Chapter 2240 Catastrophic
After departing the planet belonging to Trāyastriṃśa, Kefla, followed closely by Mikoto, found herself transported to an oceanic world without a single sign of land. This might have deterred some people, but, as someone who could loiter in black holes and shake the very foundation of universes with her blows, she wasn"t concerned by the pressure and depths of the ocean.
Turning to Mikoto, Kefla"s brows briefly furrowed as she asked, "I know this is kind of a pointless question, but did you pack a swimsuit?"
Unlike the majority of Players partic.i.p.ating on behalf of the Sage Dragon"s Hearth, Mikoto had not dolled herself up for the sake of drawing attention. Instead, she was wearing her favorite black and yellow jacket, a simple black t-s.h.i.+rt, comfortable black shorts, and, in place of socks, black stockings that flowed into black and yellow tennis shoes. As for her physical appearance, she had defaulted to a tomboyish look after growing increasingly uncomfortable with the number of pregnant women in the Sage Dragon"s Hearth. She wouldn"t really mind having a kid of her own, but, unless Vahn asked her to, she was content with remaining his Pokemon of choice.
After a moment of deliberation, Mikoto slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket, saying, "Unless I allow it, water and pressure don"t affect me. My Electromaster powers also give me an edge in this kind of environment so you don"t need to worry about me."
Rolling her eyes, Kefla emulated Mikoto"s standoffish behavior by crossing her arms and retorting, "As if I would worry about a monster like you. Just don"t get in my way, okay?"
Though the ahoge she went to great lengths to comb down promptly perked up, Mikoto resisted her sudden, almost overwhelming urge to give Kefla a shock. Ever since the trip to the Heavenly Domain, she had been going through a phase where she was trying to temper her aggression. She didn"t want the people of the Little Garden to view her as some hothead who couldn"t control their anger, so, after a tense moment of silence, she directed her gaze to the bottom of the ocean and said, "Yeah, whatever..." in an audibly sulky tone.
Smiling in response to Mikoto"s response, Kefla was tempted to try and tease her when a ma.s.sive column of water more than five hundred meters in diameter erupted from the ocean below. From within, a monstrous, Serpentine Dragon whose head rivaled the size of a small island burst forth in an obvious effort to try and swallow both Kefla and Mikoto.
With her Autonomous Sovereign always active in her fused state, Kefla didn"t even have to think as she immediately teleported to the side. When she did, the pupils of her obsidian-black eyes briefly expanded before contracting to fine points as she realized just how big the monstrous serpent was.
Though its hydrodynamic head was nearly 500m in diameter at the widest point, the most terrifying aspect of the sapphire blue dragon was its sheer length. Kefla didn"t know its exact dimensions but she felt it was even larger than the dragon they would frequently summon back in the Actualized World of Dragon Ball. When it fully emerged, its size so was immense that she would have needed to retreat a significant distance just to have a hope of comprehending its scale.
Taking advantage of Kefla"s momentary stupor, halo-like rings of cobalt-blue electricity began to emerge along the Serpentine Dragon"s length. In the Divine Realm, Dragons with Eastern Origins often manifested "crowns" as a symbol of their power and authority. They were similar to Kitsune in that regard, but, unlike Kitsune, the only way for a Dragon to increase their number of crowns was to consume the hearts of similarly powerful Dragons.
Due to the difficulty of obtaining even a single crown, even Dragons in possession of Divinity were not guaranteed to possess one. Thus, while Kefla didn"t seem to care in the slightest, Mikoto was a little surprised to see a total of nine crowns illuminate along the Serpentine Dragon"s body.
Just as Mikoto was about to tell Kefla to be careful, the latter promptly powered up, shouting, "Let"s do this...!" before charging toward it with a ma.s.sive grin on her face. To her credit, she managed to land a meteoric punch that sent the colossal dragon reeling backward, but, in the same motion, it whipped its tail around with such extreme speed that it appeared to cut through the fabric of s.p.a.ce and time.
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Though she could have easily dodged such an attack under normal circ.u.mstances, Kefla, wanting to show off a bit, intended to let the tail pa.s.s within a few centimeters of her body. To her surprise, an intense gravitational pull affected her body the moment the tail neared her. The ma.s.s of the dragon was so great that its physics-defying momentum distorted the surrounding s.p.a.ce to generate what was effectively a localized, infinite gravitational well. As a result, Kefla"s body adhered to its surface like a magnet as it smashed her into the surface of the ocean with enough force to vaporize tens of kilometers of water in an instant.
As someone who could tank universe destroying attacks with relative ease, Kefla should have been able to emerge from such an attack entirely unscathed. The problem was that she hadn"t taken into account the dragon"s ident.i.ty, and, more importantly, the unbridgeable gap of Authority. When she finally reappeared a few kilometers away, there was blood pouring from her nose, ears, and mouth while the entire left side of her body was covered in dark, nearly black bruises.
Despite her rather serious injuries, a vicious grin had developed across Kefla"s face as she covered her left nostril with her thumb and snorted out a scarily large blood clot. It almost looked like she had just expelled a section of her brain, but, even if she had, it wouldn"t have mattered. Moments later, the bruises on her body had completely vanished, as, even in their base forms, both Kale and Caulifla possessed cheat-like regeneration. Kale, in particular, could regenerate from virtually any injury so long as a section of her brain or heart remained intact.
Though it could have followed its previous attack with another, the Serpentine Dragon elected to observe Kefla with visible intrigue in its eyes. When she fully recovered from her injuries, it used a calm and masculine tone to telepathically remark, "Your vitality and strength are impressive. It"s no wonder the members of your Sage Dragon"s Hearth were able to bully my descendants."
