Everyone was utterly stupefied by this "dimensional crushing" display.
Jaws dropped. Eyes bulged. They looked like they'd just watched an ant slap an elephant across the room.
"What... what the fuck just happened?!"
"Am I seeing things?! The demon... got... one-shotted... by a slap?!"
In the competitor's area, Kyo Kusanagi literally jumped out of his seat!
His usually confident face was filled with horror!
He stared at the man still standing with one hand behind his back, looking like he'd seen a ghost!
Even though he mentally acknowledged Cloud as his "brother," it was precisely this that made Kyo so terrified of Cloud's monstrous growth rate.
Since KOF 95, Kyo had known Cloud was strong.
But he never imagined...
Cloud had become strong enough to treat demon-level inhuman fighters like sandbags. Absolutely insane. Utterly monstrous!
...
At the arena's edge, Demon An'un sprayed a mouthful of ink-black demonic blood!
He struggled to rise, face full of disbelief and infinite humiliation!
He—a higher life form transformed into a "demon"—
Had been seriously wounded by a "mortal"... with one hand?!
"Impossible... this is absolutely impossible!"
He couldn't accept this cruel reality!
"What... what did you do to me?!"
"Do?"
Cloud walked slowly toward An'un.
Each step seemed to land on An'un's heart, making him tremble to his very soul!
"I didn't do anything."
Cloud's face wore a smile of "pure innocence."
But that smile, in An'un's eyes, was more terrifying than any demon!
"I just... helped you recognize reality."
"Recognize the chasm between you and me—a gap as vast as heaven itself."
"Your so-called demonification, your so-called higher life form, in my eyes, is like a child's make-believe..."
Cloud walked up to him, reached out, and with the gesture of "an elder caring for a junior," gently patted his horned head.
"You're just... childish and laughable. Children should act like children!"
These words—pure psychological warfare—struck like the sharpest daggers into An'un's proud, arrogant demon heart!
"You... you... BASTARD—!!!"
An'un completely lost it!
He burned his life force! He squeezed out the last drops of "demonic power"!
"I'LL KILL YOU—!!!"
He roared, forcibly elevating his realm to an unprecedented height!
Absolute Domain 85%!!!
"Demon God... Annihilation Fist!!!"
He poured all his life, fury, and humiliation into this single punch!
A devastating fist capable of shattering this very space hurtled toward Cloud's chest!
Facing this final, all-or-nothing strike that would make gods and demons flee—
Cloud just shook his head lightly.
"Sigh, what a disobedient child."
"Why don't you understand? An ant... is still just an ant."
"Even if it learns to transform, learns to go berserk... before a Gundam, it's still nothing!"
He raised his right hand again.
A crimson flame ignited in his palm—the complete opposite of An'un's "evil" and "chaos": pure "light" and "righteousness"!
"Oh, I forgot to mention."
A mocking smile curved Cloud's lips.
He knew that "Emperor" up there was definitely watching through some means.
"Your daddy the Emperor? Also garbage."
"Orochinagi!!!"
A flame tornado erupted from his fingertip—ten times thicker, ten times hotter than Kyo's strongest Orochinagi, radiating the royal dominance to incinerate all things!
No suspense whatsoever.
An'un's Demon God Annihilation Fist, full of destruction and defiance, evaporated instantly before that solar fire—like ice meeting its nemesis!
Then that crimson flame tornado, momentum undiminished, completely devoured the "Demon Prince" who'd lost all power to resist!
"NOOOOO—!!!"
With a desperate, piercing scream, An'un—the insufferably arrogant Crown Prince—along with his demon body, was reduced to primordial ash by that fire capable of burning all things.
...
Dead silence.
Only the quiet crackle of crimson flames burning on stage.
When the fire faded...
Only one figure remained on the arena—still standing with one hand behind his back, godlike.
And a handful of black ash... scattered by the wind.
...
The final match followed: Kyo versus Cloud.
Kyo gave everything he had, while Cloud was more focused on guiding him.
Kyo clearly saw the immense gap between himself and Cloud.
"I... we... surrender..."
Kyo smiled bitterly and very "wisely" raised the white flag.
"The final victor of this KOF 96 World Fighting Tournament is—"
The referee, voice trembling with emotion, raised Cloud's hand high!
"CLOUD—!!!"
"THREE-PEAT CHAMPION! THE KING OF FIGHTERS, CLOUD! SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS HIS TITLE!!!"
...
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