"This feeling..."
Saint Garling's pupils contracted slightly. The sight before him eerily overlapped with a moment from his memories.
Back then, beneath the twilight of God Valley, the man named Rocks had stood with his blade just like this, its edge wreathed in darkness that devoured everything.
And he himself had charged forward, brimming with unmatched confidence and pride...
Only for that man to shatter all his arrogance with a single slash, forcing him to retreat in disgrace to the outer battlefield, never daring to approach the heart of the battle again.
And now...
Gern stood in the center of the shattered plaza, Black Blade: Eight Desolations wreathed in purple-black lightning.
Arcs of Conqueror's Haki crawled along the blade like living creatures, while vibration particles slightly distorted the surrounding space.
That pressure... compared to what he had felt back then...
It was exactly the same!!!
"You've got to be kidding..." Saint Garling's breathing suddenly quickened. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his brow, only to evaporate instantly beneath his seething Haki.
His face twisted like a demon's, and his long golden hair, once piled high like a crown, came loose in the raging gusts.
Every strand crackled with dark red lightning, thrashing like something alive.
The ground beneath his feet began to crack, and rubble rose into the air, defying gravity.
"This time..." He slowly raised his saber, its tip leaving a scorching afterimage as it traced through the air.
"You won't scare me off!!!"
Boom! An overwhelming aura erupted from Saint Garling's entire body. Dark red lightning, identical to the Haki Shanks would wield in the future, surged skyward like a volcanic eruption.
The sky was cleared in an instant, a massive channel torn through the clouds.
The saber in his hand blazed with a blinding, blood-red light.
Its