The underground altar space was utterly silent.
The Great Serpent stood in the center of the lava lake, its massive mouth on its chest slowly closing. Feeling the core power within its body completely depleted, it whispered in declaration of victory: "Have you witnessed it? This is the power of a god. Dust—is ultimately just dust."
====
In the silent cosmos, within a cold debris field.
On a lunar remnant comparable to a mountain, a figure struggled to stand from the impact crater.
Uzumaki Naruto. The Lightning of his Take-Mikazuchi Mode was much dimmer, his clothes were severely damaged, and even the Brave Set in his [Equipment Slot] was completely shattered, its durability zero, turning into dust and dissipating.
He had taken the Great Serpent's ultimate Gaia Cannon head-on!
A trace of blood, instantly congealing in the vacuum, seeped from Uzumaki Naruto's lips.
"You made me bleed?"
"As expected of the Great Serpent, this move is probably even stronger than Boros's Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon!"
Naruto wiped away the congealed blood from his lips, thinking to himself.
Boros boasted that the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon could destroy a star, but who knew if it was true or false. However, the Great Serpent's Gaia Cannon indeed surpassed the Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon.
In reality, what was even more terrifying was Naruto.
He had actually endured the Serpent's cannon blast without being turned into a bloody mist.
With Naruto's life-saving techniques, even if he were blasted into dust by the Gaia Cannon, he would not die.
"The Great Serpent in its complete form has definitely 'ascended to the God-level' from a 'Dragon-level'! It is worthy of me unleashing the full Eight Gates!"
Naruto took a deep "breath" of non-existent "air," and the Chakra within his body began to burn in an unprecedented manner.
Boiling!
The Lightning of the Take-Mikazuchi Mode lit up again, but this time, it was no longer blue, but transforming into the destructive, ultimate blood-red!
Eight Gates, Gate of Death Open!
No, it was even beyond that, perfectly fused with the Take-Mikazuchi Mode, the transcendent Take-Mikazuchi: Eight Gates of Death!
Blood-red steam erupted like dragon flames from every pore of his body, coalescing behind him into a clearly defined, blood-red giant dragon roaring across the galaxy!
The terrifying energy fluctuations even caused the lunar fragments floating around him to begin to vibrate and shift!
Naruto's previous Take-Mikazuchi Mode had never opened the Eighth Gate of the Eight Gates, only going as far as the Gate of Wonder.
On one hand, it was because no one in the Naruto World could force Naruto to open the Eighth Gate. On the other hand, the superposition of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Mark, and the first seven Gates of the Eight Gates was already terrifying enough. If the Gate of Death were opened, increasing his power by tens of times, even Naruto's cells would be unable to bear it and would collapse and die.
To maintain it, an astonishing amount of life force would need to be burned.
Even after Naruto became a Perfect Demon King, he dared not squander it casually.
But now, Naruto had not only opened his human limiter but had also devoured countless Kabane in the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress World. His life force had long since become unimaginably abundant.
One hundred thousand Kabane could increase his lifespan by 10,000 years, or rather, provide 10,000 years of life force.
In three years, Naruto had already eliminated all Kabane in the Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress World.
A total of 5 billion Kabane, providing 500 million years of life force!!!
Naruto could squander it at will!
He locked onto the target deep underground, emanating a terrifying energy source, and stomped his feet on that lunar fragment!
"Crack! Bang!"
The entire massive fragment completely disintegrated under his kick!
"Take-Mikazuchi: Night Guy!!!"
He transformed into a blood-red meteor spanning cosmic space.
A blood-red giant dragon, stretching across the cosmos, streaking through the atmosphere with a long, burning trail of vengeance, launched a star-piercing counterattack towards Earth, towards the former site of Z-City, towards the lava altar deep underground, at a speed that transcended space and common sense!
The atmosphere generated scorching plasma flames around him due to friction, but he paid no attention, his speed undiminished.
The blood-red meteor accurately slammed into the giant crater, following the tunnel blasted open by the Gaia Cannon, returning to the Earth's core at an even faster speed than before.
From afar, it looked like a blood-red giant dragon, ten thousand meters long, tearing through the sky, spanning the universe, plunging straight down from outer space!
In the lava altar, the Great Serpent, who had just finished releasing the Gaia Cannon and was immersed in the power of a "god," suddenly looked up. For the first time, its eyes revealed an unbelievable shock!
"What?! Impossible—"
Before it could finish speaking!
The blood-red giant dragon had already penetrated the final rock layer, appearing above the lava lake, carrying the star-shattering kinetic energy and will accumulated all the way from outer space, transforming into a blood-red flying kick that pierced through heaven and earth!
"Night Guy!!!"
"Boom!"
The blood-red giant dragon accurately struck the Great Serpent's chest!
Time and space seemed to freeze at this moment.
Immediately after, the surrounding space was no longer merely distorted, but truly—shattered!
Countless spatial fragments, like a mirror cracking and shattering from the middle, reversed and flew in all directions.
"Bang bang bang bang—"
Naruto stomped on the Great Serpent's chest, kicking him into the lava, then crashing into the rock layers again, rumbling as he forcefully pierced through the planetary core, flying out from the other side of the planet, kicking through the thick atmosphere, and floating in outer space.
The Great Serpent's true body, which had condensed the core power and was indestructible, began to crack, disintegrate, and annihilate from its core under the absolute penetrative power of Night Guy!
It let out a final wail filled with unwillingness and despair, its massive body completely disintegrated, transforming into the most basic energy particles, dissipating into the cold, silent cosmos.
The impact wave of the explosion stirred up monstrous waves in the entire lava lake, the huge altar platform was torn into pieces, and the surrounding ancient murals also turned into ashes at this moment.
None of this mattered.
The main point was that the enormous planet was pierced through.
One kick of Night Guy pierced through the planet!
This was with Naruto completely condensing the power of Night Guy. Otherwise, if the power of Night Guy were allowed to rage freely, it would be an easy matter to tear the entire planet into pieces.
Naruto stood in the air, looking at the Great Serpent, which had already turned to ashes and annihilated, as his Take-Mikazuchi Mode gradually dissipated.
"If the Great Serpent's body hadn't been able to withstand the destructive power of Night Guy, it could have flown even further. If it hadn't shattered, it might have flown all the way to the distant sun."
Naruto muttered to himself.
Suddenly, he frowned.
"No!"
"The Monster King isn't dead, otherwise why hasn't the system pop-up appeared?"
Naruto immediately realized something was wrong, abruptly lowered his head, looked at the hole he had kicked through, and immediately flew back!
The other side of the Earth—
The original site of Z-City, deep in the giant crater.
The smoke and energy turbulence slowly subsided, and the shattered space also began to heal.
At the original position where the Great Serpent stood, apart from the dispersed energy and lava, there seemed to be nothing. However, at the edge of the lava, a dark-red mass of flesh, only the size of a fist, faintly pulsating, covered with a network of delicate blood vessels, was silently and extremely quickly escaping along the shadows of the rock wall, drilling into a narrow rock crevice, and disappearing.