"At this moment… right now…"
"Who among you can withstand even a single strike from this king?!"
The silver blade gleamed with chilling light as Li Yuanli raised his sword and pointed it toward the Shinigami of Nie Kingdom.
"Weaklings."
The two words left his mouth coldly.
His body lunged forward, and he shot out once more at extreme speed.
Wherever his blade pointed, every Shinigami standing in his path was split apart.
Vice-Captains. Captain-class experts. Not a single one could stop him.
He was like a human bulldozer, rampaging recklessly across the battlefield with terrifying violence.
"He's too strong!!"
"What horrifying power! Even the Captain-class lords can't defeat him!"
"So that… is the king of another world?!"
The Shinigami of Nie Kingdom trembled in fear as Li Yuanli slaughtered through them single-handedly with only one sword.
At this moment, Li Yuanli's power had reached its absolute limit.
His strength had truly climbed to the pinnacle of the Shinigami realm, reaching Starlight Level Seven, perhaps even surpassing it.
In only a short span of time, corpses already littered the ground behind him. Blood flowed like rivers, carrying a faint metallic scent through the air.
"Do numbers…"
"…have any meaning before this king?"
Li Yuanli's cold metallic voice echoed strangely across the battlefield.
The Shinigami could not even catch sight of him before they were struck by his blade, severely wounded, or instantly killed.
He moved like a gust of wind, appearing here one moment and there the next.
Everywhere he passed, not a single Shinigami remained standing.
Li Yuanli seemed to be using Time's Cry to perform a tragic love song upon the edge of his blade, narrating the joys and sorrows, meetings and separations, life and death between himself and his enemies.
"Damn it!"
At the far end of the street carved open by the previous impact, Akashi slowly stood up.
Holding his Zanpakutō tightly, red light blossomed within his eyes, and his face had already twisted into fury.
"Commander Akashi! Are you alright?!"
Nearby Shinigami immediately rushed toward him in relief.
"I'm fine. My blade is both offense and defense itself! Ordinary attacks cannot injure me!"
"I never imagined that bastard's strength would become this terrifying. None of the others can stop him?"
Akashi spoke in a low voice while sweeping his gaze across the battlefield.
"King Yuanli is too monstrous. Even the Captains and Vice-Commanders are no match for him…"
The Shinigami answered with a trembling voice.
"Hold him back. A power like this cannot last long."
Commander Akashi's eyes sharpened as he gripped his Zanpakutō and strode rapidly toward the battlefield.
His speed was extremely fast.
But the instant he drew close enough to clearly see the situation, his pupils contracted again.
This battlefield had practically become Li Yuanli's one-man war.
He rampaged invincibly in every direction. Despite being surrounded by tens of thousands of Shinigami, no one could stop him as he tore through the entire field unchecked.
"Gaga… HAHAHAHA!"
That sinister metallic laughter spread outward like the cries of crows.
At this point, as time continued to pass, Li Yuanli's entire body had transformed into something resembling a skeleton.
Three pale bone spines extended from behind his tailbone. Barbs protruded from his arms. Around his neck, hardened bone had formed into shoulder guards.
The appearance was bizarre beyond description, and deeply horrifying.
His power had completely ascended to its ultimate state, burning to the absolute limit.
Reiatsu surged endlessly outward in massive waves, like a racing machine already pushed to maximum speed.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
A string of exhilarated laughter burst from Li Yuanli's mouth.
He moved like a tornado, destroying everything wherever he swept through.
Akashi seized the opportunity, his expression dark as he charged directly into the battlefield.
"You again?"
"You still think you can contend against this king?"
"You're far from worthy!"
Li Yuanli sneered coldly and attacked once more with his blade.
"Far from worthy? Then let's test that!"
Akashi replied coldly.
At that moment, his entire body trembled, and a strange rhythmic pulse spread outward. Vast Reiatsu erupted instantly like a raging tide, causing Li Yuanli's eyes to narrow sharply.
"Oh?"
"So you do have some strength after all."
The next second, both men exploded into motion at extreme speed and collided violently.
Li Yuanli wielded his sword with one hand, swinging freely and aggressively.
Akashi, meanwhile, gripped his blade with both hands, fighting with all his strength.
BOOM!
A terrifying shockwave exploded outward.
The surrounding Shinigami were swept away by the aftershocks alone, hurled high into the sky.
Li Yuanli's eyes sharpened as his body slid backward more than ten meters before finally stopping.
"Your strength increased?"
A glint of interest appeared in his gaze.
"Interesting!"
"You're actually making this king feel excited!"
"To think you can withstand my attacks!"
Akashi raised his head and flicked his long blade outward with both hands, his expression incomparably serious.
"King Yuanli, your power may indeed be terrifying…"
"But this commander is not weak either!"
The two confronted one another head-on.
An instant later, their blades smashed together once more.
The power behind Li Yuanli's strikes, and the Reiatsu erupting from them, grew increasingly terrifying.
Each time they clashed, Akashi was forced farther backward, and his arms trembled repeatedly from the impact.
Even his astonishing defenses could not completely negate the transmission of such monstrous force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The area of destruction created by their battle spread across several hundred meters.
Again and again they collided, the deafening impacts shaking the entire battlefield.
"He blocked it!!"
"The Great Commander truly is powerful!"
"This is wonderful!"
The Shinigami of Nie Kingdom shouted excitedly, their morale soaring.
Li Yuanli's overwhelming strength had terrified them.
Now that someone capable of standing against him had finally appeared, they naturally felt exhilarated.
After more than a dozen breaths, the two entered a super high-speed sword duel.
Their repeated collisions sent shockwaves bursting outward from countless angles and directions. Even the air itself began collapsing, twisting into distorted rings of compressed space.
A few breaths later, to everyone else watching, the two fighters had become nothing more than warped streaks of light.
Every second, violent bursts of Reiatsu exploded outward from their clash.
"What a stubborn bastard."
Li Yuanli's expression gradually became more serious.
At his current state, his strength was undeniably far above Akashi's. Every exchange of force overwhelmingly favored him.
But overwhelming someone did not mean defeating them easily.
This red-haired Shinigami was the first opponent Li Yuanli had ever encountered who could directly confront his ultimate power head-on, even if only barely.
"You can't maintain this much longer, can you, King Yuanli?"
"This kind of ultimate power, power that doesn't truly belong to you, can't be sustained for very long!"
Akashi sneered coldly.
At this moment, his clothes were already badly torn.
Wounds covered his chest, arms, and thighs, though none were fatal.
"Your defense and attack power both far exceed normal standards."
"You can actually block this king's blade."
"State your name!"
Li Yuanli shouted deeply.
Akashi was correct.
Li Yuanli's Reiatsu had already begun weakening.
The power borrowed from future timelines was overwhelmingly strong, but its consumption was equally horrifying, and it carried a strict time limit.
"Akashi Sen!"
"Great Commander of the Crimson Flow Army, one of the Three Armies of Nie Kingdom!"
Akashi answered coldly.
"Good."
"This king will remember your name."
"And when I kill you…"
"…I will honor the strength you displayed!"
Li Yuanli let out a savage grin and charged forward once more, slashing violently.
At that moment, the power of time and space erupted outward as well, instantly engulfing Akashi's body.
An instant later, Li Yuanli appeared directly before Akashi, his Zanpakutō slamming downward mercilessly.
Yet what caused Li Yuanli's pupils to contract was this…
Akashi Sen, who had already fallen into turbulent temporal distortions and begun fluctuating uncontrollably a moment earlier…
…suddenly shook violently, and actually began breaking apart the temporal chaos itself.
(End of Chapter)
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