A ferocious wave of Conqueror's Haki surged through the palace, sweeping away the weaker individuals, who all collapsed unconscious.
"Conqueror's Haki... quite the opponent, not to be underestimated. If you were allowed to grow for a few more years, you might truly establish a firm foothold in the New World," Seph Alletha remarked, his chilling eyes glinting with a cold light as he slowly stepped forward, his voice as frigid as his gaze.
"Burying a future king... that should be quite interesting." Seph Alletha slowly drew the odachi from his back. The spine of the massive blade was pitch black, while its edge gleamed with a menacing, cold light; a single glance was enough to tell it was no ordinary weapon.
The gates of Bege's internal castle swung open, and streams of shadows flew out, diving into his mouth under his control. Bege's body began to expand at an astonishing rate.
"Don't let him swallow those shadows!" Bisacchi Bourne cried out in alarm. Pale yellow dust erupted from his body, spreading like a sandstorm to envelop Bege and his men. Bourne then slammed his twin swords together, striking sparks. A single spark shot into the air and ignited the sulfurous dust permeating the atmosphere. In an instant, a raging inferno erupted, the fierce flames engulfing Bege's group.
Bisacchi Bourne was a user of the Paramecia-type Sulfur-Sulfur Fruit, his body capable of producing vast quantities of flammable and explosive sulfur dust. He could very easily create large-scale explosions and conflagrations.
But in the next moment, the ferocious flames were drawn by some unseen force, actually surging back towards Bisacchi Bourne.
Seph Alletha casually slashed his sword, cleaving the flames in two. The fire billowed to either side, igniting the unconscious men on the ground, who began to burn. Many perished in their unconscious state.
By this time, Bege's form had swollen to twice its normal size. A terrifying, brutal, and ferocious aura pulsed outwards from him relentlessly, as if an ancient, savage beast had bared its fangs. Bisacchi Bourne and the others wore expressions of extreme grimness and tension.
A cruel smirk touched Seph Alletha's lips. "Truly a powerful aura. You are worthy of me exerting my full strength."
As he spoke, his own form underwent a startling transformation. Firstly, his eyes shifted, rapidly turning a sinister, demonic purple. Simultaneously, his body became a stark, blood-red, covered in crimson, keratinous armor plating. Protrusions appeared on his head, from which massive, backward-curving ram's horns erupted. Two enormous fleshy mounds also bulged from his back, then burst open to reveal a pair of demonic wings, like those of a bat.
This was Seph Alletha's ultimate demon form. An equally evil and potent aura surged forth from him like a vast ocean.
Those nearby felt a malevolent, icy chill seep into them, originating from the depths of their hearts and instantly pervading their entire bodies, as if freezing them solid.
Seph Alletha's demonic aura clashed violently with Bege's brutal, ferocious presence.
The unconscious fodder littering the ground swiftly perished under the impact of these two terrifying, colliding auras.
"We can win!" Bisacchi Bourne clenched his fists, a look of elation spreading across his face.
A castle gate opened upon Bege's expanded back, and a figure strode out from within his body-castle. It rapidly grew larger, becoming massive, then utterly colossal.
Little Oars Jr. had emerged. His thirty-eight-meter-tall, gargantuan frame was as awe-inspiring as a small mountain.
Even Seph Alletha was taken aback, to say nothing of the others, who were simply dumbfounded, their jaws agape.
Little Oars Jr. looked down upon them, his gigantic blade already raised high. In an instant, he brought it crashing down with brutal force, shattering even the palace structure.
CRASH!
With a deafening roar, Little Oars Jr.'s massive sword was brought to a halt in mid-air. Seph Alletha, with his own sword raised, had parried the colossal blow.
The ground beneath Alletha's feet cracked and splintered, the fissures spreading outwards. He looked up, a savage grin playing on his lips. "The bloodline of Oars the Devil Man, is it? Your strength doesn't seem all that impressive."
A flash of anger crossed Little Oars Jr.'s face. He pressed down with even greater force, but he couldn't budge Seph Alletha an inch.
Alletha suddenly exerted himself, and an astonishing surge of power actually forced Little Oars Jr. back two steps, causing him to crash through a section of the palace wall.
