"BOOM!"
Thunder rolled across the sky again and again. Endless black clouds spread outward, swallowing the beautiful planet whole. Within them, a sea of lightning twisted and writhed like dragons and serpents, blanketing the world as bolts dozens of meters wide crashed into the earth like omens of the apocalypse.
"Hum…"
A white wave appeared at the edge of the horizon, the only color in the pitch-black cloud layer that was so dark it seemed like a black hole, beyond even the reach of light.
It swept calmly across the sky, as if that impossible surge of air was nothing worth noticing, as if everything were continuing as normal. But after only a few seconds of eerie calm...
The whole world trembled as the wave passed. Cracks spread across the sky like a shattered pane of glass, and as though an eraser had scraped away the surface, the parallel dimensions attached to the planet were revealed.
Hell, Heaven, the Nine Kingdoms, Olympus, and other worlds from myth and legend were pulled into view. Through the faint fissures, those Mythological Realms could be seen in ruins, no different from the ravines those two streams of black and gold light had carved across the oceans and land of this beautiful planet.
The waters of the four great oceans began to flow backward, raising layer upon layer of towering waves that slammed toward the cities on land.
The Dragon Veins beneath people's feet trembled in fear. The trump-card strongholds of the major factions, already punched through and torn apart by those two streams of black and gold light, could no longer stabilize the Dragon Veins.
The planet's crust shifted, triggering tectonic movement and unleashing world-destroying earthquakes. Cities modern society had spent decades, even centuries, building were reduced to ruins in just over ten minutes beneath that overwhelming power, and towering skyscrapers began to collapse.
"Crack... Boom!"
"Ah!"
Massive buildings fell, pulled down by gravity, crashing toward the ordinary people on the ground who were fleeing in panic and desperately searching for shelter.
Seeing the enormous chunks of stone that could smash them into pulp in an instant, the people below screamed. Those near the edges fought with everything they had to escape the impact zone, while the people trapped in the center had already closed their eyes in despair and waited for death.
"Shing!"
A black shadow flashed past, and the falling building was shattered in an instant. Fragments of stone rained down on the faces of the people below who had given up on living, making them open their eyes and look up. What they saw was the figure of a woman with long black hair racing out of the city at incredible speed.
"Hey, Aurora, what exactly were those two streaks of light that crossed the sky earlier? Why has the world changed this much?"
While keeping an eye on the cracks in the ground and dodging the dense lightning falling from the sky, Claire asked the purple-haired Witch floating beside her, her expression tense.
Remembering what she had just seen, Claire broke out in a cold sweat. She never would have imagined that a simple search mission would suddenly turn into the end of the world halfway through, or that this apocalypse was most likely caused by two monsters fighting each other.
Before today, Claire would never have dreamed that a powerful being could drag the entire world toward destruction just by passing through.
Yes, just by passing through. The impact of them brushing past each other, along with the Magical Power they released, had destroyed every major faction's trump cards. And that was only the aftermath of their fight!
"What is there to say? Two whales are fighting in a tiny pond and stirring up all the sediment, that's all."
The purple-haired Witch Aurora spoke carelessly, watching the surrounding disaster with complete indifference and a faintly bored expression.
"Why do you look like you don't care at all? Hurry up and think of something! Don't forget, if I die, you die with me!"
"You want me to think of something? You're giving me far too much credit. My suggestion is that we just wait to die. Who knows? Maybe those two monsters will finish fighting before the planet is destroyed. I was already dead to begin with anyway."
Aurora stared at Claire in disbelief, then directly offered the suggestion of waiting for death. She might not be the strongest person in the world, but when it came to knowledge and experience, no one in this world surpassed her.
Measured in Dragon Gods, the planet beneath their feet, which had fused three worlds together, was roughly equivalent to nearly ten Dragon Gods in sheer scale. However, because its body was far too massive, it could not fully exert its power. That was why a single Dragon God could destroy the planet given enough time.
But that did not mean the planet was weak. Its upper limit might not be especially high, but its sheer mass guaranteed an enormous lower limit.
The planet was still trying to repair itself, yet the sediment stirred up by those two colossal beings had already turned certain places in this world into brutal environments where even someone ranked among the world's top fifteen might fall.
