Two on two.
Previously, Durandal and Li Sushang had cornered Fu Hua in a two-on-one siege.
But now...
"When I say two on two," "Fu Hua" pointed her thumb down, "I mean the Old Timer and I are going to beat both of you into the dirt."
Faced with such a blatant provocation...
"Two on two." Durandal dismissed the Abyss Flower in her hands. "There is no need for that."
But she did not truly put the weapon away.
Instead, she equipped the Sixth Divine Key in an entirely different manner. She drew upon a form she did not even know the name of; it was the manifestation of a "Pathstrider."
Just like that indestructible holy sword...
"The power of a MANTIS is indeed not to be underestimated."
"However..."
Durandal took another step forward.
Lush green grass sprouted wherever her boots touched the ground.
As she advanced step by step toward that truly crimson figure, her Bright Knight: Excelsis armor began to fade away.
In its place, new components materialized piece by piece. She was donning the golden armor forged to bear the weight of a "World."
"I have a trump card of my own."
Durandal's long white hair naturally bound itself up. "And compared to before, it is vastly more powerful."
"It allows me to walk much further!"
Fwoosh!
At that moment, Durandal entered her Dea Anchora form. As she clenched her fist, the golden gauntlet ground against itself, and visible waves of heat gathered in her palm, bursting through the gaps between her fingers.
As if linked by telepathy, both combatants fell into their starting stances at the exact same time. One adopted the ancestral martial arts of Shenzhou, while the other took up the guard of Western boxing.
"Fu Hua" grinned wildly, keeping one fist at her waist while curling her other hand into a claw.
Durandal's gaze grew heavy and unyielding as she bent her knees slightly.
Their killing intent skyrocketed.
They were ready to strike...
"Wait!" Li Sushang panicked. "With this level of Honkai Energy... if you clash here, everyone around us will..."
Neither side responded.
Neither had any intention of holding back.
They did not even wait for Li Sushang to finish her sentence.
BOOM!
A sonic boom shattered the air.
Two streaks of fire collided head-on.
In that split second...
"Don't..."
Li Sushang, who was standing closest to the epicenter, was violently blown backward by the shockwave.
Yet she was far from the most pitiful victim. She at least retained the ability to barely protect herself in this artificially created, extremely hostile environment.
The same could not be said for anyone else in the vicinity.
BANG!
The shockwave exploded outward indiscriminately in all directions, instantly obliterating whatever remained of the ruined church.
In the blink of an eye...
"Ahhhhh!!!"
Screams of agony erupted one after another.
These were the helpless wails of the powerless locals and the frantic zealots.
When gods fight, mortals suffer.
This was merely a single clash of fists, and neither "Fu Hua" nor Durandal took much damage.
Instead, the surrounding people who had absolutely no idea what was happening bore the brunt of the devastation. Facing flying debris and stones moving at the speed of bullets with their fragile mortal bodies, they were either slaughtered or severely maimed.
Some had their torsos completely pierced through. Others inexplicably lost half of their heads.
For a time, the area was filled with sorrowful wails and a landscape painted in blood.
In truth, the smart ones should have realized things were going south and fled the moment Fu Hua threw that heaven-piercing punch that vaporized the top half of the church. Or perhaps even earlier, when the rumbling first echoed from inside the building.
But at the time, the surrounding zealots had made a fatal misjudgment.
They genuinely believed another "miracle" was descending upon them.
Reality, however, delivered a different message entirely.
"It is divine punishment!"
"God's wrath has descended upon us!!"
"The Heavens are furious!!!"
Chaos broke out among the believers; some scrambled away in a panic, while others actually climbed back to their feet only to kneel again, praying with even more disturbing fervor.
Nearby, a woman could be seen weeping bitterly, begging the heavens to save the lifeless child in her arms.
Another person stared blankly for a moment before realizing they had not suffered a single scratch; this drove them into a manic frenzy, loudly proclaiming themselves as God's chosen.
It was a horrific display of human nature in all its forms.
Suddenly...
