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## Chapter 1395: Daikokuten's Absolute Defense!
[Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!]
Inside the tennis court on the top floor of Noah's Ark, sounds comparable to grenade explosions continuously echoed.
Then, Historia's score-calling followed closely.
The score was now 4-5, with Esdeath leading.
But Stussy hadn't given up.
Her high-speed movement figure, set against the backdrop of the illusion of Thunder Breathing, was like a true golden lightning bolt.
Meanwhile, Esdeath was concealed within the dense cold air.
It made it impossible to see where she was or the direction of her hits.
Fortunately, Historia, Akame, Mikasa, Tsunade, and others all possessed Observation Haki and could perceive her position through her presence.
Stussy even had the 'Byakugan'.
But Esdeath still kept the court filled with cold air at all times.
One reason was to make Stussy continuously use the 'Byakugan', which would always cause her more strain.
The second was to more clearly capture the shrunken tennis ball and use more cold air to increase the chance of freezing.
Esdeath was already certain.
Stussy had the ability to shrink cold air from a distance and instantly create blank areas.
It might be the awakening of her Mini-Mini Fruit ability, or perhaps the ability of that Rinnegan in her eye.
[Bang!]
Stussy lightly tossed the tennis ball and once again hit her 'Shrinking Serve'.
At the same time, the Rinnegan in her right eye glowed with golden light.
Before the shrunken tennis ball could fly into Esdeath's half-court, she used 'Sukunahikona' to shrink all the frosty mist along its path to nothing.
But unexpectedly, Esdeath's figure suddenly appeared on this path.
She had an invisible layer of Armament Haki on her body, so even if she was affected by 'Sukunahikona''s ability, it wouldn't have any effect.
This was because Stussy's development of Imperial Arms did not surpass Esdeath's Haki.
The next moment, Esdeath swung her racket and received the tennis ball, invisible to the naked eye, head-on.
Her racket's gaps had long been sealed with ice crystals, so even the smallest tennis ball couldn't pass through.
When the tennis ball touched these ice crystals, it began to be rapidly frozen, forming an increasingly large ice sphere.
Stussy frowned slightly at this sight, which meant Esdeath had broken her serve.
"Heh heh, in such a high concentration cold air environment, the blank area you created for the tennis ball is like a black line scraped open on a snowfield, it couldn't be more obvious."
Esdeath's azure eyes held a smile.
Her proud appearance perfectly displayed the temperament of the 'Ice Queen'.
As soon as she finished speaking, the surface of the ice sphere turned pitch black, and it was hit back by her equally pitch black racket.
[Whoosh----]
[Bang!]
In an instant, a black light beam drew a diagonal line in the air, shooting straight towards the bottom corner position of the opponent's half-court.
"Don't even think about it!"
Stussy instantly used 'Shave' and appeared at the bottom line, gazing head-on at the incoming black light beam.
She knew Lord Imu was definitely watching here, so she didn't want to lose this match easily.
At least she had to show strength not much weaker than Esdeath.
"Daikokuten!"
Otsutsuki Isshiki's mutated Rinnegan once again came into play.
A mass of dark red spiral energy appeared mid-air between Stussy and the black light beam.
The next moment, the black light beam flew directly into the inside of the energy mass, disappearing without a trace.
Esdeath raised an eyebrow and exclaimed in surprise, "The ball has my Haki on it, how could your ability take effect on it?"
Stussy smiled and said, "I didn't use my ability on the tennis ball, I just created an entrance and let it fly in by itself."
Daikokuten is one of Otsutsuki Isshiki's Rinnegan abilities.
It has two uses.
One is to store shrunken objects in a time-stopped dimensional space.
They can also be instantly summoned out of the space at any time, within a range of roughly one kilometer in diameter.
The second is to summon out a teleportation gate like the one just seen.
It can be used to travel through different dimensional spaces or for free teleportation in the real world.
It was also Otsutsuki Isshiki's most frequently used ability during interstellar travel.
Or rather, every Otsutsuki clan member has this space teleportation ability, with only slight differences in form at most.
So the tennis ball that had just been confiscated by the Daikokuten teleportation gate was currently in a time-stopped space.
But immediately, it was summoned out by Stussy, except it was in Esdeath's half-court.
Everyone saw a dark red vortex appear beside Esdeath.
Then that black light beam reappeared, maintaining its original speed and strength, instantly shattering the surface ice layer at the bottom corner and bouncing out of the court!
