Chapter 67: Not Now
Kyle quickly caught up to Raika and his two remaining men.
But now, an even more terrifying obstacle blocked their path—a vast Lightning Pool, stretching over a hundred meters wide.
This wasn't solid ground like before. It was a boiling lake of liquid lightning and plasma!
The surface wasn't water; it was a churning, exploding chaos of light, roaring with a deafening RUMBLE. Thick bolts of destructive lightning cascaded like waterfalls from the cliffs on either side, smashing into the pool and kicking up violent waves of electricity.
The air was thick with the scent of ozone and destruction. Just standing near the edge made their skin prickle and their scalps tingle. Their natural lightning resistance meant nothing here.
The strategy of using bodies as stepping stones was useless against this fluid, shifting nightmare.
Raika's face went pale, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
Give up? Turn back?
The outer perimeter might already be closed. And even if it wasn't... after sacrificing so much to get here, could he really just walk away?
"P-Prince... what do we do?" Raizo stammered, staring at the abyss that threatened to swallow everything.
Swim? Impossible. The moment they touched that liquid lightning, they'd be vaporized.
Kyle watched their desperate struggle, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. He walked up to them slowly.
"Hey," he said, his voice laced with mockery. "You guys gave me quite the 'demonstration' earlier. I guess it's my turn to show you how it's done. But..."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Raika's dark face. "Whether you can learn this method... depends entirely on your own skill."
Before Raika could react, Kyle blurred into motion.
He leaped straight out over the boiling pool!
Just as his feet were about to touch the surface of the lightning, the Aura concentrated in his soles exploded downward!
It wasn't a defense. It was a highly compressed jet of propulsion!
BOOM!
The surface of the Lightning Pool was blasted open by the sheer force of the air pressure, creating a momentary depression where the lightning was forced away.
Using the recoil from that explosion of force, Kyle launched himself back into the air!
Like he was walking on invisible stairs, he fired bursts of Aura three more times, creating temporary footholds on the surface of the deadly pool.
He zig-zagged through the air with graceful ease, landing lightly on the far bank. He turned around, looking back at the dumbfounded Raika with a look that clearly said: Did you get all that?
That look shattered Raika's last shred of sanity.
The rage, jealousy, and humiliation exploded. He, the First Prince of a nation, was being mocked by some nameless outsider—and with a technique he couldn't even comprehend, let alone copy!
"RAAAAAAGH!" Raika roared like a beast, his eyes bloodshot.
Before Raizo and the other guard could react, Raika bent down and seized their ankles in a vice-like grip!
"Prince! You—!" Raizo's eyes widened in horror. He realized instantly what was happening. The despair was total.
We really were just tools... disposable stepping stones... from the very beginning!
"GET... OVER... THERE!" Raika screamed. His arms bulged with terrifying strength as he spun them like human hammers, faster and faster, the wind howling around them.
At the peak of the spin, Raika let go!
Raizo and the guard flew like meat-missiles, screaming as they were hurled out over the Lightning Pool!
And in that same instant, Raika moved!
With a flash of lightning at his feet, he shot forward, landing brutally on the backs of his flying comrades mid-air!
SPLASH! SPLASH!
Their bodies hit the surface like surfboards, carving through the liquid lightning, carrying Raika forward on momentum alone!
Raika stood on them, his eyes locked on the far shore.
When they had glided about eighty meters, just as his human "surfboards" were about to sink and be consumed, Raika stomped down with one final, massive burst of strength!
He leaped!
BOOM!
The two guards didn't even have time to scream before the roiling plasma swallowed them whole.
Raika barely cleared the last twenty meters, crashing onto the solid ground on the other side. He rolled several times, his clothes tattered, his skin scorched and smoking in places, but he had made it.
Kyle watched quietly. He witnessed the absolute, ruthless cruelty Raika displayed to achieve his goal.
Slowly, Kyle raised a hand and gave the panting, battered Prince a thumbs-up.
But his eyes held no praise. Only cold, biting sarcasm.
"Impressive. Truly impressive," Kyle said flatly. "To get across, you used your last companions as surfboards into hell. Truly worthy of the First Prince. You really are... something else."
Raika slowly clenched his fist, the bones cracking.
He looked up at Kyle, his eyes filled with a naked, tangible killing intent. Violent electrical energy began to gather around him.
"Kid..." Raika's voice was raspy and dangerous. "You... surprise me."
His aura locked onto Kyle. A fight was imminent.
"What?" Kyle remained relaxed, crossing his arms, looking at him as if he didn't feel the pressure at all. "You want to fight me here?"
Raika stared at Kyle, his chest heaving. A war raged inside him.
Kill him! I have to kill him!
But... Kyle had crossed the pool with ease. He showed no fear. Raika knew deep down that this wouldn't be a quick fight.
If they fought here, even if Raika won, he would be exhausted or grievously wounded.
He would never survive the final zone to claim the Devil Fruit.
In the end, his greed for the fruit outweighed his rage.
Raika forcibly suppressed the killing intent that threatened to burst out of him.
"I will kill you," he snarled. "But not now."