Winding up her left arm, Kefla"s smile morphed into a confident grin as she said, "You ain"t so bad for an oversized snake. At this rate, I may even have to get serious."
"Hmmm..."
s.h.i.+fting its attention away from Kefla, the ma.s.sive dragon took a moment to observe Mikoto, who, at the present moment, was sitting high in the sky. Its instincts were telling it that she was far more dangerous than the monkey-like woman floating a few kilometers away, but, as someone who had suffered innumerable defeats at the hands of a certain golden-haired tyrant, it knew better than to look down upon those who were clearly inspired from her.
As if to make the comparison even more obvious, Kefla"s hair and tail suddenly became a luminous shade of gold as her eyes s.h.i.+fted from obsidian black to a radiant, greenish blue. The aura exuding from her body also increased by a truly ridiculous amount, so much so that the ocean below began to gravitate towards her.
"How troublesome..."
Offering a feral grin in response to the dragon"s words, Kefla replied with a cheeky, "This isn"t even my final form." before promptly disappearing in a flash of light. In the very next instant, she landed a blow powerful enough to fracture the pointed tip of the dragon"s chin. The upper half of its body was, once again, sent reeling backward. This time, however, Kefla immediately followed suit.
While the dragon"s size would leave the majority of people feeling helpless, it wasn"t something people like Kefla concerned themselves with. If she didn"t control the energy within her strikes, the very planet beneath them would turn to dust. Thus, while an archipelago-sized dragon was pretty intimidating to look at, Kefla saw little difference between it and an actual snake.
With this in mind, Kefla reared back in a highly telegraphed manner before smas.h.i.+ng a devastating punch near the connecting point between the dragon"s head and neck. She knew that a dragon"s most powerful offensive ability was its breath attack, so, while her primary focus was on enjoying herself, she was also taking steps to ensure she wouldn"t pay too substantial a price for her hubris.
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To Kefla"s surprise, the lighter, bluish-white scales lining the bottom of the dragon"s body were a lot softer than she expected. Her fist sank into the material as if it were made of some kind of adaptive foam. She could feel the force of her blow enter the dragon"s body, but, instead of piercing through it, the impact rippled through its flesh before seemingly dissipating.
"And you called me troublesome?"
Gathering a superdense ball of golden ki in her right hand, Kefla was intending to blast a hole clean through the dragon"s neck. Before she could unleash it, however, it was like someone had dialed up the planet"s gravity by several tens of thousands of times. She could easily resist such forces, but, as the change had occurred nigh-instantaneously, Kefla promptly found herself impacting the freezing ocean below and being pulled towards its depths.
As Kefla cursed the Serpentine Dragon in her mind, said dragon attempted to enter the ocean after her. This proved to be a mistake on its part, as, despite the unexpected increase in gravity, Kefla still had the ball of Ki in her hand. The moment the Serpentine Dragon dived in after her, she unleashed a blast powerful and wide enough to vaporize the surrounding ocean and encompa.s.s the dragon"s entire body.
Though the attack had been aimed towards the sky, the continental shelf below the ocean was pulled along by the forces contained within Kefla"s attack. From a satellite perspective, the entire planet could be seen s.h.i.+fting as a country-sized beam of golden light erupted from its surface and extended tens of millions of kilometers in the opposite direction...
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While the spectators outside were enjoying it quite a bit, Wu was growing increasingly bored as she watched Sarina battle it out against Meng Zhang"s wives.
Though Sarina had the advantage in terms of raw speed and strength, her lack of Authority and her relative lack of fame meant her attacks weren"t nearly as effective as they should be. Her Bankai was awe-inspiring to see in action, but, even after landing a "surprise" attack on Ruogong, the latter had ultimately reformed from water in the surrounding environment.
Shortly after the battle began, two more of Meng Zhang"s wives, each possessing crowns of their own, came out to support their sister. This immediately placed Sarina on the backfoot, but, as the latter had intruded in on her fun, Wu had absolutely no intention of helping. She would step in if things got out of hand, but, from her perspective, Sarina was reaping what she had sown.
While considering how she would make her entrance, the hairs near the base of Wu"s neck and tail suddenly stood on end. Her instincts were practically screaming at her, but, before she could make sense of where the danger was coming from, a bluish-white light enveloped her body. In the very next instant, she found herself sitting in her Community"s waiting room alongside a literal army of her subordinates.
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Realizing what must have happened, several veins appeared near Wu"s temples as she growled, "You irredeemably daft fool. Just wait till this Grandma gets her hands on you..."
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Staring at the remnants of Wu"s planet, a cold sweat broke out across Vahn"s body. He had let his guard down since there were no longer any genuine threats to his Community"s inevitable victory. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late. He had attempted to stop the flow of time, but, due to Wu spreading her Authority across her planet, he was unable to affect it in the same way he might his own. As a result, Kefla"s attack pa.s.sed through the barrier of Wu"s planet as if it didn"t even exist before vaporizing the entire thing moments later...
"I knew I was going to regret making it so that the barriers only prevented attacks from the Model Omega..."
(*You might want to start thinking about how you will appease her...Since she went through the effort of confessing to you in such a public manner, an incident such as this is going to severely impact Wu"s reputation...*)
Though Vahn had taken measures to prevent Wu"s Fragment of Origin from being influenced by external forces, public opinion still had a drastic influence on her power. She could easily increase her infamy by terrorizing a few known Communities but she was clearly trying to turn over a new leaf by confessing to him in public. This put Vahn in the precarious position of being the guarantor of Wu"s status and authority. In other words, if he didn"t personally rectify this issue, it was the same as personally dragging Wu"s reputation through the mud...
"Haaaaa...."
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(A/N: Alternate t.i.tles: "Mikoto has life figured out...","That"s one big snek...","This may just be one of the biggest oofs in all of EPIC xD...")