The smoke and dust, thick as solidified grey-yellow cotton, finally began to settle and disperse unwillingly after the earth-shattering shockwave had finished its rampage.
The pungent smell of burning, the earthy scent of soil, and the sulfurous odor of shattered energy mingled together, filling the deathly silent air.
The field of vision seemed to have been washed by turbid water, slowly regaining its clarity.
Hiroki knelt on one knee on the ground, his body feeling as if it had been completely hollowed out, every cell letting out a mournful cry.
His Spiritual Pressure had long since run dry, and his meridians were like a parched riverbed that had been scorched; even condensing a sliver of Chakra brought a piercing pain to his heart.
The scenery before him shook with double vision, and the ringing in his ears was sharp and persistent.
He could feel cold beads of sweat sliding down his forehead, hitting the scorched ground.
"My Lord!" A familiar, anxious voice sounded in his ear, carrying a trembling concern.
It was Izumi. She appeared by his side, one hand urgently yet steadily supporting his swaying arm, bearing most of his weight. Her own breathing was somewhat erratic, and her black short skirt was covered in dust and fine scratches; she had clearly endured that terrifying aftershock by force as well.
Her Sharingan swept warily across the deepest part of the smoke ahead, while she also closely monitored Hiroki's condition.
Hiroki waved his hand to indicate he could still hold on, but his gaze did not waver for a second, staring fixedly in the direction where the dust had not yet fully settled. All his senses were pushed to the limit, and his heart hammered against his empty chest like a drum.
Tension—a tension unlike anything he had ever felt before.
This "Tai Xu Sword Qi" was already his final trump card, a sword strike he had unleashed by exhausting all his strength and overdrawing his power.
However, he also felt a great deal of uncertainty regarding his ultimate move.
The last time he used it against Aizen in the Soul Reaper World, he had fired it with the small intention of directly erasing that ambitious man from the world!
And the result? It only managed to heavily wound Aizen! Although the outcome that time achieved its deterrent purpose, it left Hiroki with lingering doubts about the ultimate power of this "Tai Xu Sword Qi" when used across different planes.
The smoke and dust finally dissipated completely.
Hiroki's gaze instantly froze, and his heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a cold iron hand!
"Tsk..."
At the end of his vision, three figures bathed in dim golden light stood tall and firm, like boulders.
gemini Saga stood in the center, his deep grey hair fluttering in the breeze of residual energy, his posture as upright as a mountain. Although his magnificent gemini Gold Cloth was covered in a layer of dusty grey, its main structure was... intact!
Even its symbolic majesty had not been significantly weakened. Only in those eyes, as deep as an abyss, did an almost invisible ripple of fatigue flash by, proving he was not entirely without exhaustion.
Deathmask and Aphrodite stood on Saga's left and right. Compared to Saga's composure, they were in a much more pathetic state.
The luster of the Cancer Cloth was noticeably dim, no longer as dark and deep as before, and a small crack seemed to have opened on the horn of the helmet.
Aphrodite's flowing curly hair was slightly disheveled, his breathing was clearly hurried and heavy, his handsome face was pale, and his chest heaved violently as his tightly pursed lips seemed to be working hard to calm his churning blood and disordered Cosmo. The Pisces Cloth had also lost some of its beauty, gaining more dull grey marks.
The golden light on both men was like a flickering candle in the wind, looking as if it might go out completely the next second, held up only by a single breath of sheer willpower.
"Damn it!" Hiroki couldn't help but curse in his heart, his expression almost cracking. "System! Are you sure this thing really has 'Envoy-level' power?!" He was full of resentment toward this treacherous system.
A cold mechanical voice rang out in Hiroki's mind without any emotion: [Under the rules of the Honkai: Star Rail world, the concept of 'Finality' and the power of Destruction contained within the Great Void Sword Qi - Divine Implication do indeed resonate to a degree where its destructive power is comparable to an Emissary. However, the power of this technique is significantly attenuated by the rules of the current world, the level of energy injected by the user, and the target's resistance. Current power rating: Close to the full-strength strike of a top-tier powerhouse in this world.]
"Fuck!" Hiroki understood, and a sense of absurd bitterness rose in his heart instead.
The system's meaning was clear: In the Star Rail world, this move indeed had an officially certified high-level VIP destructive power. But in this Saint Seiya universe where people punch atoms and shatter stars, the laws were different, and the power was "harmonized" by the local rules. At most, it counted as the ultimate move of a first-class powerhouse, not the cheat code he imagined that could sweep away everything regardless of the rules.
