Above the shattered mountain, Cao Cao appeared, bathed in a holy aura and accompanied by seven pitch-black orbs, floating in midair.
The orb that had just struck and sent Kaiser flying was now floating in his empty hand, being toyed with.
"To shatter your Touki defense and blast you that far… looks like this move turned out quite well."
Cao Cao hovered high above, and although the ground below was still crumbling with falling rocks and debris, he continued speaking as if confident the person inside could hear him.
"If this could finish you off, things would be much easier."
"Unfortunately, I know full well that you're not a man who can be taken down so easily."
"Come on, let me show you the other powers of my Seven Treasures."
As he said this, Cao Cao lowered his spear, pointing it downward. The tip of the spear quietly began to gather a massive amount of holy aura, ready to erupt.
"Boom!"
Just then, an explosive roar echoed from the crumbling mountainside below, and a figure burst forth.
Kaiser shot up from the countless fragments of rubble and landed atop a pile of broken rocks. Ignoring the collapsing mountain behind him, he wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth.
"That move just now wasn't bad at all. The destructive power was intense—almost on par with one of Vali Lucifer's Juggernaut Drive attacks."
Kaiser looked a bit disheveled now. For the first time, he was no longer completely unscathed, clearly having taken effective damage from that last blow.
But he didn't seem to care in the slightest. On the contrary, it was as if he had finally become interested in this battle. The look in his eyes as he stared at Cao Cao was no longer calm—it gleamed with sharp intent.
"You're really a monster," Cao Cao muttered, surprised. Although he had expected Kaiser wouldn't go down easily, seeing that he was still in relatively good shape left him a little astonished. He let out a bitter smile. "That was the strongest attack I can use in my current state, and it still couldn't seriously injure you?"
"Even I feel a bit discouraged."
Cao Cao realized he had underestimated the durability of Kaiser's body.
For someone to suffer so little damage even after having their Touki defense shattered—that was truly unexpected.
Of course, after the surprise came a sense of excitement.
"Well, that's fine. If I could defeat you so easily, that would've been boring."
Cao Cao raised his spear, the halo behind him flickering, making him appear almost god-like.
"Let's continue."
With that, Cao Cao vanished, just like before.
"Clang!"
From amidst the rubble, Kaiser suddenly thrust his holy spear to the side, clashing with another holy spear that had appeared there—Cao Cao's. Sparks erupted from the violent impact.
"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"...
After the initial strike, Cao Cao vanished again, reappearing on Kaiser's other side. But by the time Kaiser turned around, he had disappeared once more, only to show up in a different direction. No matter how many times Kaiser changed his stance, he couldn't lock onto Cao Cao's position.
Cao Cao's figure flickered in and out of sight, appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"...
Kaiser entrusted his body and mind to the holy spear in his hand. Just like when facing Vali's afterimages, he shut off his five senses, allowing his body to move instinctively, swinging his spear naturally to block all of Cao Cao's unpredictable attacks.
"Beautiful! I didn't expect you to keep up with Assaratana's instant transfers. As expected of my destined rival."
Seeing that he still couldn't land a hit on Kaiser—and almost got stabbed by Kaiser's spear despite the latter having his eyes closed—Cao Cao spoke in surprise and delight.
"Who's your destined rival?" Kaiser retorted, then shifted his tone. "Assaratana... that's one of the Seven Treasures you mentioned?"
"Exactly." Cao Cao admitted openly. "My Balance Breaker is called the Seven Treasures—those seven orbs behind me."
"Each of the seven orbs possesses a unique ability."
"Assaratana is one of them. It allows me to transfer any object."
Relying on this ability, Cao Cao was able to appear and disappear like instantaneous teleportation.
"The orb that knocked you away earlier is Parinayakaratana. It has immense destructive power and impact force."
"The one that lets me fly is Hatthiratana. As you've seen, it allows me or others to fly freely."
"There are still four orbs left, which means four more abilities waiting for you to trigger."
Cao Cao spoke leisurely.
"Let's see if you have what it takes to make me use all Seven Treasures."
Kaiser didn't respond. He merely spoke quietly in his heart.
"I already know what the remaining four are, even if you don't use them."
Naturally, Kaiser was well aware of Cao Cao's Balance Breaker.
In the original story, his Balance Breaker was exactly this. Even after switching to a different Sacred Gear, nothing had changed.
"That makes sense. This is a subspecies Balance Breaker he developed based on his own needs. The Holy Spear of Dawn used to be a lower-tier Sacred Gear compared to the True Longinus. Now it's a second Holy Spear that closely resembles the True Longinus. Of course he can develop the same Balance Breaker."
