-885- The last battle of fate

At the same time, the intense battle between Karna and Arjuna seemed to have reached a conclusion.

"Boom!"

Under the heart-shaking collision, the flaming divine spear and the thunder-infused bow and arrow created a terrifying airflow and gusts of wind.

They cracked the earth, causing both combatants to be simultaneously repelled, creating distance between them.

"Even this couldn't determine a winner?" Karna, with his flaming spear, retreated forcefully, the flames still burning, his momentum undiminished.

"Tch...!" Arjuna, using the opportunity to create distance, wasn't as composed as Karna. Even without injuries, his breathing became somewhat rapid.

Evidently, Karna had the upper hand in their battle.

That was only natural.

"Is this the true power of your golden armor?" Arjuna gritted his teeth. "Indeed, quite troublesome. No wonder Father took it away from you."

If not for this, it would have been challenging to predict the outcome of their final battle.

But...

"Even with this armor, the final result might not change," Karna calmly stated. "Armor is meant for self-protection, not for defeating enemies."

So, even if Arjuna couldn't defeat Karna, it didn't necessarily mean that Karna could defeat Arjuna, right?

But...

"This time, I must defeat you."

Watching the entire battlefield turn into a sea of fire, with dragons flying toward them, Karna declared quietly.

"There's no way to postpone it any longer. Let our next strike determine the winner, Arjuna."

Saying this, as if having made a firm resolution, Karna's entire body suddenly swelled with flames.

Karna possessed several Noble Phantasms.

Defensively, he had the golden armor.

Offensively, he had the Immortal Blade.

However, these two Noble Phantasms were not Karna's strongest trump cards.

Legend has it that when Indra tricked Karna into removing the golden armor, due to Karna's noble spirit, even Indra was astonished and moved. As an exchange, Indra gave him a genuine divine spear.

It was a light spear capable of defeating gods with a single strike, a spear composed of lightning. If the golden armor was relinquished in exchange, Karna could use this fearsome Noble Phantasm.

Now, Karna was ready to unleash it.

"Know the mercy of the king of gods—"

Karna chanted the spell to release the divine spear.

His golden armor started to burn.

"Indra, watch closely—"

Flames turned into lightning, and countless bolts of thunder erupted from Karna's body.

"With this single strike, I shall inflict extinction—"

Karna raised the divine spear high, and it, too, began to burn.

"Be reduced to cinders—"

At Karna's call, the golden armor burned away completely, exposing Karna's body, sacrificing the invincible defense.

Because the integrated Noble Phantasm was stripped away from his body, Karna's entire form was now covered in blood, indicating that he had suffered considerable damage.

However, the burning golden armor ultimately converged with the erupting lightning onto the equally burning divine spear.

In the next moment, the divine spear in Karna's hand transformed within the soaring flames. From a golden spear resembling the sun, it changed into a jet-black, sharp spear bursting with lightning.

This was the divine spear that the thunder god Indra had bestowed upon Karna. A true anti-divine Noble Phantasm, capable of dealing massive damage to opponents with divinity, a lightning that even the gods couldn't withstand.

"Endure the divine spear your father entrusted to me, Arjuna!"

Karna's entire body burned with flames, concentrating all his magical energy into this single strike, radiating intense brilliance like the sun behind him.

At this moment, Karna was the true sun, the genuine son of god, carrying the sun itself. Slowly, he ascended into the sky, painting the entire world in fiery red hues.

Watching this scene, Arjuna began to tremble.

Not out of fear, but due to an unprecedented surge of excitement.

"Yes! That's it!"

Arjuna shouted loudly towards Karna, who ascended like the sun.

"This is the battle I wanted! This is the conclusion I desired!"

In his lifetime, Arjuna never had a fair fight with Karna. Karna was hindered by a curse that caused his chariot's wheel to get stuck, leading to Arjuna shooting only one arrow at Karna's back. Additionally, he had been deceived by his own father, losing the golden armor and subsequently losing his invincible defense.

Now, Karna once again sacrificed his invincible defense but revealed the divine spear his father gave him to atone. What reason did Arjuna have for discontent?

If this was all of Karna's power...

If this was all of Karna's strength...

Then...

"I'll bear it all! Every bit of it!"

The great bow disappeared from Arjuna's hands. In its place, a formidable divine aura surged from Arjuna.

As the revered "Endowed Hero," Arjuna had been favored by many gods, receiving various blessings. Among these blessings, the most outstanding one came from one of the three main gods in Hinduism—Shiva.

Shiva granted Arjuna a weapon, which, while categorized as an anti-unit Noble Phantasm, didn't exterminate all surrounding humans. Instead, it sequentially judged enemies within its range. Failure in judgment would grant release to the opponent, meaning death.

In other words, it was a Noble Phantasm capable of causing instant death.

The higher the divinity of the judged target, the greater the probability of release.

In essence, it was an unparalleled god-slaying weapon.

Facing Karna's god-slaying spear, Arjuna unleashed his own god-slaying weapon.

"Sacred domain expands, space fixed, divine punishment execution period set, all approved—"

Arjuna slowly floated into the air, surrounded by an invisible whirlwind. His entire body was enveloped in divine aura, rising into the sky, facing Karna from a distance.

Beneath Arjuna's divine aura, the flames released by Karna, like the radiance of the sun, were unable to advance any further. They were all blocked outside.

At a glance, it looked as if a moon had risen in opposition to the sun, reclaiming the world that had been dominated by fiery red hues, turning it into a deep blue.

All this divine aura eventually converged into a ball of shadows, resembling a vortex or a sphere of light, in Arjuna's hands.

"Let the wrath of Shiva take your life, Karna!"

Arjuna shouted with all his might.

Hearing this, even though covered in blood, Karna still smiled.

A rare and genuine smile.

The gazes of the two met in midair.

Then, both the lightning and the divine aura surged.

"⟨Vasavi Shakti⟩!"

Karna thrust the divine spear, releasing a beam of annihilating lightning that shot towards Arjuna.

"⟨Pashupata⟩!"

Arjuna fiercely launched the sphere of divine aura, turning it into a flash, meeting the incoming beam.

The two beams erupted, evaporating the atmosphere, extinguishing magical energy. It seemed as if the entire world was split in half, shaking the entire world.

Finally, they collided.

This battlefield was annihilated.

Not a single trace remained.