"What—what is that?!"
Elange stood dumbstruck, eyes wide.
She stared in shock at the colossal figure, at least 500 m tall, seated atop a lotus pedestal of blue light.
—the Susano'o Thousand Hands brought immense shock to everyone present.
At the same time, many magicians snapped back to their senses.
Forcing down their astonishment, they each unleashed their specialty spells.
They launched their assault on the colossal image before them.
Raging cyclones, enormous orbs of frigid ice—
—silver bolts of lightning shooting ceaselessly from their arrays, and dense volleys of golden light projectiles.
From every direction they surged, striking relentlessly against Susano'o Thousand Hands, one wave of elemental explosions after another.
Yet these spells, seemingly mighty, were as nothing before the hundreds-of-meters-tall colossus.
Not a single one managed to leave even the slightest damage upon the blue energy surface of Susano'o Thousand Hands.
The faces of the magicians turned ashen.
"Madara, your Susano'o has grown quite a bit stronger," Hashirama said with a grin, turning to Uchiha Madara.
"Hmph. This is Sage Art: Susano'o. Such strength is only natural."
Madara's tone was calm, as though it were nothing worth mentioning.
Yet the faint curve at the corner of his lips betrayed the pride within him.
"All magicians, hear my command!"
Suddenly, Ra shouted across the field, instantly drawing every gaze.
"Scatter at once! Prepare your high-tier magic individually! From here on, we four goddesses will handle the suppression!"
At the same time—
—Lunaryur had already begun to weave a graceful dance in midair far in the distance.
From her lips flowed a chant—its words incomprehensible, yet strangely compelling, making all who heard it want to stop and listen.
As her pink divine power flared into radiant light, ethereal music swelled out of nothing across the field.
Its effect was tangible: the divine power of the other three goddesses was raised slightly.
Even Montoya and his fellow magicians could feel it clearly—their spirits quickened, their mana recovering at a much faster rate.
"Hmph, so this song carries something akin to genjutsu as well?"
Sensing the mental energy attempting to invade his mind, Uchiha Madara's eyes flashed with disdain.
On the other side Elange and Ra also made their moves.
The sky, which had already begun to pale with dawn, was instantly swallowed again by dense night.
At the same time, endless darkness surged in from every direction, plunging the snowy mountains into a pitch-black void where not even a hand could be seen.
Yet when the silver-white moonlight poured down like flowing water, the magicians who had mounted their staffs and flown outward regained their vision once more.
It was dimmer, no brighter than a few hours earlier in the night, but they could see again.
A column of light from the moon itself descended, enveloping the colossal Susano'o Thousand Hands.
All at once—
—the silver divine radiance tangled with the azure chakra, the two forces devouring one another.
Beneath Susano'o Thousand Hands, the ice itself rapidly disintegrated under the moonlight.
Yet Susano'o Thousand Hands still sat firmly upon its lotus pedestal, floating in the sky.
The Goddess Ra, her body wreathed in a ghostly green whirlwind, spread her arms wide. Her ornate gown and flowing hair whipped wildly in the gale.
At the same time, a massive tornado, black tinged with a faint green glow, descended from the night sky.
It swallowed the Kannon Form of the Thousand Hands and its blue lotus pedestal whole.
A black-green tornado nearly 1 000 m high surged skyward, entwined with pillars of moonlight that seemed soft yet eroded all things.
"What a dull trick!"
Suddenly, a cold voice sounded inexplicably in everyone's ears.
"I thought it would stir my blood, but from beginning to end it's nothing but bland."
The faces of Elange and Ra froze at once.
A moment later, an overwhelming unease surged in their hearts.
But before the two goddesses could act, another voice thundered across the field: "Despair!"
"Before the power of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama!"
In an instant—
One after another, colossal arms, each over 100 m long and sheathed in blue energy, tore through the black tornado and the white pillar of light, transforming into massive fists.
With deafening sonic booms rippling outward, flames sparked from friction across their surfaces as they smashed down in all directions.
Led by Montoya, ten Archmages blanched in shock.
At once they unleashed the spells they had prepared.
Nor did the other sorcerers sit idle—
They too poured forth their utmost, casting their strongest magic.
Dozens of arrays of varying size and color shimmered into being across the void.
Yet—
The blue-armored giant fists, wreathed in roaring flame, descended.
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—]
Under the crushing weight of the True Thousand-Armed Kannon, all magic spells were reduced alike to raw magical elements.
"Ahhhh!"
