Chapter 613: Imu Actually Drains the Five Elders Dry
Green light exploded from Thanos's wrist. The entire expanse of New York's ruins was instantly enveloped by the power of the Time Stone. The roar of artillery slowed to a crawl, falling steel plates hung suspended in mid-air, and even the flying shrapnel seemed pressed down by an invisible hand.
Garp prepared to throw a punch, but his arm sank without warning. He looked down; the wounds that had just been torn open by the spatial backlash were splitting open anew, fresh blood spilling over his knuckles. "Hey, hey, hey, this thing comes with a rewind button!?" Garp cursed, stomping his foot to shatter the ground beneath him. But his movements were noticeably sluggish.
Whitebeard sensed the anomaly as well. The old wounds on his chest, which had just calmed down, began to throb with renewed pain, and the arm holding Murakumogiri grew heavy. "Gurarara, reversing time?" He stared at Thanos, his laughter not stopping, but his eyes turning completely cold.
Thanos stood at the center of the green light, the Space Stone in his left hand, the Time Stone in his right. He stared at Garp and Whitebeard, his voice steady. "You rely on flesh and will to endure the rules of the universe. Then I shall return you to your weakest states."
The green light pulsed outward again. The green steam radiating from Garp began to roll back into his body, the aura of the Eight Inner Gates forcibly suppressed. The tremor halos surrounding Whitebeard were peeled away, layer by layer.
Tony watched his armor's screens blare with frantic warnings, feeling entirely sick to his stomach. "Doctor! This isn't cheating, this is straight-up editing the save file!"
Doctor Strange looked grim. "He's using the Time Stone to lock their physical states."
The younger Tony immediately pressed, "Can we interrupt it?"
Strange looked at the warped space surrounding Thanos. "You want to go try?"
The younger Tony fell silent for a second. "I suddenly feel that spectating is a highly technical skill."
On the other side of the battlefield, Doflamingo gripped the Reality and Power Stones, his body still trembling. He had wanted to use the chaos to slip away, but as soon as the green time domain blanketed the area, his newly repaired blood vessels started to burst open again.
"Damn you, Grimace!" Doflamingo's forehead throbbed with veins. "What kind of evil curse did I walk into today? Robbing a stone is more exhausting than being a Warlord of the Sea!"
Shanks's pace was also dragged down by the green light. The Soul Stone emitted an orange glow to protect his body, but the Time Stone's power continuously gnawed at him.
Beckman held his rifle, his face sinking. "Captain, this is starting to look pretty ugly."
Shanks kept his eyes on Thanos. "It is a bit of a problem."
Just as everyone was being pinned down by the time domain, Imu suddenly turned around. She didn't look at Thanos, nor did she look at Hela. She looked at the Five Elders standing behind her.
Saturn, Mars, Warcury, Nusjuro, and Ju Peter all froze simultaneously. In that instant, the expressions on their faces shifted. It wasn't anger. It wasn't caution. It was sheer terror.
Imu raised her hand, her voice utterly devoid of warmth. "Give me your power."
The fat on Saint Saturn's cheeks twitched violently. "Lady Imu…"
Saint Mars subconsciously took a half-step back, his wings half-unfurling against his will. "My Lady, we haven't reached that point yet."
Imu stared at them. "I said, give me your power."
Saint Warcury opened his mouth, but no complete sound escaped his throat. They wanted to retreat. But their bodies utterly refused to obey. A certain control, carved deep into their very bloodlines, was forcibly activated by Imu at this moment. The Five Elders' legs were rooted to the ground like nails; they couldn't even freely maintain their demonic transformations.
Saturn's eyes were filled with horror. "No, My Lady, we can still fight!"
Imu took a single step, appearing right in front of him. She offered no reply.
Squelch!
Imu's right hand plunged straight into Saturn's chest. Her left hand simultaneously impaled Mars.
The entire battlefield fell abruptly silent. Even Hela paused her movements.
Saturn's eyes bulged, his Gyuki form twisting violently. Blood poured from Mars's mouth, his wings flapping erratically, yet he couldn't break free from Imu's grasp.
"Lady Imu!" Saint Nusjuro drew his blade to move, but the moment his hand touched the hilt, his body slammed heavily to its knees.
