The Crumbling Red Line

"Rumble!"

At the summit of the Red Line, flames that could burn everything and frost that could freeze all things erupted simultaneously. The battle between Yaen and Im had fully broken out.

But... strong!

Far too strong!

Facing Im, who had truly begun to attack, Yaen felt as though he were facing the entire world.

Even though Yaen had pushed the powers of Zanka no Tachi and Great Crimson Lotus Hyōrinmaru to their limits, the aftershocks alone created the terrifying spectacle of crimson flames filling the sky and frost spreading across the earth atop the Red Line. Yaen was practically completely suppressed.

"Boom!"

With another strike, Im's fair arm easily pierced through the fifteen-million-degree heat and slammed into Yaen's chest.

"Dankū!"

Yaen gave a soft shout, and an incomparably sturdy invisible barrier formed out of thin air.

"Bang!"

Yet High-level Kidō: Dankū, which was enough to withstand Whitebeard's full-powered attack, shattered upon Im's assault. The attack then crashed into the Zanpakutō Yaen had raised before him.

"Boom~"

At that moment, Yaen felt as though the entire world had slammed into him. His body was blasted away like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Im looked both sacred and harmless, but while her feet barely moved, she appeared before Yaen at an unbelievable speed.

No! That wasn't speed. It was teleportation...

Yaen's heart jolted. He thrust Zanka no Tachi into the ground with his reverse hand, slowing his flight backward while endless flames erupted around him.

"Zanka no Tachi: South - Kakajūmanokushi Daisōjin!"

In an instant, the crimson flames completely swallowed and concealed Yaen's figure. At the same time, countless charred skeleton armies emerged from within the flames and surged toward Im one after another.

Facing those charred skeleton armies, Im's expression still did not change in the slightest. With casual