"No!!"
"Goddess, save me!!!"
With their magic destroyed, powerless to halt the fists, the spellcasters behind them were doomed as well.
"My heavens—how can such terrifying power even exist?!"
Ra lost all color in her face as she frantically dodged the crashing fists.
"Emroy, even Flare never wielded such might!"
Elange fared no better.
"It's as if we're facing… facing… facing a deity of a higher dimension!"
"Lunaryur!!!"
Suddenly, from afar, came the panicked cry of Miritta.
Elange and Ra instinctively turned their heads—
Just in time to see Lunaryur's figure swallowed by a descending fist.
Their fear only deepened.
A nightmare.
This was nothing less than a nightmare made real!
And yet, the nightmare continued.
Countless massive fists still bombarded the land in every direction.
Nearly half the snowy mountain range lay within their destructive reach.
Every mage had been annihilated.
The divine radiance of Elange, Ra, and Miritta faded to nothing.
"Ahlala~"
Roughly 100 km away, atop a snowcapped peak at the southern end of the range—
Hands shoved in his pockets, Kuzan clicked his tongue as he watched the distant rampage of the Susanoo Thousand-Armed Kannon.
"To stir up such a storm… and it looks like they don't need any support at all."
"And that power… truly remarkable."
Kuzan could not help but be astonished.
He was the earliest among the Generals to train in natural energy.
In time he had also mastered the abilities of "Frozen Time-Space" and "Rule of Ice."
Among the Generals, his strength ranked near the very top.
And his eye for judgment was beyond question.
Yet he had never imagined that Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, working together, could unleash such overwhelming power.
Before long, the thunderous detonations in the distance gradually subsided.
At the same time—
Atop the Susanoo Thousand-Armed Kannon, Madara sneered: "Those few down there still cling to life? No wonder they're called 'gods.'~~"
"Hm?"
"Trying to flee, are they?!"
"Sage Art: Universal Pull!"
Elange, Ra, and the others went deathly pale, their pupils constricting in horror.
[WMMM—]
Before they could react, an unseen force locked precisely onto their alluring forms.
A powerful gravity seized them, dragging them backward through the air.
"No!"
"Let me go!!"
"AAAAAAHHHH—"
The four battered goddesses screamed frantically, unleashing their divine powers in desperation, straining to break free of the pull.
But Uchiha Madara, in Sage Mode, was not an opponent they could resist.
No matter how brilliantly their godly radiance flared, not a bit of it slowed the speed at which they were sucked back.
In no time, the four beautiful goddesses were dragged right before Hashirama and Madara, frozen in midair.
Yes, frozen, not floating.
The four goddesses could not move, nor could they make a sound.
Their eyes brimmed with despair and fear.
Madara had simply applied opposing "repulsive forces" above and below them, sealing them completely inside and out.
"So what now? Should we take them back to Alnus?"
Uchiha Madara said coldly, "Weren't we told the Sage of Six Paths would collect them? We'll wait."
No sooner had he spoken than a familiar voice sounded.
"Seems this old man is a bit late. My apologies."
"I didn't expect you two to defeat the four main goddesses so quickly."
Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo appeared out of thin air, studying the four goddesses suspended in midair with some surprise.
"Hahahaha, no problem, Sage of Six Paths. These four weren't that strong—they didn't have battle power on par with a General!"
Hashirama crossed his arms at his waist and laughed heartily.
"Good thing, too. Otherwise, even with Madara and me together, we wouldn't have stood a chance against four of General-level strength."
"Hmph. Not necessarily. The 'Susanoo of a Thousand Hands' isn't so easily defeated!"
Madara disliked Hashirama's way of downplaying their own might.
"I see. So the strength of this world's main gods varies," Hagoromo muttered while producing the Sealing Urn, sealing Elange, Ra, Lunaryur, and Miritta inside as he spoke.
"The Azure Dragon General, however, faced three whose power truly matched that of Generals."
"What?!"
Both Madara and Hashirama were stunned at the words.
"And the result?" Madara immediately pressed, eager to know how that bastard Kaido had fared against three General-level opponents.
"The result?"
"Two gods were defeated, one god was captured—and the Azure Dragon General was left gravely wounded and unconscious."
Hagoromo spoke the earth-shaking answer with an odd expression.
"What!!!"
Hashirama and Madara cried out in unison.
Their emotions instantly grew complicated.
Suddenly, defeating four main gods without General-level strength…
…didn't feel all that remarkable after all.
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