"Damn it, their speed is insane! I can't even land a hit!" The scarred Elder spat angrily onto the ground. The commotion had stirred so much dust into the air that even his mouth was full of grit.
"What in the world are these monsters? Their bodies are massive, yet they move this fast? It defies all reason!" The curly-haired Elder's voice carried both awe and unease as he pondered whether such creatures could truly exist in this world.
Everyone knew the larger a beast's body, the slower and more cumbersome it became. Yet before their eyes, that truth was shattered.
Could there be a hidden land, home to terrifying tribes of creatures humanity had never discovered?
The thought alone made the four Elders' hearts tremble. Rakuya's presence already weighed on them like a mountain, and now these beasts added to their fear.
The summoned monsters, however, gave them no time for reflection. If anything, their attacks grew even more savage.
High above, the bird that resembled a phoenix stretched its neck and loosed a screech so sharp it felt like it drilled into the soul.
"My ears! What is this cursed sound?!"
Even Marines far from the battlefield winced in agony. The four Elders, closest to the source, sweated heavily as they fought to resist the maddening cry.
On the ground, the colossal rhinoceros thundered forward. Each charge made the earth quake as if stricken by an earthquake, rubble exploding skyward in a storm of stone and dust.
What kind of power was this?
From a distance, the Marines watching felt their knees shake uncontrollably. Was this what the true peak of the world looked like? How could mere humans possibly resist such might?
"Three Thousand Six Hundred Death God Tornadoes!" The swordsman Elder's face hardened as he raised his blade before his chest. With a sharp flick, countless sword auras shot forth, fusing into a colossal tornado of blades.
"I'll take care of that filthy bird!" His eyes locked on the blazing giant in the sky with grim certainty.
In the blink of an eye, the whirlwind engulfed the monstrous bird. But instead of the sound of flesh being torn apart, a metallic clang echoed back the blade aura had struck something impossibly hard.
"What?"
The Elder swallowed hard, stunned. This was his ultimate technique, one that even the world's strongest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, would struggle to counter. Yet a mere beast had brushed it aside.
Before he could recover, the fiery wings of the giant bird beat furiously. Flames roared as gale winds surged. Trees as wide as several men standing abreast were ripped from their roots, spinning helplessly through the air.
The hurricane shredded everything in its path like blades. In moments, the once-splendid Holy Land was reduced to rubble, its luxury scattered like dust.
"Pressure Barrier!"
The charging rhinoceros smashed into an invisible wall with a deafening clang. The Elder who conjured it flushed crimson, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"This brute's strength… stronger than a giant's! My barrier can barely hold!"
Cracks spread like spiderwebs across the white shield.
"Impossible!"
The rhinoceros snorted, shook its horned head, then charged again with even greater force.
"Puuhh!"
The curly-haired Elder could take no more. He spat blood, his body wracked with pain.
"Beast! You dare!" He roared, lifting his glowing right fist, the air itself warping under the sheer force of his power. "Pressure Fist!"
With a flash of Soru, he vanished and reappeared before the charging rhino. His fist came crashing down like a hammer of the gods.
The ground shuddered, and the monstrous beast was hurled backward.
Boom!
The rhinoceros slammed into the earth, carving out a crater tens of meters wide.
"Did I… finish it?"
The Elder exhaled, tension ebbing from his shoulders as he saw the beast fall.
"Behind you! Look out!"
The scarred Elder's shout came too late.
Rumble… rumble…
The curly-haired Elder turned, his face draining of color. A massive tail, thick as a tower and armored in scales like steel, whipped down toward him. The serpent's strike flattened buildings in its path with that terrifying sound.
He had no time to react.
Wham!
The serpent's tail slammed into his abdomen, hurling him like a ragdoll. Blood sprayed from his mouth in a crimson arc. He crashed through tree after massive tree before finally coming to a halt, broken and battered.
…
"Damn beasts!" The scarred Elder's face twisted with fury, veins bulging as he roared, "Armament… Rankyaku… Crescent Moon Slash!"
He launched himself into the air with Moonwalk, his right leg slicing down. A blade of blackened Armament-infused energy, dozens of meters wide, screamed forth.
The air shrieked under the strike, collapsing into a vacuum before exploding outward in a thunderous boom.
"Even the Rokushiki can be fused with Haki… as expected of the Gorosei."
A Marine rear admiral, barely pulling himself from the rubble, gaped in awe. He quickly remembered the curly-haired Elder, flung into the unknown by the serpent's tail.
"What are you waiting for? Support the Gorosei!" he bellowed.
On the battlefield, the serpent writhed, sensing the threat. Its massive body coiled, scales grinding with a piercing hiss as it prepared to meet the strike.
Clang!
The black blade crashed into the serpent's tail. The sheer force split the earth beneath, and the aftershock carved deep trenches into the ground, as if trying to cleave the battlefield itself in half.
The detonation was deafening. Smoke and dust billowed upward once more, swallowing the entire battlefield in a gray haze.
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