Faced with Burgess' terrifying strike, an attack powerful enough to split mountains, the air over the ruined port seemed to be sucked dry.
A crushing, iron-heavy pressure slammed toward Ain and the others!
"Scatter! Find cover! Fire at will!"
Ain showed not the slightest hint of panic.
In that split-second, her voice remained perfectly calm and decisive.
She knew all too well that against a monster of this level, keeping ordinary marines grouped together would only turn them into a target wiped out in one blow.
Before her voice even finished echoing, she advanced instead of retreating.
Her foot dug into the ground.
Soru, one of the Marine Six Styles, activated in a flash!
Her figure vanished, leaving only a faint afterimage.
She narrowly slipped past the lethal arc of Burgess' elbow strike!
BOOOOOM!!
The shockwave grazed Ain's body and smashed violently into the ground behind her.
The earth collapsed like a brittle cookie crushed under a giant's heel.
A crater more than ten meters wide blew open, rubble and dirt exploding outward like a storm of shrapnel!
Just the aftershock alone struck several marines who failed to dodge in time, sending them reeling with bloody wounds.
"Oh? Not bad speed, woman!"
Having missed, Burgess grinned, a beast's grin, wild and thrilled.
He twisted his waist, and his other arm, coated in pitch-black Armament Haki, swung out like a massive iron sledgehammer, roaring through the air toward the spot Ain was about to land!
This strike carried both overwhelming speed and brute strength, sealing nearly every escape route.
"Perpetual Snow!"
At that desperate instant, Monet's cold, crystalline voice rang out.
She unfurled her snowy wings, rose into the air, and pressed her hands downward.
A surge of dense frost burst outward from her.
Ground, walls, rubble, everything froze in an instant.
A slick sheet of ice swept across the entire battlefield.
Burgess' foot slipped, just the slightest, nearly invisible hitch in his momentum.
But among high-level combatant, a fraction of a second decides everything.
Ain seized the opening with perfect precision.
"Kami-e!"
Her body softened like a sheet of paper, twisting unnaturally with the passing wind of
Burgess' swing, slipping past the attack at an impossible angle.
At the same moment, her fingers tightened together like a blade, Armament Haki focusing sharply at the tips, gleaming with a deadly black sheen.
"Shigan!"
Swish!
Her finger shot forward like a fired bullet, striking the gap at Burgess' waist with pinpoint accuracy!
"Useless!"
Burgess didn't even bother to block.
His muscles, hard as forged steel, were already coated in flowing black Haki, gathering instantly at his waist and solidifying his defense like an iron fortress.
CLANG!
A crisp metallic ring echoed.
Ain's Shigan, strong enough to pierce steel plates, hit Burgess as if she had jabbed an alloy wall.
His body only swayed slightly.
She couldn't drive her strike even a millimeter deeper.
A massive rebound force surged into her arm, numbing it to the bone.
"Not done yet!"
Failing to break through, Ain immediately retreated, using the recoil to pull back.
She never lingered.
At the same time, Monet, who had been circling at the battlefield's edge, struck again.
"Snow Spears!"
Dozens of densely packed, spears materialized in the air, firing toward Burgess from all directions like a shower!
These weren't meant to kill, they were meant to restrict movement.
"Annoying pests!"
Infuriated by the harassment, Burgess abandoned chasing Ain and hammered his fists wildly like a pile-driver, smashing every incoming spear to pieces.
"Now! Full attack!"
Ain seized the moment and shouted.
The marines, already in position, leaned out from cover and opened fire, their rifles spitting flames.
A storm of bullets rained precisely toward Burgess' face, joints, and other weaker defensive points.
Explosions, gunfire, whirling snow, Burgess' enraged roars, all blended into a fierce, tragic symphony of battle.
From far away, Rehn, unable to move, watched in stunned disbelief.
Never in his life had he imagined that these non high ranking marines could fight a monster like this to such a degree.
The short-haired woman, her movements ghost-swift, her combat instincts razor-sharp, always found the fleeting moments to strike back.
The winged snow woman, her battlefield control was exquisite, flawless.
Their coordination was seamless.
But just as a spark of hope ignited in Rehn's chest, cruel reality crushed it.
"ALL OF YOU-DIE!!!"
Unable to break through them quickly, Burgess finally snapped.
He abandoned all defense, letting the bullets, mere scratches to him, hit freely.
With a thunderous roar, he drew Armament Haki to its absolute limit!
"Shockwave Earth Punch!!"
He slammed both fists into the ground.
KABOOOOOM!!!
A monstrous shockwave, visible to the naked eye, erupted from him, sweeping across the entire battlefield like a tsunami!
The earth screamed.
The air trembled.
This wasn't an attack, this was a wide-area annihilation meant to destroy everything, friend or foe.
"Triple Snow Wall!"
Monet's face paled as she instantly erected three massive ice walls, each several meters thick.
"Everyone! FULL DEFENSE!" Ain shouted, coating her body fully in Armament Haki.
But in the face of absolute power, all efforts looked painfully helpless.
CRACK!
BOOM!!!
The first wall shattered instantly on contact.
Then the second.
Then the third.
The unstoppable shockwave plowed through everything and slammed into Ain, Monet, and every marine behind them!
"Gah!!"
"Uwaaaah!!"
Screams filled the air.
Everyone, including Ain and Monet, was hurled violently away, like leaves tossed in a storm.
Ain hit the ground hard, blood trickling from her lips.
Her organs felt displaced, and her arms trembled with weakness.
Monet's wings shattered; her face went deathly pale.
She was gravely wounded.
The ordinary marines fared far worse, more than half were instantly incapacitated.
"Wahahahaha…"
Burgess rose from the epicenter of destruction.
He looked at the fallen marines with the cruel, triumphant grin of a victor.
"Now, who's left that can stop me?"
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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