"Oh?"
Rugal's eyebrow arched slightly, as if intrigued.
"You've got spine. I like that."
"Then let me see just how hard those bones of yours really are!"
The instant his words fell, Rugal's figure vanished again!
"Gigantic Pressure!"
He materialized before Cloud like a specter, one massive hand wreathed in dark crimson energy descending upon Cloud's skull like a mountain crashing down from above!
If this blow connected, it would be enough to pulverize an entire building into dust!
Yet in that hair's-breadth moment, Cloud's mind entered an unprecedented state of cold clarity!
[Ding! Detected lethal threat to Host's life! System "Combat Assistance" module output maximized!]
[Frantically analyzing Rugal's attack patterns... muscle contraction frequency... energy flow trajectory...]
[Plunder! Plunder! Frantically plundering his combat data!]
Countless data streams cascaded through Cloud's mind like a waterfall!
Every movement Rugal made, every opening he left—the system analyzed and deconstructed them all at millisecond speeds!
Now!
Cloud's body reacted on pure combat instinct!
He didn't try to tank the hit. Instead, at an incredibly tricky angle, he ducked low and threaded himself through the gap beneath Rugal's palm strike by the narrowest of margins!
Simultaneously, he channeled every ounce of power in his body into his right fist!
"Heavenscorch Scripture—Aragami!"
A golden flame-wreathed fist, carrying unstoppable momentum, slammed directly into Rugal's completely unguarded flank!
THWACK!
A muffled impact!
Rugal's demon-god physique shuddered violently. That single punch actually forced him to stagger a step sideways!
Though it didn't cause any serious damage...
Rugal had been hit!
Every conscious person on deck witnessed this moment, and sparks of hope ignited in their eyes!
"It... it worked?!"
"Nice one, Cloud!" Ryo roared.
But Rugal merely looked down at the fist-shaped burn mark on his side, then laughed.
A laugh growing ever more deranged, ever more excited!
"Interesting! How very interesting!"
"You... actually managed to wound me?! You're slightly more entertaining than those two pieces of trash!"
BOOM—!
An even more violent dark crimson domain exploded outward from his body!
"As a reward, allow me to show you... my true power!"
"God Bless!"
His figure transformed into a streak of dark crimson lightning impossible to track with the naked eye, instantly colliding with Cloud!
"Pfft—!"
Cloud felt like he'd been hit head-on by a high-speed meteorite. His organs seemed to shift position as he sprayed out a mouthful of blood.
His entire body flew backward like a cannonball, smashing a massive hole through the cruise ship's command tower!
"I'm not done yet!"
Rugal's figure followed like a shadow!
He grabbed Cloud's ankle, yanked him from the wreckage, then swung him around like a sandbag and slammed him into the deck!
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The hardened alloy deck crumpled like tofu, cratering with one human-shaped indent after another!
"Too weak! Too weak! Too weak!"
Rugal's voice dripped with disappointment and brutality.
"Where's your power?! Where's your spine?! You think this level of strength qualifies you to be King of Fighters?!"
He hoisted the barely-breathing Cloud—bones broken beyond count—high above his head, preparing to deliver the final blow!
"Die! My most perfect collectible!"
"Dead End Screamer!"
He hurled Cloud into the air, then transformed his entire body into a dark crimson drill, rocketing toward Cloud's airborne form!
This was... a killing blow!
This was... the end of despair!
Tears streamed down Mai Shiranui's beautiful eyes. She struggled to rush forward, but King—herself gravely wounded—held her back with all her remaining strength.
Yuri Sakazaki and Athena Asamiya had already dissolved into sobs, continuously calling out that name that haunted their dreams.
Ryo Sakazaki, the legend of South Town, could only pound the deck helplessly, eyes filled with defiance and rage.
Yet in that moment between life and death—
Throughout the savage beating, Cloud's consciousness entered a profound, mysterious state of emptiness and clarity.
In his mind, all the plundered data swirled together: Rugal's combat data, Kyo Kusanagi's kingly will, Ryo Sakazaki's domineering spirit, Commander Zuo's killing arts, Baobao's pure instinct...
Everything—all of it—began fusing frantically under the pressure of imminent death!
His Absolute Domain, fracturing and collapsing from his grievous injuries. His newly evolved Kusanagi Heavenscorch Scripture. The "Orochi power" sealed within his body...
All of it, in this single moment, was forcibly and unreasonably merged together by a power not of this world—a power called "the System"!
[Ding! Detected Host on the verge of death! Final Protection Protocol—"Ragnarök" Mode—activated!]
[Forcibly unsealing partial "Orochi power"...]
[Forcibly fusing all skills and bloodlines...]
[Host... temporarily entering... Demigod Form!]
"Give me... MOOOOOORE—!!!"
A roar that didn't sound human—filled with infinite agony and manic willpower—erupted from the depths of Cloud's throat!
In that instant, the entire world seemed to be swallowed by a purple-gold radiance!
An aura descended—far more ancient than Rugal's, far more noble, far more malevolent, suffused with absolute "divinity"!!!
Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.
That wasn't a "domain." It wasn't "qi."
It was... divine pressure from a higher plane of existence!
Under this pressure, Rugal's ferocious Absolute Domain 40% melted away like snow beneath the sun—dissolving, collapsing, crumbling in an instant!
His killing strike, powerful enough to tear the heavens asunder, ground to a halt before this divine might, unable to advance a single inch!
"Wh... what?!"
The madness and cruelty on Rugal's face were instantly replaced by unprecedented terror—fear rising from the depths of his very soul!
He looked up in horror at the figure floating in mid-air—the "collectible" who should have been in his grasp.
Then Rugal saw... a sight that would haunt him forever, that would shatter him completely.
In mid-air, the blood-soaked young man with black hair was undergoing an astonishing, almost "divine transformation"!
His black hair visibly drained of all color at a speed perceivable to the naked eye, transforming into a silver-white as holy as moonlight yet as desolate as the abyss!
His pupils no longer burned gold. They had become a pair of cold, emotionless platinum orbs—eyes of a god gazing down upon all creation!
The gruesome wounds covering Cloud's body were healing at a speed that defied all laws of life—rapidly closing and vanishing!
His clothes evaporated in an instant, and a strange black sun sigil manifested on his chest.
His body floated suspended in the air, space itself rippling and distorting around him from the force fluctuations.
...
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