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The sheer amount of energy Riku poured into Excalibur made the blade glow blindingly bright. Sparks of light flew in every direction, and even the surrounding sand was pushed back by the pressure alone.
"You're such a naughty little thing. Can't you just give me your head without all this trouble?" Jibril appeared again through Sky Shift, lips pouting like she was sulking.
But no one — absolutely no one — would mistake her for harmless just because of her looks. She was a monster in a cute wrapper.
"If you think you can block this, then go ahead and try, Flugel!" Riku shouted up at her, full of confidence and defiance.
"I can feel the power radiating off it," Jibril said, eyes gleaming. "You're trying to bait me into taking this head-on, huh? Well... I am really curious about what your power can do, so... fine. I'll play along."
Jibril smiled and began focusing energy into her hands again, shaping it into the form of a spear. A black energy lance crackled with lightning — pure destruction in a weapon.
It wasn't any kind of structured spell — just natural energy, compressed to the point where its destructive power was terrifying.
"EXCALIBURRRRRRR—!!" Riku roared, and released his full-power strike.
In an instant, a massive pillar of light shot straight toward Jibril, who was wrapped in her Noble Phantasm.
"Heaven Strike!" Jibril, her face full of excitement, hurled her ultimate move—unleashing half her full power—straight at Riku.
BOOOOM!
A black energy spear, two meters wide, suddenly clashed with a thick energy beam three meters across.
It was like a meteor slamming into Earth. Invisible shockwaves blasted out in all directions. Two immense forces collided and locked in a fierce standoff—gale winds howled, lightning cracked through the air. The whole scene looked like the end of the world.
"Haaaaah!" Seeing this, Riku pushed his energy even harder, recklessly forcing the Heaven Strike back a little.
"How fun. But you know... my attacks aren't that simple~" Jibril said with clear amusement, increasing her power again. Now they were locked in a deadlock. She was pretty curious to see what Riku's limit was.
"Heh." Riku suddenly let out a cold chuckle. In the blink of an eye, the core where their powers clashed violently—exploded.
BOOOOM!!
The mixed energies burst apart with a bang. Shockwaves like the apocalypse itself surged in every direction, engulfing the entire reality marble.
Under the force of this massive explosion, the entire inner world let out a tortured groan as it cracked and shattered piece by piece!
"You bastard!" Jibril's pupils contracted. She hadn't expected Riku to be so reckless. She immediately shifted to full defense.
He had actually used her power to trigger the explosion. Was he trying to die with her?
That kind of dual-force explosion could definitely hurt her—but kill her? Not even close.
But with Riku's body and power level, he'd definitely be reduced to dust.
"My precious rare commander!" Jibril was furious now. She wasn't upset about getting hurt—what pissed her off was that she couldn't capture Riku's body intact!
Under such a huge blast, she figured Riku had no chance of survival. And she couldn't risk using Heaven Shift to rescue him either—her teleport ability wasn't something she could just use recklessly in an explosion like that.
If she used Heaven Shift without properly defending first, she wouldn't just be slightly injured—she'd be seriously hurt.
Elsewhere, hidden by the explosion, Riku remained calm.
Just before the shockwave hit, he had activated his strongest defensive Noble Phantasm—Seraphic Sevenfold Ring Shield!
Sure, this imitation version couldn't fully block an explosion of this scale—but it bought him enough time.
Before the rings shattered completely, Riku had already used his Teigu, Dimensional Array: Shangri-La, to teleport himself out of there.
A few seconds later, the explosion faded. The entire inner world had already collapsed, and even the ground outside had been affected—there was now a massive crater.
Jibril stood in the middle of the wreckage, her clothes torn, a few scratches on her body, biting her lip in frustration.
"Oh my god, that rare little commander... he's gone just like that?!"
If she'd known this would happen, she wouldn't have tried to test Riku's limits. With her strength, she could've just taken him down easily from the start.
But what Jibril didn't know... was that Riku had been counting on her exact mindset this whole time. He was gambling. If Jibril had decided to kill him outright, he would've used Shangri-La to escape earlier.
Sure, that would've exposed the existence of his spatial ability...
But clearly, everything was unfolding just as Riku planned. He had baited Jibril into a head-on clash, faked his death, and now she believed he was gone.
That meant he didn't have to worry about Jibril hunting him down anymore. Of course, this peace wouldn't last forever—they'd definitely fight again one day. Riku could feel it in his gut.
But next time, things wouldn't be as simple.
"....."