Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Winner Is Decided

Above the city, Tianhe Chiba and Franny had come to a halt. As their battle began, the surrounding towers started to collapse one after another. By this moment, it seemed Tianhe Chiba had gained the upper hand. He was not far before Franny, and with a single lift of his hand, lightning gathered in his palm, nearly aimed at her head.

"I've won." Tianhe Chiba laughed, and then a torrent of power erupted forth. The air around them seemed to sear with heat, and this time he held nothing back. The lightning opened fully, as though it would bring ruin to heaven and earth.

The blinding radiance made it almost impossible for anyone nearby to keep their eyes open, yet several figures in the distance continued to watch without blinking: Nobunaga Oda, Rommel, and on another side, another level-ten powerhouse, Paul, with his short blond hair. All of them stared solemnly at the battle.

"I want to see just how strong Franny truly is."

That was the wish in every heart.

Clearly, Tianhe Chiba's attack had already earned the approval of these level-ten powerhouses. Its power was something even they would have had to unleash in earnest.

And yet the result was beyond everyone's expectations.

Before the lightning could even explode, it rapidly dissipated, and the silhouettes of the two fighters appeared once more between heaven and earth.

Franny stood completely unharmed, not even having moved. She had merely raised a hand before her face, and from her palm a formless ripple spread outward. That earth-shaking strike had been extinguished within that seemingly insignificant wave.

"You..." Even Tianhe Chiba could not remain calm. Franny before him was like an immovable vajra; no attack could touch her body.

"Impossible!" The other level-ten powerhouses watching from afar rose in shock. Tianhe Chiba's blow was not his strongest, but no other level-ten powerhouse could have taken it at that distance without injury.

"Chiba, that move of yours is indeed formidable, but I wasn't without preparation." Franny lowered her hand. Tianhe Chiba instantly sensed danger. Lightning flashed, and he shot upward at astonishing speed, dragging long arcs of electricity through the sky.

Countless stones converged from all directions the instant Tianhe Chiba flew clear. Had he been a moment slower, he would have been buried alive beneath them. Franny surged skyward after him, and with a simple raise of her hand, even space itself seemed to tremble.

At Franny's level, psychic power had grown so strong that it could already affect physical reality. As she flew beyond the city, countless stones trailed behind her, gathering into a great dragon. Franny landed lightly upon its head and nodded toward Tianhe Chiba with a smile.

"Don't mistake me, Chiba. I am a mental-type ability user. Controlling the mind is where I am strongest."

With that, she pointed at Tianhe Chiba in the sky. "Mental disorder."

Tianhe Chiba gave a slight shake of his head, and blue sparks burst from his temples. Franny's expression changed faintly, and she hastily drove the stone dragon backward.

"What keen instinct." Seeing her retreat, Tianhe Chiba praised her. "Franny, you should know what carries human thought and nerve signals, shouldn't you?"

After retreating several dozen meters, Franny nodded. "That was careless of me. Yes, my power is psychic force, but nerve signals are carried by electrical impulses. You nearly outwitted me just now."

"If I use psychic power to control you, then you can follow my psychic power and disrupt my nerve signals, destroying my entire nervous system, is that it?" Franny analyzed.

Tianhe Chiba did not deny it.

Franny let out a soft sigh. "A very good tactic. But far too risky. Even if you can destroy my nervous system, you still cannot defeat me. At most you could injure me severely, while I might destroy your mind with my psychic power."

"To deal with you, I can only use extreme methods." Tianhe Chiba sighed deeply. "Enough useless talk. Let's continue."

As he spoke, he swept a hand, and iron sand from the heavens poured in from all directions, gathering before him into a giant sword hundreds of meters long. Franny nodded, and with a raise of her hand, all the flying sand and stones around her, all things under heaven and earth, seemed to revolve around her palm, extending outward into a blade of equal vastness.

"Take this!"

Tianhe Chiba struck first. The massive sword of iron sand came crashing down, and Franny's sword of all things rose to meet it. When they collided, the entire battlefield trembled ever so slightly, and even Xie Liu and the others, more than ten kilometers away, felt the shock.

Iron sand and stone shattered and flew in all directions. Tianhe Chiba roared and tore through the storm of debris, endless lightning blazing in his hands as he charged straight at Franny.

Every punch he threw became a fist formed of limitless lightning, hammering relentlessly at Franny. Yet Franny, standing atop the stone dragon, evaded with serene composure. Though Tianhe Chiba rained down attacks like a storm, she always controlled the dragon with unhurried grace, walking through the countless bolts as though dancing an exquisite waltz.

"Chiba, your attacks have grown a little chaotic." After some time, Franny finally spoke to warn him.

Tianhe Chiba only sneered and answered not at all. He threw another punch, and this time it was no longer merely blue lightning: black iron sand mingled with it, grinding forward to strangle everything in its path.

Franny realized the danger. The stone dragon beneath her suddenly lashed its tail, scattering the oncoming assault in a single sweep. But the dispersed iron sand transformed into countless intersecting threads, enveloping her entirely.

"Iron sand cage. You won't escape this time."

Tianhe Chiba flew out, placing both hands before his chest as lightning gathered there. "Let's see how you dodge now!"

Clearly, he was preparing his ultimate attack.

Franny and her stone dragon were trapped within the cage woven of iron sand. After trying several times to ram through it, she failed to break free. Hearing Tianhe Chiba's words that she would not escape this time, Franny decided not to dodge anymore.

"Then I'll smash it open for you to see."

For once, Franny's expression turned sharp. Before Tianhe Chiba could even make out what was happening, she suddenly drew her blade.

No one had noticed the sword at her waist, the one she had chosen when she first entered the battlefield, because no one believed she would use such a basic weapon. But at this very moment, Franny drew it.

