongest beings—
Simply absorbing Ren's power had nearly overwhelmed him.
"Vali, stay focused! This is no opponent you can afford to lose concentration against!"
Almost the instant Albion's warning rang out—
Ren's figure vanished from the crater where he had stood.
Vali's vision flickered for just a moment.
And when he opened his eyes again—
He was staring directly into a pair of pitch-black eyes.
Eyes so dark that no pupils could be seen.
Eyes so calm they resembled a silent, endless cosmos.
The moment Vali met that gaze—
He felt as though the abyss itself was staring back at him.
Ren stood right in front of him.
Startled—half from shock, half from instinct—Vali reacted immediately. Gathering most of his strength, he threw a punch straight at Ren.
But—
Facing that hastily unleashed strike—
Ren simply raised a single finger.
And stopped it.
Just like that.
The force of the punch didn't disappear—it blasted straight through Ren's body, detonating behind him and collapsing the ground over a wide area.
And yet—
Despite the overwhelming power of a Juggernaut Drive-enhanced blow—
Ren didn't move an inch.
Not even the finger blocking the attack bent in the slightest.
Compared to Vali's massive armored form, Ren's body was smaller than even his forearm.
And yet—
In Vali's eyes—
Ren now seemed unimaginably vast.
If one looked closely—
Behind him—
There was something else.
A pitch-black abyss.
A swamp-like void formed entirely of writhing black sludge.
Within it stood a towering, awe-inspiring oni deity with three heads and six arms, dominating heaven and earth.
And beneath that entity—
A throne.
A jet-black throne.
Seated upon it was a man, resting his chin casually on one hand.
As if noticing Vali's gaze—
The man slowly opened his eyes…
And smiled.
A wicked, knowing smile.
For just a moment—
Vali's mind faltered.
And that moment—
Was all it took.
Boom!
Ren, still holding back Vali's punch with a single finger, casually pivoted—
And drove a kick straight into Vali's abdomen.
The massive body of the White Dragon Emperor shot downward like a falling star, crashing into the ground and forming a colossal crater upon impact.
"Albion… what just happened?" Vali gasped, his body wracked with pain as violent winds howled around him. But more than the damage, what lingered in his mind was what he had just seen.
"…Nothing unusual," Albion replied, confused. "Your punch was blocked, and then you hesitated briefly before being kicked away. Why? Did something happen?"
Having known Vali for so long, Albion understood that he wasn't the type to lose focus in the middle of a fight—especially against a powerful opponent.
Which meant—
Something had happened.
Vali didn't hide anything. He recounted exactly what he had seen—the abyss, the oni deity, the throne… the man.
"…A mental attack?" Albion pondered. "But when he blocked your strike, he relied purely on physical strength. I didn't detect any fluctuation of magical energy from a spell."
Vali shook his head.
"No… I don't think it was a mental attack. It's more like… his presence was just too overwhelming.
"When I looked into his eyes… instinct kicked in. The primal instinct of a living being facing something far above it on the food chain.
"I felt… fear."
As Vali continued plummeting at high speed, he tried to regain control of his body while speaking with Albion.
But despite his clear mind—
The immense pressure of the descent pinned his body in place, leaving him unable to move.
When his back finally slammed into the ground, the accumulated force discharged violently. Though he took damage, the pressure vanished, and he began to push himself up—
Only for Ren to appear again.
Vali had barely lifted his upper body—
When he saw Ren descending from the sky above him.
Both legs together—
Driving straight down toward him.
Those size-42 boots filled Vali's vision in an instant—
And then—
His head was slammed directly into the ground.
A zero-distance reunion with Mother Earth.
The thick rocky surface shattered like tofu under the impact. The ground collapsed in a massive radius, and spiderweb-like cracks spread thousands of meters outward in mere moments.
If Vali had still been conscious before—
Then this strike completely knocked him senseless.
His White Dragon Emperor armor was now heavily damaged, large sections fractured and broken. Some of the jewels embedded within it had even fallen loose.
And above the crater—
Ren hovered in the air, hands spread as he began to chant.
"O ruler! Mask of flesh and blood, all creation, wings that soar, bearer of the human name!Carve twin lotuses upon the wall of blue flame, and let the abyss of inferno await in distant skies—Hadō #73: Sōren Sōkatsui!"
After driving Vali deep into the earth with that kick, Ren flashed upward and reappeared above the crater.
This time—
The Kidō he cast, fully chanted in his current state, far surpassed the power of anything he had used before.
The air around him grew scorching hot.
At first, only tiny sparks of blue flame flickered into existence—
But in the blink of an eye, they spread like wildfire, engulfing the entire sky.
At the bottom of the crater, Vali's consciousness was fading.
His armor was severely damaged.
"Vali! Snap out of it!" Albion's voice rang out urgently.
"If you take this attack head-on without doing anything—
You're going to die!"
...
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