Let's rewind time a little bit to the beginning of the battle.
The famous sword 'Hidari no raijin' in Victor's hand, which had transformed into a chain blade, quickly retracted and reverted to its sword form. He glanced eastward, where Mai Hime was using her speed advantage to gradually draw the red-haired swordsman into the eastern garden plaza, a truly clever girl.
Then he suddenly became alert, hugging Perona beside him and leaping backward. Subsequently, his previous position was directly pierced by a Giggantic spike of shadow!
"Let me see what you're made of, Zipper Boy! Scattered Bats!!" The shadow spike instantly disintegrated into fragments after missing its target, and each fragment transformed into a black shadow bat.
Hundreds of scattered bats lunged at Victor!
Victor, rapidly retreating, whispered a few words to Perona, who was secretly delighted in his arms, then forcefully threw her far away! The bat swarm completely ignored her; their only target was Victor!
Perona landed and realized Victor's throw was very precise, with little impact upon landing. She easily steadied herself, and just as she was smugly putting her hands on her hips, she turned her head and found another person less than 5 meters in front of her—the hunchbacked old scholar with thick-bottomed glasses.
"..."
"..."
The two silently stared at each other.
After a long time, Perona awkwardly raised her hand and waved: "W-what a coincidence... As the saying goes, life is full of surpri—ya—!!!"
Before Perona could finish, a fierce wind blade flew past her face, blasting the ruins of the residential building behind her into a shower of shattered stones.
The old scholar slowly lowered his kicked-out right leg, grinned: "You lost the 'staring contest' just now, little girl."
"W-who was playing a 'staring contest' with you, you old geezer!" Perona was so angry her pink bangs almost stood on end.
She spread her arms, and starry, phosphorescent ghost lights appeared around her, then transformed into dozens of miniature spherical ghost bodies. She raised her parasol and fiercely swung it at the old scholar: "Blast him for me!"
"Mini Ghost: Sky High Haunt!"
The mini spherical ghosts split into two teams, forming two columns that flew rapidly towards the old scholar from both sides, followed by dazzling continuous explosions!
The shattered ground and the surrounding residential ruins were blasted with flying debris and swirling dust by the continuous small explosions.
"Hohohohoho~~ Old man, have you seen the might of Lady Pepe!" Perona triumphantly put her hands on her hips and laughed, while two small ghosts beside her waved their tiny short arms, clapping frantically and flattering her.
"Little girl, where are you blasting?" Just then, a teasing voice came from above Perona's head.
Perona's expression stiffened, and she looked up at the sky. The huge full moon in the night sky was still dazzling, and a hunchbacked, short figure in a white lab coat was stepping on air, looking down at her teasingly.
"Want to play 'hunting game'? Rankyaku: Hornets!" The old scholar in mid-air suddenly kicked several times, and the visible force waves dispersed into hundreds of tiny cone-shaped air blades, overwhelming Perona!
"Waaahhh----!!!" Perona shrieked, scrambling and rolling to desperately escape the impact zone of the air blade rain, cursing as she ran: "Perverted old man! If you want to play games, go play with zombies! We have a generation gap, a really big generation gap!"
"...Don't want to play with me? Then just die! Rankyaku: Queen Bee!"
A swift kick produced a furious cone-shaped vacuum slash, forming a wave of air, which cleaved directly towards Perona's back as she fled!
At a critical moment, a chain blade, shot at extreme speed from far away, fiercely scattered this fatal Rankyaku vacuum blade!
"Victor-onii-chan!" Perona cried with joy, just about to start whining, when she horrifyingly realized that Victor, in the distance, had been brutally smashed by the colossal Gecko Moria's punch, crashing through several residential ruins before falling directly into the half-destroyed church, which then shook violently!
"Hehehehe!! Zipper Boy, you dare to be distracted while fighting me? You've got guts!" With every step, the ground trembled slightly. The roaring Gecko Moria strode quickly towards the now silent church, and countless shadow beasts also appeared around him, swiftly rushing towards the church.
"B-Onii-chan..." Perona couldn't believe her eyes. The invincible Victor-onii-chan actually... It's all my fault! The girl's unadorned face was covered in tears.
The old scholar landed on the ground, shading his eyes as he looked at the distant church, muttering: "Hmph... He probably won't survive Moria-sama's punch, or at least he's crippled. It's also that kid's arrogance, daring to challenge Moria-sama alone..."
"Shut up! You're not qualified to badmouth my Onii-chan!!"
The hunchbacked old scholar raised his bushy eyebrows and slowly turned his head towards the source of the voice: "Your Onii-chan risked his life to protect you, don't waste it in vain, little girl."
Perona, her face streaked with tears, sat curled up with her knees hugged beside a large rock, now soundly asleep. Above her, a figure identical to her, the Free Ghost, floated, glaring angrily at the old scholar.
The Free Ghost, a ghost body identical to the original, of which only one can exist at a time.
"Mini Ghost: Firefly Band." Perona's ghost body no longer held a parasol. She spread her arms, and countless mini spherical ghosts quickly appeared around her, beginning to orbit her as their center.
The old scholar chuckled, cracking his neck with a creaking sound: "In the end, it's still these two tricks... And didn't your Onii-chan warn you? About the fatal weakness of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit..."
Perona looked at the old scholar with determined eyes, gently raising her hands, the ghosts around her body suddenly accelerating their orbit: "My actual body, of course I know. You can try it, see if you lose your combat ability first, or if my actual body gets destroyed first!" Then she fiercely pushed her hands forward!
"Mini Ghost: The Grateful Dead!"
A deluge of ghosts lunged towards the old scholar!
"Giving up on yourself? What a foolish girl..."
The old scholar sighed regretfully, then darted into the sky in a few steps. But he immediately noticed that aside from a small number of ghosts that couldn't brake in time and exploded on the ground, more ghosts formed an arc and flew rapidly towards him in the air.
"Heh heh, this is getting a bit interesting. I'll treat this as a 'target practice game' then! Rankyaku: Beehive!!"
The old scholar darted away rapidly in the air, creating distance between himself and the ghost swarm. Then, his right foot kicked out numerous phantom images. A large air barrier first appeared in front of him, then countless protrusions swelled on the barrier, each protrusion unleashing a small cone-shaped air blade that collided head-on with the charging ghost swarm!
And the old scholar himself stomped on the air, launching himself in a straight line towards Perona's main body on the ground, raising his right hand with his index finger pointing, aiming directly at Perona's head!
But a small figure flew faster towards Perona's main body than the old scholar—it was her Free Ghost!
The two figures overlapped. Then, Perona's main body opened her eyes, revealing a mischievous smile, and she suddenly took flight, rapidly ascending into the sky.
The old scholar missed, falling directly to the ground. He shook his head, pushing his thick-bottomed glasses onto his forehead, his small eyes filled with disbelief: "...The main body of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit can fly?"
Perona's true form laughed as she soared through the sky, countless ghosts guarding her as if she were a princess with her loyal escort. She Gigggled mockingly: "Old man, I told you we have a generation gap, your intel is outdated! Let Lady Pepe proudly introduce you to this new move..."
"Free Ghost: Dead Can Dance!"
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