-----
-----
Heaven's Strike is the signature move of the Skywing race. It's a concentrated blast of pure energy, with zero magic tricks mixed in. Just raw power — and that's what makes it so deadly.
Normally, when a Skywing unleashes Heaven's Strike with no holds barred, using all their strength, their body physically shrinks into the form of a little girl afterward because of the massive energy drain.
You could say it's a strike packed with their entire life force and spirit. Even Dragonkind have to be extremely careful facing Heaven's Strike.
As for Jibril— she's a unique outlier. She started out much weaker than average Skywings, but she's a fast learner, absorbing traits from many races to fill her gaps and grow stronger over time.
She's risen from the weakest newbie to one of the top Skywings out there.
Where most Skywings look down on Forestkind magic, Jibril actively hunts Forestkind for their magic books.
She uses the ancient Fourth Blessing, which is even stronger than the defense magic given by the War God.
Now, Jibril has even upgraded Heaven's Strike into a more powerful Absolute Strike. Not only does it keep the pure energy intact, but she's also added other energies that blend perfectly without conflict.
The destructive power of this Absolute Strike completely outclasses the original Heaven's Strike!
"Absolute Strike!?" Through enhanced hearing magic, Shinku clearly heard Jibril's words. Her face went pale, crushed by the overwhelming energy above.
Jibril had already wiped out their capital with a single Heaven's Strike, and now she had an even stronger ultimate attack!
"The elves are reacting strongly; they'll be caught in the blast. Evacuate immediately," Zhu Bi said slowly, data flickering in her eyes.
"Run!" Hearing that, Hatsuse Fia didn't hesitate and led everyone backward without argument.
"Damn it, we're out too!" The aftershock of the monster battle was enough to wipe them out. It was frustrating, but true.
For her own life, Shinku didn't want to stay and die watching either.
"Absolute Strike, huh? Interesting. Since you want to show off, I'll show you something fun too," Riku said, laughing as he sheathed his spirit-splitting sword.
If he was going to beat Jibril, he'd do it thoroughly. Though Hanawa's power could absorb the Absolute Strike, that wouldn't be enough to show off his true strength.
"Seventh Gate, Gate of Shock, open!" Riku shouted deeply.
Instantly, pale blue flames burst from his body, veins bulging. His power soared to its absolute peak!
"That overwhelming power! Riku, you really surprised me again!" Jibril's eyes gleamed fanatically, obsessed with the energy. "It's like your strength has no limits — endless possibilities."
Every time Riku powered up like this, Jibril was shocked. This is exactly the feeling of growing stronger she chased!
"Absolute Strike—!"
In the next moment, Jibril raised her black spear excitedly and swung down.
Slash!
It was like space itself was torn asunder — the black spear left a sharp black streak in the air and plummeted at unbelievable speed toward Riku.
"Day Tiger!!!"
At the same time, Riku roared and swung both fists at a speed so fast Jibril couldn't even see clearly.
In the next instant, an enormous blue tiger roared fiercely and charged upward into the sky.
It seemed like a long battle, but it was actually less than a thousandth of a second — the two ultimate moves crashed violently!
Shhhhk!
Crack!
The sky let out a mournful cry, as if time stopped. White waves of energy rippled from the collision point between the Day Tiger and the Absolute Strike, turning anything nearby into dust.
Lightning flashed violently, black bolts racing wildly while the blue tiger roared, engulfing the black spear.
Boom!
The Absolute Strike trembled wildly, overwhelmed by the blue tiger, then exploded violently.
The terrifying energy blast swept over a radius of a million meters, swallowing everything.
Within that radius, mountains collapsed, the earth trembled and sank, scorched marks spread endlessly, clouds were torn apart, rivers evaporated — all destroyed by the raging power.
Meanwhile, fleeing Hatsuse Fia and Zhu Bi didn't hesitate; they joined the Forestkind forces to defend together.
The remaining Forestkind, led by Shinku, threw everything into multiple layers of ancient Fourth Blessing defensive magic, ignoring their own energy drain.
Their goal was simple: just survive the aftershock.
Even though the blast's center was thousands of meters up in the sky, and they were tens of thousands of meters away, they still had to fight with everything they had just to live!
That's the terror of higher-level races fighting. For races under level six, close-range encounters with powerful foes aren't much better than humans — one wrong move and you're dead.
Compared to the Forestkind, the Beastkin were way more relaxed, hiding inside the Forestkind's protective shields. With Zhu Bi and Hatsuse Fia helping, they were fine.
That was something Riku had considered — he wasn't careless enough to let his wife get hurt just because he was pumped for a fight.
After a dozen seconds, the blast aftershocks faded. The smoke and dust finally thinned out.
What remained was a huge crater — all scorched black earth, lifeless as far as the eye could see.
Monsters...!!!
Shinku's face was deathly pale, breathing hard as her heart pounded fiercely at the scene before her.
She had used over 90% of her energy just to defend against the blast aftershocks.
The others almost fainted from exhaustion!
"Where's my husband?" Hatsuse Fia, clearing her blood damage, anxiously looked to the sky, searching for something.
"Oh, right, what about the battle result?" 0.7 Shinku's expression changed, looking up anxiously.
Such a terrifying clash drained massive energy — even Jibril probably couldn't afford the cost.
But if Jibril won, even a shred of her leftover power would be enough to kill them ten times over.
So they all desperately hoped Riku had won.
Though Riku wasn't an ally either, he wasn't exactly an enemy... maybe.
"Riku's fine. He won," Zhu Bi said calmly, raising her head to gaze at a spot high in the sky.
"Hmm? Husband won? That's great!" Hatsuse Fia smiled proudly.
Shinku also let out a relieved sigh.
But when everyone looked up clearly, they all froze.
"....."