Once the planet was completely destroyed, even a Dragon God would be taken out with it if it was too close to the center of the explosion. Expecting her, a cripple among cripples, to stop this disaster was giving her far too much credit.
"Damn it, so this is the legendary Dragon God whose mere battle can destroy the world... Wah!"
Aurora looked away as she watched Claire fail to dodge in time and get blasted back by a bolt of lightning. How should she put it? Claire's words were giving the True Red Dragon God Emperor she had once seen in the Dimensional Gap a bit too much credit.
A battle between Dragon Gods might destroy an entire world, but given the scale of this planet beneath their feet, a fusion of three worlds, it could still withstand the aftershocks of their battle without much trouble as long as the Dragon Gods were not deliberately targeting it.
But for the aftermath alone to reduce this fused planet to its current state? To be honest, Aurora felt these two were already approaching the combat power of the Root Diablo.
"Hey, where are you even going?"
As Aurora was lost in thought, she saw Claire scramble up from the ground and try to rush out of the city again, so she immediately called out to her.
"To save my brother. Cid must be trembling in fear right now, calling my name and hoping I'll come rescue him. As his older sister, I have to get there right away."
"...I think your brother might be safer than you."
"Huh?"
Seeing Claire's confused expression, Aurora did not say anything like, "Your brother is supposed to take you away when the world ends," or, "Your brother is one of the culprits behind all this." She merely pursed her lips.
"Forget it. Flying there now will take quite a while. How about this? We'll use spatial teleportation instead. It'll be faster."
"...Are you trying to get me killed?"
"Stop. I'll stabilize the spatial issue for you. You just focus on moving. Besides, how is leaving now any different from charging into spatial turbulence?"
Claire stared at the alluring Witch, then chose to trust this purple-haired phantom who had lived with her for more than a year.
My Shadow Lord, I'm doing my best to hold off your troublesome older sister for you, so could you please finish the fight already?
Just as Aurora followed behind Claire and silently prayed, both of them felt their hearts tighten at the same time. They instinctively looked toward the source of that sense of danger, and their pupils shook violently.
"Tick-tock-whoosh."
A violent gale tore open the sky. Mud, stone, and waterspouts churned together, while lava seeping from the earth shot upward as if forced into the air. Layer upon layer of plasma lightning poured down from the dark clouds, and this terrifying sight was unfolding all across the world at once.
A fusion of nature's deadliest elements, the first omen of the planet's disintegration, had begun. Its arrival this time would wipe out more than 99.9% of all life in the world.
The majestic force of nature, absolute power itself, rose high like the Grim Reaper's countdown. The moment it fell, the harvest would begin.
"No, I don't want to die..."
"Why? Why? I still have so many good years ahead of me. Why do I have to die now...?"
"Anyone, please... save me..."
...
As they witnessed this world-ending scene, those were the thoughts running through most people's minds. Sadly, whether it was the divine weapons and advanced arms they had worked so hard to create, or the world's famous super-powerhouses, their attacks could only stir the faintest ripple against this apocalyptic disaster.
Cold and merciless, a natural calamity that represented nothing but death descended.
"Someone... save us!"
When terrifying death was only moments away, fear magnified the desire to live to its absolute limit. And when the instinct for survival broke through even the reason of those few who had been indifferent to death...
A sacred light, a radiance that represented the hope of life, shone from one of the planet's poles and illuminated the entire world. The terrifying disaster froze in place as if someone had pressed pause.
"Ha... ha... ha... We're alive. We're still alive..."
They could no longer think about the fact that the disaster still existed, merely suspended. The people who had survived by a hair's breadth were swallowed by the joy of being alive, their surging adrenaline leaving them wildly elated.
"All living beings of this world, this planet is about to be destroyed..."
Just as people were lost in their relief, a gentle yet sacred voice rang out deep within their hearts, jolting the dazed masses awake.
"I love this world, because I want to see more beautiful moments... I don't want to die.
I have no way to prove who I am right now, but I want to save this world. I want to save this world I haven't seen enough of yet. So I'm asking you here and now. Help me. Raise your hands high and lend me your strength...
Save this planet on the verge of collapse together with me! Please, everyone!"
