Fate's Choice: Livestream at the Start Summoning Billions of Ravens

"Sword is not a sword, qi is not qi—above the nine heavens, Taibai returns to its rightful place!"

As the last syllable faded, the world fell silent.

It was not simply silence, but the arrival of something far greater, instantly encroaching on the space where all matter vibrated.

The industrial black smoke, exhaust fumes, and suffocating "Great Depression" gray filter that originally permeated the sky above the mirrored Washington, D.C., were forcibly torn apart at this moment by a pure, almost transparent white radiance.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

But under the gaze of billions of eyes around the world, the figure in the blue robe sitting cross-legged in mid-air has changed.

His figure began to blur, as if he no longer belonged to this three-dimensional space.

The once unrestrained blue robe has now transformed into a flowing nebula brocade.

Behind him, the once-dim sky seemed to have been wiped clean by an invisible hand, revealing the deepest and most vast cosmic background.

A star so dazzling that one dared not look directly at it hung above his head.

Venus.

It is Venus, which governs killing and warfare; it is also the dawn, which governs new life.

EX-rank Anti-World Noble Phantasm - True Name Release: [Venus - Venus Descends].

In the center of the battlefield.

Roosevelt did not stop despite the change in the opponent's momentum.

As a leader who once led a superpower out of its predicament, his will was as hard as steel.

"Whether you are a god or a demon, once you set foot on this land, you must obey my laws!"

Roosevelt roared and slammed his arms down.

Rumble—!

That towering, hundred-foot-tall [state apparatus], cast from gold and steel, carrying the weight of an entire era and the collective will of hundreds of millions of people, with its overwhelming golden hand, slammed down on that tiny speck of light without any hesitation.

Before the big stick even arrived, the terrifying wind pressure had already crushed the asphalt road into dust.

however.

Faced with this blow that could shatter mountains and suppress the fate of the nation, Li Bai, at the center of the spotlight, didn't even lift an eyelid.

He did not draw his sword.

He didn't even stand up.

Just as that enormous golden hand was about to swat him like a fly, only three feet above his head.

Ding.

A crisp, melodious sound, like jade striking each other, rang out.

The giant hand, carrying boundless power and imbued with "absolute law," stopped.

What blocked it was neither a sturdy shield nor a sharp sword aura.

Instead, it is a thin, soap bubble-like barrier of starlight.

"How is that possible?!"

His Noble Phantasm is the ultimate combination of the four concepts of "law", "order", "economy" and "military", and has absolute priority within the Reality Marble. How could it be blocked by something that looks so fragile?

The next second, a scene that Roosevelt would never forget unfolded.

sizzle-

The giant golden hand that came into contact with the starlight barrier was not repelled.

It is disappearing.

The gold, steel, and even every "legal" rune inscribed on the "state apparatus" that make up the system are all silently decomposed and restored the moment they touch that layer of starlight.

Matter returns to atoms, and concepts return to nothingness.

"The laws of mortals can govern the living beings, but they cannot govern the stars in the sky."

Li Bai finally spoke.

His voice was no longer as intoxicated and unrestrained as before, but had become ethereal and lofty, devoid of any earthly warmth.

"Your kingdom is built on the earth and operates by exploitation and order."

"But my path lies beyond the nine heavens."

Li Bai slowly opened his eyes.

Those eyes no longer held black and white; they were now just two burning golden nebulae.

He looked at the crumbling golden giant as if it were a toy, exquisite yet destined to decay.

"In this dimension, your 'law' is invalid."

The moment the words fell.

Snap! Snap!

A loud crash, like shattering glass, echoed throughout Mirror Washington.

That was not the breaking of the physical body, but the collapse of the "world".

Roosevelt's proudly established world order, the sky that symbolized America's glory and suffering in the 1930s, began to show dense cracks.

The cracks spread rapidly, tearing the gray sky, towering buildings, and smoking factories to shreds.

Li Bai slowly raised his right hand and gently tapped the giant of the [state apparatus] that was still struggling and trying to reorganize.

"break."

Words become law.

call out--!

A beam of golden starlight, not particularly grand, only about the thickness of a thumb, shot out from his fingertip.

It had no spectacular display, no dazzling explosion.

It's just fast.

It's almost beyond the reach of thought, almost beyond the reach of space.

The starlight pierced through the chest of the hundred-foot giant in an instant, leaving a round hole that was clear from front to back.

After a brief silence.

The golden giant, representing America's highest military might, froze in place.

Immediately afterwards, countless fine cracks spread across its entire body, centered on the round hole.

slam-la-

There were no screams, no roars.

This once invincible behemoth was utterly shattered into billions of golden specks of light by a single finger, dissipating like fireflies on a summer night within the collapsing barrier.

With the destruction of the Noble Phantasm, the backlash followed.

Roosevelt, standing atop Capitol Hill, suddenly shuddered.

The immense magical power that had filled his body was instantly drained, and his robust body, constructed from magical power, began to fade like an old roll of film.

The once straight spine bent again, and the once full muscles rapidly atrophied.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed back into that frail, elderly disabled man in a wheelchair.

This time, however, his wheelchair was broken.

Roosevelt did not fall to the ground despite losing his support.

With astonishing perseverance, he used the last remaining section of broken wall behind him to forcefully support his body and prevent him from falling.

Even in defeat, he remains the lion who never bows his head.

The surrounding scenery was changing rapidly.

The inherent barrier completely collapsed, revealing the original desolate and dilapidated ruins of Washington in the mirror world.

In the sky, the starlight slowly faded.

The divinity within Li Bai faded, and he reverted to being the poet in a blue robe, sword in hand.

He floated down slowly from the sky and stood ten meters away from Roosevelt.

"Is this... the power of God?"

Roosevelt looked at his hands, which were turning transparent, but his face showed no anger or resentment at his defeat.

There was only a deep sense of loneliness.

"I once thought that as long as we could unite the will of everyone, put power in a cage, and establish a perfect order, humanity could overcome everything, even fate."

Roosevelt raised his head, his deep blue eyes looking at Li Bai one last time, then at the illusory yet real sky above.

"So, it turns out, above the human world, there really is a heaven..."

He lost.

It lost to a higher-dimensional force, to that unreasonable transcendence.

For him, who believed in "human will can conquer nature" and "the omnipotence of the system" throughout his life, this was perhaps the cruelest blow, but it was also perhaps... a relief.

"Your country is very strong."

Li Bai untied the wine gourd from his waist, tilted his head back and took a swig, then turned the gourd upside down and poured the remaining wine onto the scorched earth in front of him.

This is a tribute to the strong.

"If this were a war between mortals, you might be invincible, but alas..." Li Bai shook his head, a carefree smile playing on his lips, "What I cultivate is not the law of the mortal world."

Upon hearing this, Roosevelt was slightly taken aback, then smiled with relief.

"Too."

"If I had the chance, I would really like to visit your fairy mountains in the East, to see if there is truly freedom from want there."

After saying that...

Roosevelt's figure completely transformed into countless golden particles, which drifted away in the wind.