The True Longinus—the first and strongest Longinus. In the original, its wielder was Cao Cao.
Cao Cao had developed the Seven Treasures using the True Longinus, but it seemed he could also form the same Balance Breaker with the Holy Spear of Dawn.
"If this Balance Breaker is exactly the same as in the original, then the remaining four Treasures should be Itthiratana, Maniratana, Kahabateiratana, and Cakkaratana."
- Cakkaratana: Can destroy the strongest weapon on the field and transform into a spear for attacks.
- Itthiratana: Targets women with supernatural powers, sealing their abilities completely for a period of time. It can affect up to three people and cannot be avoided.
- Maniratana: Absorbs enemy attacks and reflects them back from any direction.
- Kahabateiratana: A duplication ability that can create multiple warriors to overwhelm the enemy with numbers.
Together with Assaratana (transfer), Hatthiratana (flight), and Parinayakaratana (destructive power), these form the full set of Cao Cao's Seven Treasures.
"Cakkaratana and Nübao aren't worth guarding against. They're useless against me."
Kaiser wasn't sure if Cakkaratanacould destroy Sacred Gears, but even if it could, it wouldn't be able to destroy the True Longinus, whose hierarchy stood above all Sacred Gears—especially after being strengthened by his Unique Authority.
Itthiratana only worked on women, so he could ignore it completely.
"So that means only five of the Seven Treasures are usable against me. The remaining ones are Maniratana and Kahabateiratana."
With that analysis, Kaiser had a plan.
"Boom!"
With an explosive sound, Kaiser's holy spear suddenly extended and lunged forward at an astonishing speed, moving like a flash of light. Its sharp tip, infused with dense holy power, pierced toward Cao Cao.
"Swish!"
Cao Cao activated Assaratana's ability and instantly teleported away, dodging the strike. He then reappeared behind Kaiser and stabbed forward with his spear.
"Clang!"
Kaiser deflected the strike with the shaft of his holy spear—but the spear twisted mid-thrust and came back around.
"Don't forget—aside from the Seven Treasures, my spear still retains two baseline abilities."
As Cao Cao spoke, his spear clashed with the erupting Touki from Kaiser.
Seeing this, Cao Cao immediately summoned one of his orbs and prepared to throw it at Kaiser.
"You think the same move will work again?"
Before Cao Cao could throw it, Kaiser threw a fierce punch.
However, the punch didn't land—the orb split apart midair and transformed into countless glowing humanoid figures.
"Of course I don't expect the same move to work twice."
Cao Cao's laugh came right on cue.
"That's why I used Kahabateiratana instead of Parinayakaratana."
Countless humanoid figures surrounded Kaiser and charged all at once, instantly overwhelming him.
"Boom!"
The next moment, a tremendous burst of holy power exploded outward, like a volcanic eruption, blasting away the humanoid figures.
"I've been waiting for that move!"
Rather than panic, Cao Cao was delighted. He threw another orb, which transformed into a vortex that absorbed the erupting aura.
In an instant, the vortex sucked away all the holy flames, neutralizing the overwhelming attack.
"Here, take it back!"
Cao Cao pointed his spear, and a second vortex opened behind Kaiser.
"Boom!"
The massive holy flames surged like a polar aurora, cutting off all of Kaiser's escape routes.
Without a doubt, this was the corrective ability of the Holy Spear of Dawn at work again.
With this ability, Cao Cao's attacks were nearly impossible to dodge—every strike was effectively guaranteed to hit.
So, Kaiser decisively gave up on evasion and charged directly into the oncoming holy flames, slashing with his holy spear infused with a blade of light.
"Slash!"
The sharp strike instantly split the raging flames in two.
"Slash!" "Slash!" "Slash!"...
Kaiser didn't stop attacking. Instead, he swung the spear with godlike speed, slicing the holy flames again and again, weakening them hundreds of times over.
But even so, the remaining flames still surged toward him like a stream of light, clashing violently with his Touki.
"Boom!"
With a thunderous explosion, the pile of rubble was obliterated, scattering into countless fragments.
Kaiser's figure was blown backward from the blast. Just as he barely regained control midair, Cao Cao teleported behind him.
"This time, it really is Parinayakaratana!"
Cao Cao shouted, throwing the pitch-black orb he'd been holding all along.
Kaiser watched the orb fly toward him—and thrust his spear!
"BOOOOM!!!"
The instant the sharp spear tip touched the dark orb, the most powerful collision yet erupted.
A terrifying shockwave exploded from midair like a storm, obliterating the entire mountain peak.