Was it really a good idea to mock it after it praised me like that?
That fleeting thought crossed Kanzaki Rei's mind.
But in the very next instant, what filled his vision was a sky packed with golden fist-images.
Forget it.
The opponent had no intention of wasting another word—its attacks crashed down like a tidal wave!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Kanzaki Rei met the storm of fists head-on!
This time, his arms no longer shattered—his bones had grown even tougher!
Whoosh!
A streak of light shot skyward.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
This time, it was no longer Kanzaki Rei taking the hits—he had begun his counteroffensive!
Dragon fists collided with his own!
Every impact carried overwhelming force!
But brute strength alone wasn't enough—there had to be penetration, a power that pierced through!
This dragon's combat style was the ultimate embodiment of overwhelming strength!
Insights surged through Kanzaki Rei's mind!
The dragon's techniques… and Akagi's Invincible Style.
The two combat philosophies were astonishingly similar.
Each one validated the other—allowing Kanzaki Rei to derive an even more powerful way of fighting.
Up until now, I've relied too much on magic.
I tried to fuse magic with combat techniques… but I ignored the essence of combat techniques themselves. I neglected how to maximize the raw power of the body.
My strength has long surpassed ordinary humans.
I've long been on a completely different level than normal warriors… yet I've still been thinking within the framework of ordinary warriors when it comes to combat techniques.
BOOM!
Countless phantom punches suddenly converged into a single strike!
「Firmament Style — Third Form: Phantom Strike · Convergent Dragon-Slaying Blow」
BANG!
A single punch pierced through!
Cracks spread across the golden scales like shattered glass!
Previously, it had taken the sacrifice of 500 million souls to break those indestructible scales—
And now… with nothing but raw physical force, Kanzaki Rei had fractured them!
It works!
My previous combat techniques… really were full of flaws.
In this battle, Kanzaki Rei finally realized the shortcomings of his techniques.
He had created them because others did the same—drawing heavily from predecessors, modeling their processes, adapting their experience…
The techniques were his.
But the experience behind them… was almost entirely borrowed.
Now, he understood.
The gap between himself and others… was simply too vast.
There was no second existence in this world with so many God-Tier Talents.
His physical strength was far beyond what any ordinary warrior could ever possess.
So—
By borrowing others' experience, he had actually limited himself.
His techniques were indeed strong—but only strong relative to warriors of the same level.
That was nowhere near his true limit!
If he was to design techniques of his own…
He needed to aim higher—far higher!
He needed to create them from the perspective of a superior realm!
Clarity flooded his mind!
The golden dragon roared in fury!
Its wings thundered—
A violent shockwave exploded outward as its scales began to shine with even more dazzling brilliance!
BANG!
BANG—BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
It wasn't just his body growing stronger—his speed was increasing as well.
The dragon's once-overwhelming speed… Kanzaki Rei was now rapidly adapting to it.
Faster.
Sharper.
No longer missing punches.
No longer struck by attacks he couldn't defend against.
Now—
Every move was perfectly received.
Every attack neutralized!
Golden shockwaves erupted across the heavens again and again!
Their battlefield flickered through the sky—if seen from afar, it would look like a golden dragon the size of a planet, repeatedly throwing punches into empty space!
And at every point of collision—
Ripples exploded outward in all directions!
To it, this human—smaller than a mosquito, as insignificant as bacteria—
Was repeatedly blocking its fists!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The two figures blinked in and out of existence across the turbid sea like teleporting shadows!
BOOM!
Dragon and man streaked across an island—
The wind from their movement alone carved a massive trench straight through it!
And in the next instant—
The shockwave from their colliding fists erupted!
The entire island shattered into pieces!
This human… got stronger again?
6 minutes…
7 minutes…
At 6 minutes, Kanzaki Rei only took one-millionth of the damage.
The dragon's attacks now did little more than slightly numb his fists—far from breaking bones.
At 7 minutes, the damage dropped to one-ten-millionth.
Now?
Not even numbness.
It felt like punching his own palm—no sensation whatsoever.
Meanwhile, the dragon's fists—
Their scales were constantly cracking apart.
Kanzaki Rei's body continued to evolve.
It wasn't just the 7,000× physical enhancement from 「God-Tier · Ascension Beyond Limits」.
Even his base physical body alone was now more than ten times stronger than before the battle!
Breakthrough after breakthrough—
Growing stronger, again and again—
His body evolving, ascending into ever-higher realms!
And his combat techniques—
Were reaching new peaks with every passing second.
In mere minutes, they had gone through multiple iterations.
Thanks to his near-infinite thinking time—
Though it seemed he was constantly fighting…
In truth, he still had ample time to comprehend, refine, and evolve!
The golden dragon could clearly feel it—
Every strike Kanzaki Rei threw was stronger than the last.
This human…
Was growing stronger every second.
His body.
His techniques.
The rate of growth—
Terrifying!
BANG—
A scale shattered.
As their fists clashed, overwhelming force erupted—
Without realizing it, the dragon found itself being pushed back.
From initially overwhelming Kanzaki Rei—
To a dead-even clash—
And now…
Kanzaki Rei was taking the initiative!
"Fighting me for this long… you're the first!" Kanzaki Rei roared as he punched downward!
BANG!
That tiny fist slammed into the dragon's head—
Golden scales exploded into the air!
The blow actually dented its skull!
「Firmament Style — Sixth Form: Ultimate · Piercing Dragon」
A strike that gathered all strength—
Converting all magic into physical power—
And unleashing it at a single point!
Previously, "Ultimate" had been used to trigger magic—
Achieving at least double magical burst power.
But that approach treated combat techniques as support for magic.
Why should they be subordinate?
Combat techniques were no weaker than magic!
"Ultimate"—
Was his peak.
His strongest strike.
And now—
It could embody everything!
8 minutes!
One punch shattered the dragon's cranial scales—
And in the next instant, Kanzaki Rei's fists became a torrential storm!
「Firmament Style — Third Form: Phantom Strike · Dragon-Slaying Tempest」
In a flash—
Punches rained down at maximum speed!
Shattered scales exposed flesh beneath—
And the barrage descended like a storm!
BOOM!
Golden blood burst from the proud dragon's head!
Its defenses—completely broken!
The golden shockwave pushed him back—
But the storm of fists chased forward relentlessly!
Kanzaki Rei didn't dodge.
He met it head-on!
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—
Golden scales scattered across the sky!
In the clash between man and dragon—
The dragon was being driven back, step by step!
At this moment, Kanzaki Rei's combat techniques—
Compared to the start of the battle—
Had undergone a complete metamorphosis.
They were no longer on the same level at all.