It burst outward in a radial wave, spreading like an unleashed light cannon and swallowing everything within several kilometers in less than a second.
Rock, metal, anything at all—it was all reduced to dust beneath that ultimate destructive force.
Then came the incomparably terrifying shockwave, accompanied by dancing arcs of lightning, mercilessly flattening everything even farther out.
The earth trembled, shaking like an earthquake.
Hundreds of cracks split open across the ground, each one as deep as an abyss, enough to swallow entire homes.
Unparalleled power—this was the strength of a Yonko!
At the instant he faced that blow,
Ren, who had spread his wings in defense, was instantly torn into thousands upon thousands of pieces—only to gather back together in a flash of light and reform.
He drew his blade and slashed. A blue sword gleam, like a bolt of thunder itself, rolled forward with the lightning arcs contained within it.
Thunder and Flame Mastery, the magnetic restraints of the Thunderflame Greatblade, and all sorts of other abilities turned the aftershock of Kaido's attack into Ren's own weapon.
Countless waves of lightning formed and wrapped themselves around the greatblade's edge, while savage, violent energy poured into the hilt.
By fusing Qi, plasma energy, Thunder Breathing techniques, and the externalized inner force of the Blood Demon Art, he constructed a single move.
Thunderflame Greatblade: Thousand Strikes in an Instant!
Ren brought his blade down—and the Thunderflame Greatblade collapsed, transforming into a thousand slashing blades of light that shot forth.
Every single black-red blade of light was hundreds of meters long. The compressed energy constructs were nearly one meter wide, carrying overwhelming might!
"Hm?"
Kaido tilted his head and opened his mouth, blasting out a stream of Blast Breath in an attempt to stop them.
But the torrent of flames, enough to melt an entire mountain, was sliced apart the instant it made contact. It could not stop the black-red blades at all.
This damn brat! His Haki is improving!
Kaido bared a savage grin. His Shuron Hakke shifted into the Drunken Slaughter state, his Haki intensifying yet again.
Then he swung the Hassaikai and, instead of dodging, met the attack head-on!
"Kundali: Dragon Swarm Army!"
Almost at the same instant, afterimages of the Hassaikai filled the entire space. The spiked kanabo, wrapped in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki, smashed viciously into the black-red blades of light.
Blow for blow, he shattered hundreds of those black-red blades, explosions erupting like rain.
But one could clearly see that Kaido was being pushed back, then slammed straight into the mountain of ruins at King's Plateau.
Then, a massive explosion engulfed the ruined mountain.
The shattered black-red blades unleashed horrifying energy, vaporizing the surrounding streets along with the entire wrecked mountain and turning the area into a volcanic sea of magma!
The remaining blades of light continued onward, cutting through the molten mountain and flying toward the distant rock walls of Dressrosa.
A little over a second later, one corner of Dressrosa's cliff walls was chopped into fragments—but the black-red blades still continued toward the sea.
Only after they split apart the vast ocean surface, stirred up waves like a tsunami, and vaporized tens of thousands of tons of seawater did they finally begin to dissipate!
Now's the moment.
Ren crashed into the wall of the colosseum, holding only the hilt of the Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge, while the scattered fragments returned under the control of his Qi.
But the Thunderflame Greatblade was gone.
Or rather, all the energy that could have formed the Thunderflame Greatblade had already been expended in that attack.
He mobilized his own energy, and the form of the Six-Winged Fallen Angel began to shrink, continuing to contract at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The essence of Phase Two: Six-Winged Fallen Angel was actually the overlapping of two versions of Ren, both in Meteor Burst.
Built on the foundations of the Blood Demon Art and Demonic Shadow, it was a highly efficient way of wielding an enormous amount of power.
For example, the Thousand Strikes in an Instant he had just used.
But it still was not enough. Far, far from enough!
Ren No. 2 shattered the shell of the Fallen Angel form, turning the high-density energy wrapped in fused Qi into a spiraling superstructure.
It resembled the process from before when he used the Thunderflame Greatblade—compressing power further and further through a series of methods.
Only now, the amount of energy Ren poured into it was vastly, vastly greater than before.
A sphere of pure energy a hundred meters across appeared on the spot, radiating heat intense enough to melt steel.
And in the very next instant, it began shrinking at a shocking speed.
Through Thunder and Flame Mastery, he pushed his magnetic field to the limit, constructing an incomparably sturdy "sheath."
Ren forcefully restrained the "blade," slowly pushing it back into the sheath bit by bit.
This was brute force.
If not for the fact that every muscle in his body was still in the state of Meteor Burst, converting energy into explosive driving force,
he likely would not have been able to do such a thing at all.
As his muscles tensed and more power poured in, his Conqueror's Haki burst forth involuntarily.
Black-red lightning flashed.
The released Conqueror's Haki shockwave spread across the battlefield.
He seemed to be attempting something—
but unfortunately, he failed.
Boom—!!
The magma volcano abruptly shattered, as if an explosion had gone off inside it.
Kaido swung the Hassaikai and blasted the volcano apart, hurling tens of thousands of tons of molten rock into the sky.
It turned into a cataclysmic Meteor Volcano!