"Game, Stussy, 5-5, change sides!"
Historia thought excitedly, this match was too good!
Suddenly, Esdeath raised her hand and questioned, "Wait, she used her ability to send the ball back, but her racket didn't even touch the ball, does that count as a point?"
Everyone present was stunned after hearing this, and then began thinking.
Indeed, this wasn't combat, but playing tennis. So no matter what ability is used to serve or return, the racket and tennis ball should have contact.
Otherwise, one could completely abandon the racket and compete solely with their own abilities.
But then it couldn't be considered playing tennis, right?
Historia also thought of this, and a look of hesitation appeared on her face.
Stussy also spoke up, "Then if I had just summoned that ball out of bounds behind me, would that count as Highness Esdeath's serve being out?"
Historia nodded. Returning requires racket contact, but making the opponent's hit ball go out of bounds definitely doesn't require a racket.
So no matter what, Esdeath would lose a point.
The three of them quickly confirmed and added these two new rules, namely that Stussy's Daikokuten could only be used for defense and not for offense.
"Then isn't Stussy invincible in terms of defense?" Kurome outside the court frowned.
Akame nodded in agreement, "Indeed, whether it's a serve or a return, she can send the ball out of bounds."
"But this technique definitely has considerable cost, she can't keep using it."
Mikasa also joined the discussion, and then heard Tsunade say:
"Highness Esdeath can directly freeze incoming balls in the air, her defense is actually quite formidable as well."
"It's just that Stussy's defense also includes the ability to score."
"But Highness Esdeath's Haki and strength are quite a bit stronger than hers, if she doesn't use Daikokuten, it's also hard for her to receive it."
Akame, Kurome, Mikasa, and Rico Brzenska kept nodding as they listened, expressing understanding.
Just as Tsunade said, Esdeath and Stussy inside the court then fell into an agonizing tug-of-war.
Under intense offense and defense, they almost alternated points,
Until the score reached 6-6, officially entering the final tie-break.
In the tie-break, a point is awarded for each ball. The contestant who first reaches 7 points and leads the opponent by more than 2 points wins.
It is a great test of the contestant's technique, tactics, psychological quality, and physical fitness level.
Especially physical ability!
(End of this chapter)
[Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!]
Inside the tennis court on the top floor of Noah's Ark, sounds comparable to grenade explosions continuously echoed.
Then, Historia's score-calling followed closely.
The score was now 4-5, with Esdeath leading.
But Stussy hadn't given up.
Her high-speed movement figure, set against the backdrop of the illusion of Thunder Breathing, was like a true golden lightning bolt.
Meanwhile, Esdeath was concealed within the dense cold air.
It made it impossible to see where she was or the direction of her hits.
Fortunately, Historia, Akame, Mikasa, Tsunade, and others all possessed Observation Haki and could perceive her position through her presence.
Stussy even had the 'Byakugan'.
But Esdeath still kept the court filled with cold air at all times.
One reason was to make Stussy continuously use the 'Byakugan', which would always cause her more strain.
The second was to more clearly capture the shrunken tennis ball and use more cold air to increase the chance of freezing.
Esdeath was already certain.
Stussy had the ability to shrink cold air from a distance and instantly create blank areas.
It might be the awakening of her Mini-Mini Fruit ability, or perhaps the ability of that Rinnegan in her eye.
[Bang!]
Stussy lightly tossed the tennis ball and once again hit her 'Shrinking Serve'.
At the same time, the Rinnegan in her right eye glowed with golden light.
Before the shrunken tennis ball could fly into Esdeath's half-court, she used 'Sukunahikona' to shrink all the frosty mist along its path to nothing.
But unexpectedly, Esdeath's figure suddenly appeared on this path.
She had an invisible layer of Armament Haki on her body, so even if she was affected by 'Sukunahikona''s ability, it wouldn't have any effect.
This was because Stussy's development of Imperial Arms did not surpass Esdeath's Haki.
The next moment, Esdeath swung her racket and received the tennis ball, invisible to the naked eye, head-on.
Her racket's gaps had long been sealed with ice crystals, so even the smallest tennis ball couldn't pass through.
When the tennis ball touched these ice crystals, it began to be rapidly frozen, forming an increasingly large ice sphere.
Stussy frowned slightly at this sight, which meant Esdeath had broken her serve.
