The Fake Flame
The wind stopped.
All the sounds on the Battlefield —explosions, shouts, the clash of swords—were swallowed up by some invisible force in the same instant.
--silence.
"Giggle... giggle--"
A low, eerie murmur echoed from the depths of the void.
It was a kind of syllable that made the soul tremble, as if a million snakes were writhing in the veins at the same time, murmuring, laughing, and chanting unknown incantations.
The air suddenly turned cold.
Even the flames trembled at this moment, as if suppressed and dared not continue burning.
Amidst the ruins of the Battlefield, several figures that had already fallen suddenly twitched.
--Saint Nusjuro, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, Saint Warcury, Saint Mars, Maffey.
Their bodies, which had still retained some warmth, suddenly became dry and withered.
The skin collapsed, the blood flowed backward, and the bones made a strange "crackling" sound as they shattered.
In just a few seconds, the five saintly bodies turned into five empty skeletons.
The ashes were swept up by the wind along the ground, scattering in all directions—pointing towards the sky.
It was an invisible force pulling at their "souls".
"What... what the hell is this?!"
The lazy smile on Kizaru's face completely disappeared.
For the first time, he abandoned his joking tone, frowning as he looked up at the sky.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
Akainu, along with Sabo, Crow, and Okama King, are suppressing the remnants of the Holy Knights.
The five knights were still struggling to hold on, but in the next instant, their movements stopped simultaneously.
Their pupils suddenly contracted, the whites of their eyes rolled back, and their blood seemed to be ignited by some force.
"God is invincible!!"
The five of them roared in unison!
The voice pierced the heavens and earth, carrying the madness and despair of a fanatic.
Their skin began to crack, blood seeped out along the cracks and evaporated instantly, black cracks spreading across their bodies as if to tear their souls out of their flesh.
"Wait, they're going to--!"
Sabo's pupils contracted sharply; he had just taken a step...
"Boom!!"
Five people – Explosion!
There was no blood, no severed limbs; their bodies transformed directly into black mist. Five twisted vortexes spun in mid-air, condensing into a violent dark storm that soared into the sky!
Akainu roared, his fists gathering magma.
"Great Eruption!!"
He swung his fist with all his might, and the blazing shockwave crashed into the black mist, but was instantly swallowed up by that force, and was instead forced back several steps.
"Hateful...!"
Sakazuki gritted his teeth, and charred cracks appeared on the surface of the magma, as if it had been eroded by some kind of cold air.
Sabo's eyes widened in horror, "Their lives... have been taken away!"
High altitude--
Countless fragments of darkness converged from all directions, like the silent screams of a thousand souls.
The fragments spun, twisted, attracted each other, and slowly reformed in mid-air.
A blurry and eerie outline is taking shape.
The heavens and earth seemed to darken.
A deep roar erupted from the depths of their silhouettes, echoing in everyone's chest.
"Eight hundred years --"
It continued whispering, as if listing and accusing: "Except for Joy Boy— "
"This is the first time someone has ever said this."
The voice rose, transforming into an angry roar, as if tearing the entire sky apart:
"Let's make sure you're not hurt so badly—!"
As the last word fell, the sky exploded with a deafening roar, and a gigantic black shadow tore out of the vortex!
His form was not yet complete; half of his face was obscured by a swallowing black aura, while the other side displayed a cold, hard texture like rock.
Countless fragments of shadow writhed and piled up on His body like living things, then were absorbed and healed; the incomplete were reborn, and the decayed were recreated.
He slowly raised his jet-black arm, his index finger pointing like a spearhead at the ruins of Pangaea Castle in the distance.
The somber whisper echoed again, "You... all... deserve."
The next instant, deep within Pangaea Castle, an ancient control console silently started up.
The old gears and rune light strips flashed simultaneously, activating a circuit buried deep underground.
High in the sky, the previously scattered energy lines were suddenly drawn together and began to converge at the same point, reflecting an increasingly bright halo in the sky.
