"Those giants… they've already made their move?!" Zhong Ling, manipulating the Susanoo in its Karasu Tengu form, pierced a colossal Ethereal in front of him with a single slash. Then, he looked up, his gaze falling on the supergiant Ethereal gradually emerging from the Hollow.
In the future world, supergiant Ethereal only appeared right before the fall of New Eridu. Back then, everyone thought the final victory had been won—no one expected these towering monsters to emerge from within the Hollow.
But that was near the very end. It wasn't supposed to happen like this—not when everything had just begun.
"Could it be… because of Father?" At that moment, Zhong Ling thought of a possibility.
Zhong Yan had never shown himself from beginning to end, which could only mean he was battling that Ethereal Overlord deep within the Hollow Zero.
Perhaps he had driven that Overlord into a corner, and that's why it had resorted to playing its final trump card so soon.
With that thought, Zhong Ling let out a long breath.
He was well aware of his father's strength. Even if there was still a gap between himself and the future version, defeating a single Ethereal Overlord shouldn't be a problem.
Once that Overlord was taken down by Zhong Yan, the crisis in front of them would be resolved. At that point, the Hollow itself might even vanish from this world.
Wasn't that exactly what he hoped to see?
But before that, he still had to deal with the enemies before him.
Those towering behemoths, most of them over fifty meters tall, clearly weren't intimidated by the power of the Karasu Tengu Susanoo. In that case, he had no choice but to unleash his full strength.
The next moment, Zhong Ling extended both hands and swiftly formed hand seals. The Susanoo in its Karasu Tengu form immediately began to transform.
Its size increased rapidly. In less than a moment, the Susanoo that was only a few meters tall evolved into a fully-complete Susanoo standing two hundred meters high.
There was only one difference between his Susanoo and Zhong Yan's—color.
Zhong Yan's Susanoo was deep blue, while his was purple. Someone not paying close attention might easily miss that detail.
The appearance of the complete-form Susanoo instantly drew everyone's attention. Even those terrifying supergiant Ethereals let out low growls of fear when they saw the supergiant figure before them.
"I owe you an arrow from back then—now it's time to return the favor!"
As his words fell, a colossal longbow suddenly appeared in Susanoo's hand. Under Zhong Ling's control, Susanoo slowly drew the bowstring. As he released his fingers, an arrow laced with destructive force shot out toward the Ethereal army on the ground.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion erupted the moment the arrow hit the ground. A wave of purple energy, visible to the naked eye, surged out like a storm, consuming everything in its path.
Under such terrifying impact, even the solid ground was pulverized into dust. The supergiant Ethereals hit directly by the arrow were obliterated in an instant.
This shocking scene made everyone's eyes widen. Ordinary people who had never witnessed the power of a Uchiha finally saw it for themselves.
And if they knew that behind this Uchiha stood one even stronger… they might start questioning their whole worldview.
Back to the present. With the supergiant Ethereals annihilated, the Hollow Zero visibly began to shrink. Soon, the outer zones of Old Eridu slipped out of the Hollow's range and reappeared before the people's eyes.
The streets, once covered in Ether Crystals, lost the Hollow's protection and dissolved in an instant—prompting cheers of joy from the masses.
They understood well: the goal New Eridu had always pursued—to eradicate the Hollow—might truly be achieved today.
At last, they no longer had to endure the harm brought by the Hollow and the Ethereal.
...
On the other side, within the Hollow Zero.
After destroying nearly half of the supergiant Ethereal and hiding both his real body and shadow clones within the Hollow, Zhong Yan's figure soon reappeared.
At this moment, due to previously summoning the shadow clones, some of his energy had been depleted. Fortunately, the loss was still within acceptable limits.
He no longer intended to spare attention for the situation outside. He had already done what needed to be done—whether or not they could withstand the Ethereal army now depended on the results of New Eridu's development over all these years.
Now, he only needed to eliminate the Ethereal Overlord in front of him to complete the goal of ending this catastrophe.
With that thought, he hesitated no longer. Instantly, he summoned his fully-complete Susanoo—towering at over five hundred meters—and the colossal ōdachi that could make one's scalp crawl just by looking at it.
The next second, Zhong Yan commanded Susanoo to raise the enormous blade high overhead. As his pupils began to flicker with a ghostly glow, a layer of scorching black flames engulfed the sword.
But that wasn't the end. After enchanting it with Amaterasu, Zhong Yan also activated Kamui, layering spatial energy onto the surface of the great blade.
Immediately, Susanoo swung downward. The sword aura, laced with spatial power and black fire, shot toward the Ethereal Overlord like a derailed train.
Confronted with this unprecedented sense of crisis, the Overlord didn't dare be careless. It raised its arm at once, condensing thick Ether Crystals in an attempt to block the deadly sword strike.
However, how could sword aura imbued with spatial power be blocked by mere Ether Crystals?
The instant the two forces collided, the dense Ether Crystal shattered like fragile paper, and the Overlord's entire arm was cleaved cleanly in two.
The remaining energy from the sword aura carved a deep fissure into the ground behind it, where ominous black flames still raged—chilling to behold.
"What is this power?!" Gazing at its severed arm, the Overlord's heart brimmed with unspeakable terror.
It had thought that even if it couldn't defeat Zhong Yan, it could at least put up a fight. Who could've imagined that the gap between them was so immense?
Just a casual sword strike from the opponent had already overwhelmed it. If Zhong Yan went all out... would it be annihilated in a second?
How could a human possess such terrifying power?
This power doesn't belong to this world... Could it be that the world he comes from is of a much higher dimensional tier than this one?
How... am I supposed to fight that?