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Yet wherever the blade touched, pitch-black lightning leaped and bit like a living thing, trying to bore through that impregnable defense.
Stinging pain spread upward along his bones, each wave more intense than the last.
With his level of strength, he had long since reached a realm where ordinary attacks could hardly hurt him.
Across the entire sea, those who could make him bleed could be counted on one hand.
But now, facing this constantly trembling blade, an instinct for danger warned him: this defense might be torn wide open in the very next instant.
Perhaps through a lapse after fatigue accumulated, perhaps at some moment an instant later, or perhaps-
Right now.
Shhk!
Amid the interweaving shadows of fists and flashes of steel, the long blade abruptly hummed.
One blade shadow split into three, then overlapped into one again in the next instant, landing precisely on the same spot.
The pitch-black defensive layer was sliced open. Flesh curled back, revealing a long, narrow wound, and warm liquid seeped out.
No, these were not truly simultaneous strikes.
Three slashes had landed in succession on exactly the same point, at a speed the naked eye could hardly follow.
"Taran's technique?"
"Yes."
The one who had landed the hit made no attempt to hide it. His voice even held a trace of analytical calm.
"I made a few adjustments, bringing the scattered slashes together at a single point."
Taking three full-power slashes in succession within a negligibly short span of time, even he could not avoid injury.
That meant-
"To break through my defenses, you've already reached the pinnacle of these seas."
As the Navy's supreme commander, he was already one of those who stood at the summit.
Being able to tear through his defenses was proof enough that his opponent