Ryōken glanced at the broad river, his gaze calm.
He suddenly raised the longsword in his hand. A dazzling azure light immediately flickered across the blade. Unlike the pale azure Limitless Sword Aura, this light resembled the color of Wind-attribute chakra.
Dense, highly condensed Wind-attribute chakra wrapped around the blade, completely obscuring Starry Night's snow-bright edge and turning it a pure azure.
Terrifying chakra rippled outward. Whenever a wisp of azure light escaped, it sliced through the air with a sharp hiss.
"Wind: Steel Flash!"
A fierce sword intent erupted.
Bzzzz!
The vast power seemed more than even Starry Night itself could bear. At that moment, faint dark-green light flickered across the sword, suppressing the blade's trembling.
Perhaps because Wind-attribute chakra was exceptionally compatible with Steel Flash—or rather, with Wind Style Swordsmanship—the power unleashed by this chakra-driven Steel Flash exceeded Ryōken's expectations.
The winds of heaven and earth seemed to gather, condensing upon this single strike. Sword Pressure spread outward, draining the air away and gathering it all at the sword's edge.
As Ryōken swung his sword down, two successive cracks rang out from the arm holding the blade.
This strike.
It was as though Pangu had split heaven and earth. An extremely condensed azure sword phantom abruptly appeared above the river. It seemed almost real, emanating an icy aura from its entire body.
As Ryōken's sword descended, the enormous sword phantom cleaved down with it.
Before it even landed, the river surface suddenly sank, shattered, and vanished into nothingness. Not even a trace of water vapor remained; it was completely annihilated.
The azure sword phantom continued downward, crushing everything in its path.
The mighty rushing river was severed by this single strike, leaving behind a bottomless abyss in its middle.
The water from upstream continued pouring in tirelessly, forming