Saint Ju Peter's colossal worm body lay flat on the ground, emitting stifled, agonizing hisses.
Imu wrenched her arms back with brutal force. Dark red energy was forcibly extracted from the bodies of Saturn and Mars. It wasn't just their life force. It was the very origin of the Devil Fruits within them.
The bodies of the two men shriveled at a speed visible to the naked eye. Their skin clung tightly to their bones, their eye sockets sinking deep.
Saturn let out a blood-curdling scream. "No! Lady Imu! I have guarded for you for eight hundred years!"
Imu didn't even spare him a glance. "Then you shall continue to serve me now."
As the words left her lips, Saturn's body simply disintegrated into ash. Mars didn't last much longer. His wings turned to black soot in mid-air, scattering into the wind.
Tony felt his scalp go numb watching it. "Weren't they on the same team!?"
Chapter 614: Madwoman Imu Fights Thanos Head-On
Rocket Raccoon hugged his gun and shrank back. "This boss is way too shady! Working overtime without pay is one thing, but taking your life!?"
Star-Lord nodded in deep agreement. "I suddenly feel like Yondu was pretty gentle with me back in the day."
The psychological defenses of the three remaining Five Elders completely collapsed.
Saint Warcury roared in fury, "Imu! You're insane!"
No sooner had he shouted than his chest was pierced by chains of dark red energy. Saint Nusjuro swung his blade to sever the chains, but Imu simply shot him a glance, freezing him completely in place. Saint Ju Peter desperately tried to burrow into the earth, but the ground had already been sealed shut by Imu's aura.
Three streams of life origin were violently ripped away. Warcury's massive body rapidly deflated, ultimately turning to ash. Nusjuro's blade clattered to the ground. He looked at Imu, his lips trembling.
"Were we… merely tools?"
Imu calmly withdrew the power. "You always were."
The light faded from Nusjuro's eyes, his body dissolving into ash. Ju Peter didn't even get out a final word before his colossal worm body collapsed into a cloud of swirling dust.
The Five Elders, completely wiped out.
Witnessing this, Sengoku's face turned a livid, steely gray. "You absolute bastard!"
Garp was so angry he laughed. "The absolute rulers of the World Government, and this is what they amount to?"
Akainu stared dead at Imu, murderous intent boiling in the depths of his eyes. "Monsters like this should have been purged long ago."
For once, Kizaru didn't crack a joke. He looked at the patch of ash, his tone uncharacteristically serious. "Oh my, that is truly an ugly sight."
Imu's aura skyrocketed. A dark red aura, so dense it was almost tangible, erupted from her body, forcefully pushing back the green time domain surrounding her. Behind her, the aura coalesced into the phantom image of a colossal black dragon. Though it possessed no physical form, its presence made the air across the entire battlefield unbearably heavy.
Hela looked at Imu, her own expression equally grim. "Sacrificing your own servants in exchange for power?"
Imu glanced at her. "Compared to letting it go to waste in your incompetent rage, this power suits me much better."
Hela laughed in sheer fury. "You are more disgusting than Odin."
Imu didn't bother responding. She raised her right hand, the dark red light compressing to an absolute extreme in her palm.
Thanos's time domain was still expanding. Garp and Whitebeard were being suppressed, their movements growing more and more sluggish. Thanos stared at Imu, a flicker of true wariness finally appearing in his eyes. "You are burning power that does not belong to you."
Imu sneered. "Power is only divided into what you can take, and what you cannot."
Before her words had even settled, she thrust her palm forward. A dark red energy blast tore across the battlefield, slamming head-on into the green domain generated by the Time Stone.
Boom!
The green light shuddered violently. The power of the Time Stone seemed forcibly torn open, a massive gap ripping through the entire domain. The pressure on Garp instantly vanished. He immediately threw a punch, shattering the green light in front of him.
"Hahaha! I can move again!"
Whitebeard swung Murakumogiri, sweeping a shockwave outward that scattered all the remaining green light in his vicinity. "Gurarara, that madwoman might be crazy, but she actually helped us out just now."
Thanos took a half-step back, the Time Stone on his wrist flickering unsteadily. Imu had already vanished from her spot. When she reappeared, she was right in front of Doflamingo.
Doflamingo's pupils shrank. "Wait a min—!"
