ACSP: Chapter 225: Susanoo versus Susanoo, these weapons can actually attack on their own!
From within the towering, raging wall of flames, a furious voice slowly emerged. It sounded like rolling thunder, vibrating violently through the air and causing the stone floor beneath their feet to tremble.
The sheer sonic pressure caught Ronan off guard. His expression dazed for a split second as the mental shockwave hit him, but his high-level combat instincts kicked in instantly, snapping him back to full alertness.
Without a shred of hesitation, he tightened his grip on his kunai and drove the weapon forward, slashing cleanly across Zhao Quan's exposed neck.
Puff!
There was no sensation of tearing flesh. Amidst a sudden burst of thick white smoke, the figure vanished, leaving behind a dull wooden log.
"A Body Replacement Technique?"
Ronan frowned slightly, his gaze sharpening. He immediately looked up, tracing the direction of the thunderous voice.
Through the shifting curtains of the sea of fire, a colossal silhouette had materialized at some unknown moment. Towering dozens of zhang high, the dark, ominous shadow loomed over the entire arena like a primordial deity.
Ronan recognized that terrifying construct instantly. It was the ultimate Dojutsu born from the Mangekyo Sharingan—Susanoo.
More alarmingly, this manifested titan wasn't just a ribcage or a humanoid torso; it possessed fully formed, massive legs. It was clearly the advanced fourth form of the spectral armor.
Before Ronan could analyze its defenses any further, the surrounding wall of fire surged violently. The towering flames converged, morphing into a massive, twisting fire dragon that lunged fiercely down at him with an oppressive wave of heat.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Ronan's fingers blurred into a dizzying sequence of hand seals.
A massive reserve of chakra erupted from his core like an opening dam. Instantly, a torrential barrier of water swept up around his body, shielding him from the blistering radiation.
An imposing, life-like water dragon condensed in front of him. The aquatic beast opened its jaws, releasing a deafening roar that echoed through the trial space as it charged straight into the path of the descending firestorm.
Rumble!!!
The two elemental leviathans collided head-on in mid-air. The impact triggered a terrifying explosion of atmospheric pressure, sending a visible shockwave ripping through the surroundings. The concussive force tore into the solid ground, shattering the stone floor into countless flying fragments.
The scorching flames hissed violently as the water dragon crashed through them, instantly throwing off massive plumes of white steam. Yet, the intense, unnatural heat of the Uchiha fire constantly evaporated the liquid construct in return, visibly thinning the water dragon's massive body.
For several breath-taking seconds, the two beasts tore at each other in the sky, locked in a brutal stalemate of mutual destruction. Neither could overpower the other. Finally, with a parting crackle of energy, both dragons completely collapsed and dissipated.
The battlefield fell into a tense quiet. All that remained in mid-air was a massive, boiling cloud of water vapor—a thick white curtain that blanketed the entire area and completely obscured everyone's vision.
"This guy's Fire Release is no joke. It actually matched my Water Dragon Bullet bit for bit."
Ronan panted heavily, his chest heaving as he mentally calculated the power scaling. Realizing the arrived powerhouse possessed a combat capacity that was at least equal to his own, he didn't dare linger in the blind spot. He slammed his boots against the cracked pavement, launching himself backward like a gale-force arrow released from a bow, instantly opening up a hundred-meter gap.
Yet, the moment his heels touched the ground, the boiling air fractured.
A colossal blade of pitch-black light cut through the dense curtain of steam, carrying a tyrannical momentum that felt like the sky itself was collapsing right over his skull. The spectral sword hadn't even landed, but the sheer atmospheric displacement was already warping the airflow, turning the local space into a distorted, shimmering vacuum.
Ronan's expression changed drastically. He hadn't expected the pure physical force of the opponent's strike to cause a localized spatial distortion.
Faced with an attack of this caliber, any trace of complacency vanished. He instinctively began the mental triggers for the Flying Thunder God Technique to flash out of the kill zone.
But right then, a sharp, incredibly familiar whistling sound tore through the mist right beside his ears.
Ronan's eyes snapped toward the noise, and his entire face froze.
The specialized spatial kunai he had previously scattered around the perimeter as anchors were now flying straight back at him, hovering and spinning under the control of an invisible, telekinetic force.
"How is this possible?!"
