"Hummmmm!!!"
Under Roubaul's control, the great tree, which had only been emitting a faint glow, suddenly erupted with an intense light.
A pillar of light shot into the sky, and the earth began to tremble.
The ground beneath Marco and Roubaul's feet felt like something was about to burst forth.
Boom!
As expected, once the seal broke, a colossal structure shot up from underground.
Marco and Roubaul stood firm, remaining steady as they rose with the ascending Nirvana.
After a series of earth-shattering rumbles, Nirvana's true form broke free from its seal.
The ground was littered with rubble, and a crater formed where the seal used to be. H
owever, the crater was clearly too small to contain Nirvana entirely.
The seal had hidden part of the structure in a pocket dimension—Roubaul was a genius in magical research.
This "Nirvana Kingdom" was a behemoth, supported in the sky by six spider-like legs.
Standing at the city's highest point, Marco gazed down at the ancient metropolis. It was empty, just like a ghost town.
In fact, it was a ghost town.
Not a single living person remained.
Of everyone who once lived here, only Roubaul was left—and he wasn't even human anymore, but a spirit bound by obsession.
"Where is Nirvana's core?" Marco asked.
He couldn't believe the entire massive city was the core.
"At the base of each of the six legs, there's a Lacrima," Roubaul explained. As Nirvana's creator, he knew its structure intimately. "Only by destroying all six Lacrimas simultaneously can Nirvana be destroyed."
"Simultaneously? Does it have to be down to the exact second?" Marco frowned.
If that was the case, he'd have to call for help. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn't destroy six Lacrimas at once by himself.
He'd need Warren to set up a telepathy "chat room" to coordinate a simultaneous attack.
"No, it doesn't have to be that precise."
Roubaul shook his head. "Perfect synchronization would be harder to counter, but creating such a mechanism is also difficult. The fact that I managed this much is extraordinary enough. The Lacrimas can be destroyed within a two-to-three-second interval."
"In that case, it might be worth a try," Marco nodded.
The scale of Nirvana was comparable to the Thunder Palace, which he knew he could destroy.
The real challenge wasn't the size, but synchronizing the destruction of the six Lacrimas.
Even with a massive explosion, there would be a slight delay between the first and last detonations.
"You should leave first. I'm going to give it a shot."
Marco didn't hesitate, preparing to act immediately. Of course, he needed Roubaul to get clear first to avoid collateral damage.
He was about to unleash a massive attack, and magic didn't discriminate.
Roubaul said nothing, simply taking flight with the Flying Raven and ascending high into the sky to watch Marco's first attempt.
Marco's plan was simple, and so was his execution: he would blast it with a single "Athena's Exclamation" and shatter it with brute force.
Destroying all six Lacrimas simultaneously was difficult, yes, but if his attack was powerful enough, it might just work.
Even if there was a time lag, it shouldn't matter much.
Standing atop the central tower of the Nirvana Kingdom, Marco adjusted his stance. He was already clad in the Leo Gold Cloth.
'Since the Leo Gold Saint can perform a solo version of "Athena's Exclamation,"' Marco mused, 'can I perform a five-person version by myself? Can I channel the power of all five constellations, all five Gold Cloths?'
"Hoo..."
Marco exhaled, striking the classic pose.
Then, the Aries Gold Cloth and Gemini Gold Cloth materialized on either side of him.
At this point, "Athena's Exclamation" could already be unleashed, but Marco didn't stop.
He continued, summoning the Capricorn Gold Cloth and Libra Gold Cloth. These two Saint Cloths also materialized in their armor forms.
Marco stood at the forefront, hands outstretched, gathering power. The Aries, Gemini, Capricorn, and Libra Cloths formed a circle around him.
High in the sky, five constellations of the Zodiac blazed to life.
"VMMMMMM!!!"
The stars blazed, shining with immense brilliance.
Innumerable motes of starlight cascaded down, converging upon Marco's body and gathering in his hands.
The small sphere in Marco's palms seemed to condense a power capable of annihilating everything.
Even the surrounding space began to warp.
"Go! Destroy it!"
Without hesitation, Marco hurled the volatile energy sphere away. He'd gone too far this time; he was already losing control.
The Magic Power absorbed by the five Gold Cloths was monstrous.
The five-person "Athena's Exclamation" shot forth, striking Nirvana.
Marco's figure had already teleported away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
He couldn't even begin to estimate the attack's destructive power, so his first instinct was to get far away.
VMM!
The sphere of "Athena's Exclamation" struck the spire, instantly dissolving everything it touched.
The sphere then continued its descent, crashing into the ground below.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A massive magical explosion erupted.
The deafening roar, like the sky itself shattering, made Marco's eardrums feel like they'd burst, even from his distant position with Roubaul.
A blinding white light followed, threatening to engulf everything.
Marco narrowed his eyes, while Roubaul's jaw dropped.
The power of Marco's attack was beyond anything he could have imagined!
The area centered on Nirvana looked like it had been struck by divine punishment.
A harsh white light pulsed, lasting for several seconds.
Only when the area enveloped by the light began to shrink and the glare subsided could Marco and Roubaul finally observe the aftermath, checking to see if Nirvana was destroyed.
"This..."
Roubaul's jaw hung open, speechless.
Where Nirvana once stood, there was now nothing.
Not only had the colossal structure vanished, but even the land beneath it disappeared, leaving only a bottomless black abyss.
The scene was so devastating it was hard to believe it was the work of a human.
It seemed like something only a god could achieve, a masterpiece of raw destructive power, as if the immense, pitch-black chasm had always been there.
"Looks like it's been annihilated."
Marco nodded, satisfied.
He was pleased with the destructive power!
The "Athena's Exclamation" he had just unleashed, while not quite packing the power of two such attacks, wasn't far off.
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