Not Rasa.
The instant Ning Fengzhi recognized Kushina stepping forward, his heart dropped.
If Qian Renxue fell here, the remaining sequence became brutally clear. Feng Xiaotian against Minato. Huo Wu against Yagura. No matter how the matchups were twisted, Douluo would be fighting uphill with no room left to maneuver.
And Minato Namikaze still hadn't even entered the arena.
This wasn't a small miscalculation. It was a cascading failure.
Ning Fengzhi closed his eyes briefly, forcing himself to steady his breathing. The mistakes surfaced one by one, unavoidably.
First, Killer Bee.
He had underestimated him—badly. Even after Ning Rongrong's Flying Thunder God had drained a significant portion of his chakra, Bee had still forced Feng Xin into revealing Absolute Shadow far earlier than planned. One-for-one trades were never Douluo's path to victory, and that single exchange had already tilted the balance.
Second, and more fatal—their intentions were now fully transparent.
Shikaku had read them perfectly.
At this point, there was no room for clever sequencing or hidden momentum. Everything rested on whether Qian Renxue could exceed her limits.
In the arena, the two women faced one another at a distance.
No taunts.
No declarations.
Only a brief nod—an unspoken acknowledgement that this was a decisive engagement.
The signal sounded.
Qian Renxue's six wings beat once, powerfully, and she shot skyward in a burst of golden light. Almost simultaneously, Kushina's hands flashed through seals. Chakra chains erupted upward, lashing toward the sky in intersecting arcs, aiming to trap Qian Renxue before she could establish altitude.
Too late.
Qian Renxue twisted midair, her movements sharp and economical. She slipped between the chains with barely a margin to spare, wings adjusting, body stabilizing. In seconds, she hovered well outside Kushina's immediate reach.
Only then did the Angelic Domain unfold.
Holy radiance descended like a veil, and countless feather-shaped blades of light poured downward, saturating the space below.
Kushina responded instantly.
Her chains snapped back, five of them circling her body in a tight, rotating formation. Each feather blade shattered against the dense chakra barrier, scattering harmlessly into sparks.
A stalemate.
Qian Renxue observed it in silence, jaw tightening.
This was bad.
Kushina wasn't pressing forward. She wasn't even attempting to counterattack. She was waiting—confident in her chakra reserves, content to let the Angelic Domain drain Qian Renxue dry.
And that confidence was justified.
Qian Renxue knew the numbers. She had already spent heavily in her previous match. Kushina, as an Uzumaki, could afford to endure.
Dragging this out meant defeat.
So she gambled.
Golden light flared violently as Qian Renxue released Holy Light Shines again. Radiance flooded the arena, blinding, overwhelming.
But Kushina closed her eyes.
She bowed her head slightly, chains adjusting minutely as they reacted—not to sight, but to perception.
Qian Renxue's pupils tightened.
So that was it.
The Angelic Domain surged outward to its full extent. Light thickened, layered upon itself, saturating the battlefield until it became a dense, radiant field. Every direction blurred. Every vector lost clarity.
Perception—disrupted.
For the first time, Kushina's expression changed.
She didn't hesitate.
Vajra Imprisonment: Absolute Defense Array.
Dozens of chakra chains erupted and interlocked, forming a spiraling, three-dimensional barrier around her body. The structure rotated continuously, sealing every angle, every gap.
Light blades rained down.
They shattered uselessly.
Qian Renxue felt the strain immediately. Maintaining the Domain at this density was draining her at an alarming rate. Yet Kushina's defense showed no sign of collapse.
If this continued, she would lose.
Her eyes hardened.
The wings folded inward.
Holy flames ignited along her form as she transformed into a descending comet of gold. The Angelic Sacred Sword carved a brilliant arc as she plunged directly toward the center of the barrier.
Impact.
The blade struck the chakra chains with a thunderous crash—but still, they held.
The moment her momentum stalled, Kushina reacted.
The barrier dissolved outward, and more than ten chains lashed forward simultaneously, snapping shut around the surrounding space. Qian Renxue's retreat paths vanished in an instant.
Light Chains.
Three pure-white chains shot from between Qian Renxue's wings, intercepting the Vajra Imprisonment head-on.
For a heartbeat, Kushina was surprised.
She recognized the technique immediately.
But surprise lasted only an instant.
The chains clashed—and then Kushina's chakra surged backward along the Light Chains, eroding them, devouring spirit power as it advanced toward Qian Renxue herself.
The disparity was unmistakable.
Borrowed mastery could not match lived control.
Qian Renxue gritted her teeth and forced everything she had left into the Angelic Sacred Sword. A final chain of light wrapped around the blade as she thrust forward, committing fully.
Kushina's eyes lit up—not with fear, but exhilaration.
Her right fist clenched.
Chakra compressed violently, warping the air itself.
Chakra-Enhanced Strength Fist — Mountain Crusher.
Sword and fist collided.
The Angelic Sacred Sword was ripped from Qian Renxue's grasp and sent spinning away. The remaining force smashed through her hastily raised defense and struck her abdomen squarely.
The sound of bones cracking echoed clearly.
Qian Renxue's body folded inward as she was hurled backward, slamming into the edge of the arena.
Silence fell for a split second.
Then the roar exploded.
Kushina exhaled, flexing her fingers as she approached. "Your chains are good," she said, genuine admiration in her tone. "But you're still far from matching me."
The verdict was announced.
The arena erupted.
Qian Renxue walked back unsteadily, head lowered. "I'm sorry," she said quietly.
Feng Xin shook his head immediately. "No. I forced the issue earlier. This isn't on you."
Gao Feng looked around the group. "We all knew meaningfully that this was an uphill fight. Responsibility belongs to all of us."
Ning Fengzhi said nothing at first.
Then he sighed.
"There's no path to victory left," he said softly. "Choose freely. Prove yourselves."
"I'll go," Feng Xiaotian said with a grin, stepping forward.
On the stage, Kushina rolled her shoulder, eyes bright. "You're next?"
Wind surged.
Twin blades of compressed air formed along Feng Xiaotian's arms, each nearly two meters long, humming with destructive resonance.
"I specialize in heavy attacks," he said calmly. "Be careful."
Chains lashed out.
Wind answered.
The sealing effect shattered under layered nature transformation. Kushina's eyes widened.
"That shouldn't be possible!"
Feng Xiaotian smiled faintly. "Pure energy gets sealed. Nature doesn't."
She roared, chakra exploding outward in a brutal flood of chains.
Quantity over finesse.
Feng Xiaotian rose, crossing blades.
The storm split.
The counterattack followed instantly.
Kushina was blown backward, skidding across the ground.
A golden flash caught her.
Minato set her down gently. "You're still reckless."
"Shut up," she snapped, then laughed. "But that was fun."
Feng Xiaotian steadied himself, breathing hard.
"In this match," he said evenly, "I have the advantage."
Whether it was enough—
That answer still waited ahead.
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