"Heh heh, in such a high concentration cold air environment, the blank area you created for the tennis ball is like a black line scraped open on a snowfield, it couldn't be more obvious."
Esdeath's azure eyes held a smile.
Her proud appearance perfectly displayed the temperament of the 'Ice Queen'.
As soon as she finished speaking, the surface of the ice sphere turned pitch black, and it was hit back by her equally pitch black racket.
[Whoosh----]
[Bang!]
In an instant, a black light beam drew a diagonal line in the air, shooting straight towards the bottom corner position of the opponent's half-court.
"Don't even think about it!"
Stussy instantly used 'Shave' and appeared at the bottom line, gazing head-on at the incoming black light beam.
She knew Lord Imu was definitely watching here, so she didn't want to lose this match easily.
At least she had to show strength not much weaker than Esdeath.
"Daikokuten!"
Otsutsuki Isshiki's mutated Rinnegan once again came into play.
A mass of dark red spiral energy appeared mid-air between Stussy and the black light beam.
The next moment, the black light beam flew directly into the inside of the energy mass, disappearing without a trace.
Esdeath raised an eyebrow and exclaimed in surprise, "The ball has my Haki on it, how could your ability take effect on it?"
Stussy smiled and said, "I didn't use my ability on the tennis ball, I just created an entrance and let it fly in by itself."
Daikokuten is one of Otsutsuki Isshiki's Rinnegan abilities.
It has two uses.
One is to store shrunken objects in a time-stopped dimensional space.
They can also be instantly summoned out of the space at any time, within a range of roughly one kilometer in diameter.
The second is to summon out a teleportation gate like the one just seen.
It can be used to travel through different dimensional spaces or for free teleportation in the real world.
It was also Otsutsuki Isshiki's most frequently used ability during interstellar travel.
Or rather, every Otsutsuki clan member has this space teleportation ability, with only slight differences in form at most.
So the tennis ball that had just been confiscated by the Daikokuten teleportation gate was currently in a time-stopped space.
But immediately, it was summoned out by Stussy, except it was in Esdeath's half-court.
Everyone saw a dark red vortex appear beside Esdeath.
Then that black light beam reappeared, maintaining its original speed and strength, instantly shattering the surface ice layer at the bottom corner and bouncing out of the court!
"Game, Stussy, 5-5, change sides!"
Historia thought excitedly, this match was too good!
Suddenly, Esdeath raised her hand and questioned, "Wait, she used her ability to send the ball back, but her racket didn't even touch the ball, does that count as a point?"
Everyone present was stunned after hearing this, and then began thinking.
Indeed, this wasn't combat, but playing tennis. So no matter what ability is used to serve or return, the racket and tennis ball should have contact.
Otherwise, one could completely abandon the racket and compete solely with their own abilities.
But then it couldn't be considered playing tennis, right?
Historia also thought of this, and a look of hesitation appeared on her face.
Stussy also spoke up, "Then if I had just summoned that ball out of bounds behind me, would that count as Highness Esdeath's serve being out?"
Historia nodded. Returning requires racket contact, but making the opponent's hit ball go out of bounds definitely doesn't require a racket.
So no matter what, Esdeath would lose a point.
The three of them quickly confirmed and added these two new rules, namely that Stussy's Daikokuten could only be used for defense and not for offense.
"Then isn't Stussy invincible in terms of defense?" Kurome outside the court frowned.
Akame nodded in agreement, "Indeed, whether it's a serve or a return, she can send the ball out of bounds."
"But this technique definitely has considerable cost, she can't keep using it."
Mikasa also joined the discussion, and then heard Tsunade say:
"Highness Esdeath can directly freeze incoming balls in the air, her defense is actually quite formidable as well."
"It's just that Stussy's defense also includes the ability to score."
"But Highness Esdeath's Haki and strength are quite a bit stronger than hers, if she doesn't use Daikokuten, it's also hard for her to receive it."
Akame, Kurome, Mikasa, and Rico Brzenska kept nodding as they listened, expressing understanding.
Just as Tsunade said, Esdeath and Stussy inside the court then fell into an agonizing tug-of-war.
Under intense offense and defense, they almost alternated points,
Until the score reached 6-6, officially entering the final tie-break.
In the tie-break, a point is awarded for each ball. The contestant who first reaches 7 points and leads the opponent by more than 2 points wins.
It is a great test of the contestant's technique, tactics, psychological quality, and physical fitness level.
Especially physical ability!
(End of this chapter)
