"Loki! Are you all right?"
There was a trace of urgency in Kuzan's voice, his eyes full of concern. He rushed over to Loki, pressed a hand to his shoulder, and pulled him out of his backward flight.
That icy touch did nothing to ease the heat burning inside Loki. Instead, his fingers tightened slightly.
"I'm fine..."
Loki coughed and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze still resolute.
Staring at the distant pillar of darkness that had nearly destroyed everything, he gritted his teeth.
"But that attack... Imu is clearly striking in person. No wonder it's so powerful."
Dragon stood nearby, still calm, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's as he watched the dust drifting through the aftermath of the explosion.
His voice was low and steady.
"So she really is ready to fight to the death."
"The situation is getting more complicated. We can't give her another chance to catch her breath."
Whitebeard shook his head, his voice deep but firm.
He looked around, sensing the threat that had almost torn their defensive line apart, and anger flared in his heart.
Though he was the oldest among them, he knew he had never faced an enemy as powerful as this one in his entire life.
"We... can't fall yet."
Kuzan's tone was even, but a stubborn resolve lay beneath it.
Even against an enemy this powerful, he would never yield easily.
He reached out and brushed his cloak of ice and snow.
"Keep fighting with everything you've got. This time, no one backs down."
Meanwhile, after the pillar of darkness vanished, the silence in the air grew suffocating once more.
Jin An stood on a distant raised platform, staring at the place the attack had come from, his gaze sharp as a blade.