At this moment, Sakura deliberately closed the distance between them to less than 1.5 meters!
Without hesitation, Ryou unleashed the ultimate move he had been preparing for.
Mystic Code — Berserk God's Wine.
Drunken Berserk!
Ryou's skin quickly turned a deep red, and his body exuded a strong smell of alcohol.
Yet, despite this, his eyes remained clear, more focused than ever before.
In that instant, time seemed to slow down a thousandfold.
Sakura's mind was racing; she could see his movements and the katana he was slowly raising. But she could do nothing but watch helplessly.
An indescribable sense of danger erupted from the depths of her soul.
For the first time in her 16 years of life, she faced an unprecedented life-or-death crisis.
Indeed, the system had detected that Sakura was a demonized fusion entity, but it did not know that the demonic lord attempting to fuse with her had been devoured by Sakura herself.
An ancient demonic lord, who had existed for countless years, had attempted to possess her body through mental energy due to the world's energy suppression. Yet, this 16-year-old girl had turned the tables, defeating and consuming the demon.
Not even that mental battle had brought Sakura such a strong sense of impending doom.
Lord Kenshou! As expected, you truly are special!
But... in the end, I will still be the victor!
Because everything is within my calculations!
Ryou's hand didn't hesitate. The katana in his hand seemed to multiply, creating afterimages.
Three beautiful, silver-white slashes flashed toward her in an instant!
Secret Sword — Swallow Reversal!
The sword light appeared from three directions simultaneously, as if defying the barriers of time and space, directly reaching its target.
Clang!
The flowing mercury, combined with the shadow snakes, barely managed to block one slash.
Crack!
A black energy shield appeared, only to be pierced by the blade, shattering like glass into countless pieces.
The final slash was unavoidable, directly severing Sakura's left hand, which held the gemstone.
Blood splattered!
A slender, jade-like hand flew into the sky.
Along with it, the gemstone that radiated the brilliance of the sun also soared upward.
It wasn't that Ryou didn't want to decapitate Sakura outright.
But facing such an opponent, he couldn't be sure if she had any last-minute tricks.
On the other hand, her left hand, which held the gemstone, was a weak point. Due to the unstable energy of the gemstone, no energy shields could be deployed close to it.
This was the conclusion he had reached after careful observation.
Her left hand, which held the gemstone, was a vulnerable weak point!
But before that, he had to break through the mercury and the energy shield defenses.
That's why he had ordered everyone to retreat, leaving him to bait her into closing the distance.
Then, with Swallow Reversal, he severed her hand!
Ryou had chosen the safest strategy: weaken the enemy first, then finish her off!
As he watched the gemstone fly through the air, he ignored Sakura, pushing off the ground and lunging toward the gemstone.
The gemstone's light dimmed instantly.
Because it was now in his grasp.
Suddenly, Ryou felt an overwhelming surge of energy erupt from the gemstone, racing through his palm and into his body.
Golden patterns spread rapidly across his body, starting from his hand, visible to the naked eye.
A strong sense of unease washed over him. The energy was being released too quickly, without any sign of stopping.
He tried to suppress the energy with his magic, but the energy seemed far superior to his magic. The moment the two forces met, his magic was instantly overwhelmed and absorbed, joining the growing flood of power.
Sakura could no longer contain her smug smile.
"Didn't you know? You shouldn't take things that don't belong to you, especially from your enemy."
Ryou, busy resisting the energy's invasion, had no time to respond.
Soon, countless tiny cracks appeared all over his body, and blood began pouring out, turning him into a bloodied figure.
But what was even more terrifying were the golden lights shining from the cracks in his skin.
Clearly, in less than a minute, the energy from the gemstone had already invaded every corner of his body, down to every cell.
Sakura walked gracefully over to him, her remaining right hand gently caressing his face, as if he were her most intimate lover.
"What a pity~ All your schemes were within my calculations, including the fact that you've been aiming for the energy gemstone in my hand from the start.
