Cloud felt the power within him surge like nuclear fusion, exploding exponentially! That barrier blocking his path to Cosmic Power—the final wall that had hindered him for so long—in this moment, showed the first cracks!
He slowly raised his hand.
A lotus flower of indescribable beauty, composed of crimson, azure, gold, and white—yet radiating an aura of infinite destruction—bloomed slowly in his palm.
"Igniz!" Cloud looked at the "false god" before him, now frozen in complete shock. His voice was calm, yet carried the weight of a final judgment.
"Game over."
"Final Battle Art—Ultimate Myriad Forms: Buddha's Wrathful Fire Lotus!"
The chaotic lotus drifted gently toward Igniz.
When the four forces representing Earth's absolute pinnacle—Cloud, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Chizuru Kagura—converged as one, even Igniz felt an intense threat.
"Foolish insects!" Igniz roared in fury. "You think mere numbers can challenge a god?!"
"Then let me show you what true despair looks like!"
He held nothing back, detonating his already-tattered battle armor completely!
BOOM——!
The violent energy shockwave instantly sent the three Sacred Treasure inheritors flying!
And at the center of the explosion, Igniz's figure re-emerged.
He had transformed.
His previous ruined battle armor had vanished, replaced by an even more magnificent, holy, and terrifying pure-white "False God Vestment"!
This new battle armor flowed like liquid metal, perfectly conforming to his body. Its surface was inscribed with countless golden mysterious runes radiating both divinity and technological sophistication.
Behind him, eight wings of light—like the wings of an angel—slowly unfurled, emanating a holy radiance too brilliant to look upon directly!
His aura underwent an earth-shattering transformation! No longer the "artificially synthesized" false divine power from before, but something that had truly touched the realm of the "gods"!
[SYSTEM ULTIMATE WARNING! Target Igniz has entered Second Form—False God Descent!]
[Evaluating power level... WARNING! WARNING! His Ultimate Power has forcibly broken through the bottleneck, reaching 100%!]
[Inner demon rampage detected! Target has entered "Blackened Power x3" mode!]
[Igniz has comprehended—Beginner-level Cosmic Power!]
Accompanied by the system's series of piercing alarms, the space around Igniz began to distort!
Countless tiny points of light, like stars, flickered in and out of existence around him.
He seemed to have become a miniature universe—each breath capable of controlling the tides of celestial bodies!
"So this is what it means to be a god?" Igniz felt the unprecedented, all-controlling terrifying power within him, and his face broke into a expression of obsessed madness.
He had succeeded.
He had finally become... a "god"!
"Then, as the first divine decree after my ascension to godhood..." He turned his gaze toward Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru, who had just stabilized themselves. His golden eyes were filled with indifference, as if viewing the dead.
"...let us begin with the purification of you relics from a bygone era."
He simply raised his hand slightly.
"Cosmic Power Art: Supernova."
The name alone made clear just how devastating this technique would be.
The space around Kyo, Iori, and Chizuru suddenly collapsed inward without warning! Then violently erupted into a miniature... "supernova explosion"!
That power had transcended mere energy attacks, touching upon the level of "causality" and "laws"!
"Urgh—!"
The three didn't even have time to react before being struck by this incomprehensible, unstoppable force!
The Divine Flame around Kyo was instantly snuffed out!
Iori's Riot of the Blood state was forcibly broken!
The Yata Mirror in Chizuru's hands let out an agonized cry, its light dimming!
The three were sent flying as if struck by a giant hammer, blood spraying from their mouths, instantly losing all combat capability.
Just one move.
Not even a complete "one move."
Three of Earth's most elite veteran fighters had been instantly defeated.
This was the terror of Cosmic Power!
This was the gulf between "god" and "man"—a chasm that could never be crossed!
"Do you see now, Cloud?" Igniz slowly walked toward Cloud, stars flickering in and out of existence beneath each step. "This is the difference between you and me. As I am now, even if the true Orochi descended, I could toy with it in the palm of my hand!"
...
The "Divine Throne"—Igniz's personal space station, chuuni to the extreme.
At this moment, this hall of pure white light and cold metal, filled with so-called "sacred" atmosphere, was hosting an ultimate showdown that could overturn the entire universe's understanding of reality.
Igniz, in his magnificent battle armor with angel-like wings, radiated a gentle yet deadly light. He was not any life form from Earth—he was a "perfect life" born from the fusion of the highest technology and the purest energy, self-proclaiming himself as a "new god."
"You talk too much," Cloud cracked his wrists with a series of pops. "Even video game bosses have shorter opening monologues than you. Cut the crap already. If we're fighting, let's go—I still need to get home and catch the latest episode of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure."
"Ignorant mortal." Igniz's face showed a smile of divine pity. "You have no idea what kind of existence you face. Let me help you understand, in despair, the eternal, insurmountable gap between god and man."
...
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