A Clash of Equals, Shiva Captured, Growing Wariness

"What... is that?!"

A flash of danger and death ran through Shiva's mind.

"Damn it!"

Shiva twisted with all his strength, changing his target.

"Haaah!"

With a roar,

Shiva burst into the room. His fully charged right fist shot toward Yu Yuan, the light around it flaring to its brightest.

But the instant Shiva threw his punch, Yu Yuan moved from his hiding place in the room's blind spot.

To Shiva's shock, Yu Yuan leaped straight at him, his body drawn back like a bow at full stretch.

He arched backward, gripping the sledgehammer's handle with both hands. When he reached the limit of that stretch,

Yu Yuan's eyes widened, every muscle in his face straining. He stopped holding back the surging steam-powered force of the No. 15 Steam-Powered Kinetic Sledgehammer. His entire body snapped forward like a taut rubber band.

The Skullcrusher, charged and ready, blasted out a ferocious jet of air. Yu Yuan drove the sledgehammer forward with unstoppable force, accelerating it in an instant as though it had entered detonation mode.

Brimming with energy, it smashed toward Shiva's right arm. The air itself seemed to crack.

"Skullcrusher!" Yu Yuan roared.

The sledgehammer turned red-hot, its head glowing crimson.

It struck Shiva's mechanical right fist head-on.

In that instant,

the clash of equals erupted.

BOOM!

An explosion from the collision of energy engulfed the room. A visible shock wave swept outward in its wake.

Smoke filled the air.

The entire battlefield fell silent. Many had seen Shiva's move, and now they waited to learn the outcome.

Inside the room, Yu Yuan grimaced as he bandaged both arms.

He used Rare-Grade Bandages and Recovery Drinks he had found in Liberty Tower. The burst skin and blood vessels in his arms finally began to heal.

Yu Yuan had no time