Da Yi's gaze narrowed.

"As you command!"

He raised his longbow once more.

This time, he didn't nock an arrow.

Instead, he raised the longbow high above his head, assuming a bizarre yet solemn posture.

Buzz—!

A strange ripple centered on Da Yi spread outwards.

【Skill Name: All Souls·Burial】

【Effect: Sacrifice oneself, using the bow as a medium. Forcibly strip and absorb all stray energy, lingering souls, and Death Qi across the surrounding battlefield, converting them into destructive power infused into the next strike. The more energy absorbed, the more powerful the arrow—with no upper limit!】

The next second,

an eerie scene occurred.

The explosion shockwaves, flame elements, and frost shards that originally filled the battlefield were drawn by an invisible force,

converging wildly toward the longbow in Da Yi's hands.

Even the explosive energy generated from the battle between Kujo Naruya and the Soldier Beetles was forcibly plundered.

But this was not the most shocking part.

What astounded Zhou Huai even more...

was that around the snowy mountain ruins, within the the void,

countless golden specks of light began to emerge.

That was...

Zhou Huai's eyes narrowed.

That was the life energy of tens of millions of ordinary citizens of Sakura Country who had died tragically in the sacrificial ritual earlier to resurrect Kujo Naruya!

As well as the wronged souls brutally murdered by the Kujo Family!

They had been on the verge of dissipating into the world, becoming nourishment for the ruins.

But now,

under the pull of 【All Souls·Burial】,

these golden specks of light, filled with endless resentment and indignation, turned into a roaring flood finding an outlet, surging toward Da Yi in a sky-covering wave.

That was the rage of tens of millions!

The resentment of tens of millions!

Instead, it became the strongest nourishment to boost the power of Da Yi's skill,

becoming the greatest aid to defeating Kujo Naruya!

"W-What is this?!"

Kujo Naruya, who was in the middle of battle, had a drastic change of expression.

To his horror, he found that his energy connection with the surrounding environment had been severed.

Even a portion of the light radiating from the sun above his head was being forcibly sucked away by that eerie longbow.

The longbow in Da Yi's hand could no longer be clearly seen in its original form.

It was enveloped in a ball of blindingly intense white light.

Within that light was not only a violent surge of energy, but also countless wronged souls screaming and roaring.

The terrifying nature of that energy fluctuation...

made even the SSS-rank Kujo Naruya feel a jolt of dread in his heart.

Fear.

Extreme dread!

His instincts told him that if this arrow was shot out, something catastrophic would truly happen!

"Stop!"

Kujo Naruya let out a shrill screech.

He no longer cared about any demeanor of an expert, nor about playing with these ants.

He had to interrupt him!

A loud boom echoed—!

Golden light burst forth from around Kujo Naruya.

An unmatched repulsive field swept outward in all directions with him at the center.

Xiang Yu and Caesar, who were besieging him, along with the sky-filling swarm of Soldier Beetles, were blown away by this terrifying repulsive force.

A million insects were directly shattered into fine dust under this single blow!

Field cleared!

Instant kill!

Kujo Naruya's figure vanished from where he stood.

The next instant,

he crossed a distance of several hundred meters directly, appearing right in front of Da Yi.

The kusanagi-no-tsurugi in his hand was raised high, golden flames flickering on the blade, filled with killing intent capable of severing all things.

"Die for me!!!"

This strike was fast to the extreme,

so fast that even thoughts could not keep up.

Zhou Huai's eyes narrowed.

Now is the time!

The moment Kujo Naruya made his move was exactly what he had been waiting for!

"Flash!"

The next second,

Da Yi's body didn't make any evasive move.

Yet, at the instant the kusanagi-no-tsurugi was about to chop off his head,

his body became ethereal,

turning into a semi-transparent starlight state.

Immune to all attacks!

Swish—!

The kusanagi-no-tsurugi passed through Da Yi's body without any hindrance, slicing through empty air.

It sliced off a mountain peak below, leveling it completely.

Yet Da Yi was completely unscathed!

Kujo Naruya was greatly shocked.

"What?!"

In the opening where his old strength was spent and new power had yet to gather,

Da Yi's eyes, burning with white flames, stared at him.

Or rather...

stared at the sun behind him.

Release.

Twang—!!!

A bowstring explosion echoing from the depths of the soul resounded through heaven and earth.

The arrow, gathering all energy from the battlefield and carrying the wrath of tens of millions of wronged souls,

was shot!

It transformed into a roaring white dragon, flying right past Kujo Naruya's ear.

The wind it whipped up directly sliced off one of Kujo Naruya's ears.

Golden blood spattered.

But Da Yi's target wasn't him at all.

The arrow shot straight into the clouds!

Time stood still.

Everyone raised their heads, watching that beam of white light slam violently into the golden sun high above the heavens.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

Only a faint, crisp sound like glass shattering.

Crack.

Immediately after,

that matchless, infinitely bright and hot artificial sun,

pierced through by the white dragon,

developed a black dot at its center.

Then, the black dot rapidly expanded as countless cracks covered the surface of the sphere.

Those were the marks of erosion from the resentment of all souls.

"No—!!!"

Kujo Naruya let out an angry roar.

A massive sound echoed—!!!

The sun shattered.

Golden light across the sky crumbled, turning into countless dimmed meteors falling down.

The top of the snowy mountain, originally bright as day, fell dark.

Losing the illumination of the sun,

the searing high temperatures rapidly receded, and piercing cold winds reclaimed the high ground.

And with the extinguishing of the sun,

the aura on Kujo Naruya's body rapidly leaked and withered.

His originally ruddy complexion turned ashen.

The luster on his skin vanished, returning to a withered, aged state.

Even the ear sliced off by Da Yi's wind just now stopped healing, dark red blood flowing from the wound.

His 【Indestructible Sun Body】 was broken!

"AAAAHHH!!!"

Kujo Naruya fell into total frenzy.

"I will kill you! I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!!!"

Kujo Naruya turned around, his eyes—which had been indifferent as a god's—now filled with venom and madness.

The kusanagi-no-tsurugi in his hand lit up once more.

Though lacking the sun's empowerment and greatly reduced in power,

it was still an enraged strike from an SSS-rank after all!

The distance was too close.

Da Yi had just shot that earth-shattering arrow, right when his old strength was exhausted and his body was stiff.

Furthermore, the duration of the 【Ethereal】 effect had just ended.

Unavoidable.

Pfft!

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh sounded.

Golden Sword Qi flashed.

Da Yi's robust body was sliced diagonally into two halves from his left shoulder to his right abdomen.

Fresh blood spurted forth.

His body rapidly crumbled within the Sword Qi, dissipating into countless light specks.

【System Prompt: Your Avatar 'Sun-Shooting Divine Archer·Da Yi' has died!】

Another Avatar had fallen in battle.

But this price was worth it!

Looking at the extinguished sun in the sky and at Kujo Naruya whose aura had plunged to rock bottom,

Caesar, controlled by Zhou Huai, crawled up from the ruins and let out a cruel laugh.

"Now..."

"It's our turn."