They had actually fought to a draw!
"What?!" The entire audience was stunned.
Kyo Kusanagi had clashed head-on with Awakened Chris and emerged completely unscathed!
"Impossible!" An expression of disbelief appeared on Chris's androgynous, indifferent face. "How could a mere mortal... withstand... Dark Power?!"
"Mortal?" Kyo cracked a grin, revealing his signature confident, defiant smile. "Sorry, but standing before you is no ordinary mortal!"
"What flows through my veins... is the blood of the Three Sacred Treasures clans!"
The moment his words fell, a golden radiance even more powerful than what Terry had displayed earlier erupted from Kyo's body!
Ultimate Power!
Kyo Kusanagi had, as expected, reached this realm!
Moreover, his Ultimate Power was different from Terry's vast, earth-born energy.
His power was filled with the dominating aura of a "Flame Monarch," as if he were born to rule over all!
"I'm not done yet!"
Kyo roared, and his golden Ultimate Power began to undergo a wondrous fusion with the crimson flames in his bloodline!
Gold and red intertwined, spiraling together!
Finally forming an unprecedented "Divine Crimson Flame"!
"This... what is this?!" Chris was completely shocked.
He could feel that the "quality" of the flames on Kyo's body had, in this moment, actually surpassed his own "Azure Flame"!
"Watch closely!" Kyo's voice boomed like divine wrath, echoing throughout the entire venue. "This is the true form of Orochinagi!"
He slowly raised his right hand, which burned with "Divine Crimson Flame."
The entire world seemed to fall silent.
All light, all sound, was drawn toward the flame in his hand.
"Ura Style 108: Super Orochinagi!"
He enunciated each syllable of this technique name that could make heaven and earth tremble!
Then, the flames were unleashed!
No world-destroying wave of fire, no aura that burned the eight wastelands.
Only a single slash of condensed crimson-gold flame, so refined it seemed capable of cutting through space itself!
That blade of fire ignored spatial distance, ignored the flow of time.
Under Chris's terrified gaze, it instantly passed through his body.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
One second later.
"Pu—"
His health bar instantly hit zero.
His face still wore that expression of disbelief, as if he couldn't understand why he had lost to a mortal.
[K.O.]
Kyo Kusanagi—victorious.
He panted lightly, his body trembling slightly.
Clearly, that technique had also placed an enormous burden on him.
But he had won!
With the bearing of the "Child of Destiny," he had defeated the awakened "Fate of Flames" in direct combat!
"OHHHHHHHHH—!!!"
After a brief moment of dead silence, the entire Tokyo Dome erupted with unprecedented, tsunami-like cheers!
"KYO—!!!"
"Kyo Kusanagi! Number one in the world!"
"So strong! THIS is our KOF! THIS is our protagonist!"
However, before Kyo could enjoy the taste of victory, a pressure even heavier and more terrifying than Chris's emanated from the Hell Band's camp.
"Not bad, descendant of the Kusanagi clan."
A low, gravelly voice that sounded like the earth itself roaring rang out.
Yashiro Nanakase, the bass player who had always seemed so carefree, slowly walked onto the arena.
His body was undergoing an astonishing transformation.
His hair changed from black to the earthy brown that symbolized the earth.
Ancient patterns like rock formations emerged on his skin. His eyes gleamed with the light of molten lava.
Awakened Yashiro!
The leader of Orochi's Four Heavenly Kings, the one who controlled the "Power of Earth"—Yashiro of the Parched Earth!
"But the game ends here."
He simply stood there, and the entire alloy arena groaned under unbearable strain!
"Come, let me see whether your so-called destiny is still so laughable in the face of absolute power!"
Kyo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the churning blood in his body, and resumed his stance.
"Hmph, another one playing god."
"Is that so?"
Yashiro cracked a grin, revealing a cruel smile.
He slowly raised his right foot.
Then, lightly, stomped down.
"BOOM—!!!!!!!!!"
The entire arena—no, the entire Tokyo Dome stadium—experienced a violent earthquake!
The hardened alloy arena, starting from beneath his foot, instantly spread with spiderweb-like cracks!
Then, with a thunderous crash, it completely shattered and collapsed!
One stomp—and the entire arena was pulverized!
What kind of terrifying power was this?!
"This... this isn't fighting anymore, is it?!" Even the commentator's voice was trembling. "This... this is a natural disaster!"
Backstage, Mr. Norton watched the arena he'd spent a fortune building get destroyed just like that. His heart ached so much he nearly died on the spot.
"My money..."
Amid the collapsed arena ruins.
Yashiro slowly raised his hand, and an energy sphere composed of high-temperature magma, radiating an aura of destruction, gathered in his palm.
His power had also reached an entirely new realm!
Ultimate Power... 50%!
All composed of the most violent "Power of Earth"! Its destructive force was even more terrifying than ordinary Ultimate Power!
"Take this, Kyo Kusanagi!"
"Roar of the Earth!"
He hurled the magma pillar at Kyo with all his might!
"Damn it!"
Kyo roared, mobilizing what little "Divine Crimson Flame" remained within him to form a massive shield of fire!
"BOOM—!!!"
The collision of magma and crimson flame sent out shockwaves so powerful that they shattered every window in the stadium!
Kyo was blasted away by that tremendous force, slamming hard into the protective barrier of the spectator seats, blood spraying from his mouth.
His health bar instantly bottomed out!
Had he lost?
No!
Just as everyone thought Kyo Kusanagi had fallen, he shakily, trembling, stood back up!
...
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