Ashura hovered above the city, the air around him humming with a quiet intensity, the purple-black storm of his lightning dancing along his coat. Before moving forward, he reached out telepathically, checking in on Everos, his loyal wraith, and his family. Mother, Gina… all safe. Relief briefly softened his expression before he shifted his attention to Lysera, the faint warmth of her presence a comforting anchor amid the storm of chaos approaching. Still alive… good. That's enough for now.
Then he sensed them—four figures materializing at the outskirts of the city. Their power was immense, almost suffocating in its density. Three were the outergod commanders, chosen vessels of their respective deities, while the fourth—an enigmatic observer—hovered silently at a distance, holding herself back.
The first commander stepped forward, flames licking his blackened arms, Kurogami, wielder of Black Fire, able to incinerate even reinforced buildings and turn streets into rivers of molten ash. Beside him was Hyoryu, icy and sharp as the arctic winds, a master of elemental frost, capable of freezing armies with a thought. And then there was Onikami, a towering woman whose arms rippled with energy as spectral familiars—phantoms of fallen warriors—swirled around her, ready to strike on command.
Ashura smirked. Trying to catch me off guard, huh? Cute.
Without hesitation, he propelled himself toward them, the air parting around him as he accelerated near Faster-than-light speeds, leaving streaks of purple and black lightning in his wake.
The moment he appeared before them, the commanders unleashed their first coordinated attack. Kurogami's black fire surged forward in a torrent, Hyoryu's icy vortex spiraled to engulf the city block, and Onikami's phantoms charged with unnatural precision.
Ashura didn't dodge. He thrusted his arms forward, purple lightning arcing violently, slicing through the black fire and freezing air with brutal precision. The spectral phantoms dissolved as he swung his sword in a wide, cinematic arc, cutting each phantom in half as if it were made of paper. The city below shook with the intensity of their clash, debris raining down on terrified citizens.
Hunter after hunter—Rai Tokugawa, Minato Yashiro, and Haru Kenzaki—rushed to intercept the outergod soldiers, but even their combined might was barely enough to delay them. Ashura's form darted through the chaos, each movement calculated, flawless martial arts and swordplay fusing seamlessly with elemental lightning.
The commanders quickly realized that brute force wouldn't work; Ashura was too fast, too precise, and far too resilient. Every time they tried to corner him, he slipped past their attacks with elegance, his grin widening with each failed strike.
"You think you can seal me?" he shouted, landing atop a collapsing skyscraper, purple-black lightning coiling around his fists. "Cute. I'll give you points for creativity, but you'll need more than that!"
Kurogami roared and unleashed a concentrated blast of black fire, enough to flatten a city block, but Ashura simply materialized in mid-air, spinning and striking Hyoryu with a brutal punch that shattered her ice vortex. Onikami's spectral army closed in, yet each phantom fell in jagged arcs of lightning as Ashura countered, his every strike a display of unmatched precision and raw power.
The battle escalated. The ground cracked, steel beams twisted like wire, and the city's skyline became a blur of destruction and energy. Citizens ran screaming, but cameras, drones, and live broadcasts captured every move, the fight going viral in real time. Ashura moved like a storm incarnate, each strike creating shockwaves that hurled vehicles, shattered buildings, and sent hunters scrambling for cover.
Time seemed to bend around him. Each of his attacks was deliberate yet devastating, his martial arts weaving together swordplay, lightning, and his own instinctual combat prowess. He dodged, countered, and struck in a fluid motion, his body a perfect fusion of speed, power, and technique.
Despite their power, the commanders realized they couldn't overwhelm him conventionally. Their strategy shifted—they tried to trap him, coordinate simultaneous attacks, and even use the city as a weapon. But Ashura adapted with every move, dancing across rooftops, soaring above crumbling streets, and leaving purple-black trails in his wake.
At one point, Hyoryu's ice shattered around Ashura, slicing through buildings in an attempt to hit him. But he launched himself off the fragments, landing atop Onikami's summoned phantoms, dismantling them with a single swipe before striking Hyoryu squarely across the chest with lightning-charged fists.
The fight was brutal. Near-death moments came fast and hard—shards of ice embedding into his shoulder, explosions of black fire searing past him, spectral blades grazing him—but Ashura remained unyielding. Each strike from the commanders only fueled his fury and precision.
Hours—or what felt like hours in the city—passed. The battle leveled up to a near-unimaginable scale. Buildings were reduced to rubble, streets crumbled beneath them, and yet Ashura's aura dominated everything, an oppressive force that made even the commanders hesitate.
Finally, the tide turned. With a precise combination of Transcendent Wrath, martial arts mastery, and swordplay enhanced by the speed of his thought, Ashura defeated Kurogami and Hyoryu, sending them crashing into the remains of the city, completely incapacitated.
Onikami, seeing her comrades fall, backed away for a moment, gathering her remaining phantoms. Ashura, eyes narrowed, smirked arrogantly, "Not bad. But the show's not over yet."
As he looked over the battlefield, the system—silent until now—appeared briefly, only to record one thing: the defeat of two outergod commanders. A cryptic notification flashed across his interface:
"Ability unlocked: Unknown. Cannot be activated. Source: Nameless God."
Ashura's grin widened. Interesting… Whatever this was, he couldn't use it yet. But he felt it deep inside, resonating with the power given to him by the Nameless One, something monumental lying dormant.
The chapter ended with Ashura hovering above the ruined streets, the remaining commander, Onikami, preparing to strike again, her spectral army growing in intensity, and Ashura's lightning-charged aura radiating like a storm about to consume everything.