"Capone Bege, today you will undoubtedly die," Alletha declared, his purple demonic eyes fixed on Bege, his formidable, terrifying form radiating an oppressive killing intent. His words carried a crushing sense of pressure.
Bege calmly exhaled a ring of smoke, a faint, disdainful smirk on his lips. "That remains to be seen, doesn't it? It all depends on your ability."
Alletha's face contorted with terrifying, murderous rage. His odachi began to burn with eerie, black flames.
"Capone Bege, I'm going to use this worthless blade of mine to carve your mouth off, piece by piece. Then we'll see if you can still run that damn mouth of yours!"
"I'm rather keen to see whether you kill me, or if I'm the one to cut you down!" Bege's expression was grim, his eyes ice-cold, shooting out two piercing beams of killing intent.
He spat out the cigar. His entire being seemed to transform into a terrifying, savage beast, exuding an aura of primal ferocity.
The instant their eyes locked, both men vanished. A sonic boom shattered the air. Their long swords, devoid of any flourish or finesse, collided with brutal, devastating force.
BOOM! CRACKLE!
It was like a thunderclap exploding. Their clothes whipped about wildly in the ensuing gale, the air currents around them churning into a visible, raging wind.
The onlookers on both sides were simultaneously blasted backwards by this ferocious gust.
Swords crossed, sparks danced, and lightning seemed to crackle between them. Both warriors strained to overpower the other. The ground beneath their feet rapidly disintegrated, and terrifying shockwaves sent the remaining fodder on the ground flying.
"Dare to fight me in the sky?" Bege sneered.
"And why wouldn't I dare?" Seph Alletha retorted with a savage grin.
Both combatants shot skyward simultaneously, engaging in a frenzied exchange of blows. The clang of steel against steel, the explosion of sparks, and continuous, ring-like shockwaves pulsed through the air. Flames burning on their respective blades scattered outwards with each impact.
Bege's expression was stern. Seph Alletha's strength was astounding. With every collision, he clearly felt an immense force surge through the hilt of his sword and permeate his entire body, jarring his internal organs. The webbing of his hand, where he gripped his sword, felt as if it were on the verge of tearing with each brutal impact.
Seph Alletha was experiencing a similar, agonizing sensation. He found it incredible, almost impossible to believe, that Bege possessed strength capable of matching his own.
In the span of a single breath, they exchanged dozens of blows. Alletha let out a disdainful laugh, then suddenly put tremendous force into his arm, and the terrifying might overwhelmed Bege. Bege, unable to withstand it, was forced back several steps in mid-air.
"Still not enough! It's not enough, Capone Bege! You're still lacking!"
Alletha sneered, and with a powerful beat of his wings, he swooped down from above, his massive odachi slicing down fiercely.
"Demon Slash!"
A ten-meter-long, pitch-black slash tore through space, hurtling rapidly towards Bege. Bege met it with his own blade, parrying the blow, but the force of the attack still drove him back dozens of steps.
The brutal, ferocious aura around Bege suddenly erupted with renewed intensity. The giant, fiery shadow manifested behind him once more.
Gathering all his strength into a single strike, he slashed the incoming "Demon Slash" apart, then lunged directly at Alletha.
"Fire Demon Ape Slash!"
"Now this is a bit more interesting!" Alletha brought his odachi up horizontally to block Bege's attack, then, with a seemingly casual swing, shattered the incoming slash.
With an earth-shattering BOOM, the uppermost palace on King Punch Mountain was directly obliterated. Dust and smoke billowed into the air, and countless tons of rubble cascaded down the mountainside, interspersed with human figures being flung outwards by the blast.
Alletha's expression changed, and he immediately shot towards King Punch Mountain. At this moment, Bege gave a cold smirk. A vast, sanguine aura surged around him, and a sword qi potent enough to tear the very sky itself began to coalesce.
"Beast King!"
Alletha spun around swiftly, only to see a terrifying slash of blood-red fire tearing through the heavens, aimed directly at him.
"Great Demon Slash!" A torrent of abyssal black light erupted from Alletha, and black flames surged sky-high from his odachi. He unleashed a world-shaking sword light that collided head-on with the blood-flame slash. BOOOOM! An even more cataclysmic explosion rocked the skies. Shockwaves of black and blood-red energy formed two expanding rings that swept across a thousand meters of the sky.