The pentagram formation was on the verge of collapse under attack from both inside and outside.
Cracks spread from the edge of the magic circle toward the center like a spider web, and black mist poured out from the cracks like a punctured water bag, hissing incessantly.
The light from the magic circle was much dimmer than before, and the pentagram pattern was intermittent, like a candle flame that could be extinguished at any moment.
The morale of the allied forces was greatly boosted.
"It's cracked! Keep bombarding!"
Bullet slammed his fist into the bottom of the magic circle, and purple Demonic Aura exploded with the force of his punch, adding several more cracks to the magic circle.
Kaido's Bolo Breath, like a volcanic eruption, continued to scorch the lower edge of the magic circle.
Luffy's Giant Pistol, Loki's Iron Thunder, Tesoro's Lightning Pillar...
All the attacks poured down on the magic circle like a torrential rain, scattering the black mist in all directions. The magic circle trembled precariously, like a glass curtain wall that could collapse at any moment.
On the ground battlefield, Imu's situation worsened as the magic circle shattered.
Ace, Yamato, King, and Red Count took turns attacking, and Imu's body began to crumble again.
Blackwing had lost an arm; his left arm was severed at the root, and a transparent hole had been pierced through his chest and abdomen by Yamato's Yamato club.
The black blood had almost all drained away, and large patches of black scales peeled off its body, revealing extremely pale skin underneath.
Ember's flaming blade delivered another blow, slashing at Imu's right leg and nearly severing it at the knee.
Imu staggered backward, using the Black Blade to brace himself against the ground to avoid falling; he looked like a puppet that could fall apart at any moment.
"It's over."
Ace extinguished the flames, walked up to Imu, and looked down at him.
Yamato raised his spiked club, and frost energy condensed into sharp ice blades at the head of the club, holding it against Imu's neck.
"If anything happens to Brother Roy, I will absolutely not let you off the hook."
Yamato's voice was cold and hard, completely lacking its usual naivety.
The Red Count's claws were poking Imu's back; with just a slight push, he could create another hole.
Ember's flaming blade hovered above Imu's head, ready to cleave him in two at any moment.
Imu kept his head down, his disheveled hair obscuring half his face, so no one could see his expression.
"Heh... hehe... hehehe..."
Imu suddenly let out a broken laugh, as if it were forced out from the deepest part of his throat, with the madness unique to a dying person.
"You... think you've won?"
Imu slowly raised his head, his empty eyes staring at the sky.
His body began to tremble violently.
It felt as if countless living creatures were moving beneath the skin, bulging, sinking, and bulging again. The scene was so bizarre that even the four attackers unconsciously took a half-step back.
Imu suddenly spread his wings, the remaining half of the wing membrane forcefully propping up, causing the surrounding air to churn.
His chest was the first part to split open.
The skin rolled up from the center to both sides, and a dark red light shone through the cracks, like a star about to explode buried in a torn wound.
Immediately afterwards, thick plumes of black smoke surged wildly from the crack, far exceeding the density of any previous release, as thick as liquid oil burning in mid-air.
"Retreat!"
Ace was the first to react; with a flap of his fiery wings, he grabbed Yamato's shoulder and pulled him backward.
Red Count teleported a hundred meters away, and Ember also spread his wings and took flight, the four of them quickly creating distance between them.
Within seconds, Imu's body was completely enveloped by the black smoke surging from within him; the smoke did not spread outwards.
Instead, as if possessing a will, they all surged toward the pentagram formation in the sky.
Streams of black smoke rose from the ground, converging into the magic array from all directions. The previously dimmed patterns on the array quickly brightened after absorbing the black smoke.
The cracks healed at a visible speed, and the outline of the pentagram became clear again.
"Not good!"
"He's sacrificing himself!" Robin's voice changed when he saw this from a distance.
Imu's eyes went out of focus.
He raised his head, looked at the sky, opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end no sound came out.
His body began to lose color from his feet, his skin turned ashen, as if all the essence of his life had been drained away.
The cracks were no longer just on his chest, but spread throughout his entire body, from head to toe, making him look like a disintegrating clay sculpture.
The final wave of black smoke poured out of his body, more than all the previous waves combined, like a black river flowing back into the sky.
The magic circle was completely repaired under the infusion of this power.
Not only was it repaired, it's become even bigger.
The pentagram pattern expanded outwards, and a larger black sphere of light condensed at the center of the magic circle. Black and red Inazuma poured down from the edge of the magic circle, falling like a torrential rain on the allied forces' positions.
Precise.
Each Inazuma struck precisely at the allied forces members who were attacking the magic circle.
Bullet was struck in the right shoulder by a bolt of Inazuma, causing him to plummet from mid-air and crash into the ground, leaving a large crater.
Tesoro's golden barrier was shattered by Inazuma, and he himself was blasted away, rolling on the ground more than a dozen times before coming to a stop.
Luffy, Loki, Kaido, Hawk Eyes were all forced back by this Inazuma strike.
By the time they regained their footing, Imu's body had already fallen.
From hundreds of meters in the air, it slowly fell like a tattered rag that had lost all its support.
The body was no longer enveloped in black flames or shrouded in black mist; it was simply a normal human form.
Pale skin, long black hair, and a complete face.
But his face was expressionless, and his eyes were as empty as two dry wells.
The body crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
There was no shockwave, no explosion; it was just the sound of an ordinary body falling from a height.
After the dust settled, Imu lay there, his chest remaining still.
Ace and the others approached to investigate.
Ember gently pierced Imu's chest with his flaming blade, encountering no resistance; the tip of the blade touched nothing but emptiness after piercing through flesh.
"Empty." Jin sheathed his sword, his tone indifferent.
Yamato stepped forward and took a look. Imu's body resembled an abandoned container, completely empty inside.
There was neither black mist nor internal organs, only a complete skin covering the skeleton.
"He gave everything to that magic circle," Ace whispered.
Red Count stared at Imu's body, his brow furrowed.
"This world is indeed more outrageous than we imagined."
No one answered.
Because the magic circle in the sky has restarted.
The last wave of black mist released by Imu poured into the magic circle, and the pressure released by the pentagram was much stronger than before.
If the previous magic circle was like a mountain pressing down on your head, now it's like a black sun hanging in the sky, its gravitational pull making it hard to even breathe.
Kaido, holding the Hassaikai, showed an expression of strain for the first time.
Bullet climbed out of the crater, his right shoulder still smoking from the wound, but he simply shook his arm to remove the charred flesh and resumed his fighting stance.
"How come this thing gets stronger the more we fight it?" Bullet cursed.
Hawk Eyes looked up at the magic circle and slowly spoke:
" Imu has poured all his power into it."
" Roy is probably not the only one inside that magic circle now."
Luffy gritted his teeth.
He looked up at the center of the magic circle, where black mist surged and Roy's figure had been completely swallowed up; not even a trace of his aura could be sensed.
" Roy--!" Luffy, his voice echoing across the battlefield, but it couldn't penetrate the black mist.
Yamato knelt on the ground, and the power of frost spread out of her body uncontrollably, freezing the surrounding ground into a white layer of ice.
Her hand gripping the spiked club was trembling, her knuckles turning white.
"Brother Roy..."