The yellow sand first contracted inward, condensing into an immense pillar that towered between heaven and earth, then bore down with the momentum to crush everything.
This was no naturally formed wind. Every swirling grain of sand carried a strange power that could rapidly dry out and pulverize matter, enough to turn a steel ship into a skyful of iron filings in a few breaths.
Even a physique capable of withstanding a battleship's impact seemed like a leaf in a gale before this roaring vortex.
"This alone would be enough to wipe a fleet off the sea."
Facing the approaching pillar of sand, he swept the long blade in his hand upward.
An arc of light, dark red bordering on black, tore through the air and split the sandstorm, hundreds of meters tall, straight down the middle.
The two divided torrents howled past either side of his body, roared in defiance behind him, then abruptly doubled back like two enormous closing palms, seeking to crush and grind him out of existence along with the space around him.
Stone walls, arched corridors, tier upon tier of stands... everything the murky yellow currents touched first rapidly lost its surface color, becoming dry and brittle, then crumbled into powder that the gale swept up into the destructive vortex.
These sturdy structures, strong enough to withstand cannon fire, were now as fragile as sun-dried mud bricks.
"Watch it. Don't tear the place down-"
The figure at the center of the sandstorm remained unharmed.
An invisible power covered his entire body, making it tougher than the hardest blade.
But if this attack continued to run rampant, there might not be much rubble left of the island's most conspicuous building.
*Was he so humiliated and angry over taking a few hits that he had to tear