"Now!"
Kaido, Bullet, Hawk Eyes simultaneously unleashed their strongest Conqueror's Haki.
The three Conqueror's Haki combined, like three invisible hammers striking Imu simultaneously.
Roy's Conqueror's Haki followed closely behind, using Telekinesis as a medium to precisely locate the moment when Imu's internal energy was most disordered, and directly injected it into his central nervous system.
Imu's body suddenly stiffened.
The black flames suddenly went out as if interrupted from within by some force.
The black mist stopped gushing out and instead slowly seeped out from the cracks on his body, as if a breath had been released.
Imu knelt on one knee.
Cracks spread from his forehead to his chin, from his shoulders to his fingertips, and from his chest to his back, making him look like a statue about to shatter.
Black blood pooled at his feet.
"It's over."
Kaido raised the Hassaikai, and dark red lightning gathered to its limit on the staff.
However, Roy didn't want to give Imu a chance to turn the tide.
"Everyone, focus fire!"
In an instant, flames, Lightning, sandstorms, frost, sword energy, claw shadows, gold, and Demonic Aura —all available attacks were unleashed upon Imu.
The scene resembled a mushroom cloud of various colors blooming in the center of the battlefield, the shockwave sending all the rubble flying.
Imu was engulfed in the torrent of attacks.
The black flame shield was torn apart, the black mist defense was pierced, and cracks spread across his body at a visible speed, as if he were being cut from the inside out by countless knives at the same time.
Roy landed on the ground, panting heavily. Shusui braced herself on the ground, her tiger's mouth already cracked from the impact, blood flowing down the hilt of her knife.
"It's finally going to end."
Tesoro slumped to the ground, his golden armor mostly shattered, and blood still lingering at the corner of his mouth.
Kaido to human form, using the Hassaikai for support, his chest heaving violently.
Bullet's White Tiger Armor was also shattered; he braced himself on his knees, panting heavily.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent.
Thick smoke was still billowing from the direction where Imu had fallen.
Just as everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Roy's Observation Haki suddenly started throbbing wildly.
"Wrong!"
He suddenly raised his head.
Imu's figure could still be seen amidst the thick smoke.
He kept his head down, kneeling, his body cracked even more than before, looking completely broken.
But the corners of his mouth turned up.
Hahahaha... Hahahahaha...
Laughter squeezed out of his throat, hoarse and low, as if something had been awakened in the darkness.
Black flames simultaneously erupted from all of Imu's wounds.
The flames didn't seem to originate from within the body; they seemed to be bursting forth from every crack in the skin.
Each wound transformed into a mouth, spewing out jet-black flames.
The black mist surged in from all directions, from the ground, from the sky, from the sea, and from the air itself, pouring into Imu's body like a tide.
The cracks on his body began to heal—no, they weren't healing, but rather being forcibly filled by the black mist.
Each crack was filled with black energy, like a porcelain statue that had been shattered and then glued back together with black glue.
"Back off!" Roy roared.
But it was too late.
A large amount of black mist exploded from Imu's body, spreading in all directions from him, like a black poison gas bomb exploding.
Wherever the black mist passed, the ground rotted, the air became distorted, and even light was swallowed up.
Everyone retreated, but a few slower cadres were enveloped by the black mist, and their domineering Haki was eroded into large holes within seconds.
"What the hell is this?!"
Bullet retreated while throwing punches, unleashing both Demonic Aura and Conqueror's Haki simultaneously, barely managing to disperse the approaching black mist.
As the black mist dissipated slightly, Imu had already stood up.
His body had swelled up to one size larger than before, and all the cracks on his body had disappeared.
Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, and the black flames burned even brighter than before. The oppressive aura emanating from it plunged the entire battlefield into a suffocating silence.
Kaido's smile vanished.
For the first time, Bullet's expression turned serious.
Hawk Eyes's grip on the knife tightened unconsciously.
Roy looked up at the sky.
When Imu descended, the pentagram magic circle reappeared.
Larger and more complex than before, red Inazuma surged wildly within the magic circle.
Roy's heart sank.
In mid-air,
The pentagram formation slowly rotated, hovering above the battlefield.
Black and red Inazuma descended from the edge of the magic circle, striking the ground and blasting rocks into the air.
Roy looked up at the sky, his fingers unconsciously tightening around Shusui.
His Observation Haki was frantically warning him, as if something extremely bad was about to happen, more intense than all the previous crises combined.
"Everyone, collapse your defenses! Quickly!"
Roy's voice echoed across the battlefield, Hachinosu officers immediately abandoned their attack and moved towards Roy's direction.
Kaido and Bullet, though unwilling, retreated and stood at the front of the group, their expressions extremely solemn.
Meanwhile, inside the Pluton Battleship on this sea surface.
Inside the Seastone prison on the three warships, the Five Elders were tightly chained.
The previous battle had exhausted them, and now they lay sprawled on the ground like five dead dogs.
Inside the cell, Saint Mars suddenly opened his eyes wide.
He let out an extremely sharp wail, like fingernails scraping against glass.
Something was moving wildly beneath his dry skin, like countless worms crawling through his muscle layers, from his fingers to his shoulders, from his chest to his cheeks.
The soldiers were terrified by the sound, and before they could react, Saint Mars's body began to disintegrate.
His skin quickly lost moisture, becoming dry, wrinkled, and cracked, like a dried corpse that had been exposed to the sun for eight hundred years.
But then, a large amount of black mist surged out from beneath the cracked skin, squeezing out along the cracks as if a living thing was breaking free from its restraints.
"Get out of the cabin! Everyone, get out of the cabin!"
The soldiers retreated in terror, but the black mist moved even faster.
Within seconds, Saint Mars turned into a handful of ashes. Black mist rose from the ashes like a giant black python, crashing through the cabin roof and flying into the sky.
The Seastone chain clattered to the ground, leaving nothing inside.
Next was Saint Shepherd Ju Peter.
His body began to disintegrate from his legs, falling down like sand.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He could only watch helplessly as his body turned into black mist and merged into the ever-thickening darkness above him.
Then came Saint Nusjuro and Saint Warcury.
The four Five Elders turned to ashes almost simultaneously, and black mist billowed out from three of the ship's cabins at the same time.
Like five long, black snakes, they twisted and rolled as they flew towards the sky above Elbaf.
The members of the Holy Knights were not spared either.
One by one, the knights bound by the Seastone disintegrated; some screamed in agony, while others turned into black smoke before they could even utter a sound.
Suddenly, it seemed as if a black whirlwind had swept across the sea.
Countless streaks of black mist flew out from the warship, densely packed like flocks of migrating birds, obscuring half the sky.
They were gradually drawn in by the rotation of the pentagram magic circle.