"This is... someone's attacking the dragon aura barrier?"
"And if the dragon aura barrier is reacting this violently, that means... the attacker is either a Campione or a god!"
Saint Raphael's surprise did not last long.
Because a few seconds later, a magic sword dozens of kilometers long came crashing down from the sky.
Under the enhancement of an Authority gone berserk, Doni cleaved open the dragon aura barrier that had been reinforced by the ley lines of all Southern Europe.
Ordinarily, to block an attack like that, you would need at least the dragon veins of all Europe, perhaps even Europe's surrounding regions, fully integrated into one.
"So that's who it is... forcing the barrier open without the slightest concern for draining the dragon veins dry. Of course it's Doni..."
Once Saint Raphael learned that the dragon aura barrier had been formed from Southern Europe's dragon veins, she had already realized that if a Campione truly chose to act without restraint, the barrier could indeed be shattered.
After all, Campione were capable of flattening Southern Europe itself, let alone breaking through a dragon aura barrier formed from its dragon veins.
In fact, Saint Raphael had even made predictions about which Campione might be the one to do it.
Marquis Voban kept to himself. Because of the infamy he had built up over the years, his ties to most magic societies were extremely weak. He likely would not even hear the news until much later.
Luo Hao was similar. After all, she was basically a shut-in living on Mount Lu. There was only so much speed one could expect from her in receiving outside information.
America's Dark King, John Pluto Smith, would never leave the United States without a reason. And with his strange fixation on playing the hero, even if he did come to Europe, he would never take the risk of exhausting Southern Europe's dragon veins just to forcefully break the dragon aura barrier.
The Black Prince of Britain was the same. Alec was not the type to impulsively do something that reckless and devoid of consequences.
Then there was the perpetually absent Madam Aisha. Everyone more or less treated her as if she were off the board. Unless she was personally causing trouble, most people regarded her as a transparent Campione who simply did not exist.
And finally, there was Japan's newly ascended Campione, Godou. Since he had only just become a Campione, the most important thing for him now should have been finding a second god to slay as quickly as possible in order to build up his foundation, not picking a fight with another Campione.
Once all the others were ruled out, the only likely one left, the only one reckless enough to break the dragon aura barrier without caring about the consequences, was Doni.
Which only proved that the result had matched her prediction perfectly.
"With Akuto's personality, he's probably already gone to deal with Doni by now. After all, Doni is an indispensable part of his plan."
Saint Raphael's guess was completely correct.
Only a few minutes after the dragon aura barrier shattered, she and Lucretia received a message from Akuto.
"So you've finished preparing? Good. I'll be there at once."
With that, Saint Raphael's figure gradually vanished before Lucretia's complicated gaze.
...
Elsewhere, on Akuto's side.
At the airport.
The afternoon sunlight had been torn apart by the roar of a steel Authority.
The airport, once a symbol of modern civilization and transit, had now become a gladiatorial arena for Campione.
From the moment the battle started, the Sword King, Salvatore Doni, the overlord of Southern Europe, had begun venting his power and madness without holding anything back.
"Hahahaha! This is great! Too great!"
Doni laughed wildly, his golden hair whipping through the violent currents of berserk energy.
The magic sword in his hand was no longer ordinary steel. It had been completely silverized by the Authority Rending Silver Arm.
Wrapped in a dreadful force carrying the concept of tearing through all things, the blade slashed toward Akuto at a speed the naked eye could barely follow.
Every swing made space itself let out a groan of strain, leaving behind silver cracks that lingered in the air for a long time.
This was no simple physical slash. It was the manifestation of the very concept of severing itself.
Even more chilling was the blood energy steaming off his body, as if his blood itself were boiling.
At this point, the Authority Sacred Madness - Rampaging God's Wine had already been pushed by him to its absolute limit.
Rampaging God's Wine had the effect of completely burning away one's rationality in exchange for berserk power beyond all limits.
If Doni had been facing an ordinary Campione, his opponent would have long since been dragged into the same berserk frenzy as him, reduced to nothing but instinctive blows and brute force.
But Akuto showed no sign whatsoever of losing his reason. Skills that affected the mind had been incapable of affecting him from the very start.
"Oh? To push Rending Silver Arm to this level... as expected of a natural-born Campione who exists for battle."
Akuto gave Doni's level of Authority mastery a genuinely high evaluation.
Perhaps it was because the pressure Akuto was giving off was simply too great. In any case, Doni had already reached a level very close to the version of himself from the Tokyo final battle in the original story.
In the original story, because the Last King grew stronger with every additional Campione in existence, the Campione decided they needed to determine who among them was strongest. Then, by borrowing Madam Aisha's Authority, they would exile all the other Campione to different worlds, leaving only the strongest one behind to face the Last King in a one-on-one duel.
In the Tokyo battle, all seven Campione who existed at the time fought with their full strength, each displaying everything they had. Doni had even surpassed his own limits, showing signs of suppressing Luo Hao herself.
As everyone knew, Campione became Campione by overcoming the strong while still weak themselves.
