Magic power surged frantically as Naseem squeezed himself dry, gathering all his strength in his right fist.
Dead End Blow!
Abandoning defense, seeking life in death, a blow capable of annihilating a nation fell once more.
Seeing this, Tatsuma, who was originally preparing to kill him, narrowed his eyes, a hint of interest rising.
Without making any defense, he raised his palm and grabbed Naseem's right fist. Magic power instantly erupted, the terrifying power of drying attempted to invade Tatsuma's body, trying to absorb the moisture withtin him.
But just then, [God of Devils and Dragons] was activated, and Tatsuma's heart beat fiercely.
Thump!
Like a sudden clap of thunder on flat ground, the earth trembled at this moment.
Vast and boundless life force surged from all his limbs and bones, instantly calming the power of drying that was attempting to invade his body.
The endless life force surged back towards Naseem, causing his right arm to grow and swell frantically.
Finally, under Tatsuma's gaze, Naseem's right arm exploded into a mist of blood with a bang.
"What the hell!"
Naseem let out a muffled groan and retreated several steps.
Although he had realized the huge gap in strength between them when observing Tatsuma on Enterprise earlier, before truly fighting, he hadn't expected the gap to be this large.
It was like a frog at the bottom of a well seeing the moon, or a tiny firefly seeing the vast sun. They were on different dimensions.
"Douglas! Aren't you ready yet!"
"I'm about to die!"
"Stop shouting!" Douglas's voice came from the battleship.
At the same time, the energy in the atmosphere was pulled, frantically flowing towards Enterprise.
Tatsuma looked up and saw that countless cannon barrels had already unfolded on the hull of Enterprise, with the two largest particle cannons even reaching eighty-eight inches. After a short period of charging, these cannons were already fully charged, emitting a terrifying aura.
As Douglas waved his large hand, a deafening roar resounded.
Countless bombardments fell from the sky, covering the battlefield below without leaving any blind spots.
"As fireworks go, it's not bad."
Tatsuma raised his right hand, unleashing the Destruction Rule.
A crimson light appeared in his palm, and the space around Tatsuma as the center began to collapse.
The red light converged, forming an arrow. At the same time, a bow made of natural energy appeared on his left hand. Nocking the arrow, Tatsuma aimed upwards and shot.
The next moment, the world fell silent.
The crimson arrow was like a black hole, annihilating all the overwhelming bombardments.
As the crystallization of the United States' wisdom, Enterprise was easily torn apart like a fragile toy.
Silently, the behemoth in the sky disappeared, and the afterglow of the setting sun fell upon the earth.
[Congratulations on successfully defeating Douglas Appleton, you have obtained the gold trait: Enterprise.]
[Enterprise (Gold): Inject a certain amount of energy to summon the aircraft battleship Enterprise, granting the Device summoner the ability to float. The battleship is empowered by the summoner's strength.]
A gold trait, not bad.
Tatsuma nodded slightly, looking at Naseem who was standing frozen not far away, seemingly still not having reacted.
"Your strength and intuition are both good. If you kneel and surrender, I can spare your life."
"Kneel and surrender?"
Naseem came back to his senses and met Tatsuma's gaze.
Who was he?
Grim Reaper of the Desert who had grown up fighting in wars, constantly accompanied by death since childhood. The number of people who had died by his hand started in the millions, more than the meals ordinary people had eaten.
Tatsuma actually wanted him to kneel and beg for mercy?
Bang!
"I surrender, spare my life."
Naseem instinctively performed a dogeza, pressing his head against the ground.
Just kidding, he'd be crazy to keep fighting Tatsuma.
The gap in strength between them was too vast, continuing to fight would just be sending himself to his death.
Naseem wasn't afraid of death, but that didn't mean he sought death. If there was a chance to live, he had to work hard to seize it. As for dignity, he had already lost that kind of thing on the battlefield long ago, otherwise, he wouldn't have lived to see today.
[Congratulations on successfully defeating Naseem Al-Salem, you have obtained the gold trait: Super War Sensitivity.]
[Super War Sensitivity (Gold): Intuition tempered through countless battlefields. When pushed to the extreme, the user can sense the enemy's killing intent one step ahead and predict the direction of attack.]
"You surrendered quite quickly."
Tatsuma raised his hand and patted down with Senjutsu.
Unlike Douglas, Naseem was a mercenary hired, not belonging to the United States. Since he was willing to surrender, he didn't mind giving the other party a chance.
Natural energy converged, and Naseem's exploded right arm recovered in the blink of an eye.
"I feel like every time you make a move, you keep refreshing my understanding."
Naseem tried moving his right arm. Perhaps due to the residual natural energy, he vaguely felt that the strength of his right arm had been enhanced, and its swinging speed was faster than before.
"Consider this treatment a signing bonus. If you perform well in the future, there will be more rewards."
"Don't worry, I understand the rules."
Recently, while performing missions, Naseem had crossed paths with Akatsuki members several times.
Because he vaguely sensed a dangerous aura, he didn't make a move against those ordinary Akatsuki members. But after a brief exchange, he had some understanding of Akatsuki's internal rules and reward system.
"As long as you perform missions and accumulate contribution points, you can obtain what is called 'Awakening' and become stronger, right?"
"Hmm, that's right."
Tatsuma silently closed the trait inventory.
He had originally planned to help Naseem awaken in advance. Since he was so sensible, he might as well let him work for a while first.
"Oh, and pay attention when performing missions from now on."
"Akatsuki is an organization that maintains world peace, don't casually kill people or destroy the environment."
Naseem: "?"
Maintain world peace?
If someone else had said this, he might have believed it.
But Tatsuma...
Recalling his actions and the reason he was hired to come here, Nasim hesitated to speak, really wanting to complain to him. But considering that saying it might get him killed, he ultimately remained silent.
"Huh! Is it over already?!" Stella flapped her wings and arrived late.
"You're late."
Tatsuma activated Senjutsu again.
Natural energy integrated into Stella's body, and her previously consumed stamina and magic power quickly replenished.
"Phew... that's much better."
The fatigue on Stella's face eased slightly, and her gaze swept around.
Compared to a few minutes ago, the military base built of concrete and steel had disappeared. Instead, a vibrant grassland filled her vision, and she could even smell the fragrance of soil.
"What's going on?"
She had seen plenty of world-destroying events that created ruins. But seeing a battlefield revert to nature was the first time.
"Doing this can reduce the impact."
Tatsuma reached out and pointed at Naseem, briefly explaining what had happened.
"I see."
Stella understood after listening.
This was the outskirts of Washington D.C., and the sudden appearance of a desert could easily cause public outcry. Tatsuma's action of restoring the desert was equivalent to nipping the seed of public opinion in the bud in advance.
In this way, the impact of this battle would be reduced and would not affect social order.
"You seem to not care about anything, but I didn't expect you to think so much."
"These are just the basics." Tatsuma shrugged.