Silence fell over the Red Line.
Five monstrous figures from myth and legend had transformed the land into a place where even gods would fear to tread. Their terrifying auras wove together into an invisible net, sealing off the sky and the earth. The very air felt solid, sharp enough to crush any living thing that dared to enter their domain. The World Government's highest authority, the Five Elders, had finally revealed their true, ferocious power.
At the center of it all, Kyle slowly straightened his body. The light from the surrounding fires and the Elders' eerie glows cast shadows across his scarred, rock-hard muscles. He breathed out a mist of bloody air, but his golden eyes showed no fear. Instead, a raging fire burned within them, an excitement he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
How many years had it been? Since he had reached the top of the food chain on these seas, how long had it been since he'd felt his own heart pound and his blood boil with the thrill of a real fight?
He flexed his slightly numb wrists and twisted his neck, making a series of sharp cracking sounds. Then, a wild and purely joyful grin spread across his face, showing his white teeth.
Kyle raised his index finger, slowly pointing at each of the five colossal monsters surrounding him. Finally, he brought his fingertip back to point at his own chest.
"Listen up."
His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the silence and reached the ears of every Elder.
"You've all been surrounded by me!"
Before the last word was spoken, his body dissolved into billions of tiny light particles. He became a streak of pure light that tore through the darkness, charging headfirst into the death trap the monsters had created.
"Light Wave: Myriad Star Rain!"
As he moved, countless particles of light peeled away from him, instantly forming a dense storm of light bullets that shot out in five different directions. Each bullet contained enough heat and force to punch through steel plating. For a moment, the entire sky was filled with a brilliant rain of death.
"Screech—!"
Saint Marcus Mars, the Warrior God of the Environment, let out a piercing cry. The massive wings of his Itsumade form flapped violently, creating a gale strong enough to blow away entire islands. At the same time, he opened his beak and spewed a river of rolling black, ominous flames. The wind fueled the fire, and the fire rode the wind.
The black inferno crashed into the rain of light. There was no massive explosion. Instead, the moment the light bullets touched the black flames, they were silently swallowed and destroyed. The clashing energies kicked up a massive cloud of smoke and dust, covering a large part of the battlefield.
Kyle's figure burst out from the smoke, his target shockingly clear—the creature that looked the most vulnerable up close, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn in his Ushi-Oni form.
"Sound Slash: Exploding Phoenix Cry!"
The black-gold naginata, Nidhogg, wrapped in Haki and high-frequency sound waves, tore through the air. The vibrations created a domineering, phoenix-shaped slash that shot directly at Saturn's face.
However, a cold gleam of steel arrived even faster.
"Clang!"
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro's ghostly figure swept in, his Shodai Kitetsu precisely blocking Kyle's attack. The moment their blades clashed, an intense cold spread from his sword, instantly freezing the ground around them. A glacier a hundred meters tall erupted from the earth, trying to trap Kyle within it.
Being singled out as the weak link, a flicker of annoyance crossed Saturn's monstrous face. He scrambled backward on his eight legs while spitting a thick stream of purple venom. The venom sizzled as it touched the hard rock of the Red Line, corroding it instantly.
"Evil Eye!"
As Saturn met Kyle's gaze, an invisible mental shockwave shot directly into Kyle's mind. Kyle's eyes narrowed, and for a split second, the world went blurry. It was an attack strong enough to break the will of a commander-level fighter. But for Kyle, it was only a momentary pause before his vision cleared.
He snorted coldly, and a high-frequency vibration wave spread out from his body. It instantly pushed back the corrosive venom and shattered the giant glacier into a sky full of ice shards.
"Light Illusion Mirage: Thousandfold Body!"
Using the ice and dust for cover, Kyle's figure split into two, then four… In the blink of an eye, over a thousand copies of Kyle appeared on the battlefield, each wielding a naginata and attacking the Five Elders from different directions. The clones were just illusions and couldn't do any real damage, but they were the perfect distraction.
The instant the clones drew the Elders' attention, the real Kyle appeared before Saturn as if he had teleported.
"Pfft!"
A flash of black-gold light, and it was over. Saturn let out a roar of pain. Two of his massive spider-like legs had been cleanly severed at the base.
But Kyle had no time to admire his work. An unstoppable, colossal force slammed into him from the side. Saint Topman Warcury, in his mountain-sized boar form, had charged in with enough power to crush anything in his path. From the other side, Saint Nusjuro's icy blade struck again, creating a perfect pincer attack.
Just then, a sharp, emerald-green slash tore through the air, aimed directly at Nusjuro.
"Boom!"
Nusjuro had no choice but to block it. The immense force of the blow pushed him back several steps, breaking the pincer attack. Hawkeye Mihawk now stood on a nearby boulder, the tip of his Black Blade, Yoru, glowing ominously.
"Hah! Good timing, Hawkeye," Kyle laughed, not sounding concerned at all. He turned to face the charging Saint Warcury. Instead of retreating, he advanced, channeling Haki and the power of his Devil Fruit into his blade. He swung it fiercely, aiming right for the Elder's massive tusks.
"God Avoidance!"
Boom—!!!!
A raging blast of Conqueror's Haki, wrapped in shockwaves, crashed directly into Saint Warcury's charge. The ground beneath Kyle's feet cracked and split apart as the immense force pushed him back hundreds of meters, his boots digging two deep furrows into the Red Line.
The struggle of strength wasn't over when the ground beneath him began to tremble violently. An alarm bell screamed in his mind. He immediately broke off his clash with Warcury, using the momentum to launch himself into the sky.
The next second, the giant, tooth-filled mouth of a sandworm erupted from where he had been standing, snapping shut on nothing but shattered rock. Saint Shepherd Ju Peter had made his move.
Kyle flipped in mid-air and landed lightly beside Mihawk. The two stood back to back, their expressions cold as they faced their enemies.
The skeletal horse, the giant boar, the sandworm, the great bird… and the Ushi-Oni whose legs had just been cut off. Saint Saturn stood glaring at Kyle, his eyes filled with fury. At the stumps of his severed limbs, new flesh was already wriggling and growing at a visible rate.
In just a few seconds, two brand-new legs had grown back, as if they were never gone.
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