Thinking about it, even in the Star Rail universe, the so-called "Emissaries" were only subordinates of the Aeons; the true ceiling were those Aeons who held the Paths and possessed infinite power.
And among Aeons, the power gap was also ridiculously large. Isn't the most ironic example that civil engineering bro Qlipoth who carries a hammer? He literally relied on hard work to hammer the Swarm King Tayzzyronth, the Aeon of Propagation, to death!
In comparison, a simple energy-release technique indeed didn't count as a decisive trump card. It had withstood the forbidden technique Athena's Exclamation (AE) performed by three Gold Saints and hadn't blown his own side into cosmic dust along with their armor; from the result, it could even be said to have performed quite well. At least it proved its attack power had indeed reached the top-tier threshold of this world.
Hiroki thought of the scene in the Hades Arc of the Saint Seiya anime where the three Gold Saints—Saga, Camus, and Shura—joined forces to use the AE against Virgo Shaka.
That was the man closest to the Cosmo of a god! In the end, not even a speck of Shaka remained!
"By that logic, if my Tai Xu Sword Qi... can cancel out the AE, then if I fired it at Shaka, could I take him down too?" Hiroki couldn't help but let his thoughts wander.
But immediately, he shook his head and mocked himself, "What am I thinking... It's already turned out like this, and I'm still daydreaming about taking down Shaka..."
"Hahaha, not bad, very good indeed!"
Saga's low, majestic voice suddenly rang out, breaking the heavy and oppressive silence on the wrecked battlefield. A flash of genuine appreciation—the kind belonging to the strong—passed through his eyes as his sharp gaze pierced through space and landed on Hiroki, who was supported by Izumi and was as pale as paper.
"To actually withstand the 'Athena's Exclamation' (AE) of three Gold Saints head-on! Such strength is rare among mortals! You are very good!" Saga's words carried a condescending affirmation, as if he were examining a valuable tool.
The corners of his mouth curled into a smile thick with the intent to recruit, and his voice boomed over: "How about it? Why not join us? With your strength, you are qualified to participate in the great cause of 'God-slaying'!"
Hiroki: "..."
Hey, hey, hey, what kind of recruitment is this? Trying to get something for nothing right from the start? What about the benefits? Do you pay for social security? Is there a permanent position in the Sanctuary? Do you pay overtime? How much is the year-end bonus for a successful god-slaying? You're quite smooth with the verbal promises, but you won't talk about anything concrete? Do you think I, Hiroki, am a beggar?
And most importantly—Hiroki quickly glanced at the system interface in his mind.
Dead silence! There was no task prompt regarding [Saga's Invitation]! Not even an option box for "Accept or Not" popped up!
"Tch..." Hiroki sneered inwardly, scoffing at Saga's "insincere" recruitment. As a mercenary who "works for whoever pays," his principle was simple—he goes with whoever pays more!
Working for the Goddess was only because she paid enough.
However, he couldn't even squeeze out the strength to sneer now. His body was being eroded by an unprecedented sense of emptiness; he felt much weaker than he had after releasing the Divine Essence in the Soul Reaper World!
This time, not only was his Spiritual Pressure drained, but even his mental strength seemed to have been consumed to the last drop by the will of that sword strike, and his soul sent waves of weak, dull pain.
Was it because the cost of rule conversion was higher when releasing it across world barriers? Or was the pressure on the soul level much greater when facing monsters like Gold Saints? Only a buzzing sound and weary chaos remained in his head, and he couldn't even organize a complaint.
When he released it in the Soul Reaper World, was the consumption not that great because he was considered a local?
Forget it... whatever... Hiroki struggled to lift his head, took one last look at those three figures still standing in the smoke and ruins, emitting a dangerous and terrifying aura, and issued the only and most urgent command to his remaining will and the system in his mind.
"Sys... tem... Re..."
Alright, this is an expansion of Hiroki's inner monologue based on the provided chapter content:
"Re..." That command in Hiroki's heart, filled with relief and exhaustion, had not yet fully formed in his mind, as fragile as a dying candle flame.
Suddenly, a purple-skinned old man entered the center of the battlefield between the two sides.
