The Japanese wanted to fly too?

"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."

Floating in midair, Lu Yun pointed his left hand toward the heavens and his right toward the earth, his expression proud.

Although he had not caught what Lu Yun said, Yuta Okkotsu saw him rise straight into the air, showing no sign of falling and even continuing to climb. Having only just stepped forward to attack, he stopped dead. Looking at Lu Yun's outrageously arrogant expression, he was genuinely a little dumbfounded.

Yuta Okkotsu, who had no anti-air options, was facing Lu Yun, who could fly. This was no better than playing the second reanimated version of a character in the Naruto fighting game and running into Momoshiki and Boruto. How was he supposed to fight that?

Domain Amplification could only be applied to the body or a weapon; it was a close-combat technique. Now that Lu Yun had flown into the sky, how was he supposed to use it to neutralize Lu Yun's elemental transformation? He would probably struggle even to touch Lu Yun.

"He can even fly?"

Propping his chin on one hand, Okkotsu looked thoughtfully at the Shikigami Rika floating beside him.

"Rika, you can fly too, right?"

Hearing Okkotsu call her, Rika tilted her head.

The scene shifted. At some point, Yuta Okkotsu had climbed onto the Shikigami. Like a child riding on a parent's shoulders, he sat directly on Rika's broad shoulders, gripping her pale hair with both hands to keep himself from falling.

"Let's go, Rika!"

"Yuta's riding on me! I love it!"

At his command, the Shikigami's enormous body shot into the air. Wind whistled past his ears, and the ground grew steadily farther away.

"Wait, that works too?!"

Flying through the sky, Lu Yun had just thought that no one would bother him now and he could finally finish his improvised performance. Instead, he witnessed this absurd spectacle and gaped.

"Yuta Okkotsu, that's cheating!!"

"How rude. Rika and I are one."

Although he was not flying under his own power like Lu Yun, Okkotsu had successfully taken off. Besides, Rika was one of his abilities to begin with. Why shouldn't that count as being able to fly?

It wasn't just the Chinese who could fly. The Japanese could fly too!

Damn it!

Lu Yun cursed inwardly. Seeing Yuta Okkotsu drawing closer, he abruptly accelerated toward the city's towering buildings.

At the same time, he unleashed Eight-Foot Thunder Tomoe again. Countless lightning projectiles poured out, forming an impenetrable barrage that continually hindered Okkotsu's approach.

Okkotsu tugged with both hands. Understanding him immediately, Rika changed direction in an instant, narrowly dodging the first lightning projectile by a hair.

The projectile that passed Rika lost none of its force. It slammed straight into a building behind her and exploded.

A thunderous boom rang out. The lightning projectile completely destroyed one corner of the building, and the entire structure began tilting uncontrollably to one side. The tower, a symbol of modern civilization, came crashing down.

Like an ace pilot, Okkotsu steered Rika around one lightning projectile after another. Without exception, every projectile he dodged struck the surrounding buildings. None of the buildings behind him escaped; they were utterly destroyed, as though the area had been carpet-bombed with missiles.

Smoke rose everywhere, and even Lu Yun felt a pang.

Rebuilding all this would cost a fortune, wouldn't it?

He therefore angrily berated Okkotsu:

"Yuta Okkotsu, take a good look behind you! What have you actually protected?!"

Yuta Okkotsu froze and instinctively looked back. The once-bustling streets of Tokyo had been reduced to scattered broken walls. The sight of the ruins left him feeling desolate.

"You're absolutely right, but wasn't this your doing, Mr. Lu Yun?"

"What do you mean, my doing? Stop making excuses. Would the city have ended up like this if you hadn't dodged?"

Lu Yun did not think he was at fault in the slightest. Instead, he turned the blame back on Okkotsu.

"If you hadn't fired, wouldn't the city still be intact?"

"If you hadn't dodged, wouldn't the city still be intact?"

Okkotsu was speechless. There was not a trace of guilt on Lu Yun's face. He merely kept blaming Okkotsu for failing to protect the city.

Unwilling to waste any more breath arguing with Lu Yun, Okkotsu raised his hand. Purplish-red cursed energy gathered at his fingertips.

When Rika was fully manifested, Okkotsu could also release high-energy cursed energy in a chosen direction.

"Going with that move?"

Seeing Okkotsu take that familiar opening stance, Lu Yun immediately understood his intent. Sensing the intensity in Okkotsu's gaze, he grinned.

"Just this once."

Wild lightning compressed and gathered in the mouth of the Thunder Beast Cloak. Lu Yun stopped running and chose to meet Okkotsu's challenge head-on.

Okkotsu knew that even his maximum output fell short of Lu Yun in his thunder beast form. Fortunately, he had begun gathering cursed energy before Lu Yun and could reach maximum output sooner.

With the Spider Mask concealing Lu Yun's face, Yuta Okkotsu could not see the fiery look beneath it, much less allow Lu Yun to charge his attack to its limit.

The instant his output reached its maximum, he released the purplish-red cursed energy. A high-energy beam shot straight toward Lu Yun, who was likewise gathering cursed energy.

"Damn it, Okkotsu! A sneak attack? Have you no honor?!"

His attack was nowhere near fully charged, but faced with the incoming purplish-red beam, Lu Yun had no choice but to hastily release the lightning held within the thunder beast's mouth.

A raging torrent of lightning erupted instantly. Though fired later, it arrived first and crashed into the equally ferocious cursed energy beam.

The moment the two collided, a devastating shock wave erupted, instantly clearing the clouds within a thousand meters. Sunlight spilled unobstructed onto the ground, while the windows of the surrounding towers shattered at the same time.

The hastily fired lightning torrent was driven back by the purplish-red Cursed Energy Cannon all the way to Lu Yun before it finally stabilized. As Lu Yun continuously fed it cursed energy to increase its power, it pushed the beam back inch by inch, gradually overwhelmed it, and finally crushed the Cursed Energy Cannon with unstoppable force.

The scorching torrent of lightning shot through several distant buildings in succession before slowly dying away. A faint burnt smell lingered in the air, and space rippled ceaselessly, as though that powerful strike might burn through it.

Releasing so much cursed energy in one breath left even Lu Yun a little winded. The smoke ahead dispersed. At some point, only the Shikigami Rika had remained in the direction from which the Cursed Energy Cannon had fired. Yuta Okkotsu, who had been riding her, had vanished.

Oh, no.

Realizing something was wrong, Lu Yun quickly twisted around. A figure suddenly descended from above, swinging a long blade wrapped in Domain Amplification. His lightning-wreathed right arm was severed from his torso in an instant.

Drops of blood streaked across the sky. Rika immediately rushed beneath him and swallowed Lu Yun's severed arm in one gulp, also catching Okkotsu as he fell after landing his strike.

That was right-the figure descending from the sky was none other than Yuta Okkotsu, whom Rika had hurled into the air.

The moment the lightning torrent held back the Cursed Energy Cannon, Okkotsu had known he could not beat Lu Yun in a beam clash. He therefore had Rika throw him above Lu Yun, catching him off guard while he was busy pouring cursed energy into his attack.

Just as Okkotsu had expected, the Cursed Energy Cannon blocked Lu Yun's view. Busy trying to overpower Okkotsu, Lu Yun failed to notice his maneuver. By the time he reacted, it was too late.

Watching helplessly as Rika swallowed his arm, Lu Yun clutched his now-empty right shoulder and cried out in pain:

"My King's Power!!!"