Chapter 676: Maximum Firepower

Heimu looks up, Magic Staff held horizontally.

Boom!

The sword and staff collide a second time.

The ground beneath their feet collapses outward from the impact point, forming a massive pit over a hundred meters in diameter in an instant.

The rocks at the pit's bottom are crushed into powder, and a purple‑black Flame erupts from the fissures, burning at the pit's floor.

The shockwave lifts debris and dust outward, forming a visible gust, and where it passes the ground's fissure patterns gain several more layers.

The two face each other at the pit's bottom.

The sword presses the staff, the staff's tip presses the sword.

Shen E's unfocused purple eyes are within arm's reach, and purple light seeps from the cracks around the eye sockets, flowing down the cheek contours into the densely patterned area on his chest.

Heimu's slight smile hasn't faded, but the purple‑black eyes have lost their previous ease.

Her ash‑gray hair is blown backward by the gust.

"The power truly is great."

She flicks her wrist, rotating the Magic Staff on the blade to shift the great sword's force to one side.

"But it only has power, not even a line of dialogue—so boring!"

The blade scrapes the staff and slides down, slashing the ground beside her foot, tearing a new fissure in the pit's bottom.

Crack!

Heimu uses the opening to leap backward, her toe tapping the pit wall, and she flips upward into the air.

In the instant she turns midair, she holds the Magic Staff with one hand, raises the other, fingers splayed.

The space behind her begins to warp.

Tens of thousands of points warp simultaneously.

Purple‑black ripples spread from behind her in all directions, each ripple's center cracking open a Spatial Rift.

Inside the rift is pure purple‑black void, bottomless.

Weapons protrude half from the rift, each surface coursing with purple‑black magical sigils.

Tens of thousands of blades hover behind Heimu, sweeping toward Shen E below.

She had seen this move on a screen before—the golden King's Treasure.

At the time she only thought it was cool; now wielding it herself, the feeling of controlling tens of thousands of weapons, magic flowing from her palm into each rift, as if her fingers were pulling tens of thousands of invisible threads.

Heimu's mouth twitches upward.

She presses her fingers down.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

The dense sound of air being torn overlaps, becoming a spine‑tingling screech.

Various blades trail purple‑black afterimages as they cascade from the sky.

Shen E lifts his head.

The great sword spins half a circle in his hand, rotating in place, its blade sweeping a complete ring as his body turns.

Purple Light Blade radiates from him outward in all directions.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

Where the Light Blade passes, all falling weapons are simultaneously knocked away.

His back's purple markings flare suddenly as he swings, light racing up his spine, and a pair of wings formed from pure violet light unfurl on his back.

The moment the Light Wings unfold, the surrounding air twists as if burned.

Heimu's fingers press a second time.

The second wave of weapons emerges from the Spatial Rift, more numerous and denser than before.

This time the weapons don't pause—while they are shot from the rift, new blades also appear in the same rift, forming a continuous stream.

The magical output has been pushed to the limit; she can feel her core temperature soaring.

"It's not over yet!"

Shen E doesn't block.

He rushes forward into the barrage of weapons.

The great sword emits one Light Blade after another, each flinging several weapons away.

Shattered fragments swirl around him, purple‑black magical residue leaving countless fading trails in the air.

His speed doesn't wane, charging from the pit's bottom into the air, a violet trail trailing behind.

The blade rain strikes his bare torso; where the purple markings cover, the blades can't pierce the skin, only leaving shallow white marks on the surface.

The light within the markings flashes with each impact, the flash rate accelerating.

Heimu watches the figure charging forward amid the blade rain, her mouth twitching.

Her attack has no effect, not even slowing him.

The gemstone at the Magic Staff's tip shines again.

A massive surge of purple‑black magic erupts from the gem, coalescing before her; a gigantic Magic Array unfurls from beneath her feet, over five thousand meters in diameter.

The array's pattern looks as if an entire star map were compressed into the ring, its edge ablaze with purple‑black Flame. Its center faces the direction Shen E is charging from.

The Magic Array's activation brings a low rumble, shaking the ground.

Shen E rushes into the Magic Array's area.

The Magic Array activates instantly.

Countless purple‑black Light Bands rise from the array's pattern, winding around Shen E.

It brutally suppresses his charging speed.

When the Light Band tightened, it made a creaking sound.

The purple pattern on his upper body burst into dazzling light as the Light Band wrapped around him.

Shen E lowered his head to glance at the Light Band coiled on him.

Cracks on the great sword and the chest pattern lit up with purple light simultaneously.

Under the purple illumination, the Light Band began to disintegrate, breaking strand by strand from the tightest point.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The breaking sound was crisp and piercing.

The Magic Array's binding held him for less than two seconds.

Two seconds was enough.

Heimu's figure vanished from above the Magic Array.

In the next instant, she appeared behind Shen E, swung the Magic Staff in a wide arc and struck down—a pure physical blow.

She put her full strength into this strike, channeling all her magical power into the staff, and the entire Magic Staff glowed.

The staff body struck solidly onto Shen E's exposed back, hitting the very center of the densely patterned purple markings.

Thump!

A muffled thud, as if it had struck a red‑hot iron anvil.

The markings burst with dazzling purple light the instant they were struck, heat traveling along the staff, and Heimu's palm flinched from the burn.

"Sss!"

Shen E's body was driven downward by the blow, smashing into the barren ground and carving a fresh deep pit.

Rumble!

Dust and debris shot upward, and the ground trembled several times before settling.

Heimu hovered in midair, looking down at the pit below.

She flicked her right hand, which had been burned, and the skin of her palm glowed with an abnormal red.

The recoil from that strike traveled up the staff, and now her entire right arm trembled.

Before the dust cleared, a purple light ignited at the pit's center.

The whole pit floor and walls were simultaneously illuminated from within by purple light, the glow pouring out of cracks and tinting the unsettled dust purple.

The light grew brighter.

The earth began to quake, extending from the ground up to the far horizon.

Heimu lifted her head.

Above, on the dim yellow horizon, a speck of light appeared.

The speck was initially needle‑point sized, but it grew larger as it approached.

The speck became a Light Orb, the Light Orb became a Light Sphere, the Light Sphere became a massive burning meteor, its diameter enough to cover almost half the sky.

The meteor's surface burned with violet‑black Flame, trailing a long tail as it fell from above the clouds.

Flame roiled over the meteor's surface, burning through the surrounding clouds.

As the meteor descended, it brought a heavy, oppressive pressure, making the air dense.

The meteor's target was Heimu.

"Meteor?"