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The clash between human and god was so fast that even Jibril and Zhu Yue barely kept up. Sonia? She didn't stand a chance.
All she felt was a wave of pressure blasting toward her. If we're being honest, Sonia—who was the weakest one present—had already been blown away.
Even the valley below started shaking like crazy, startling the vampires hiding within.
"Our master… is actually being overwhelmed?"Luckily, she was far enough away, and most of the pressure had been absorbed by Gagras' shadows. Sonia barely managed to stabilize herself. She looked up at Riku calmly floating in the air, and then at her master who had been smashed away with one punch. Her heart couldn't settle down.
"You guys, get back."Riku didn't look smug at all. Instead, he scanned the darkening sky around him with a serious expression and said to Zhu Yue and the others behind him:
"Understood," Zhu Yue replied quickly and backed off thousands of meters.
But none of them—Zhu Yue, Jibril, or even Zhu Bi—took their eyes off the battlefield for a second. Not one.
"This hidden power... it's gotta be some kind of spatial domain," Riku thought, still on full alert as he failed to sense Gagras' presence anywhere nearby.
"Krrshhh—!"Suddenly, the space around him tore open like paper. Countless massive black hands reached out of the rift, trying to grab him and smother him completely.
"HRAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"Riku roared, and his green-and-red energy exploded outward, shattering the black hands in all directions.
But right at that moment—Gagras appeared behind him. His elven reaction time peaked, his presence like a dagger to the back.
All the shadows nearby twisted and compressed, turning the entire world pitch black. Even Riku couldn't see anything.
Outside, Jibril and the others widened their eyes. The black sky had suddenly vanished, revealing the dusk-colored sky again—but in the central area of the battlefield, a deep, pitch-black zone remained, swirling like a dark portal. A domain.
"As expected, god-species aren't easy to take down," Jibril muttered.The Shadow God, Gagras, might not have the most destructive attacks, and his area-of-effect skills were few—but his killing methods were eerie and unpredictable.
"But if it's Riku, he'll win for sure," Zhu Bi said, hugging her stuffed toy, eyes full of unwavering belief.
"Of course. My master would never lose," Jibril added confidently.
"Lord Riku did defeat Lord Conglong," Zhu Yue said quietly.
On the other side, Sonia's eyes were locked on the shifting shadows above. She couldn't calm down.
What's happening in there?!
Inside that shadowy realm, Riku couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. All five of his senses were gone. He couldn't sense anything—not even energy.
This power... it reminded him a little of "Mirror Flower, Water Moon." But that one was more illusion-based. This? This was way more oppressive.
The spatial pressure, the shadow attacks—this was on another level.
"This is my trump card—Shadow World. In here, I am invincible," Gagras' voice echoed. And even with Riku's senses being sharper than even Fia's, he still couldn't tell where it was coming from.
Or maybe... every shadow was his body?
"Invincible, huh? Nah. There's no such thing as truly invincible in this world," Riku said with a carefree laugh.
Every god-species had their own ultimate skill.The God of War had his Divine Strike.The forest god Kainas had his Zero Blessing of the Void.And now, the Shadow God Gagras had his Shadow World.
But thinking you're unbeatable just because of one special ability? That's just laughable.
"Well then," Riku grinned confidently, "Let me break this so-called unbeatable power of yours."
"If you think you can, go ahead and try. But don't expect me to go easy on you," Gagras replied coldly.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the surrounding shadows suddenly twisted. In the next moment, thousands upon thousands of dark spikes surged out, all aiming straight for Riku.
Inside his opponent's domain, with such a dense barrage of attacks and all five senses sealed off, even someone like Riku had no way to defend properly—he could only take the hits head-on.
"Ding ding ding!!!!!!"
A flurry of sharp clanging noises rang out instantly, sparks flying everywhere. The individual attacks weren't all that powerful, but there were just so many of them—anyone would be worn down eventually.
"There are a bunch of ways to break your domain. The simplest and most brutal one is just smashing it apart with overwhelming force." Riku kept defending while speaking calmly.
"But from what I can estimate, to brute-force your domain apart… it would take something like Conglong's Collapse Howl level of power. That's not exactly worth the cost."
"As for the second method," Riku said casually, "it'd be using even stronger spatial powers to teleport out. But not many can pull that off. I sure can't."
His spatial ability was just the Heavenly Shift unique to the Flugel. In this domain, even a basic teleport wasn't possible—forget about anything more advanced.
"The third method: Find the spatial node in this realm… and break through it." Riku said slowly. "Your domain involves some serious spatial manipulation, sure, but it's not flawless."
"—!"
Hearing that, the Shadow God, Gagras, who was hidden in the darkness, momentarily paused his attacks and looked at Riku in surprise.
This human… figured all that out in less than a minute?
"As for any other methods… I haven't thought of them yet," Riku said, his golden eyes flashing, tone as calm as ever. "But hey, I'd like to try something special to see if I can break your domain with it."
"Heh… interesting human. Go ahead and try, if you can." Gagras responded solemnly, then launched another wave of attacks.
Raising an energy barrier to defend himself, Riku slowly opened his mouth and began chanting an incantation he hadn't used in a long time.
Iam the bone of my sword."My body is made of swords."
The moment the special chant rang out, a powerful spatial ripple suddenly burst into the air, and Gagras's blood-red eyes trembled violently.
Then, the scene around them changed...
"....."