The world's magnetic field was violently disturbed, the sea surface churned, and the climate of distant islands changed simultaneously, as if a storm had been ordered to rise.
Above the clouds, a massive shadow gradually took shape—a colossal ship shrouded in mist and bearing ancient inscriptions.
The circular muzzle gradually became clear, with countless light patterns lighting up and rotating around its perimeter, pointing towards the earth.
--Ancient Weapon, Uranus, the Uranus, is being revived.
With a single wave of his hand, Imu unleashed a black tornado that shot straight through the ship's hull.
The voice transformed into a furious roar, echoing in everyone's ears: "I will destroy you—"
"All gone!!"
The sky roared!
The cannons of Uranus began to converge beams of light, and countless energy pulses overlapped like waves, forming a destructive ring that caused the entire sea surface to resonate and roar.
The scale of that energy far exceeded the concept of "island destruction," carrying an absolute pressure capable of tearing the heavens and earth apart.
The earth is groaning.
Saint Garling coughed up blood, and even though Kizaru's Ama no Murakumo against his throat, he still threw his head back and let out a wild laugh:
"Haha--You're all dead!!"
His eyes held a morbid excitement, as if he had found his refuge on the edge of an abyss.
"That is the 'Divine Judgment'! None of you will survive!!" he roared.
Above the sky, the light had reached its peak; it was a white energy stream powerful enough to incinerate the continent, like a celestial hammer pointing towards the earth, about to fall in the next moment.
Everyone was looking up; at that moment, even breathing stopped.
And at this moment--
Roy suddenly laughed.
He slowly raised his head, a cold smile curving his lips, a cold glint in his eyes.
"Imu..."
"Do you think what you stole was the real 'Mother Flame'?"
That sentence fell like a boulder crashing into a silent abyss.
Imu's movements suddenly froze, and his expression changed completely in that instant.
"What did you say?!!"
Roy simply raised his hand and pointed to the colossal ship high in the sky that blotted out the sun— Uranus, the Uranus.
"You want to use it to destroy the world and restart?"
He chuckled softly, his tone calm yet tinged with mockery.
"Then you might need to check who gave you the 'fire' you're holding."
The next second--
A low hiss came from deep within the hull of the Uranus, as if some kind of energy line had been severed.
Immediately afterwards, countless sirens echoed from the sky!
"Energy core anomaly!"
"Main furnace imbalance!"
"Energy is extremely unstable!"
System crash warning -- Warning!!
High in the sky, the blinding white light became chaotic for a moment, then turned into an ominous dark red.
Imu's pupils constricted sharply, his voice almost Sky Splitter: "No... impossible!! This isn't the real spark?!"
"That's right."
He smiled slightly and replied calmly, "That's a 'Shadow Core' created in Punk Hazard, mimicking the energy wavelength of the Mother Flame."
He tilted his head, his tone carrying a youthful flippancy. "It's specifically designed to fool 'gods'."
"A bomb--"
Imu's roar almost Heaven Breaker.
"You bastard—!"
The next moment,
Boom!!
The sky collapsed and the earth cracked.
Uranus's cannon barrel suddenly exploded in a flash of light!
The energy flowed back instantly, and flames and fragments fell like a waterfall.
A chain reaction ensued inside the giant ship, with explosions spreading across its hull one after another.
Thump!--Thump!--Thump!
A series of explosions tore through the sky, Shockwaves that generated high-temperature air waves swept across the entire Red Line!
Far out at sea in the New World, people looked up and saw the night sky swallowed by a huge ring of fire. The remains of Uranus fell, leaving countless trails of light, like countless meteors falling into the ocean at the same time.
From space, at that moment, a dazzling spark burst forth on the planet's surface.
An energy release comparable to a stellar explosion turned half the sky a fiery red.
Roy stood silently in the blast, the firelight reflected in his eyes.
"Human Flame--"
"It's not something you can steal."
Imu's roar then echoed throughout the world-
It was a roar a mixture of anger, pain, and resentment.
"Ah--Ahhh!!"
"I'm going to drag you all to the Underworld!!"