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two streaks of light shot straight up into the sky from the former site of the church.
They vanished into the cloud cover an instant later.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
BOOM!
Deafening, thunderous explosions continuously echoed from above.
Bursts of fire flashed wildly, occasionally blowing away entire patches of clouds.
The speed of their engagement was simply too fast. Ordinary humans could not track them with the naked eye.
The intensity of this battle far exceeded the brief skirmish between Kevin and Raiden Mei at the Nagazora International Airport.
Back then, both fighters had held back. As a result, while that scene looked terrifying, it was not true, apocalyptic destruction.
But today was different.
Swoosh!
A massive fireball, resembling a second sun, shot across the sky toward a specific target.
Crash!
Following a violent collision, the fireball's trajectory violently deflected.
It plummeted straight into a distant mountain range...
BOOM!
The earth violently shook as the explosion leveled the terrain.
Clang!
Suddenly, a translucent lance fell from the sky, plunging directly into the ocean waters southwest of Cotton Port.
Immediately, a geyser of water over a hundred meters tall erupted into the air. It looked as if a massive depth charge had been detonated on the seafloor.
Ordinary people had no way of knowing that the massive fireball and the translucent lance were merely expendable attacks that the combatants could generate endlessly.
They only knew one thing...
The ground was constantly trembling from the shockwaves.
Dharavi, situated directly beneath the battlefield, felt as though it was undergoing the trials of the apocalypse.
Many people could not even stand steady; even after running far away, they would fall to their knees in absolute terror.
Right at this moment...
"Hehe. This old friend of mine really does have quite the temper."
"But it seems she is no longer lost."
At the location of a secret underground passage originally built beneath the church, scattered boulders were bound by several golden chains and moved aside one by one.
A blonde man stepped out, accompanied by a petite, white-haired figure. A short-haired woman followed respectfully by his side. As Otto Apocalypse looked up into the distance, he chuckled and muttered those words to himself.
"You... what is the meaning of all this?"
Li Sushang dropped down from mid-air, looking a bit worse for wear. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
She was currently stepping on a flying sword, and her Jade Knight armor looked somewhat disheveled.
"Nothing much."
Otto glanced sideways at her, a gentle smile surfacing on his face. At least, it appeared gentle on the surface.
"Do not worry. Durandal can handle the situation here."
He casually patted the head of the petite, white-haired figure beside him, Theresa. "It is a pity. I originally wanted to meet up with my old friend and chat for a bit."
"But for now, we should relocate!"
As he spoke, his gaze drifted far into the distance, locking onto a streak of fire rapidly approaching their location.
"If we don't leave now, things might actually get dangerous."
"I have no desire to experience that Sire's methods just yet."
Seeing him act this way...
Li Sushang, who had also noticed the rapidly approaching fire in the sky, chose not to press the issue.
The short-haired woman beside Otto, Rita, bowed respectfully to her. "Miss Li Sushang, please come with us."
"Hmm."
Li Sushang nodded in agreement.
The next moment, a golden-orange halo flashed.
The four of them simply vanished into the crowd.
Along with them, the peculiarly shaped locomotive hidden underground, the Second Divine Key, also disappeared.
Meanwhile...
"They are all too powerful!"
Far away from the church, inside a dilapidated house.
A somewhat skinny young girl stumbled out of a partition door as fragile as paper, fleeing further into the distance.
Her name was Kali. She had already obtained the power of a Divine Apostle, bestowed upon her by the heavens.
She felt that if she encountered those filthy outsiders again like before, she could effortlessly slaughter them all without breaking a sweat.
She no longer needed to run from those people.
But this was still far from enough!
She did not realize that, from a certain perspective, she was incredibly lucky.
Due to certain arrangements, the "God" had not erased her humanity.
But even so...
"The blasphemers must be completely eradicated. Not a single one can be left alive."
As Kali ran, the look in her eyes grew increasingly resolute. "The world must be purified!"
She wanted to ensure that only one voice remained in the world going forward.
The voice of "God"!!!