The Chairman's Might

The night sky was completely torn open, the cloud curtain rolling and the void expanding ever wider. The Milky Way poured down like a waterfall, cold light spilling over the palace ruins while stone tiles and splintered wood flew at random. Dust waves churned and the neighborhoods rocked like collapsing sand piles. Netero and Meruem hovered high in the air, separated by barely thirty paces, their auras colliding until the atmosphere felt frozen into iron.

Netero brought his palms together, the tips of his toes stepping lightly through the void as though treading on invisible stone steps. His form rose section by section until he stopped at the top edge of the cloud breach. The Milky Way unfolded behind him, dragging cold light, his entire person standing like a towering spear. Meruem stabilized himself below, his shoulders and back bulging, armor plates covered in crisscrossing cracks, arms spread wide and fists slightly drawn in like a living wall of iron.

The next instant, Netero suddenly dove downward. The edge of his palm split the air, dragging a long white trace as it targeted the King's shoulder and neck. Meruem kicked off the empty air, his crossed fists rising to meet the attack. The moment they collided, a halo of light burst forth and a thunderous roar shook the heavens. The shockwave pressed directly down upon the earth, instantly shattering the palace's final high tower as a pillar of dust surged upward like a sea wave. The outer neighborhoods cracked in large swaths, stone slabs turning over, trees uprooted, flung halfway into the air before crashing heavily back down.

Netero used the recoil to flip, his palm images striking in rapid succession as three blows landed almost simultaneously. The first locked onto the shoulder peak, the second cut toward the ribs,