The moment Tendo's blade fell, the entire scene in the anime suddenly turned black and white.
The next second, the astonishing air pressure created by the blade forcibly tore a gap in the sea on both sides.
Along with the deafening roar of the Sun-Devouring Whale, Tendo's Star-Shattering blade light landed precisely on its back, which was covered in a large amount of obsidian scales.
Bang!
Unexpectedly, despite the immense power of Tendo's strike, when the blade light hit the Sun-Devouring Whale's body, it only left a shallow, not-too-deep bloody mark.
Then, the massive shattered star cracked like glass, turning into countless specks of light that scattered around the Sun-Devouring Whale.
During this process, the camera focused on some of the blade fragments that reflected Tendo's face in the distance. Through these reflections, the audience clearly saw that Tendo's smile became even more brilliant.
It was as if this was the result he had wanted all along.
"Fall, O stars."
Hearing the familiar words, the nine hundred ninety-nine shattered star fragments seemed to have heard their master's command. They paused in the air for a moment, then abruptly changed direction, plunging down toward the Sun-Devouring Whale below like a meteor shower!
Even more astonishing was that these seemingly tiny fragments not only easily pierced through the Sun-Devouring Whale's proud obsidian scales, but they also seemed to cause an unimaginable, excruciating pain to the behemoth after entering its body. So much so that even though the 'stars' were still falling, the previously arrogant Sun-Devouring Whale was now letting out a shrill, piercing scream. Its massive, mountain-like body thrashed wildly in the sea, constantly stirring up monstrous waves, clearly enduring an unimaginable agony.
"As I thought..."
Yun Meng looked at the sea in the distance, which had been stained crimson by the blood flowing from the Sun-Devouring Whale's wounds. She couldn't help but sigh softly. "...Little Tendo, is there anything you can't see with your eyes now?"
"Every single one of your attacks landed in the gaps between the Sun-Devouring Whale's scales and its weakest points. I'm guessing that first strike was just a test, wasn't it? A test of how strong this big guy's defense really is."
"If its defense hadn't met your standards, you wouldn't have used such a 'troublesome' method."
Tendo shrugged. "It wasn't entirely a test. After all, I haven't had a good workout in six years. I also couldn't gauge the strength, so I needed to get familiar with it."
Hearing Tendo's teasing tone, Yun Meng shook her head helplessly. Using a tyrannical-level Star Beast as a training tool? This kind of arrogant personality and absolute confidence in his own strength was something only Little Tendo possessed. After all, other two-star agents wouldn't even dream of using a Sun-Devouring Whale to practice. Just being able to stand and not run away in front of this behemoth would be enough to make them proud and a top-tier two-star agent.
Thinking of this, Yun Meng turned to look at the Sun-Devouring Whale, which was still wailing in pain. She cleared her throat and began to explain to the audience through the screen.
"The Sun-Devouring Whale is a typical reinforced-type Star Beast. Its obsidian scales not only have strong Star Energy resistance but can also, to a certain extent, suppress the Star Energy effects of its opponents."
"Just these two things alone make it an absolute nightmare for a regular Star Agent, after all, most Star Agents rely entirely on their own Star Energy."
The camera focused on Yun Meng's face. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, her tone confident. "However, while the Sun-Devouring Whale has obvious advantages, it also has obvious weaknesses."
"Because Star Energy resistance is a two-way street, it doesn't have any special abilities itself. It can only rely on its sheer size to overwhelm its opponents."
"But the bigger the body, the more weaknesses it naturally has. The gaps between those obsidian scales... are its weak points."
"However, hitting those points wouldn't do much for most people."
"I'm guessing you did something, Little Tendo? Otherwise, it wouldn't be in so much pain."
Tendo smiled. "I didn't do much. I just applied a kind of vector technique to each of the shattered star fragments in advance."
"What kind?"
Yun Meng asked curiously.
"Rotation."
The corner of Yun Meng's eye twitched. Although she had guessed some of Tendo's actions, she didn't expect him to be so 'insane.' Those shattered star fragments that had 'rotational vectors' applied to them were essentially drills, running amok inside the Sun-Devouring Whale's body. It would be weird if it wasn't in so much pain that it was rolling around on the ground.
