A sharp glint flashed through Ritter's eyes, and the momentum of his sword suddenly changed.
"ROOOAR!"
A dragon's roar, ancient and primal, erupted from the Black Tide greatsword.
The vast sea of blood mist no longer flowed solely into the blade. Instead, it surged wildly behind Ritter, gathering and condensing until a colossal crimson dragon took shape.
Every scale was distinct. Every detail felt alive.
Its enormous body occupied nearly half of the waterless battlefield, its icy eyes locked onto the sea monster below with overwhelming killing intent.
This was Ritter's soul.
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon?
...No.
The Red-Eyed Crimson Dragon!!!
"Mist God Style: Blood Dragon Devour!"
Ritter pointed his blade forward.
The crimson dragon let out a deafening roar and lunged downward with the force of a natural disaster, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow the heavens.
Any tentacle that dared block its path was instantly shredded apart. Whether bitten by the dragon's jaws or torn apart by its claws, the monster's appendages were pulverized by the violent blood mist before their regeneration could keep up.
After all, Ritter's blood mist wasn't merely destructive.
It absorbed life force.
In that regard, Ritter and the sea monster were practically two giant vacuum cleaners competing against each other. When it came to devouring vitality, they were surprisingly evenly matched.
Sensing genuine danger, the sea monster released a shrill screech.
Its tentacles immediately abandoned their assault on Ritter and withdrew at full speed, wrapping around one another to form a gigantic shield made of layered bone armor and flesh.
It intended to block the Blood Dragon head-on.
"BOOOOM!"
The crimson dragon slammed into the massive shield.
The resulting shockwave exploded throughout the waterless space, forming visible rings of compressed air that surged outward.
You'd think the entire crimson barrier would tremble from the impact.
Oh no.
Not at all.
At the exact moment of collision, Ritter dismissed the barrier entirely.
The released shockwave blasted the surrounding seawater even farther away.
Once the impact had passed, he simply recreated the barrier.
After all, stamina was the one thing he didn't lack.
There was no way he was letting this monster return to the sea.
The struggle continued.
The Blood Dragon bit and tore relentlessly.
The bone shield shattered and regenerated over and over.
It became a pure contest of power versus regeneration.
Standing atop the dragon's head with Black Tide in hand, Ritter's crimson eyes flickered coldly.
He could feel the Blood Dragon consuming tremendous amounts of energy.
Yet the sea monster's life force, seemingly drawn from the abyss itself, still showed no signs of running dry.
To put it simply...
The thing had an absurdly thick health bar.
If it had been a Celestial Dragon instead, Ritter would've drained fifty or sixty of them dry by now.
Thank you, Mother Nature, for the generous gift.
"Let's see how long you can keep regenerating."
He tightened his grip.
More blood mist poured from his body and merged into the dragon.
The Blood Dragon became even more solid.
Its roar grew louder.
Its impact force rose to an entirely new level.
Crack... Crack...
Massive fractures finally spread across the bone shield.
This time, they didn't heal instantly.
The sea monster cried out in pain and fury.
It realized the shield was close to collapsing.
More importantly, it recognized a frightening truth.
In terms of raw power and life-force reserves, it couldn't overwhelm this bizarre human.
A trace of cunning flashed within its murky eye.
Then its massive body began shrinking.
Not from exhaustion.
Not from injury.
It was doing so intentionally.
Compressing itself.
Discarding excess flesh and mass.
Ritter blinked.
"...What? Life is weak, so you're going for mechanical ascension now?"
Naturally, the monster had no idea what he meant.
It continued condensing its energy and vitality.
Within moments, the mountain-sized creature transformed into a far more compact form.
Dark bone armor covered its body.
Its shape now resembled a fusion between a humanoid warrior and an octopus.
Its overall size had shrunk to less than a tenth of its original mass.
Yet the aura it emitted was far more dangerous.
Behind it, eight dense bone-blade tentacles swayed like deadly weapons.
If Ritter had to compare it to something, it looked a bit like that drug-enhanced Eight-Sword Style fish-man from Fish-Man Island.
Then its speed exploded.
Whoosh!
The creature vanished.
Abandoning its struggle against the Blood Dragon, it became a black blur that instantly slipped past the dragon's jaws.
Eight bone blades struck from eight different directions simultaneously.
Every angle was vicious.
Every attack targeted a vital point.
But Ritter quickly noticed something strange.
The monster's combat style had changed.
The movements of those bone blades vaguely resembled techniques from his own Mist God Style.
The force generation.
The attack trajectories.
The timing.
All of it looked suspiciously familiar.
Ritter nearly laughed.
A gorilla could imitate a swordsman all it wanted.
That didn't make it Mihawk.
Likewise, this sea monster could mimic Ritter's techniques as much as it liked.
It would never become Ritter.
The imitation possessed the shape.
But not the essence.
Not the spirit.
Not the mastery.
Still, its increased speed and sharper attacks made it significantly more dangerous.
At least compared to ordinary opponents.
Unfortunately for it...
Ritter was a top-tier Great Swordsman.
"Oh? You can transform now? And you can copy techniques too?"
A flicker of surprise crossed his face before it was swallowed by excitement.
"What a shame."
"You're a poor imitation at best."
Facing the lightning-fast assault, Ritter didn't retreat.
He didn't even dodge.
Black Tide released a pleased hum.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Explosive impacts echoed throughout the battlefield.
Ritter became a crimson whirlwind.
Black Tide seemed alive in his hands.
Every swing perfectly intercepted an incoming bone blade.
His swordsmanship had been forged through countless life-and-death battles.
It was the culmination of his blood mist abilities, Conqueror's Haki infusion, and every combat instinct he'd developed over the years.
The Mist God Style.
If someone could master it just by watching a few moves...
Ritter would rather find a rock and smash his own head against it.
The monster had copied the form.
But before the true soul of the style...
The imitation looked laughably crude.
"Your speed is too slow."
Ritter sidestepped a thrust.
Black Tide swept downward.
Blood mist coiled around the blade, carrying a strange restraining force.
"Mist God Style: Blood Dragon Bind."
A crimson dragon instantly wrapped itself around the sea monster.
It wasn't a physical restraint.
The dragon was made of mist.
Whenever the monster struggled, the dragon dispersed.
Whenever it stopped struggling, the dragon quietly drained its life force.
It was like an invisible parasite constantly feeding on its prey.
"Your power is too unfocused."
Winning or losing, Ritter never stopped trash-talking.
That was simply who he was.
Crack!
One of the trapped bone-blade tentacles snapped cleanly in half.
The cut was smooth as a mirror.
"Your techniques are full of openings."
Red light blazed in Ritter's eyes.
He seized the tiny opening created by the severed tentacle.
Black Tide thrust straight toward the monster's heart.
The sword tip gleamed with deadly intent.
The sea monster shrieked in terror.
Every remaining bone blade instantly pulled back to defend.
They crossed together in front of its chest.
At the same time, the creature condensed its devouring field into a single point, betting everything on stopping this attack.
Shhhk!
The tip of Black Tide touched the crossed bone blades.
For an instant...
Time itself seemed to freeze.
And then...
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