But alas, the power contained within the energy is far too immense. Even if it's only a fraction, your body is incapable of withstanding it.
It won't be long before you burst like an overfilled balloon—Bang! Into tiny fragments.
Ah~! Such a shame, such a shame!
I rarely find such an interesting opponent. I wanted to play with you for a little longer."
At this point, Ryou could no longer hear what Shingu Sakura was saying.
He felt as if he had been thrown into the heart of the sun.
Every inch of his skin, every bone, every blood vessel, and even every cell was on fire.
But right then, deep within his soul, a seven-colored gemstone, which had been suppressed by some unknown force, began to glow.
Suddenly, this multicolored gemstone acted like a black hole, wildly absorbing all the energy that had invaded his body.
On the system interface, Ryou's EX-rank Noble Phantasm, War God Reversal, began flashing rapidly.
Ryou suddenly felt the energy that had been invading his body reach a miraculous balance.
His consciousness gradually returned, and he desperately needed to release the excess energy surging within him!
What he didn't know was that, due to the influence of the mysterious energy gemstone, his Noble Phantasm, War God Reversal, had directly broken through the world's limitations!
Behind his tightly closed eyelids, his pupils had turned completely gold, and his jet-black hair now shone with the brilliance of the sun.
In the next second, Ryou's eyes snapped open.
The astonished face of Sakura came into view.
Without a word, he reached out and grabbed the back of Sakura's neck.
"What are you—!"
Her words were cut off as his brutal grip silenced her.
Ryou showed no mercy. Clenching his fist around the gemstone, he combined the gemstone's energy with the power feedback from War God Reversal.
Boom!
His shining, seven-colored fist struck directly at Sakura's abdomen.
Crack! Crack!
A series of shattering sounds echoed in quick succession.
The five or six barriers that Sakura had hastily erected in front of her stomach were completely useless, instantly pierced by his iron fist.
In the next 0.01 seconds, the unstoppable, seven-colored fist slammed directly into Sakura's soft abdomen.
The seven-colored radiance didn't stop, piercing straight through Sakura's abdomen and shooting into the sky behind her.
"Ugh!"
A mouthful of blood, mixed with pieces of her internal organs, spewed from Sakura's mouth.
A gaping hole, the size of a bowl, appeared in her abdomen, revealing the scene behind her. The edges of the wound showed that most of her internal organs had already been burned to charcoal.
The only reason she was still alive was due to her body's extraordinary resilience, capable of withstanding the power of the energy gemstone.
But that was the end of it.
This life-and-death battle ultimately concluded with her unexpected and miserable defeat.
"You... you are truly a cold-hearted man. Do you not know how to be gentle with a lady? Cough, cough!"
Sakura stammered before erupting into a violent fit of coughing, dark red blood continuously flowing from her mouth.
Her beautiful face, combined with her frail, dying appearance, made it almost impossible for anyone to deliver a final blow.
If it had been the pre-transmigrated Ryou, he would likely have succumbed to her charm, softened, and spared her life.
But now, to him, she was nothing more than an enemy.
Beauty or ugliness didn't matter to him—only a dead enemy was a good enemy.
Ryou never cared about the appearance of his enemies, only whether they lived or died.
If he hadn't had one last question to ask her, he would have snapped her neck already.
"Where is Ayame?"
Unexpectedly, Sakura burst into laughter, completely ignoring the severity of her injuries.
"Hahaha! Don't you think it's a bit late to ask that now? You and I both know we're smart. Why would I keep a useless burden around..."
Crack!
Before she could finish her sentence, Ryou, already knowing the answer, tightened his grip.
With the crisp sound of bones breaking, Sakura's head lolled to the side, and she lost all signs of life.
As soon as he killed Shingu Sakura, a series of system notifications rang out.
Without even sparing a glance, he tossed her corpse into the still-burning rubble nearby, then sat silently on the ground.
After a long while, footsteps could be heard in the distance.
Ryou's head snapped up.
In the distance, Jeanne was looking at him with a face full of joy.
