In the distance, the sea churned violently as Kaido crashed back onto the land, spitting out a bloody tooth that shattered against the rocks.
The two locked eyes.
In the next instant, the ground beneath their feet exploded at the same time. A white streak and a blue streak collided like falling meteors, and a massive pressure halo stripped away layers of earth, flinging them outward.
Kaido drove his knee straight into Lucien's abdomen.
The impact was brutal.
Lucien vomited blood on the spot, but he endured it, twisting his body and punching deep into Kaido's stomach. The force was so violent that Kaido also spat blood, his massive body shuddering.
Just then, Kaido's dragon tail whipped out with a sonic boom.
Lucien leaned back, planting both hands on the ground, and kicked upward like a compressed spring, slamming his heel toward Kaido's chin.
At the critical moment, Kaido blocked with his massive palm. At the same time, his right leg shifted backward, splitting the ground, then shot forward and smashed into Lucien's chest.
In a flash, Lucien vanished.
The next second, he reappeared behind Kaido and swept out a kick. But almost simultaneously, Kaido also disappeared and reappeared behind Lucien, smashing out a punch.
"Swish… Swish…"
Their figures flickered across the ruined battlefield like ghosts. Desolate mountains were ripped from the earth, and the crust overturned in massive chunks.
Shockwaves continuously burst outward from the center. The two grabbed each other's wrists and pulled violently, their knees colliding again and again like an endless storm.
Raw power stirred the winds and clouds. Streaks of lightning tore through the sky.
Both of them were locked in close combat, their movements restricted, their bodies pressed together in the most savage form of hand-to-hand fighting.
So Kaido's dragon tail struck again from behind.
If it were anyone else, they would have been torn apart instantly.
But Lucien was not anyone else.
From his tailbone, eight thorn-like spines transformed into fanged giant snakes, their mouths opening wide as they bit down on Kaido's dragon tail, forcefully stopping it in midair.
It was pure physical brutality.
Blood sprayed, bones cracked, flesh tore.
This was the most primitive form of battle, no tricks, no mercy, only violence. The kind of combat that made every man's blood boil.
The battle had completely entered a white-hot stage.
Suddenly, beneath the dim sky, a white light descended like an ancient silver river. It dragged a long blazing tail behind it, the atmosphere screaming as it ignited into flames.
"Meteor."
An oppressive force descended from above.
Lucien transformed into a blazing comet, crashing straight down toward Kaido.
He had not used this move in a long time. It was time to bring it out again.
"Roar!"
Kaido roared furiously. His dragon claw swelled, veins bulging like steel cables, and he shot upward, smashing his arm into Lucien's right foot.
Time seemed to freeze.
A blinding flash erupted.
A massive halo of destruction spread outward in all directions.
Kaido screamed as his entire right arm burst apart, flesh and scales exploding into blood mist. With an unwilling roar, his massive body slammed back into the ground.
He was pushed across the land, overturning mountains and seas. Countless abysses tore open, spreading all the way to the ocean.
At the very center, a vast mushroom cloud rose, encircled by three expanding halos that connected heaven and earth.
The surrounding sky collapsed.
The ground sank.
A thousand-meter tsunami peeled outward in all directions.
A scorching storm swept across the world.
A hole was ripped open in the black clouds, and the sky and sea seemed to invert.
Infinite dust filled the air.
Lucien flew out of the explosion.
His entire right leg had burst apart, only a few strands of flesh still connecting it to his body. Torn muscles and white bone were clearly exposed.
Five-colored energy threads extended from his body, intertwining within the high-temperature steam. His flesh regenerated rapidly, rebuilding his leg.
But the speed was slower than before.
Golden lightning flickered around him, flames burning fiercely as Lucien hovered in mid-air, staring down into the bottomless abyss below.
"Roar!"
A violent dragon roar exploded upward.
A terrifying presence surged from the depths, and Lucien's expression changed. He vanished from his original position instantly.
Amid the shifting winds and clouds, a colossal creature burst out of the abyss.
Ferocious antlers, ox-like eyes glowing with madness, sharp scales covering its entire body, and massive claws extending down to its abdomen.
It was a dragon.
