Was Crocodile really dead... dead... dead?
No one knew.
But in his current state, facing the combined bombardment of demonic fire and demonic ice, his chances of survival were indeed slim.
And at that very instant.
It was as though Red Lotus and Esdeath had used Mahapadma.
All of time and space seemed to fall still once more.
The ground beneath Lilith and Nahama slowly bulged upward, and then a crimson blaze burst through the earth.
Like an upward-erupting fountain, it shot straight up before them, casting its scorching red glow across the demons' increasingly stunned faces.
The entire process was unbelievably fast.
Lilith and Nahama had only just met eyes with the lava man who had suddenly appeared before them when a fierce burning pain surged through their abdomens.
Before they could properly process it.
Amid a ring of exploding air and deafening thunder, the two were sent flying on the spot like blurred meteor trails, leaving a series of sonic boom clouds in the air behind them.
[Boom boom boom boom.]
In the end, Lilith and Nahama crashed heavily into two active volcanoes more than ten kilometers away and vanished from sight.
"Not bad. I admit that you deserve the title of admiral."
At the same time.
The towering figure dripping with magma landed before Crocodile, who was still half-kneeling on the ground.
A thick ring of lava surrounded the latter.
Half of it burned with black flames, while the other half evaporated against black ice.
It turned out that at the critical moment.
The lava wall that had erupted from the ground had saved his life.
"Sakazuki."
Crocodile stared at the fiery-red back before him, his feelings complicated as he murmured the name.
He had heard appreciation and respect in Sakazuki's words.
How rare was that coming