Ais's expression hadn't changed much, but he could see a hint of concern in her eyes.
Yamato, despite her usual dignified demeanor, had two tear streaks running down her cheeks.
Shimakaze was gleefully waving her hand at him, looking thrilled.
Ryou's resolve grew even stronger.
For these precious family members, there was no room for hesitation.
He stood up, dusted himself off, and walked toward them.
As Ryou and the others left, the only sounds that remained were the occasional crackles from the burning ruins. Other than that, there was an eerie silence.
Just then, from Sakura's charred, blackened corpse, a dark, glossy sphere emerged.
The black sphere cautiously poked out, scanning its surroundings. After confirming there were no living beings nearby, it quickly flew toward the center of Buckingham Palace's ruins and disappeared into the rubble in the blink of an eye.
It turned out that beneath Buckingham Palace, there was an extremely well-hidden secret passage.
The passage was entirely constructed from marble, over a meter thick. Even the bombardment from Yamato's 520mm cannon hadn't collapsed it.
The black sphere continued down the passage, descending deeper and deeper underground until it had traveled over a hundred meters below the surface.
Suddenly, the view opened up.
This was a massive underground plaza, 10 meters high and spanning an area the size of several football fields combined.
Hidden beneath the British royal palace was a vast underground space of this magnitude!?
The area of this underground space far exceeded that of Buckingham Palace itself.
Indeed, the British royal family of this world was hiding a massive secret.
The architectural style of the underground structures was unmistakably ancient Celtic.
Large, rectangular stone blocks were meticulously stacked to form stone houses, all similar in shape.
Various statues stood between these structures, depicting everything from primitive barbarians clad in furs to fully armored knights on horseback.
The very center of the underground space housed a larger, more majestic stone building, built in the same style.
The walls of this central stone building were adorned with intricate carvings.
From right to left, the first relief depicted a meteor falling from the sky and landing on an island.
The second showed a group of people, resembling barbarians dressed in animal furs, who discovered the meteor. They smashed it open and found a shining gemstone inside.
The third depicted a crowned man drawing a sword from a stone, with a gemstone embedded in the hilt.
The fourth relief showed the king who had drawn the sword, invincible on the battlefield, eventually unifying the island.
No matter how the reliefs changed after that, one thing remained constant: the gemstone found within the meteor.
The gemstone was either embedded in the hilt of the sword or placed at the center of a crown.
In every relief, the message was clear: possessing the gemstone granted near-invincible power.
The black sphere darted between the buildings, making its way to the central stone structure.
It didn't stop and went directly inside.
In the center of the stone building, huge circular stone disks were stacked on top of each other, forming a spiral of steps leading upward.
At the topmost stone disk rested a rectangular stone platform.
Underneath the platform was a mysterious magic-circle-like pattern, and the platform lay right in its center.
On top of the platform lay a small figure.
It was none other than the supposedly deceased Ayame that Sakura had mentioned!
The black sphere hovered over the stone platform, circling above Ayame's head as if observing her.
Then, the black sphere suddenly emitted a dark radiance, and the figure of the deceased Sakura appeared next to the stone platform.
However, compared to a living person, Sakura's form was slightly transparent, resembling that of a ghost.
Looking at Ayame on the platform, a smile appeared on Sakura's ethereal face.
"How long do you plan on pretending to be asleep?"
Ayame's eyelids twitched but didn't open.
"If you're still hoping that your dear father will come to save you, I suggest you give up now."
Ayame finally opened her eyes, glaring stubbornly at Sakura.
"I've already lost, yet your father still hasn't come to rescue you. You should understand by now."
Ayame's expression remained defiant, but tears slowly began to flow from the corners of her eyes.
"Father won't abandon me."
"How pitiful~ He didn't hesitate at all to launch that bombardment earlier, without the slightest consideration for your life. And even now, there's no sign that he's trying to find you."
A malevolent smile spread across Sakura's face.
"Stop deluding yourself. To your father, you were never the most important. He has completely abandoned you! What a poor, pitiful child..."