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"So... It's been a year, huh?" Shun said solemnly as he appraised the two ladies in front of him.
Currently, the aura they were giving off unconsciously made even Shun who hasn't seen any other form of aura to be startled.
Even he himself started giving off that aura after he became confident in his abilities. This should show that both girls believe deep down that they were strong enough to fight on equal footing with him.
Internally though, Shun was ecstatic. This was the kind of feeling he was looking for. Of course, there were people he could test his strength against, like Hagoromo and Hamura but due to the respect he has for them and their peaceful mentality, he holds back from asking for a friendly Spar.
Currently, both Hinami and Ria had reached a stage where they could definitely defeat him in a moment of carelessness and that is something he has experienced before but wasn't keen on experiencing again.
That is why, currently, Shun had entered a state of extreme focus as he looked at them.
They too looked extremely focused as they observed Shun.
Shun smiled and thought 'this would surely be an epic battle. It's times like this that I'm proud of myself for creating something like a camera(the Calogram) to record moments like this.'
"Before we begin, let me make some preparations," Shun said and brought out a number of Calograms from his dimension and scattered them around to avoid them being destroyed while capturing every moment of the fight.
"Are you serious," Ria facepalmed.
"Of course, this is a moment in history that we'll look back in and smile while thinking, 'Wow, we were that weak, huh?'. Trust me, I know," Shun said with certainty.
"Why weak?" Hinami asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I don't know about the two of you but I don't have any plans of stopping here in my quest for strength. Anyways, everything should be settled now." Shun said, then looking at Kaguya, he said. "Can you do the honours?"
"Sure," she nodded and pulled out the gun and shot it.
At the sound of the gun, all three of them flew up and faced eachother.
Shun smiled and said. "This would be the first time I'm actually fighting this way. I'd have to apologize in advance. Before that, lemme set up a space barrier to prevent us from destroying my dimension,"
Waving his hands, several seal lettering manifested and in a few seconds, they were in a subspace inside the dimension. Shun made the subspace large enough to handle their respective pressure.
Closing his eyes, and taking in deep breaths, his chakra began to surge. With every breath, his aura became stronger and stronger, climbing relentlessly.
As Shun was undergoing his release, Hinami and Ria were also converging their chakra while also increasing their momentum.
Resplendent chakra light enveloped Shun, he had transformed into his strongest state and had an immense physique, akin to a fiend god. Not only that, his body was golden in color, faintly exuding the aura of an invulnerable body as a pair of shining wings took form on his back. He possessed an indomitable force that could conquer every obstacle, as well as an insanely high defense.
{A/N: Imagine a being with a demon-like physique but angelic wings, around 2-3 meters in height.}
However what sort of character was Hinami? She was as calm as a lake. From her hands, two chakra condensed sabers took form as she faced Shun's pressure.
Ria was currently unfathomable since she could advance to this stage together with Hinami, despite not having a bloodline, it could be seen how powerful she was.
Right now, Hinami and Ria both felt the pressure Shun gave them, and so both of them unleashed their attacks towards him.
Ria faded in and out of the void, inside a great emptiness illusion-scape of her own creation. In there, reality and illusion blended together. Ria created several clones and each of Ria's clones were enveloped by a corona of radiant light.
This corona unceasingly manifested beams of chakra beams which transformed into palm strikes of different styles that fired off towards Shun.
The entire space was engulfed with the palm imprints as they erupted with mad speed towards Shun, wanting to collapse this entire space.
Ria, when she erupted forth with all her strength, was powerful enough to shake this world.
Hinami's Truth seeking orbs broke into many pieces and transformed into shooting stars that rained unceasingly downwards, slamming into Shun's body.
At the same time, he stepped out as the chakra light around him grew even brighter, shooting out countless rays that had the power to slash apart space.
Even if Shun was in the form of a fiendgod and packed with overwhelming might, he was still shaken to his core when struck by those incomparably savage attacks.
Although Shun started to solidify his strength right from a year ago, Hinami and Ria's comprehensive abilities were both also top-notch.
They too had also taken the time to solidify their foundations and deepened their comprehension of their respective abilities, resulting in the current might of their attacks.
The light enveloping Shun's fiendgod form grew increasingly resplendent. With a loud bellow, he stepped out, numerous clones appearing with their palms shimmering with enough power to rival an actual truth seeking orb, and he threw a palm strike along with his clones.
Right now, many pairs of eyes were staring at Hinami and Ria. The bodies of all three of them were trembling violently from the impact of the collision. Shun's several clones dispelled after taking damage from the collision.
Ria, however, maintained her clones as they were never real to begin with. They existed in-between reality and illusion so they could manifest at will and disappear at will.
Two roars reverberated through the entire space. Numerous Ria's clones appeared around Shun's immense body, wanting to surround Shun completely.
Each of Ria's clones struck out with a different palm strike, causing chakra lights filled with utter destruction to cover the entire sky.
Hinami's chakra reached the extremity in power and she was repeatedly slashing out against Shun's body, wanting to cut him into pieces. If his opponent hadn't been Shun and was instead Indra or Ashura, just this single sword strike would have been sufficient to turn them from living to dead.
