The smoke and dust slowly cleared. The Seventh District no longer existed. In its place was an enormous crater over a thousand meters across and dozens of meters deep. Its floor had melted into glass under the intense heat, taking on an eerie purplish-black hue.
On one side of the crater, Ziyue Palace knelt on one knee.
The blade of her Supreme Grade Sword, Void Shatter, was covered in fine cracks, and its edge had three chips. Her golden robe was in tatters, a large patch of her hair was singed, and blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
But she was still alive, and she was smiling.
"Very good." She slowly stood, the cracks in her blade beginning to mend as she poured distortion power into it. "You should feel honored to be my opponent."
She raised her left hand, pointing all five fingers toward the other side of the crater.
Fujitora barely remained standing, propping himself up with his Cane Sword. His kimono had been shredded into strips, and wounds covered his chest. His broken left arm hung limp. Blood streamed down his forehead like a brook, staining his blind eyes red.
"You thought you were worthy of taking me down with you? How naïve."
Ziyue Palace clenched her five fingers.
The distortion power instantly transformed the air inside Fujitora's body into countless tiny blades, savagely slicing his internal organs. Blood gushed from his mouth.
"This is the true terror of the Twist-Twist Fruit." Ziyue Palace approached step by step, as leisurely as if she were strolling through her own courtyard. "Within the Realm of Distortion, space isn't the only thing I can distort-there's also the air you breathe, the blood in your body, and every cell in your internal organs."
She stopped before Fujitora.
"Now, kneel.