When the Overlord realized that it had no chance of victory, it looked up at Zhong Yan again—and this time, its eyes were filled with overwhelming fear.
This was a feeling it had never experienced since the moment of its birth. Never had it imagined that a human could suppress it to such an extent.
"The first strike was a warning. The second... is to take your head." Zhong Yan, staring at the supergiant Ethereal before him, controlled his Susanoo and slowly raised the weapon in its hand.
To be honest, even he hadn't expected the previous slash to be so devastating. Given that it was, there was no reason to delay the end of this battle.
With that thought in mind, the very next moment, Zhong Yan no longer hesitated. Susanoo's arm swung down forcefully, and the ōdachi imbued with spatial energy unleashed a slash powerful enough to tear through everything.
Just as he had declared—this strike was aimed at the Overlord's neck.
Sensing the suffocating aura of death descending upon it, the Overlord's expression twisted into panic. It instinctively wanted to raise its arms to block, but the moment it remembered that the sword aura could rend space itself, it gave up on that futile hope.
But in the instant its mind faltered, the devastating sword aura was already upon it.
At the critical moment, it twisted its colossal body desperately, narrowly avoiding a direct hit to its head.
However, just because it avoided the head didn't mean it avoided everything else.
That terrifying slash carved from its shoulder all the way down to its thigh, cutting through it almost entirely. The sheer force—enough to distort space—was simply unstoppable.
With that single strike, half of its body was sliced clean off. The severed parts disintegrated in an instant, dissolving into ether particles that scattered across the void.
As the ether particles dissipated, the Hollow Zero began to shrink at an unprecedented speed—a sight that stunned the combatants still fighting the Ethereal army outside.
"What the hell is going on? Why is the Hollow Zero shrinking this fast?" Tsukishiro Yanagi's eyes went wide in disbelief. If the entrance to Hollow Zero wasn't completely blocked off by Ethereals, she would've rushed in immediately to see for herself.
"Seems like something's happening inside Hollow Zero. Shame we can't see it," Asaba Harumasa commented with a faint smile. Truthfully, he hoped the Hollow would shrink faster—so he could clock out early.
"Whatever's going on in there, let's focus on the fight in front of us. The Ethereals don't seem to be weakening despite the Hollow Zero shrinking," Hoshimi Miyabi said calmly.
With Chi's support, they had already succeeded in slaying the three supergiant Ethereals from earlier. Compared to the start of the battle, the current situation had significantly improved.
However, the Ethereal invasion wasn't over. That meant their fight wasn't either.
Until the chaos ended, they had to stay on the front lines.
...
"Looks like the battle's almost over… Father, in both the past and the future, your strength is truly unfathomable." Watching the rapidly shrinking Hollow Zero, Zhong Ling was certain that his father's fight with the Ethereal Overlord was nearing its conclusion.
The pressure on his end had also lessened considerably. He could even spare energy to summon shadow clones and assist others elsewhere.
It was only a matter of time before this disaster ended—and unlike in the future, this one wouldn't reduce all of New Eridu to ash.
Zhong Ling's mission here... could already be considered accomplished.
Meanwhile, at the Victoria Housekeeping estate, the previously tense atmosphere suddenly erupted in cheers.
Given the current situation, anyone could tell that the Ethereal army was nearing collapse. New Eridu was on the brink of final victory.
"Of course it's Zhong Yan! His contributions this time are enormous. After today, even if those guys up top still label him a criminal, I doubt anyone will believe it," Nicole said with a gleam of joy in her eyes.
Lycaon, standing beside her, nodded in agreement. "Miss Nicole is right. Mr. Zhong Yan has done so much for New Eridu. He truly deserves the people's praise."
"I'd love to see the expressions on those old geezers' faces. They were just talking about capturing the Uchiha or whatever. Now they're basically slapping themselves," said the Mistress, also visibly pleased.
She was the only one present who had dealings with New Eridu's higher-ups, and she knew all too well how they treated Zhong Yan.
They never imagined New Eridu would face such a catastrophic threat—let alone that the person who'd end up saving them would be the same Uchiha they once branded a villain.
If they tried smearing Zhong Yan again after this, they'd surely face a public outcry. At that point, it might be impossible to condemn him, even if they wanted to.
"Don't you guys think the person on TV… isn't really Zhong Yan?" Anby's quiet question suddenly silenced everyone in the room.
They had, in fact, thought about that possibility. Superficially, the Zhong Yan on television did seem a little different from the one they knew.
But the differences were incredibly subtle—so much so that even they couldn't pinpoint exactly what felt off.
The one who cared most about this was undoubtedly Anby. Watching the Zhong Yan on screen always gave her a strange, inexplicable feeling.
"Mama, is the person on TV really Daddy?" At that moment, Zhong Ling, standing by her feet, pointed curiously at the figure on the screen.
Anby was momentarily stunned. Then she gently patted his little head and smiled. "When Daddy comes back, we can ask him together, okay?"
...
The scene shifted—to within Hollow Zero.
Zhong Yan stared at the Ethereal Overlord, its body now missing an entire half. His expression didn't change. In silence, he once again raised the enormous longsword through Susanoo's control.
In truth, unleashing such a wide-range Kamui attack came at a high cost. According to his calculations, he could maybe manage it three more times before his energy was completely drained—and even Susanoo would be impossible to maintain.
The Rinnegan was powerful, yes—but not invincible. Unless he possessed the power of the Six Paths. Yet the system's shop had no such power available for exchange. That meant... it was likely forever out of his reach.