The next instant.
Pfft!
The fire dragon dissolved into a skyful of sparks.
Not even a trace of its shock wave escaped.
Nagato's pupils abruptly contracted.
"How is that possible!"
The searing heat rebounded, rushing straight at him.
He hastily retreated, but was still a step too slow.
The scorching blast grazed half his body.
A burning pain on the spiritual plane instantly spread through him.
Nagato grunted, and broad patches of charred black appeared across his skin.
He did not stop.
He flipped both hands.
Dozens of jet-black chakra rods formed out of thin air.
"Go!"
The black rods sliced through space, shooting toward Susanoo one after another.
Each rod pierced toward the white giant's joints, chest, and head with pinpoint precision.
Nagato tried to use the black rods to disrupt Lie Yang's ocular power and suppress the flow of chakra within Susanoo.
But the moment the rods drew near the white giant, the lightning coiled around its exterior blasted them away.
Crackle!
Dozens of black rods snapped at once.
Before the fragments could fall, the lightning burned them to ash.
Lie Yang had not spoken a word throughout.
He stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching Nagato calmly.
There was no excitement of battle in those pitch-black eyes, nor any pleasure at defeating a powerful foe.
Only scrutiny.
As though everything Nagato did was merely a futile struggle.
The white giant slowly raised its right hand.
The ocean of lightning surged.
Susanoo reached into its chest and grasped a silvery-white longsword.
The instant the blade was drawn.
The entire mental space abruptly fell silent.
Fine arcs of lightning wound around the blade.
Before its edge even descended, a biting sword aura had already spread in every direction.
Nagato's mind began to sting.
Every inch of his