Hiroki's eyelids twitched, and that sudden intrusion of purple in his vision caused his thoughts to stutter for a moment.
Who is this? Where did this Purple Sweet Potato Spirit come from? Where did he crawl out from? This battlefield has been blown up to look like the surface of the moon; did this old man take a wrong turn while out for a stroll? Hiroki felt his already scarce energy was about to be diverted by this ridiculous entrance.
"Saga, the shore is behind you if you turn around; do not continue to sink further into error!" The old man's voice was heavy and weathered.
"Oh, isn't this Master Dohko? You actually deigned to come down from the Five Old Peaks?" Saga's tone was thick with mockery and sarcasm.
Hiroki's groggy brain was instantly stung by the name "Dohko."
Five Old Peaks? Dohko?! That two-hundred-plus-year-old Libra? Damn, why is he here? Wait, he actually came down the mountain?! Is he not going to watch the seal anymore?
Saga actually didn't know much about Dohko's permanent station at the Five Old Peaks to guard the seal; after all, his position as Pope was obtained through usurpation.
He didn't even know where Athena's Cloth was.
"I have come down the mountain to stop you. Do not make mistake after mistake!!!" Dohko's voice carried determination.
"Hahaha," Saga laughed as if he had heard some huge joke.
"Stop me? With just you? With that aged body of yours? You probably can't even put on the Libra Gold Cloth anymore, can you?" Saga's contempt was almost tangible.
"Even so, you still want to stop me? Go back to your Five Old Peaks and stay there quietly; that way, I might still spare your life!" That arrogant posture was as if he were shooing away an eyesore of a fly.
"Sigh, it seems there is no other way. You have been completely taken over by your evil personality. In that case, I shall be the one to stop you," Dohko said, and after speaking, he struck a combat pose.
Holy crap, holy crap! No way?! Old-timer! You're really just going for it?!! You've got the momentum, but where's your trump card? Transform already!
You're going in without even releasing the seal? So you're just here to cosplay as a hot-blooded elderly brute? The opponents are three Gold Saints who are still in decent shape, and Black Saga is in a berserk state! If you throw a punch like that, aren't you afraid you'll send yourself straight to the ICU! Is this old man really that reckless!?
As a result, as expected, the elderly Dohko fired off a Lushan Hundred Dragon Supremacy.
Saga returned fire with a Galaxian Explosion.
Consequently, the old man ended up flat on the ground.
The sudden air blast and the light of energy annihilation were fleeting. After some of the dust settled, what entered Hiroki's eyes was the sight of Dohko being blown away by the Galaxian Explosion without surprise, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Well... he's down, right? I knew it!
"Hahaha, Master Dohko, you can't even wear a Gold Cloth anymore. Even so, you still want to stop me?" Saga's wild laughter was full of a victor's contempt.
Dohko slowly struggled to climb up from the ground, his movements carrying the sluggishness of an old man and the pain of fractured bones.
He stabilized his figure with difficulty and did not look at Saga again; instead, he turned his gaze toward the direction of Athena, who was heavily protected by the Uchiha members.
The Silver Saints were long gone, having been blown away to who-knows-where by the previous impact.
The Uchiha Clan, however, was clearly experienced and had sufficient contingency plans for large-scale AOE—Susanoo withstood the core impact while combined Ninjutsu defended against the aftershocks. Although the consumption was huge, their numbers were relatively intact and their formation had not collapsed.
They still maintained a tight guard over Saori.
Hiroki caught that deep disappointment and a hint of realization in Dohko's eyes.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, what are you looking at? Still want us to keep putting in effort? We're all on the casualty list over here.
"Sigh, it seems there is no other way," Dohko sighed with resolve.
Then, the Libra Gold Cloth appeared before everyone's eyes. Following that, a powerful Cosmo erupted from within Dohko's body!
Saga's pupils shrank suddenly!
From that plain, purple old man, an unimaginably massive Cosmo suddenly erupted! That aura was like a dormant volcano awakening—ancient, heavy, and sharp! The very air was trembling!
Dohko's originally hunched figure seemed to be injected with a new, great power, becoming as upright as a pine tree!
"Saga, why do you think I sat in meditation before the Great Waterfall of the Five Old Peaks for over 200 years?" Dohko's voice became loud and majestic, completely different from the aged tone just now, full of intimidating power.
"What?" The wild laugh on Saga's face froze instantly, and for the first time, he showed clear shock.