Shun groaned in pain. At that instant, he could feel the invasive saber-light breaking through his defense while the manifestation of a gigantic saber slashed downwards, with enough power to split his fiendgod body apart.
"ARRGH!" Shun threw his head back and roared, his golden wings shining with a brilliant luster. His fiendgod body was shrouded protectively by his angelic wings in defense while he blasted out towards the skies, causing countless streams of star-seizing palm imprints to collide into Hinami.
Rumbling explosive sounds resounded through the air, Shun then forcibly tore his golden wings apart and slashed outwards through the air.
BOOM!
As he advanced forward, his chakra rays annihilated everything. The entire space within the dimension was trembling violently as though it was about to break apart at any second.
While at a distance, the spectator, Kaguya, only saw the three silhouettes flaring with blinding light. Instantly, countless images interposed as the scene of a grand battle that could shake the heavens appeared in front of their eyes.
Cough... Sorry, wrong world.
A grand battle that shook the entire dimension was taking place.
'I'm really falling behind if they continue developing at this rate,' Kaguya thought as she looked on in envy.
After which, the light from the three silhouettes flared together at the same moment, intensifying and engulfing the entire dimension.
The magnitude of their battle in the space of the dimension was even powerful enough to affect the space outside.
Right now, humming sounds could be heard echoing from the sealed space inside the dimension and even the earth itself was shaking. It was as though something was being summoned.
BOOM!
An explosive sound thundered out, Kaguya felt the earth tremble violently. The beams of light from three Silhouettes converged together and shot towards a certain direction.
Hinami and Ria fought with their utmost efforts, sparing nothing and even joining hands together to defeat Shun.
Although it was already clear who was stronger, it was extremely rare to encounter such a formidable opponent.
They fought to the best of their abilities for no other reason than because they respected their opponent wanting to force themselves to their limits.
Inside the space, dazzling light engulfed the entire world. Shun moved forwards step by step, and each of his steps forward seemed as though the chakra lights/beams exuding from him had the power to crush hearts, annihilating everything in his path.
Streams of his palm imprints with the power to tear space apart erupted in never ending waves, tearing the void apart.
As for Ria, her true body could move flexibly and instantly between the images she manifested, blurring the lines between reality and illusion.
Hinami wasn't simply only proficient in the saber(katana). Her attacks were laced with the properties of explosion.
When Shun suffered a saber slash, his arm was almost forcibly chopped off. When the slashes landed on him, although they couldn't penetrate his defense, the explosion effect could even affect his heart due to the tremors caused.
Faced against the attacks of these two terrifying opponents, Shun ultimately chose to give up on attacking Ria. Deciding to fully focus his offense on Hinami instead.
He knew it was impossible for him to win if he fought both of them at the same time. Right now, the only strategy remaining in order to obtain victory was that he had to defeat one opponent first.
When Hinami saw that Shun was choosing to disregard Ria's attacks while heading her way, an intense rush of impact rocked her heart. The saucer-like large eyes of the fiendgod seemed to be willing her to sleep.
Not only did he have to defend against Shun's overwhelming attacks, she had to resist the invasion of will as well.
Time flowed by. Eventually, Hinami personally witnessed Ria forcibly blasting Shun's right arm off with overwhelming power before severely injuring him. Hence, Hinami also took this chance to break through the onslaught of attacks and went all out, rushing ahead to retaliate.
Several beams of lights shot down, her arrows rained down with explosive force, slamming into Shun while she herself simultaneously transformed into a beam of saber-light, aiming right for Shun's other arm, seeking to sever it.
However at the same time, Hinami instantly paled when she saw the 'severed' right arm of Shun that had the power to rip space apart, blasting over right at her, engulfing her body completely.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Hinami no longer had a way to resist. She coughed out blood. She stared at Shun as she questioned, "Was that an illusion you created? When did you have the opportunity to do so?"
"My right arm was really almost blasted off, the blood is genuine as well, so is the fact that your katana slashed into my left arm. If the dream is too fake, how can I lure you into it, right?" Shun replied.
Right now, Ria also halted her attacks. Her numerous clones merged back together into one. She stood proudly in the air as the wind fluttered her clothes, her countenance as calm as ever, yet nobody knew of the shock in her heart.
"We still have to defend against the lies our eyes are feeding us, caused by the invasion of your illusion when fighting against you. It's a pain in the ass to be your opponent, simply a nightmare." Hinami was speechless.
Such an opponent was too terrifying, Shun's attack and defense by themselves were both extremely fearsome. And in addition to having to be wary of that insidious invasion of illusions, Shun was basically a nightmare to anyone who fought against him.
"This has concluded," Hinami sighed in a faint voice.
"Indeed," Ria agreed as well. The two of them didn't have any thoughts of continuing to battle any longer. Everything was already pointless, since Shun was obviously able to hold his own against them when they went all out, there was no longer any meaning to compete on who was ranked second or third.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
The subspace began vibrating intensely. Landing back on the ground as Shun and the other two both landed back on the ground as well. After which, the light radiating from the walls of the space dimmed away.
"So... What do you think, Kaguya?"