Now, faced with an opponent who was all but impossible to defeat, Doni had completely drawn out the nature of his Campione fate,融会贯通 his Authorities, and elevated them, bringing himself right up to the level he had shown in the Tokyo battle of the original story.
At that moment, Doni's eyes were blood-red, his muscles bulging like coiled dragons. Every inch of his skin radiated destructive heat and pressure, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
He had abandoned all defense and all finesse, staking everything on the ultimate magic sword in his hand, a blade that could tear apart the stars and split the earth itself.
Faced with a storm of destruction powerful enough to instantly reduce a super-devil-class being to ashes, Akuto remained unnervingly calm.
He did not chant an Authority. He did not summon a divine weapon. He did not even allow a single ripple of magical power to leak out.
He merely turned his body slightly and raised a hand.
Akuto's hand looked slender, but around it flowed what could perhaps be called the strongest close-combat skill in the Campione world at this moment. Because of the relationship between battle aura and the power of reincarnation, Akuto had for the moment named this fusion of reincarnation power and battle aura Heavenly Wheel Aura.
Because it was a self-created acquired Authority, Akuto's mastery over Heavenly Wheel Aura had been maxed out from the start. There was none of the adjustment period Campione usually had after gaining a new Authority.
And so, although Akuto's movements appeared slow, he always met Doni's dozens of lightning-fast slashes at the exact instant before they reached him.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!...
A dense chain of metallic impacts erupted, so rapid they nearly merged into one continuous roar.
Every collision exploded into blinding sparks and visible shockwaves, instantly reducing the shattered boarding bridges and airport shuttle buses around them to dust.
Akuto's palm was covered by an almost invisible, nearly transparent membrane of aura.
That was a godly existence woven together from battle aura compressed to the extreme and the power of reincarnation.
With Heavenly Wheel Aura, the toughness of Akuto's flesh had already surpassed nearly every existence possessing abilities like Steel Protection.
Doni's magic sword, which could split mountains in half, was simply seized by the aura wrapped around Akuto's hand.
With every collision between sword and palm, Doni felt as if his blade were striking the hardest stellar core in the universe. Not only could it not advance even an inch, the recoil left his arms numb and the skin at his tiger's mouth split open. Even his crystallized body began to crack and bleed, fresh red blood flowing down along the hilt.
The battle lust boiling within him because of the God's Wine felt, in that instant, as though a bucket of cold water had been dumped over it.
"How is this possible... with nothing but raw flesh?!"
Doni roared inwardly.
He had never imagined that his beloved Rending Silver Arm, which had torn through countless divine beasts and even Heretic Gods, would actually be stopped by nothing more than pure physical might.
The durability of Akuto's body had already surpassed even Doni's own after activating Steel Protection.
The ultimate clash of swordsmanship had failed to produce the overwhelming advantage Doni had expected. Instead, it had been effortlessly neutralized by his opponent. It left the battle-crazed Doni feeling a frustration he had never known before.
The next second, Doni leaped backward and opened some distance. The redness in his eyes deepened, but within that frenzy, there was now an extra trace of bestial cunning.
"Interesting! Too interesting! Akuto! You really are worth my full strength!"
Doni laughed wildly, his voice rough with excitement.
"If the sword isn't enough, then... let's use the whole airport as a sacrifice and turn this into a war of attrition!"
Doni slammed his magic sword into the ground and spread both arms wide. An enormous wave of invisible magical power, carrying the will of steel, swept across the entire airport ruin in an instant.
Authority - Steel Rampage!
Bzzzzzzz!
A shrill sound of twisting metal rang out, like billions of insects gnawing away at steel.
The ruined bodies of the Boeing airliners were kneaded by invisible giant hands, instantly deforming and stretching into dozens of enormous steel spears, all of them gleaming coldly as their tips aimed straight at Akuto.
The massive shuttle buses rose like prehistoric beasts. Their steel treads became giant feet, and the turret-like structures on their roofs twisted into savage mouths that spat out burning steam.
Even the half-collapsed glass curtain walls and steel skeleton of the terminal began to peel away and reassemble like living creatures, becoming countless high-speed spinning steel wheels and spiked chains that whirled toward Akuto like a metallic storm.
Every metal structure in the airport, under Doni's will, had become a steel legion fighting for him.
That roaring army of steel attacked from every direction, from sky and ground alike, with no blind spots, unleashing a saturation strike against Akuto.
Combined with another of Doni's magic sword slashes, one that tore through space itself, it instantly swallowed Akuto's figure whole.
"Come on! Let me see where your limit is!"
Doni roared, throwing himself into the steel torrent.
His crystallized magic sword carried the will to sever all things as it plunged into the center of the storm.
Faced with a steel frenzy powerful enough to instantly wipe out a modern army, Akuto's eyes remained calm enough to pierce through eternity itself.
He did not even glance at the steel monsters screaming toward him.
In the split second before impact, Akuto moved.
There was no grand explosion of energy. No profound chant of mystic incantations.
He simply stepped, punched, side-kicked, elbowed...
Every move was simplicity itself, yet within that simplicity was enough force to split mountains and seas.
(End of Chapter)
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