On the other side of the battlefield, more than a dozen black mist monsters had launched a full-scale offensive.
Red Count, King, Yamato, Tesoro, Crocodile, and Ace formed the first line of defense, with Marco, Katakuri, and others as backup, bombarding the monsters' bodies with Conqueror's Haki.
"These damn things are impossible to break apart!"
Tesoro cursed, and several bolts of lightning struck the Faceless Giant, scattering it into black mist, but it reformed in just two seconds.
"Save your energy, just hold them off!"
Ace unleashed a giant flaming fist, forcing the three-headed hound back.
The group fought and retreated, searching for an opportunity to counterattack while maintaining their defense.
·······
In the sky, Roy had already flown directly beneath the magic circle.
He took a deep breath.
The power of the Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit was poured entirely into Shusui, causing the blade to glow with a bluish-black light. The hilt became hot, and the blade trembled, as if a life was awakening within it.
Conqueror's Haki, the Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit, and the Soul-Soul Fruit —all three combined into one.
Roy's eyes lit up with an indigo light, and his aura surged to its peak in that instant.
The Telekinesis of the Telekinesis-Telekinesis Fruit, the soul power of the Soul-Soul Fruit, and Conqueror's Haki circulated wildly within him, ultimately converging at the tip of the blade.
The blade of Shusui emitted a bluish-black light, which grew brighter and brighter, like a sun rising from the seabed.
Roy gripped the knife with both hands and raised it above his head.
"Go."
The indigo-blue blade light, like a rift piercing the heavens and earth, burst forth from Shusui's blade tip and slammed straight into the very center of the magic array.
In that instant, there were no other colors in the world, only that blue light, like a shooting star flying backwards, crashed hard into the core of the pentagram.
The blade flashed straight into the center of the pentagram array, tearing the surging black mist apart from the middle.
The magic circle trembled violently, and countless cracks appeared on the pentagram's pattern. Red and black energy gushed out wildly from the cracks, like a punctured blood bag.
The transmission of the black fog abruptly stopped.
The monsters on the ground let out silent shrieks, their bodies rapidly shrinking and twisting, all their movements abruptly ceasing.
"It's done!" Tesoro shouted excitedly.
On the ground, Imu's body suddenly stiffened.
It was as if he had been punched from the inside; a mouthful of black blood spurted from his throat, and his life force rapidly declined in that instant.
His movements came to a complete halt, and fine cracks reappeared on the scales covering his body, from which black blood seeped.
"A perfect opportunity!" Kaido roared.
A scorching Bolo Breath gushed from the dragon's mouth, and dark red flames wrapped in lightning crashed into Imu's chest like a fire dragon.
Bullet's fist swelled to its limit under Momo's amplification, and he punched Imu in the back, the force penetrating through his back armor and down to his chest.
Hawk Eyes's Black Blade Yoru flashed a pure white light, slicing from Imu's right shoulder to his left hip, shattering all the black scales in its path.
Imu was blasted away like a kite with a broken string, his body tumbling several times in the air before crashing into a distant mountain.
The entire mountain collapsed halfway down, and rubble poured down like a torrential rain, burying Imu underneath.
"Hit!" Bullet roared, his voice filled with exhilaration.
Roy in the sky also witnessed this scene.
He was breathing heavily, and his hand holding the knife was trembling slightly.
That strike consumed almost half of his power, but the result was indeed remarkable. A huge crack appeared in the center of the magic circle, and the flow of black mist had largely stopped.
He thought he had succeeded, and his body unconsciously relaxed for a moment.
The cracks on the magic circle suddenly stopped spreading in the next second.
All the dissipated black mist was suddenly pulled back by something and poured back into the patterns of the magic array.
The cracks did not continue to widen; instead, they began to slowly heal, and the center of the magic circle regained its black light.
More ferocious than before.
Black Inazuma poured out from the magic circle, crashing down on the ground like a torrential downpour.
The entire battlefield was covered by black lightning, and the ground was blasted into countless scorched craters.
Roy's pupils contracted sharply.
Just as he was about to retreat, the black mist surging from the center of the magic circle condensed in front of him, and a huge black hand stretched out from the magic circle, its five fingers spread wide, grabbing at him.
Roy slashed out with his sword, and blue light pierced into the giant hand, tearing open a gash several meters long.
But the opening was filled with black mist again the next second, as if nothing had happened.
The giant hand gripped Roy firmly.
The Telekinesis Domain was gradually compressed.
Roy seemed to hear a cracking sound coming from his own domain, like glass breaking under heavy pressure.
He desperately channeled his Conqueror's Haki and Telekinesis to fight back, black and red Inazuma continuously surging from his body in an attempt to shake off the giant hand.
But it was completely useless.
The magic circle is rotating more than three times faster than before.
Black mist surged from all directions of the magic circle, converging at the center into a massive black vortex.
A red light flickered deep within the vortex, like the beating of the heart of some enormous creature.
The black mist monsters that had been rampaging across the ground began to shrink rapidly.
Those bodies made of black mist twisted and disintegrated, turning back into wisps of black smoke that billowed back into the sky.
All ten monsters vanished in a matter of seconds, leaving only bewildered Allied officers on the ground.
"The monster has disappeared?" Tesoro was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he looked up at the scene in the sky, and his expression changed instantly.
The giant hand was grabbing Roy and dragging him toward the center of the magic circle.
Yamato was the first to rush forward.
She channeled all her power into the spiked club, and the power of frost condensed into a giant ice pillar at the head of the club, which slammed into the wrist of the giant hand.
The frost exploded, the surface of the giant hand churned, and a small patch of black mist was frozen.
That's all.
The giant hand didn't even pause for a moment, continuing to close in.
Tesoro activated the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Golden Domain spread out from beneath his feet, with dozens of bolts of lightning rising simultaneously, like a forest of lightning striking the giant hand's arm.
The black mist churned violently under the impact, but the hand still gripped Roy tightly, refusing to loosen its grip even slightly.
Ember's flaming blade, Red Count's blood claws, Ace's Fire Fist —all attacks rained down on the giant hand, but the result was the same.
Yamato's ice, Tesoro's lightning, Ace's fire—none of them could penetrate that black mist barrier.
The magic circle was still operating, and the black mist kept replenishing it. The parts that had been blasted away were restored to their original state within seconds.
Don't waste your energy!
A voice suddenly came from within the magic circle, echoing in Roy's mind.
"Become my puppet obediently!!"
Damn it!
Roy cursed inwardly and tried to expand the Telekinesis Domain that had been shrinking in front of him.
This would allow him to use his control over the domain to escape into the void and break free from the grasp of the dark giant hand.
But the magic circle above his head seemed to know Roy's thoughts and began to spin rapidly.
More black energy dissipated, quickly enveloping Roy and forming a sphere together with the giant dark hand.
They slowly dragged Roy into the magic circle.