The instant the blade left its sheath, Tianhe Chiba clearly felt the entire world tremble three times. In that single heartbeat, Franny struck once.

An invisible edge seemed to extend from the blade in her hand, impossibly swift. The entire space itself appeared to ripple. One stroke, one pulse, pierced straight through the iron sand cage Tianhe Chiba had laboriously constructed.

The next instant, the cage exploded into fragments, iron sand scattering through the air.

"This... impossible!"

Even Tianhe Chiba was stunned. Franny's strength seemed far beyond even his expectations.

Franny lowered the blade in her hand. At that moment, the gleaming steel dulled, and then, with the wind, weathered away into countless particles. After a single strike, the sword had become dust. Such a blade could not endure Franny's psychic force; one cut was already its limit.

"Now it's my turn to attack." Looking at the blade crumbling away in her hand, Franny said with some regret, "What a pity. I really did like this sword." Then she looked up at Tianhe Chiba. "Take this."

Before the words had even fallen, the void behind Franny burst open. Countless stones were swept up, becoming something like a tornado, surging straight toward Tianhe Chiba. Tianhe Chiba snorted coldly and retreated at once. His right hand snapped backward, and endless iron sand rushed in from all directions, converging around him. Then four towers behind him rose from the earth and hovered at his back, becoming wings.

The endless iron sand gathered into a blade, severing the stones spiraling toward Franny. Franny rode the stone dragon into the sky, and behind her countless stones began to float.

She did not look back. Only her slender hand reached behind her as she smiled with fearless grace. "Take this."

As her words fell, all the stones and metal behind her lifted into the air, layer upon layer, coalescing into a colossal pillar stretching across the sky, several kilometers in length.

"This might hurt a little."

Then Franny swung her arm. The kilometer-long pillar lashed forward, smashing toward Tianhe Chiba in midair. Tianhe Chiba was startled. The towers behind him surged to block the blow, arcs of electricity spitting outward as they met Franny's attack.

At the point of impact, a deafening roar shook the heavens. Both the stone pillar and the floating towers shattered in an instant into a rain of debris and broken metal.

Tianhe Chiba screamed as he was hurled away among the fragments. But he quickly stabilized himself, somersaulting several times in the air before letting out a furious shout. Lightning coursed over his entire body, and with a piercing cry he transformed into a bolt of electricity, lunging straight at Franny.

Franny knew this was Tianhe Chiba's full power, and she dared not be careless. She extended both palms before her. The shield that had earlier seemed faint and indistinct became clear and solid in that instant, while behind her, seven-colored light blazed into being.

"The Seven-Colored Heaven Ring!" Wendy struggled up from the ruins, staring in astonishment at Franny in the sky. "She's actually been forced to use that move!"

A garland of seven colors blossomed like seven petals of different hues, one by one opening at last before Franny. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet—the seven divine rings, the seven-colored petals, brilliant and translucent, became the most beautiful colors in the world.

At last, endless lightning crashed into the seven-colored garland. The world seemed to pause for a breath at the instant of impact. When two absolutely overwhelming powers met, the entire battlefield began to quake.

Starting from the center of the collision, all the buildings around it were reduced to ash in a single moment. The world seemed split in two: on one side, endless current; on the other, seven-colored divine radiance.

The collision continued for more than ten seconds. In those ten seconds, it was like the end of the world. Stones and steel were all reduced to powder.

Wendy was knocked flying by the impact and finally slammed into a collapsed building, hanging there as she looked up. At once she shouted, "Lady Sister, be careful!"

The moment Wendy's cry fell, endless lightning and the seven-colored divine ring exploded simultaneously, revealing Tianhe Chiba's figure. He was holding a metal sphere several dozen meters in diameter, and at the very instant both sides had exhausted their power, he hurled it out.

"Aaaaaaah..." Tianhe Chiba roared again and again, his long hair standing on end. This time, he held nothing back. He drove a fist into the metal sphere before him.

With a thunderous boom, the ultimate current pierced the sphere. The entire ball transformed into a golden beam of light, firing straight at Franny.

In that moment, Franny felt as if she were facing a sun about to smash into her face.

Tianhe Chiba's electromagnetic cannon.

It was not something Xu Xiong or Tianhe Meixue could possibly compare to. It was practically a miniature doomsday weapon.

"Lady Sister!" Wendy cried out. Seeing that Franny did not evade, she grew anxious. But at that very instant, Franny swung her hand sharply and cried, "Get out of my way!" Then her slender hand swept out and slammed directly into the colossal beam of light before her.

The enormous beam of light then turned ninety degrees in front of Franny, swept aside by a single finger. It veered sideways, skimming the ground and racing all the way to the edge of the battlefield. A tremendous explosion erupted in the distance, blasting golden plasma into the sky and raining a golden shower down along the battlefield's rim.

Beep... beep... beep...

Alarms sounded over the battlefield. "Warning: the protective shield has been breached. The space compression system is overloaded. Warning: the defensive armor has been breached. Repair in progress..."

But no one paid the warning any heed. Even the vast spectator stands outside fell into a silence like death.

No one noticed either that a certain squad had been eliminated at that moment, clipped by the stray electromagnetic cannon after Tianhe Chiba's attack had been deflected, wiped out to the last person.

All eyes were fixed on the battlefield.

Franny stood quietly atop the stone dragon's head, still holding the motion of her sweeping hand, her finger naturally pointing to the right. There, a great trench stretched from the center of the city all the way to the edge of the battlefield.

That was the mark left by the electromagnetic cannon.

Tianhe Chiba gasped for breath, arcs of electricity surfacing involuntarily across his body. He glanced at the trench beside him and gave a bitter smile.

"I've lost. Completely lost."