A blue-green divine dragon overflowing with brutal power.
Winds and clouds wrapped around its massive body, its dragon might almost overwhelming the heavens.
Kaido had entered full beast transformation.
The divine dragon stared at Lucien with pure brutality. Its body coiled in the air, then its blood-red mouth opened wide.
A dazzling light condensed.
The surrounding air twisted violently.
A massive stream of dragon breath poured down like the Milky Way itself, an unstoppable torrent of destruction.
The sky was pierced open instantly, forming an inverted funnel as hurricanes raged in all directions.
Lucien barely dodged in time, but he was still struck by the edge of the attack and vomited blood violently.
The divine dragon surged upward again.
Lucien watched Kaido's massive form and kicked out twice in mid-air. Two five-hundred-meter crescent arcs tore downward with terrifying force.
Explosions chained together with dragon roars.
Kaido took both slashes head-on. His scales were torn off, blood spraying everywhere, as one massive claw ripped through the air toward Lucien's head.
Lucien clenched his fist and collided with it.
A world-shaking hurricane erupted.
Lucien was blasted backward, while Kaido's massive body also sank slightly in the air.
Lucien stabilized himself and stood suspended in the sky.
Seeing Kaido charging again, he descended as well.
Kaido roared continuously, his tail whipping through the atmosphere, annihilating everything in its path.
Lucien appeared as if teleporting beneath the divine dragon's abdomen. Behind him, a divine dragon formed, expanding to thousands of meters and filling the entire sky.
A terrifying sense of crisis made every scale on Kaido's body stand on end.
"Great Might Heavenly Dragon."
Lucien's right palm transformed into a massive dragon head.
Kaido's abdomen was pierced like paper.
The heavy sky was ripped open once more, and the surrounding atmosphere was blasted outward in violent waves.
This was Lucien's strongest attack aside from Kamehameha.
A painful dragon roar echoed through the clouds.
But Lucien suddenly felt danger.
He looked up, his pupils shrinking instantly.
A massive stream of dragon breath poured down again, sweeping away the air itself.
Lucien's entire body crystallized. He crossed his arms in front of him.
There was no time to dodge.
The attack connected heaven and earth.
The already shattered island suffered absolute annihilation.
A dark mushroom cloud rose from the center, with three massive halos expanding above and below.
Everything in the storm's path was erased.
The entire surface of the desolate island was lifted and shattered, turning into countless meteor-like fragments that scattered in all directions.
Giant dragon roars echoed from the sky.
The divine dragon loomed within the dark clouds.
Kaido's abdomen had a massive hole, blood raining down like a storm, yet the fatal wound was already regenerating.
And deep within the bottomless abyss, Lucien's body was embedded in the mud.
Only half of him remained intact.
His cells multiplied madly, flesh and bone regenerating slowly.
His face was pale.
Regenerating such damage consumed an enormous amount of energy, and the tearing pain was enough to drive anyone insane.
But Lucien had not reached his limit.
Not even close.
"Whoosh…"
A white streak of light shot into the sky.
Lucien emerged beneath the cloud peak, staring at Kaido, whose abdomen was already completely restored.
"Is that all you've got? I thought you could kill me."
Lucien spoke calmly, stealing Kaido's own words.
He wanted to show off too.
"You're looking for death."
Kaido's eyes widened in rage. His massive dragon body rapidly shrank, transforming back into his humanoid tyrant form.
Boom.
A mushroom cloud rose again.
At the very center, their knees collided, and the two of them ascended into the sky together.
Waves of power spread outward, exploding continuously.
Lightning flashed, thunder roared.
Under the shattered sky, two figures, one massive and one lean, clashed again and again.
Piercing clouds.
Cracking mountains.
A walking natural disaster.
Pushing all the way forward, the two transformed into blazing meteors and returned to Onigashima.
There was no need to guess.
Lucien had deliberately guided the battlefield back.
He needed more pressure.
Kaido alone was still not enough to push him into a true near-death state.
As they fell from the sky, Kaido grabbed Lucien by the head and dragged him horizontally through the desolate mountain valleys.
Landslides followed in their wake.
The ground cracked.
Explosions echoed endlessly.