But the matter was clearly not over yet.
To the puzzled looks of Yun Meng and the audience, Tendo suddenly started to warm up on the remains of the Ember ruins. He stretched his body, then moved his wrists and ankles, and finally even twisted his neck.
Seeing this, Yun Meng asked curiously, "Little Tendo, what are you planning to do now?"
Tendo warmed up while saying casually, "Nothing, just stretching my muscles and bones. It's been a long time since I've exercised."
Yun Meng: "???"
Soon, Yun Meng and the audience understood the true meaning behind Tendo's 'stretching his muscles and bones.'
Two special 'flickers' of light flashed in Tendo's eyes. They were the 'Star Scars' that only appeared after a Star Core awakened, a special mark that only Sons of the Stars and intelligent Star Beasts possessed.
Not long after the Star Scars lit up, two muffled 'thunders' rang out from Tendo's body.
Immediately after, his vitality and Star Energy fluctuations... visibly surged!
Bang!
Tendo stomped his foot, shattering the Ember ruins beneath him. His body turned into an afterimage, and with a roar and an air current that ripped through the air, he instantly appeared above the Sun-Devouring Whale.
Looking at the behemoth below, which was already covered in wounds, Tendo raised his right leg high, and then... brought it down with a fierce chop!
BOOM!
The power of his kick was astonishing, and its effect was even more exaggerated than the blade strike before. Under this strike, the Sun-Devouring Whale, which was famous for its physical strength, had a part of its head cave in. The hard scales on its body also shattered like broken tiles, flying in all directions.
At the same time, as the Sun-Devouring Whale was pushed into the sea, the surrounding water created a terrifying wave that spread out in all directions.
After doing all this, Tendo gracefully did a backflip and landed on a platform of stars that had already been formed by the returning shattered star fragments in mid-air.
Standing on this platform of stars, Tendo opened his palm. A black crystal the size of a fist had appeared in it at some point.
It was the Sun-Devouring Whale's Star Core.
Seeing this, the on-screen comments were stunned.
'Wh-what happened?'
'No way, is Brother Tendo so strong now that he can physically beat a third-tier tyrannical Star Beast?'
'It doesn't feel like pure physical strength. It feels like he used some kind of special taijutsu.'
Tendo naturally didn't kill the Sun-Devouring Whale with a single kick using just his basic physical strength. He used a special taijutsu similar to the 'Eight Inner Gates' in a certain anime, called—Star Erosion Release. The reason it was named this was that this move came with a certain side effect.
[Name: Star Erosion Release]
[Effect: Depending on the degree of 'potential' released, the user can gain different levels of boosts to all stats and some special effects.]
[Principle: Through the Star Energy control of the 'Star-Eclipsing Heavenly Eye' and the Star Energy intervention of 'Vector Control,' 'Star Energy Nodes' are formed at specific acupoints on the body, catalyzing the user's Star Energy stats and greatly enhancing the user's physical potential. The more 'Star Energy Nodes' activated, the greater the boost to all stats.]
[Side Effect: Excessive use will, to a certain extent, shorten the user's lifespan.]
In principle, 'Star Erosion Release' was a unique stimulation method that, by stimulating specific acupoints on the body, exchanged them for a short-term burst of all stats. The downside was that the short-term surge of Star Energy would, to a certain extent, tear Tendo's meridians and muscles. In severe cases, it would even affect his lifespan.
However, according to his own calculations, as long as he kept the 'Star Energy Nodes' at two or fewer, he would just be a little tired and would recover after some rest, so it wouldn't affect his lifespan.
As the Sun-Devouring Whale's body sank to the bottom of the sea, this part of Tendo's memory came to a complete end.
And through this memory, the audience understood one thing.
Even though Tendo had been dormant for six years, his strength was still monstrous.
As the saying goes, there is no harm in comparison. Before, the audience thought that if the Sons of the Stars were to be ranked again, Kong's current speed of improvement would at least put him in the top twenty, if not the top ten. But after seeing the evenly matched fight with Liu Ma, the complete domination by Chen Xing, and now the scene of Tendo using a tyrannical-level Star Beast as a training tool...
The audience realized.
This Brother Kong still needs to train!