Alarm flared in his mind as his brain raced at hyper-speed to find a countermeasure. But a fraction of a second later, the remaining water vapor exploded with a violent bang.
Kunai, shuriken, heavy steel blades, and all manner of discarded battlefield weapons erupted from the mist, cutting through the air with a deafening screech that completely sealed off every single vector of retreat. The metallic swarm flickered in and out of the steam like a pack of starving, ferocious beasts closing in on their prey.
"The Flying Thunder God is formidable, but it is far from invincible. You dared to cripple my bloodline, so your life stays here today."
The majestic, authoritative voice boomed across the arena once more, delivering the words like an absolute imperial decree.
Simultaneously, the descending black Susanoo blade took advantage of the spatial trap, accelerating its downward arc. The crushing spiritual pressure radiating from the light was like an invisible mountain dropping onto Ronan's shoulders, locking his joints and making it difficult to even draw breath.
"You want to keep my person here? Let's see if you actually have the qualifications."
A calm, chillingly indifferent voice cut through the thunder.
Right behind Ronan, a massive, brilliant purple blade of chakra condensed out of thin air. With a blinding, upward trajectory, it swung from the earth to the heavens, intercepting the descending black cleaver head-on!
BOOM!!!
The cataclysmic collision of the two titan-class weapons detonated a localized hurricane of raw chakra. The violent, overlapping energies crackled across the platform like lightning.
In the next instant, the black blade of light was violently deflected by an overwhelming, superior force. Behind the thinning veil of steam, the shadowy giant was forced back, stagger-stepping two massive paces across the shattered terrain.
However, even as the main threat was repelled, the dense, omnidirectional storm of projectile weapons didn't stop. They rained down mercilessly, propelled by a lethal velocity that turned simple metal into supersonic railgun slugs. If even a single stray shuriken connected, it possessed enough kinetic force to punch cleanly through a ten-centimeter-thick titanium armor plate.
Ronan's Sharingan and Byakugan flared to life simultaneously, his dual-bloodline dynamic vision instantly overclocking to its absolute limit. He tensed his muscles, preparing to rely on raw speed and visual prediction to thread the needle through the incoming metal storm.
But before he could take a step, a massive purple skeletal hand descended from above, closing its massive fingers around his entire body.
Ronan's heart skipped a beat, his body locking up as a primitive survival instinct screamed. But within a millisecond, the tension bled out of his frame and he let out a sharp sigh of relief.
He could feel that the giant skeletal palm wasn't crushing him; it had formed a flawless, absolute barrier around his perimeter, keeping him perfectly shielded at the center of the fist without inflicting a single point of damage.
Remembering the distinctive, royal purple hue of his captain's manifestation, Ronan immediately relaxed.
Jiang Chen had taken the field.
Sure enough, the moment the skeletal palm locked him in its protective embrace, the metallic storm struck.
The weapons converged from every single direction, raining down like a localized, apocalyptic downpour. The physical impact was staggeringly violent; each piece of metal struck with the concussive force of a falling meteor, packing a kinetic payload countless times more devastating than any ordinary thrown projectile.
But the truly absurd part came immediately after.
Upon slamming into the purple ribs, the blades, spears, and kunai didn't ricochet off and fall uselessly to the shattered ground. Instead, it was as if they had been imbued with a sinister, autonomous life. They snapped back into the air, circled in tight, predatory arcs, and plunged right back down to strike again.
Over and over, the relentless cycle repeated with zero signs of slowing down.
Fortunately, Ronan was tucked securely inside the absolute defense of Jiang Chen's Susanoo arm. Shielded by the dense, crystalline chakra structure, he remained completely untouched, listening to the deafening, metallic drumbeat vibrating through his barrier.
Watching the maddening display from safety, Ronan's brows finally furrowed into a tight knot.
He knew exactly what would have happened otherwise. If Jiang Chen hadn't deployed that protective shielding at that exact millisecond, and if he had foolishly relied on his own visual evasion and movement techniques to thread the needle... he would have already been riddled with thousands of holes, pinned to the arena floor like a pincushion.
Looking out at the swarm of self-aware weapons that continuously tracked, corrected, and launched independent strikes, a cold drop of sweat rolled down Ronan's neck. He was shocked to his very core.
After all, throughout all his battles in the trial spaces, he had never encountered such a bizarre, defying-logic ability.