The moment Jada took a step forward, the Susanoo followed suit. Then in a flash, she was already near him. Arthur quickly found himself under siege as he avoided its many colossal fists.
Boom-boom!
They were destroying the very ground. One direct hit and he'd be out for the count.
Seeing his weave, she reared back a fist and thrust it forth.
Boom!
Arthur just narrowly evaded the smash meant for him. When she did it again, the explosive force unleashed a shockwave that rippled through the air and propelled him even further backward. A thick cloud of dust then erupted around him, momentarily obscuring the battlefield. It was within this swirling haze that the menacing visage of the Susanoo emerged and roared like thunder.
"Raaaawr!"
'Ice style: glacial dome…'
A sphere of crystalline ice materialized around him just as the towering colossus swung its arm with tremendous force.
Crash!
The impact reverberated through the air as he was sent crashing to the ground. There was more dust and debris for the moment, but he was taken aback that his ice had shattered like glass.
Even then, his demeanour remained unchanged.
Arthur knew he had to change tactics. He couldn't defeat her in a straight fight because of how thick her technique's defenses were. Genjutsu wouldn't work against the Sharingan, much less its advanced version. And even if he tried an underground attack, she would be expecting it since that was the most common weakness of the Susanoo.
There was one thing he was willing to try: Sage Mode.
As he began to focus and draw in natural energy from the world around him, Jada put up a hand sign.
"Fire style: fireball jutsu!"
Flames exhaled from her mouth, and once they touched the inner parts of her Susanoo, they morphed into a hot pink, creating a brilliant glow that illuminated the battlefield.
Arthur felt the heat radiate toward him. No time to gather natural energy under those conditions. So he dashed to his left to evade the wall of flames. Yet, as he moved, a second fireball was already shot, catching him by surprise.
The attack landed, and the pink flames overrode his whole form in a blaze. But she didn't stop exhaling, so pain lanced through him as the heat seared into his skin.
'Regenerative healing...'
The recovering effects flowed through him. But they did little. He could feel his chakra draining rapidly.
'Focus…'
When the flames finally receded, he stood still with his guard up as fire danced across his now-naked upper body.
Because of that last technique, his chakra reserves were now significantly low. This was bad. Very bad.
What he should have done was teleport with the Flying raijin and then return after gathering natural energy. But he hadn't expected such a technique. No, never in the lore had anyone's flames changed colour like that before.
Seeing him still standing, she yelled, "Just get lost already!" Her Susanoo's arm then extended to the side, manifesting an ethereal saké jar.
For certain, it was on the ground moments ago. Not once had he lost sight of it. Then he understood: the Totsuka Blade was bound to her soul, meaning all she needed was the Susanoo to call it forth from anywhere.
Not panicking, his resolve remained unbroken. He had to act, and he had to act fast.
Suddenly, the ethereal flames emerged and came crashing down at him. Arthur's instincts kicked in, and in a swift motion, he sprinted back while the blade descended. Then, just as it was about to connect, he leapt into the air to evade.
Crash!
The impact released a cyclone of wind that sent debris swirling in every direction, forcing him to somersault through the tumult before landing on his feet.
'This girl's insane…'
With another fierce swing of her Susanoo's arm, she attempted to strike again. But amidst her fury, her body betrayed her as she felt a jolt of pain through her eyes. It caused her to instinctively stop and press a hand to her face.
"Blood?" she said as a teardrop emerged.
The toll of the Mangekyō Sharingan and the Susanoo was finally taking hold, and the pain felt like a dagger in her own flesh.
It was at that moment of vulnerability, when she finally looked up, that Arthur's body had changed. His sclera was darkened to an inky black while tufts of thin hair sprouted along his whole upper body.
He had done it; he had used that sliver of hope and entered his Simian Sage Mode.
"Jada, I admit it: that was some power. But this... this is true power."
There was silence from her as her chest heaved with exhaustion. It was clear that she had hoped to overpower him before surprises like this, but her lack of experience with her Susanoo became a double-edged sword.
Now she was going to pay the price for her folly.
"S… Sage Mode?!" she gasped.
But she wouldn't give up. She couldn't.
The instant her Susanoo's arm swung toward him, he sprang into action.
'Sage art: water dragon jutsu…'
Three powerful water dragons were summoned that spiraled from his being. Each one then raced toward her colossal guardian.
Ka-boom-boom-boom!
The dragons hit their mark, producing a thunderous impact that rocked the battlefield and pushed the giant back a few staggering steps. Arthur then used that moment to close the distance between the two.
'Sage art: chakra-enhanced strength…'
Boom!
A powerful punch struck the Susanoo, cracking the armour of her avatar and pushing her back several more paces. He then flexed his fingers, annoyed that she had only moved sixty yards.
Sixty yards? That was incredible, but only minor results for a guy like Arthur!
To up the ante, he withdrew a scroll from his pouch and materialized the Executioner's Blade. The moon's light glinted ominously on its sharp edges as he gripped the hilt.
"Play time's over," he said, raising it up high. A surge of his Sage Chakra then erupted from the weapon and spiraled into the sky like a beacon. "Sage art: fracture strike…"
As he brought it down with all his strength, a wave of Sage Chakra raced forward.
Ka-boom!
The attack hit directly where he'd cracked its armour earlier, making the ethereal giant almost flip backward.
"That was just one," he announced.
With the same strength, he swung the blade again, and what began as one strike quickly turned into two, then four, and soon evolved into a storm of blinding attacks!
Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
The Susanoo was caught in a relentless barrage of energy, with each strike slamming against it with the force of a natural disaster.
Jada's eyes widened in disbelief as the sheer intensity of the assault was bombarding her. She tried to maintain her ground, but each shot of Sage Chakra struck like a tidal wave, shaking her Susanoo to its core.
A growing desperation crept up inside her, an instinctive fear whispering that if she didn't act soon, her Susanoo would ultimately falter beneath his onslaught.
Immediately she used the first technique that came to mind: "Water style: super shark bomb jutsu!"
With a thrust of her hands, a colossal shark with a maw filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth formed before racing toward Arthur.
He knew of this technique's ability: it could absorb chakra. So without hesitation, he dematerialized the Executioner's Blade and raised a single palm toward the approaching shark, confident this would work.
Ka-ka-ka-splash!
Water gushed into the air, creating a torrential downpour that drenched the battlefield from the cataclysmic collision. A curtain of rain soon cascaded around them as the energy of the crashing waves dissipated.
When the tumult cleared, and the smoke began to settle, Jada squinted to see the results.
The scene made her drop her mouth in utter amazement: Arthur was standing there with a body completely unscathed!
Steam just continued to curl from his hand before he slowly lowered it.
"N… No way," she said in disbelief. "Th-That was my strongest jutsu."
"Did the Naruto fan forget? Regular chakra isn't the same as Sage Chakra."
Jada stood there frozen, unable to form a coherent word. She had faced countless opponents, from the weakest Genin to the strongest Jōnin. Yet nothing had prepared her for what she was currently witnessing.
Yet Arthur? Arthur, a mere man, was a force of nature, an absolute threat unlike anything she'd ever encountered. Was he even a man? He couldn't be. No man could have ever pushed her to her absolute limits.
He wasn't a man; he was Arthur Bennett!