"Thump!"
A powerful heartbeat thundered from deep within Gern's chest!
That heartbeat was no mere physical pulse. It was the declaration of a deeper, more fundamental "existence"!
Gern had come from another world.
He had once lived in another world, in an entirely different country.
In that world, he had grown up with a different education, shaped by a different way of thinking.
He remembered his teacher's portrait, remembered those simple yet great words...
Imu's power represented oppression, enslavement, eternal rule, and the annihilation of the individual.
Yet deep within Gern, the "Spark" his teacher had sown had always remained, never to be extinguished!
That seed of fire usually lay dormant. Even Gern himself might not have fully understood everything it meant.
But now, in this desperate moment, with his consciousness invaded and his self on the verge of being erased completely and enslaved-
Confronted with Imu's ultimate "oppression" and "domination," that deeply buried "Spark" was fully ignited!
This was not "Nika," the rubber god who brought laughter and liberation.
This was another kind of "liberation"!
As naturally opposed as water and fire, as incapable of coexistence as light and darkness!
Yes.
"A single spark... can set the prairie ablaze!!!!"
A cry that shook the depths of his soul thundered across Gern's sea of consciousness, just as it was about to sink into oblivion!
"Boom!!!"
Gern's body, pierced by the tendrils and supposedly drained of vitality, began to tremble violently and uncontrollably!
But this trembling was no longer the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. It was a deeper "activation," born of the essence of life and will!
His hollow eyes opened!
The emptiness in them was replaced by a light of absolute resolve and purity, stripped even of personal emotion!
It was not anger, not hatred, nor any emotion belonging