"Heavenquake: Instant Prison Kill."
Gern's whisper lingered in the air.
Before his words had faded, Eight Desolations, wreathed in dark azure Haki lightning, became a flash of an iaido slash too fast for the eye to follow!
The blade's light did not spread outward. It was compressed to an extreme, its target unmistakable:
to pierce Nusjuro's massive centaur torso!
Clang!!!!
A piercing crash burst forth, threatening to rupture eardrums!
At the last possible instant, Saint Nusjuro swept the First Generation Kitetsu across his body at an incredible speed.
The sinister blade barely intercepted Eight Desolations' lethal slash!
The two Supreme Grade Blades locked against each other!
But the force of Gern's strike far exceeded anything Nusjuro had imagined!
The tremendous power drove Nusjuro sliding backward, their faces flashing past each other at point-blank range!
Reflected in Nusjuro's eyes were Gern's face, mere inches away, and the undisguised smile of someone who held everything in his grasp.
Yet what he felt even more keenly was a long-forgotten shudder from the depths of his soul, brought on by the other man's Conqueror's Haki!
And in the instant Nusjuro's pupils contracted, Gern caught that fleeting trace of profound wariness toward the might of his Conqueror's Haki... and fear!
"Gern!" Nusjuro roared, attempting one final negotiation, a hint of urgency creeping into his voice.
"You only need to hand over the Mother Flame! The World Government can let this end here! There's no need to push things beyond the point of..."
"Oh?" Gern cut him off, his smile widening. "Seeing you like this...
it looks like my Haki really can threaten that so-called 'immortality' of yours!"
At those words, Nusjuro's expression changed drastically!
Gern gave him no further chance to speak!
The edge of the Eight Desolations Blade suddenly twisted against the First Generation