As the intensity of the battle with Hela continued to escalate,
Peter could feel the Conqueror's Haki inside him becoming more and more excited and active.
In the worldview of the Pirate King, the true ultimate application of Haoshoku is not a simple switch, but infusion.
By infusing the power of Haoshoku onto a weapon, one can inflict damage before the attack even makes physical contact with the opponent.
This is the entry ticket for the very top powerhouses in the pirate World; Roger could do it, Whitebeard could do it, and Shanks could do it.
But Peter... he had never been able to do it.
It wasn't a lack of power, but rather that the feeling wasn't right.
Haoshoku is different from Armament Haki. Armament Haki is a technique; you just need to practice it.
But Haoshoku is the manifestation of willpower. It doesn't obey 'commands.' Only when pushed by a certain catalyst can it achieve a breakthrough, almost as naturally as water forming a channel.
And at this moment, ten days and ten nights of continuous, extreme combat had finally pushed Peter to that critical point.
Opposite him, Hela struck again with another heavy blow.
Peter dodged to the side, and Senbonzakura swept upward in a smooth arc.
Hela leaned back to avoid it, driving the black spike on her knee toward Peter's abdomen.
Peter blocked the knee strike with all-black the necrosword in his left hand while kicking toward Hela's waist with his right foot.
Hela was hit and stumbled two steps to the side. There was no pain on her face, only excitement.
"Again!"
She rushed forward, holding a black blade in each hand, slashing them in a cross toward Peter's neck.
At this exact moment, the Haoshoku inside Peter suddenly underwent a change.
That power was no longer something scattered that needed to be actively 'released.'
It began to gather toward the blade of Senbonzakura on its own. It wasn't Peter commanding it to do so; it was flowing in that direction of its own accord.
It was as if this power had finally been tamed by Peter, completely becoming an extension of his will.
On the blade of Senbonzakura, the black color of the Armament Haki began to change.
A tiny, black-red electrical arc crackled out from the blade.
Clang~
Blade and spike collided once more.
But this time, Hela felt a subtle difference.
A power she had never felt before transmitted from the opponent's blade.
That power wasn't intense—one could even say it was very weak—but it was like a needle, precisely piercing through her divine energy defense and acting directly on her soul, bringing a faint, stinging pain.
"This is..." Hela's pupils shrank suddenly.
Peter didn't answer.
He simply raised his blade again.
And clashed with the spikes in Hela's hands in a near-frenzy.
Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times.
In clash after clash, the blades of Senbonzakura and all-black the necrosword gradually underwent a change.
Upon the blades, the black-red lightning grew more and more intense.
Finally, after one of the collisions, Peter actively pulled back.
Looking at the blades in his hands, they were now completely covered in an eerie black-red hue.
Upon the edges, the constantly leaping black-red electrical arcs grew brighter and brighter, even distorting the surrounding air.
Haoshoku Infusion.
He succeeded.
Hela could also feel the birth of this power.
Her lips, painted with dark purple lipstick, pursed slightly, and a hint of almost willful defiance appeared in her eyes.
She let out a loud shout, and driven by her eerie green divine power, the two spikes in her hands swelled wildly, almost turning into two giant swords.
Hela snatched up the two giant swords and slashed toward Peter with absolute decisiveness.
Peter also swung his blades out of instinct, and black-red lightning exploded wildly in the air.
The moment he swung this strike, a name surfaced in Peter's mind.
Divine Departure!
Just as Peter had anticipated, before the blade could even touch the physical body of the giant spiked swords, they were snapped in half.
Immediately after, the strike's momentum continued unabated, slamming into Hela's body.
Hela's body was sent flying on the spot.
It wasn't a mere 'knockback' or 'push'; her entire being lost control as she was flung away by an invisible force.
Her body tumbled several times in the air before crashing heavily into the distant ruins. After smashing through more than ten piles of debris, she finally came to a halt.
A cloud of dust billowed up from the ruins of Asgard.
The moment they witnessed this scene, it was as if the entire World had fallen silent.
On the evacuation ship, the meat in Volstagg's mouth almost fell out. the chess piece in Hogun's hand dropped onto the table.
Frigga stood up in surprise.
and the mead in Thor's mouth sprayed out, splattering in tiny droplets onto the thick beard he had grown from not shaving for the past ten days.
"Fuck!"
Mr. Thor couldn't help but swear.
He saw it.
He saw it very clearly.
The power released from the blade—it was lightning.
Black-red lightning.
Lightning that he, the dignified Thor, couldn't even summon, now appeared so effortlessly on that man.
Thor, who had finally managed to crawl out of his depression, almost became depressed again.
Only one painful thought remained in his mind:
Why don't I just give you my title of Thor?!
...
In the ruins, the dust gradually dispersed.
Hela's figure appeared among the rubble.
She lay flat on her back, her eyes rolled back, with a massive wound stretching from her left shoulder to her right waist.
Previously, no matter how severe the injuries Peter inflicted on her, Hela could recover within a fraction of a second. The power source of Asgard continuously poured into her body, granting her near-infinite regenerative abilities.
But this time was different.
Black-red electrical arcs crackled along the edges of the wound, and this lightning constantly prevented the wound from healing.
This was the power of Haoshoku Infusion—it wasn't physical damage, but rather suppression on the level of will.
Hela's body was trying to heal, but that residual will resisted it all.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds passed.
A full three minutes passed!
Finally, after a full three minutes, Hela's wound began to heal slowly.
The moment the wound began its slow healing, Hela's rolled-back eyes finally returned to normal.
She weakly pushed away the boulder pressing on her chest and slowly crawled out of the ruins.
Her movements were very slow, a far cry from her previous ease and composure.
When she stood up, she even stumbled slightly before barely managing to steady herself.
Clearly, although she had survived the instant shock, the lingering effects of that Divine Departure were still acting on Hela's mental state.
She shook her head, looking at Peter with some difficulty.
In those deep green eyes, there was no anger, nor was there fear.
There was only a strange... fanaticism.
"That strike just now..." Hela's voice was a bit hoarse. "That feeling... was too wonderful!"
She walked toward Peter, her steps gradually becoming steadier.
"Sensing nothing, no pain, no vision, absolutely nothing... it was as if... I was dead!"
Speaking of this, the corners of Hela's mouth slowly curled upward.
She stopped three meters in front of Peter.
"It's been three thousand years. I have never experienced such a feeling."
"Despite being the Goddess of Death, this is the first time I've ever tasted such a sensation."
At this point, Hela unconsciously licked her lips, as if still savoring that ultimate sensation.
After a moment, she looked at Peter again, her voice suddenly becoming very soft, yet carrying an exceptionally serious attitude:
"Midgardian."
"I find that... I think I'm falling for you a little."
*******************************
Enjoyed the action? Drop a review, fire off a comment, and send those Power Stones rolling! Your support keeps the updates coming fast—let's keep the momentum going! 🔥