Before he could finish, Imu slammed her palm down.
Bang!
Half of Doflamingo's body exploded on the spot. His white feather coat was soaked through with blood, shattered bone and torn flesh flying in all directions. He was blasted back dozens of meters, crashing heavily into the ruins.
The Reality Stone and Mind Stone slipped from his grasp. Imu reached out, catching both gems in her palm. Red and yellow light reflected against each other.
Doflamingo lay sprawled on the ground, writhing as the White Zetsu cells desperately worked to repair his missing half. His face contorted in agony, yet he was still laughing his signature, twisted laugh. "Fuffu… fuffuffu… How ruthless. You… you're even better at robbing people than I am."
Shanks took a step forward, his blade drawn. Beckman raised his rifle, taking aim at Imu.
But Imu didn't look at them. She gripped the Reality and Mind Stones, the phantom black dragon slowly coiling behind her. Thanos stood at the other end of the battlefield, the Space Stone in his left hand, the Time Stone in his right.
Their gazes violently collided in the center of the ruins.
Imu raised her hand, red and yellow light intertwining at her fingertips. She looked at Thanos, a freezing smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "Your gauntlet is mine."
The moment Imu took hold of the two stones, the entire atmosphere of the ruins changed. She didn't rush Thanos immediately. Instead, she raised her right hand and pressed the Reality Stone directly against her forehead. The red light spider-webbed from the bone, weaving fine, glowing patterns beneath her skin.
Tony watched the energy readings on his armor's screens, his eyelids twitching. "She shoved the stone right into her forehead!? Does absolutely no one here know how to wear these things normally!?"
Rocket Raccoon huddled behind his gun. "These alien lunatics sure have a lot of party tricks."
The Reality Stone fully embedded itself into Imu's forehead. In the next second, the ruins turned upside down. The broken streets vanished, the collapsed skyscrapers vanished, the twisted rebar and artillery craters all vanished.
The ground beneath everyone's feet transformed into pristine white stone steps. A towering palace rose from the earth, massive golden doors unfolding in the distance.
Sengoku stared at the familiar yet alien architecture, his face darkening to the extreme. "Mary Geoise?"
Akainu's eyes went cold. "She actually turned this place into that hellhole."
Imu stood at the highest point of the palace, an empty throne slowly rising behind her. She cradled the Mind Stone in her palm, the crushing weight of red and yellow light bearing down on Thanos.
"Kneel."
The words echoed, and the floor of the palace split open. Countless black chains erupted from the stone fissures, binding Thanos's wrists, ankles, and neck. Every single chain carried the reality-rewriting power of the stone.
Thanos raised his head, his singular, cold gaze locked onto Imu. "You seek to trap me with a false throne?"
The chains pulled tighter. His armor began to crack under the strain, and his double-bladed sword was pinned firmly to the floor.
Imu descended the steps. "False?" She raised her hand, and a colossal shadow unfurled behind the throne. "As long as I wish it, it is real."
Sprawled at the edge of the ruins, Doflamingo watched the board he had worked so hard to steal get entirely hijacked. He was so furious he coughed up blood while laughing. "Fuffuffuffu… This woman robs you and then redecorates the place. She really knows how to live."
Shanks held Gryphon, making no immediate move to strike. Beckman exhaled a cloud of smoke beside him. "Captain, these stones are changing hands way too fast."
Shanks watched Imu and Thanos. "Hold off for now. If we get too close, we'll get dragged right into it."
Just then, a burst of intense purple light flared in the distance. The Power Stone beside Doflamingo snapped the transparent strings binding it and shot straight toward Thanos.
"No!" Doflamingo reached out to grab it, but caught nothing but a handful of gravel.
The Power Stone tore across the sky above the palace, slamming solidly into the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos clenched his fist. Purple light erupted. The chains binding him shattered instantly.
The entire Mary Geoise palace was ripped apart by the purple shockwave, crumbling to dust from the throne all the way down to the stone steps. The reality rewrite had been brutally punched through by the Power Stone.
Everyone was returned to the core of the ruins once more.
Thanos stepped out from the dissipating dust of light, the blue, green, and purple stones flashing in sequence on his gauntlet. He looked at Imu.
"Now, who kneels?"
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