"Five."
"They reeked so badly it was disgusting."
Lina tilted her head slightly, sensing those auras in the distance and immediately recognizing who had arrived. The only ones who could suddenly appear here were the Five Elders or the Holy Knights. In a plaza at the center of the city, lines of dark purple light traced mysterious patterns across the ground. The moment several teleportation circles formed, thick purple mist billowed from them. A black silhouette emerged faintly from each circle. Rumble! A clap of thunder sounded, and lightning briefly illuminated the gloomy sky, revealing the figures in the mist. A massive half-spider, with eight purple legs braced against the ground and two pairs of bull horns atop its head—the Scientific Defense God, Saint Saturn! A giant bird of prey spread its black wings, its long beak lined with sharp teeth as if it could tear through steel—the Environmental God, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn! A fierce-looking boar with a huge head, four long, curved tusks, and spots covering its rough hide—the Agricultural God, Saint Warcury! A fat sandworm, long and thick as a stack of coils, opened its gaping maw—the Agricultural God, Saint Peter! A skeletal warhorse with a pale, bony lower body, carrying a man in a white robe who held a long sword—the Financial God, Saint Nusjuro! All five monsters shared one trait: black clouds of smoke curled around their backs, a characteristic of Awakened Zoan users. The Five Elders had all arrived in their monstrous forms! "Is that...?" "The Five Elders?" Nearby Marine officers gaped in stunned disbelief, afraid to speak too loudly. The five men at the very top of the Celestial Dragons, with the world's power concentrated in their hands, had appeared in these forms. Standing atop a high-rise, Sengoku stared gravely at the figures who