Lin Xuan looked past them toward the open gate behind them and the warships outside. His voice was quiet, but it carried clearly.
"The Gate of Justice is a restricted area. Unauthorized personnel are forbidden entry."
He paused, the corner of his mouth curving upward.
"Anyone who trespasses will be treated as an escaped prisoner and may be killed on sight."
His words were arrogant in the extreme.
Not only had he killed someone, he was turning around and branding the other side "escaped prisoners."
"You bastard!"
Black Three could no longer contain himself. With a furious roar, he stomped down, instantly cracking the hard stone floor beneath his foot.
He abandoned a speed-focused technique like Soru and instead poured all his strength into this single, pure strike.
Yet in his vision, the boy's figure blurred once again.
Another streak of lightning.
This time, the lightning did not flash past. It coiled around the unsheathed demon sword.
Blue-white arcs danced wildly along the blade, crackling explosively and making the entire dim passage flicker between light and darkness.
Black Three's heart clenched.
An intense sense of danger gripped his heart, even stronger than when his companion had been beheaded.
That lightning... something's wrong!
Before he could think further, Lin Xuan was upon him in an instant, wreathed in lightning.
"Iron Body: Steel!"
Black Three roared, pouring every ounce of strength into his defense. The right sleeve of his White Suit burst apart, and his entire arm turned a deep black darker than steel in an instant. Armament Haki coated it with unprecedented intensity as he thrust it hard against the incoming streak of lightning.
He intended to use his strongest defense to smash this brat's sword clean in two.
Clang-!
A thunderous crash erupted through the passage, accompanied by a blinding