[Shu]'s figure vanished within that rain of light.
But in the next instant, the space where he had just been standing imploded violently, forming a distortion visible to the naked eye.
Immediately after, two dark cyan hurricanes appeared, over a hundred meters in diameter, composed entirely of compressed air and Honkai energy spinning at hyper-speed.
One seemed to pour vertically down from the highest heavens, while the other sprouted from the depths of the earth beneath Shu's feet.
The two hurricanes, like the maws of two giant beasts, slammed together with Shu as their center!
The core of the hurricanes was an absolute vacuum possessing the power to tear everything apart. Wherever they passed, even the pale beams fired by Shu were twisted, sucked in, and shredded!
Yet, in the instant before the pincer attack of the hurricanes could close, Shu straightened his right hand like a knife and slashed horizontally at the empty space in front of him.
No light, no sound.
But a white line appeared in his eyes, cutting across his entire field of vision.
An absolute concept of "Severing," starting from his fingertips, instantly covered everything he could see!
This "slash" ignored material density and energy intensity. Wherever it passed, space itself was sliced open with a smooth fracture.
The vertically descending hurricane was sliced neatly down the middle, like a gray pillar cut by a sharp blade. Its structure collapsed, and energy poured out wildly!
Along with it, the earth below and several distant ice peaks caught in the range also revealed mirror-smooth cross-sections under this concept called "Severing," their upper halves slowly sliding off!
ROAR—!!!
A roar like a dragon's cry suddenly erupted from the turbulence of the split hurricane.
Countless dispersing Honkai energy particles did not dissipate; instead, under [Shu]'s will, they frantically converged, shaping into a colossal energy dragon with a body winding like a mountain range, woven entirely of purple-black lightning and deep blue frost!
The giant dragon's eyes burned with cold fire. It opened a maw large enough to swallow a mountain, revealing a pitch-black sphere inside that was constantly collapsing inward, emitting fluctuations that made space itself tremble.
Highly concentrated "Imaginary Repulsion"!
The dragon's wings beat violently, and it spat this black sphere, capable of triggering local spatial structural collapse, toward Shu in a terrifying blast!
Shu decisively retracted the hand that had delivered the slash and instead grabbed at the empty air in front of him.
With his movement, tens of thousands of golden chains, thin as hair, shot out from around him!
These golden chains seemed to possess life, instantly crossing space.
However, these chains did not move to block the black sphere; instead, they wrapped around the chaotic energy dragon!
The instant these nearly invisible chains touched the dragon's body, the lightning and frost flowing over its surface suddenly dimmed, as if shackled by invisible restraints. Even the spat-out black sphere showed unstable fluctuations!
Then, as Shu's hand clenched tight, these golden chains, imbued with the power of "Binding," directly shredded the giant dragon, along with that incredibly dangerous-looking black sphere.
But [Shu]'s offensive did not stop.
He stepped out from the wreckage of the hurricane, ignoring the dragon that had been ground to dust. He clasped his hands in front of his chest, then pushed forward violently.
Deep purple beams, more dense and slender than Shu's previous barrage, rained down like a storm with completely unpredictable trajectories, covering Shu from all directions—above, below, left, and right—without a single blind spot!
Every beam refracted frequently enough to cause dizziness, precisely targeting the weak points in Shu's protective energy!
The multi-colored light around Shu flared brilliantly, attempting to ignore this move with an omni-directional defense.
But several particularly eerie deep purple beams passed through his protective light like phantoms the moment they touched it, directly hitting his body.
The struck areas showed no obvious external trauma, but Shu's face suddenly went pale, and he let out a muffled groan.
Corruption?
These beams of true damage, carrying the property of "Energy Dissolution," acted directly on his energy source and vital signs!
Cough! Shu coughed up a mouthful of blood, clenched his fist, the ruthless look in his eyes intensifying.
Crack!
Where his fist struck, space shattered like glass, revealing a bizarre, indescribable rift into Imaginary Space!
A massive suction force came from the rift, swallowing some of the deep purple beams and generating a terrifying spatial tearing effect. Invisible cracks spread toward [Shu] like a spiderweb.
Wherever they passed, the "stability" of material existence was destroyed; the ground, the air, and even the light began to disintegrate and dissipate!
[Shu]'s movement stopped abruptly. He retreated rapidly while forcefully pushing his left hand out in front of him.
A gentle golden halo expanded rapidly from his body.
This halo seemed harmless, but when the spatial tearing effect unleashed by Shu touched it, it was deflected by a gentle yet irresistible force and bounced back!
Along with it, dozens of nearby deep purple beams aimed at [Shu] were also reflected, shooting back toward Shu instead!
However, Shu seemed to have anticipated this. Before the reflected attacks could reach him, the energy around him suddenly turned a lifeless pale white.
He gently raised his hand toward the incoming reflected attacks and snapped his fingers.
No sound came out.
But those reflected spatial cracks and deep purple beams suddenly froze a few meters from his body.
Then, the color of these attacks faded rapidly, and their structures disintegrated. As if the support for their "existence" had been withdrawn, they turned into primal, harmless energy particles and silently annihilated.
He had applied Conceptual Deprivation.
The Authority of Death/Nullification acted upon these attacks, directly negating their inherent attribute of being "attacks."
The battle had now completely transcended conventional energy bombardment and entered a clash on the level of rules and concepts.
Seeing this, [Shu] also stopped using direct attacks.
He raised his right hand, palm facing up, as if holding something aloft.
There were no dark clouds left in the sky, but a strange, gray, seemingly harmless light replaced the sunlight, bathing the entire battlefield area.
This light shone on the shattered ice plain without causing any change.
But when this eerie "sunlight" shone on Shu—
"Urgh-ah—!"
Shu suddenly let out a cry of pain. Gray, decaying spots began to appear on the surface of his skin, as if his life force was rapidly draining away, and his energy circulation suffered severe blockage and disorder!
This beam of light was harmless to all other matter on the battlefield, only judging the locked target as "something that should wither," inflicting a dual erosion of life and energy!
Enduring the severe pain and weakness of his life being stripped away, Shu swung his left hand violently toward [Shu], who was holding up the "sun"!
KA-BOOM—!!!
A bolt of purple lightning, not from the clouds but seemingly drawn directly from the depths of the world's rules, appeared out of thin air above [Shu]'s head!
The lightning fell without high heat or impact force, but enveloped [Shu] like cascading mercury!