Light.
Endless light that annihilated everything.
It was not warm radiance, but a cold torrent of energy embodying pure annihilation. The Otsutsuki Fleet's long-prepared volley finally descended. Tens of thousands of main cannon beams, energy jets, physical missiles, and spatial shock waves... wove together into a waterfall of death, instantly engulfing every stretch of space ahead of, beside, and behind the Dawnbringer! Wherever it passed, the enormous wreckage silently vaporized and disintegrated. Even space itself was torn apart, scorched with pitch-black scars.
At the edge of that waterfall of death, the Dawnbringer was like a tiny boat caught in raging winds and towering waves, desperately squeezing out every last ounce of its potential as it hurtled toward the shrinking, flickering passage entrance!
Boom, boom, boom, boom-!!!
Despite Elder Mochen pushing evasive maneuvers to their limits, despite Sasuke and Naruto unleashing chakra and ninjutsu at full strength to form temporary layers of deflection and protection around the hull, despite the Rift Stabilizer running beyond capacity to smooth out the deadliest spatial disturbances, countless energy aftershocks, scattered fragments, and twisted gravitational forces still slammed into the Dawnbringer's already overburdened hull!
Explosions! Flames! The shriek of tearing metal! Inside the ship, conduits burst and electrical sparks flew. Alarms warning of plunging air pressure mingled with overload alerts from the life-support system. The entire ship rolled and shuddered violently, as though it might break apart at any moment. On the bridge, immense inertia pinned everyone against their seats or the walls. Their internal organs felt as though they were being displaced, and their ears rang with the groans of twisting metal and energy shields on the verge of shattering.
"Shield energy remaining: 10%! Structural integrity down to 41%! Main engines overheating! Reactor approaching critical!" The AI's synthesized voice coldly announced the desperate figures.
**"We