In a world shaped by shinobi and myth, Enel's "Thunder God" form would've looked ridiculous—but the towering, spectral warrior-shape reminiscent of Susanoo? That carried real weight. Real dread.
Arata had always admired Uchiha Madara, so when he evolved his Lightning Armor into a second gear, it naturally took on a form inspired by that same overwhelming presence.
And he couldn't deny it—just the look of it thrilled him.
Even the Third Raikage had taken a single glance and gone pale with despair.
Of course, Arata knew his Lightning Armor: Second Gear still wasn't on par with a full-body Susanoo. At best, it rivaled the mature form—nothing close to the hundred-meter titan Madara once unleashed.
But appearances were secondary.
His entire body was now a construct of pure thunder force.
In this state, even an S-rank Lightning Style would barely scratch him. Both his offense and defense had risen to terrifying levels.
Elemental advantages only mattered when the gap in raw power wasn't this absurd. With his lightning output unleashed at full volume, only wind-release or lightning of a similar tier could hope to harm him.
The Two-Tails jinchūriki's blue hellfire flickered across his giant frame like someone attempting to tickle a statue.
And because this form stored all that storm power inside the body itself, Arata could now fire massive lightning techniques instantly—no hand signs, no buildup—only raw speed and amplified destruction.
Unlike a Susanoo shell, which was puppeted by chakra and had that slight moment of delay, Arata's titan form moved with his direct physical will. Fast. Sharp. Immediate.
This was his strongest state—offense and defense fused into one:
Lightning Armor: Second Gear.
If he ever awakened his Devil Fruit, perhaps this form might even rival a complete Susanoo.
When Uzumaki Mito had once witnessed this transformation, even she—who had faced Madara—acknowledged Arata as a true super-kage-level force. Anyone who had ever seen Madara's spectral warrior would feel pressure just looking at this.
As the Two-Tails jinchūriki and the Third Raikage froze in shock, the elite jonin finally made his move.
"Lightning Style—Black Thunder Fang Beast!"
His hands erupted with black lightning. It twisted and shaped itself into a massive sabertooth tiger nearly thirty meters tall.
Lightning Style was notoriously hard to sculpt into a coherent form—yet this jonin managed it flawlessly. His chakra control was impeccable.
The Black Thunder Beast launched itself at Arata in a blur.
Earlier, Arata might have had to rely on intangibility to avoid that attack.
Not anymore.
BOOM!
The black lightning slammed into Arata's giant thunder-body—
and instantly disintegrated.
No elemental supremacy. No piercing. It simply dissolved into harmless sparks, as if Arata's lightning sat one tier above it entirely.
Arata's grin widened.
"Exactly. There's no such thing as a 'superior element'—only a superior user."
The jonin's Black Thunder was powerful—easily at kage level.
But Arata had surpassed even that. At super-kage power, "upper-tier" or "lower-tier" meant nothing.
Power alone decided the outcome.
The three Kumo shinobi could only stare in desperation.
Their trump cards… meant nothing.
And Arata—he was just getting started.
He turned his head sharply to the left.
The reason appeared immediately.
The Eight-Tails jinchūriki—already pushed to his limit—finally cast aside all restraint. He forced the Tailed Beast Cloak to seven tails, the absolute brink before losing himself completely.
Unlike Killer B, this version of the Eight-Tails couldn't harmonize with the beast inside him—so pushing any further meant death.
His consciousness was fading fast.
Only one obsession remained:
This Tailed Beast Bomb must hit Arata.
Before him swelled a massive sphere of red-black chakra—bigger than the last two Tailed Beast Bombs combined.
Arata's expression tightened.
This one's size approached the scale of a fully unleashed Nine-Tails blast.
The explosion radius alone might exceed five kilometers.
A true tactical nuke.
He couldn't risk testing intangibility here.
Lightning Armor drained his stamina heavily, and he couldn't maintain phasing for several minutes while sustaining this state.
This time… he had to meet it head-on.
The Raikage, the Two-Tails jinchūriki, and the jonin all realized what was about to happen. Terror shot through them.
They bolted.
They weren't Arata—they couldn't survive even the shockwave.
Arata didn't spare them a glance.
He raised one massive hand, lightning swirling into his palm.
His voice thundered across the battlefield:
"Lightning God Sphere!"
Electric arcs spiraled violently, condensing into a rotating orb.
One meter… two meters…
Soon, a ten-meter ball of pure storm roared in his palm—
even larger than the Eight-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.
The Eight-Tails jinchūriki let out a final roar of dying will and hurled his attack.
Arata threw his Lightning God Sphere in the same heartbeat.
The Tailed Beast Bomb carved a trench through everything it passed, flattening trees and soil.
Arata's Lightning God Sphere melted the ground beneath it entirely, turning earth into molten red lava as lightning shrieked around it.
Two forces—pure destruction and pure lightning—hurtled toward one another.
And the world held its breath.