If anything could be used as a comparison, it would probably be the Meteor Volcano Akainu used during the Marineford War.
"Worororo... what an outrageous brat. If that last attack had been spread out a bit more, this country probably would've lost at least a fifth of its land, wouldn't it?"
The bluish-purple dragon-man strode across the magma, shaking off his body as though it were nothing.
Streams of molten lava slid off him, revealing his incredibly powerful physique, now covered in dense wounds.
Split flesh, scorched gashes, wounds littering his whole body like the mouths of infants.
And yet they were healing at an astonishing speed.
Clearly, the attack had injured him.
But it was only injury.
"Shouldn't the more outrageous one be you, Kaido? That attack just now used up one-sixth of my current energy."
Having completed the motion of sheathing his blade, Ren stared coldly at the wounds on Kaido's body.
"You took that hit and all you got was a body full of minor injuries?"
"Worororo... being able to leave wounds on me at all is already impressive.
Even though you relied on energy compressed to the extreme rather than Haki, that's still remarkable."
Kaido grinned and pointed at the cross-shaped scar on his side.
"This was left by a man named Oden.
A permanent scar. Even the recovery power of an awakened Zoan can't restore it.
If your attack were just one more level stronger, it could've done the same thing.
But unfortunately, there are as many strong people below that level as there are fish in a river, while those above it are few and far between.
Still, I'm curious—can the attack you're charging now reach that level?
If it can, maybe you'll be worthy of being remembered by me."
"Before I answer that, can you answer one question first?"
Ren rested a hand on his sword hilt, his gaze locked on Kaido's wounds.
"If I remember correctly, all of you top-tier monsters possess Conqueror's Haki.
The level you're talking about... is probably only reachable if you've learned to infuse Conqueror's Haki into your attacks, right?"
"...Worororo."
A strange light flickered through Kaido's eyes, and he said in surprise,
"You actually know about that? Conqueror's Haki Infusion is something very few people ever come into contact with.
After all, even Conqueror's Haki itself is rare... no, wait. You..."
He seemed to think of something—or perhaps sense something.
Those cold, merciless eyes stared at the enemy before him who was still building up power. After noticing the Conqueror's Haki pressure radiating from Ren's body,
the corners of Kaido's mouth curled into a savage grin.
"So that's how it is? A brat like you actually harbors ambitions for the world as well?"
"Looking at it the other way around—if Conqueror's Haki can be infused into attacks, then can it also be infused into yourself?
In other words, using Conqueror's Haki for defense—enough to reach a state where dual-color Haki defense can withstand dual-color Haki attacks?"
Ren ignored Kaido's question, concerned only with the answer he sought.
"...Worororo. That's right."
Kaido fell silent for a moment, then laughed and admitted it.
"But what's the point of knowing that?
Or are you saying you can learn Conqueror's Haki Infusion in a mere instant?
Your Haki attainments are strong. I noticed it earlier. At your age—under twenty—I definitely wasn't at your level.
Even I'm shocked. The only one with Haki talent that might compare to yours is probably that Red-Haired brat.
But even he only started growing explosively after turning twenty.
As for you, you're probably only a hair's breadth away from advanced Armament Haki now, aren't you?
Your Observation Haki reactions are fast too. Maybe you can reach that realm as well.
But even with talent like that, mastering Conqueror's Haki Infusion in a short time is impossible. That's a power possessed by only a tiny handful of the strong.
Even I spent many years slowly mastering it.
And your Haki reserves are still far too lacking!"
"..."
Ren said nothing. His thumb pushed lightly against the sword guard.
So that was it.
The attack just now had not been ineffective, nor had it been too weak.
It was simply that Kaido was too powerful.
Kaido, the man known as the strongest creature, truly did possess something uniquely his own.
His defensive system was not like King's. It did not rely on the natural gifts of the Lunarian race.
Or rather—
it was the ultimate physique of the Oni race, trained to the absolute limit, plus Armament Haki honed to the absolute limit, plus the awakened Devil Fruit power of the Mythical Azure Dragon form, plus azure scales, plus Conqueror's Haki-infused defense.
And only then did it equal Kaido's current defense.
Every one of those powers had been tempered by time to its peak, layering together until they created a true qualitative transformation.
When Kaido first faced Ren in Meteor Burst, he had been so dismissive that he could not even be bothered to dodge. He had not even used Haki.
He simply tanked it through the awakened Devil Fruit power of his dragon form, his azure scales, and the ultimate physique of the Oni race.
Only after Ren entered Phase Two: Six-Winged Fallen Angel and landed a slash that wounded him
did Kaido finally start using Haki.
And only after realizing Ren himself was also absurdly tough, and that the fight would drag on forever without using more serious methods, did Kaido begin using Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
After all, he cared greatly about the matter of artificial Devil Fruits.
That also indirectly proved just how powerful Thunderflame Greatblade: Thousand Strikes in an Instant really was.
If he changed its target to this country, Ren was confident he could destroy more than half its territory with one strike.
And precisely because of that,
when facing Thunderflame Greatblade: Thousand Strikes in an Instant, Kaido had used Conqueror's Haki Infusion for defense.
According to Ren's memory, that thing should belong to the state of an invisible field.
(End of Chapter)