Conqueror Haki, powerful to the extreme, swept outward.
It crushed through spirit and consciousness with the force of something meant to flatten all in its path.
Legion Commanders.
Executioners.
Even Marshal Garran.
Before Caelum’s Haki, now close to two hundred times in intensity, none of them had the power to resist.
In a single instant, they became lambs waiting for slaughter.
The mental impact was useless against Javier. He possessed the ability to become intangible, and no attack could injure him in that state. Pressing him with spiritual force would only make him keep phasing.
These people were different.
Caelum could release his Haki as he pleased.
With one clash of presence, hundreds of them lost consciousness and began falling to the ground.
Unlike Javier, they held no value to Caelum.
There was no reason to spare them.
In the next instant, blade light crossed and wove through the air.
Cloudrift Style, Hundredfold Execution.
Dense slashes spread like a net and cut everything apart.
All enemies, Marshal Garran included, were killed by Caelum in a single move.
The Empire’s Army Marshal.
Two Legion Commanders.
The Executioner Unit cultivated with all the strength of the upper nobles.
The Minister’s Purge Unit.
All the senior officers of the military stationed in the royal capital.
Wiped out.
Cleanly and completely.
Then the earth shook.
From the abyss Caelum had cut open earlier, dazzling light suddenly bloomed.
A cross shaped starburst flashed once, then turned into an energy impact that seemed powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.
The blast rushed straight toward Caelum.
He split it apart with one slash.
The energy poured over the surrounding ground like a waterfall, burning the ruins into glass.
A beast over a hundred meters tall crawled out of the abyss.
Its form resembled a human, but its entire body was pitch black, covered in thick exoskeleton armor. Savage bone spikes jutted from it in many places.
It looked like a super class Danger Beast.
In truth, this was the Emperor of the Empire.
The royal family had first established the Empire through military force. As the most noble bloodline of the royal family, how could the Emperor be an ordinary person?
Flowing through him was the ancient kingdom’s most powerful inherited bloodline.
Those mad alchemists had fused together a vast number of super class Danger Beast bloodlines and created the ultimate inherited bloodline.
After awakening, the Emperor’s giant beast form did not look all that large.
Compared with the super class Danger Beasts in the ocean, which were often several kilometers long, he was nothing.
But in terms of strength, the Emperor was greater.
Every aspect of him approached the extreme of this world.
In every direction, he surpassed the power of ancient Danger Beasts.
"Lowly creature!"
The Emperor lowered his head and looked down at Caelum. His voice rumbled like thunder, filled with fury.
"You dared ruin my royal capital like this. Your crime cannot be forgiven!"
As for the dead, the Emperor did not care.
"You managed to rule a perfectly good country into this state. As Emperor, you are quite the failure."
Caelum spoke while sliding Cloudrend back into its sheath.
"Rather than letting someone drag you to the execution platform one day, how about I free you right now?"
He calmly rolled up his sleeves.
From the look of it, he intended to fight the Emperor with bare fists.
Ever since arriving in this world, Caelum’s strength had been rising at terrifying speed. Not once had he met an opponent who could let him truly enjoy himself.
Not a single one.
In the end, he was simply too far beyond the standard.
That feeling had left him somewhat stifled.
Every time he drew his blade, the enemy died in one strike.
His fighting spirit had only just risen, and the battle was already over.
That constant sense of never getting to fully exhale had become rather frustrating.
So for this fight, he put away his blade.
He wanted a proper clash.
Fist against flesh.
"Free me?"
The Emperor laughed from fury.
He stood on the earth and faced Caelum. His beast body, more than a hundred meters tall, made the comparison between them look like a human facing an ant.
And yet Caelum’s presence did not fall behind in the slightest.
"Arrogant beyond measure!"
The next second, the Emperor punched down.
The force was like the sky collapsing.
But the instant it touched Caelum, the Armament Haki covering Caelum’s body reflected it back.
The sight was like an ant knocking down an elephant.
The Emperor staggered under the rebounding force.
Caelum immediately flashed before him, Conqueror Haki wrapped around his fist, and punched him up into the sky.
"Arrogant?"
For once, Caelum let the true emotion in his chest show.
He released his wild, all disregarding arrogance without restraint and laughed aloud.
"No. This is assured victory."
The future within one hour was entirely in his grasp.
Before this battle had even happened, his victory had already been decided.
Conqueror Haki, close to two hundred times in intensity, wrapped around his body.
Thick black and red lightning shot into the sky like a roaming dragon, stirring wind and clouds.
Excitement showed on Caelum’s face.
He vented the fighting spirit in his chest without holding back. Black and red lightning burst from his hands as he tore through the sky and chased above the Emperor.
Then he brought both hands together like a hammer and smashed down onto the Emperor’s giant beast body.
With a body as small as an ant, he shook a colossal creature and blasted it toward the earth.
Wind roared.
Lightning danced wildly.
At this moment, Caelum looked like a demon god.
The Emperor could not keep up with Caelum’s battle rhythm at all.
Nor could he resist Caelum’s strength.
He could only endure the attacks passively, without the power to fight back.
Under that heavy blow, the Emperor let out a loud wail.
A fierce pain tore through him, and he screamed as he plunged rapidly from the sky.
It was not enough.
Caelum also dove toward the ground.
Using the recoil of Armament Haki, he accelerated again and again, catching up to the Emperor’s falling body.
Then came another powerful strike.
The Emperor’s falling speed became even more violent.
After a few breaths, he crashed into the earth, sinking deep into the ground and shattering the land within dozens of kilometers.
Caelum landed after him.
With Observation Haki, he instantly locked onto the Emperor’s position within the smoke and dust rising into the sky.
He was not dead.
At the same time, after Caelum landed, the Emperor also locked onto his position in an instant.
He released a massive energy impact with all his strength.
This time, Caelum did not dodge.
He charged straight against the terrifying blast, moving upstream against it.
The Armament Haki around his body became invisible armor, blocking every bit of the impact.
Like a fish forcing its way up a waterfall, Caelum pushed through.
Conqueror Haki, close to two hundred times in intensity, was released in full and wrapped around his fist.
Against the energy blast, he rushed all the way before the Emperor with unstoppable momentum.
Then, with a physique comparable to an ancient super class Danger Beast, he threw a full power punch.
At that instant, terror ran through the Emperor.
Then his entire giant beast body exploded.
Blood, flesh, and shattered remains burst across the sky and scattered over the earth.
The Emperor of the Empire died just like that at Caelum’s hands.
On this day, Caelum destroyed the Empire’s royal capital by himself.
He also gathered and killed more than eighty percent of the Empire’s top combat strength in one sweep.
"Hah..."
Caelum let out a long breath.
Deeply satisfied.
Interference Value obtained: 10
Interference Value: 10.1