Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Chapter 177

The ground beneath his feet didn’t just crack—it disintegrated, reduced to powder by the sheer pressure of his presence.

Berserker Rage: ActivatedBlood Frenzy: ActivatedDragon’s Heart: Overclocked

Satou’s stats surged. Strength increased by 40%. Speed increased by 30%. Pain tolerance increased by 60%. And most importantly, his bloodlust , that terrible, focused desire to kill became razor-sharp and absolutely undeniable.

"Finally," The Reaper breathed, his own berserker mode still active, red energy crackling around his body. "Finally, someone who understands. This is what real combat feels like. No holding back. No mercy. Just pure, absolute violence until one of us can’t stand anymore."

Satou didn’t respond with words.

He responded by moving.

Void Step.

Satou crossed a hundred meters instantly, appearing directly in front of The Reaper with Void Fang already mid-swing. The reality-cutting blade carved through space itself, aimed at The Reaper’s neck with enough force to decapitate a building.

The Reaper’s sword came up to block—

CRASH!

The collision sent a shockwave rippling outward that leveled everything within a quarter-mile radius. Buildings that had somehow survived the earlier battles simply ceased to exist, pulverized by the pressure wave. The ground cracked in massive fissures that spread for miles.

Both fighters were pushed back by the force of their own clash, their feet carving trenches in the stone as they struggled to maintain footing.

Satou didn’t give him a moment to recover. Shadow Step into Dragonfire Manipulation—he appeared at The Reaper’s left side, his claws wreathed in flames hot enough to melt reality itself. The dragonfire wasn’t just heat—it was the concept of burning, enhanced by his berserker rage into something that could incinerate souls.

The claws raked across The Reaper’s ribs.

Four bleeding lines appeared, and The Reaper actually grunted in pain. The dragonfire was burning away his adaptation faster than he could adjust, keeping the wounds open and raw.

"Good!" The Reaper laughed, spinning into a counterattack. His fist, glowing with adapted divine energy and berserker strength, caught Satou in the stomach.

BOOM!

Satou was sent flying, his body crashing through three collapsed spires before he managed to stop himself. His Abyssal Regeneration immediately kicked in, healing the damage, but he could feel the drain on his mana. That single punch had done more damage than anything The Reaper had thrown at him before.

Before Satou could catch his breath, The Reaper was there. Moving with speed that shouldn’t be possible, his sword coming down in an overhead slash that carried enough force to split mountains.

Satou crossed Void Fang and his claws in an X-block—

The impact drove him into the ground. Not just knocked down, but buried. The stone beneath him collapsed, creating a crater fifty feet deep with Satou at the bottom.

Earth Manipulation!

The ground erupted. Massive spikes of stone, each one the size of a tower, burst upward from every angle. Satou was using the earth itself as a weapon, turning the battlefield into a death trap of crushing stone and impaling spikes.

The Reaper destroyed them all with casual sword swings, his blade moving so fast it left afterimages in the air. But the attack had bought Satou a second to recover, and a second was all he needed.

Lightning Manipulation

combined with Enhanced Speed—

Satou became a living bolt of electricity. He moved faster than The Reaper could track, his body wreathed in lightning, striking from twelve different angles in the span of a single heartbeat. Void Fang carved reality with each strike, while his dragonfire claws burned and his lightning-enhanced speed made him nearly impossible to follow.

The Reaper adapted mid-assault. His body began moving on pure instinct, his berserker mode allowing him to react without thinking. Each of Satou’s strikes was met with a counter, each lightning-fast attack deflected or dodged by impossibly small margins.

But he wasn’t getting away clean. Void Fang connected three more times—shallow cuts across his shoulder, his thigh, his cheek. Each wound refused to heal, adding to the accumulating damage.

"You’re incredible!" The Reaper shouted over the chaos of their battle. "Faster than me! More versatile than me! And that sword—it’s the perfect counter to my adaptation! If this was anyone else, you’d have won already!"

Divine Purge: Radiant Storm!

Golden light erupted from The Reaper’s body in every direction simultaneously. Not a beam or a cone, but a sphere of holy devastation that expanded outward at the speed of light. Everything it touched was purified, destroyed, erased.

Satou’s Void Body activated automatically, his partial existence outside reality protecting him from the worst of it. But even with that protection, the divine energy burned. His scales cracked. His skin blistered. His regeneration worked overtime to keep him alive.

He countered by opening his mouth and unleashing Dragonfire Manipulation at maximum output.

A beam of condensed dragon flame, temperature exceeding 4000 degrees Celsius, mixed with the concept of absolute burning. It wasn’t just fire—it was annihilation through heat, enhanced by his berserker rage until it became something that could burn away reality itself.

The dragonfire met The Reaper’s divine light, and where they collided, reality screamed. The two incompatible energies—holy purification and draconic annihilation—created a feedback loop that exploded outward.

BOOM!

The explosion was cataclysmic. Everything within a mile radius was obliterated instantly. The shockwave could be felt fifty miles away, knocking unconscious warriors who’d retreated to "safe" distances off their feet.

Both fighters were sent flying in opposite directions, their bodies tumbling through the air before they managed to recover.

Satou used True Flight, his draconic wings manifesting from concentrated mana, stabilizing him mid-air. Blood dripped from dozens of wounds, but his regeneration was already closing them. The drain on his mana was becoming noticeable now—he’d burned through nearly a third of his reserves in just the last few exchanges.

The Reaper landed on his feet, his coat shredded, his body covered in burns and cuts. For the first time in the entire battle, he looked like he’d actually been in a fight. His wounds from Void Fang still weren’t healing—seven now, each one a mark of resistance against his adaptation.