That desperate voice, gentle, pleading, filled with every ounce of emotion and not a single lie, ended in a final shout that struck the hearts of people who had just survived disaster and were still trembling under the threat of calamity.
Some people, remembering how they had been saved by the golden streak of light earlier, slowly raised their arms. A faint, transparent ripple appeared in their hands.
Gradually, more and more people believed that voice and raised their arms. The growing ripples of energy in the sky slowly began to take on color.
...
It felt like he had heard something important.
Kojou Akatsuki forced his eyes open, looked at the transparent ripples in the sky, and smiled.
I'm already sick of the Fourth Primogenitor's power anyway. Since I'm sending this power back where it belongs, I might as well let it do one last bit of work...
With that thought in mind, Kojou Akatsuki paid no attention to the instruments on his body and shakily raised his hand.
...Doing that during the Beast Vassal extraction process should be fine, right?
Watching the Fourth Primogenitor, Giada thought with a trace of guilt.
Just then, because the energy had been split away, the extraction machine pulled a sphere out of Kojou Akatsuki. It was the same one Dahaka had thrown at the Red Dragon Emperor earlier.
Before Giada could react, the moment the sphere appeared, the machine Eta had been using to collect data tried to activate a spatial Magic Formula and escape. Instead, it collided with Kojou Akatsuki's Magical Power and the extraction machine, and with the pile of runes the Fallen Angels had placed added on top, too many factors mixed together and triggered a chemical reaction.
It exploded.
"Boom!"
That's not right!
Staring at the spatial rift in the center, Giada instinctively tried to summon a Beast Vassal to intercept it and seal the rift, but the appearance of a single drop of blood instantly robbed her of strength. All she could do was watch helplessly as the space closed, leaving only Kojou Akatsuki's body behind.
...
Looking at the yellow sphere of energy in Sonki's hand as it grew larger and larger in the sky, Cid really wanted to comment on the color. Who the hell had ever heard of a yellow Genki Dama?
With the surname Son, blond hair and blue eyes in her transformed state, she might as well change her name to Son Goki.
He was pretty sure he didn't have the blood of some universe's strongest Saiyan running through his veins.
He really wanted to say something, but forget it. After all...
"Ha! None of that matters anymore!"
Watching Sonki hold the Genki Dama high overhead, Cid could no longer suppress the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
That Genki Dama, gathered from the strength of most of the world's living beings, and that resilient, wise will, were shining so brightly. Far too brightly!
Didn't this scene feel incredibly Eminence in Shadow?
"Shadow... I'm coming to kill you!"
Sonki hurled the Genki Dama in her hand, a strike that gathered the hopes and beliefs of all living beings. Her power swelled, surged, and skyrocketed. At that moment, her strength was even fifty times greater than Shadow's!
This peerless powerhouse had surpassed her own limits. What in this world could possibly reach her? Damn it, what in this world could possibly reach her!
"Die beneath this Genki Dama of mine, united with heaven, earth, and humanity, and gathered from the power of all living beings!"
Powerful Magical Power erupted from Cid's body, but the moment it touched the dense Genki Dama, it collapsed on contact. It could not even slow it down.
Too strong! Too strong!
Cid laughed wildly under his breath. He had never been this excited before.
What incredible Wisdom. She had perfectly used the suspension bridge effect and adrenaline, combined it with emotional blackmail wrapped in self-interest, then built it all on the foundation of her earlier rescues to create this ultimate move!
Ahhh... Even though she had chosen the direction that sent the fight toward the city, even though she had secretly accelerated the apocalyptic natural disaster, even though she had acted deliberately one second before the world's destruction, she had still managed to deceive everyone without telling a single lie.
It was... magnificent!
She had Wisdom, knew how to set up a plan, and even understood positioning. She knew to clash from above to avoid taking a debuff. Too strong. Far too strong!
"In terms of power, no one so far, myself included, has surpassed you. For this strike, I, Shadow, acknowledge you as the strongest..."
Facing the Genki Dama right before him, Cid stopped hiding it. A crazed smile spread openly across his face.
"But only until this very second!"
With those words, the pitch-black Magical Power that had been at a disadvantage while resisting the Genki Dama rapidly expanded.
Retreating, holding firm, then pushing back, until it reached Sonki herself...
"Even a swarm of ants cannot compare to a single lion!"