Chapter 184: Melee!
"Kill...!!!"
Accompanied by earth-shattering, bloodthirsty battle cries, the two massive torrents finally collided.
On one side was the Beasts Pirates' beastly tide, a chaotic swarm of mutated freaks and hardened criminals.
On the other side was Esdeath's relentless, chilling Ice Crystal Legion, charging forward with absolute, mechanical precision.
They violently crashed into one another on the rocky coast of Onigashima, kicking up a massive storm of dust and frozen mist!
In an instant, the tense battlefield turned into a horrific symphony of spilled blood and shattering ice!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
"Crack...!"
Heavy pirate cutlasses and axes slashed fiercely against the bodies of the Ice Cavalrymen, erupting in grating sounds of fragmentation.
Shards of pure ice flew into the air like deadly shrapnel, reflecting the sunlight before piercing the skin of the nearby pirates.
But immediately after absorbing the blows, the Ice Cavalryman whose body had just been deeply gashed open would not even flinch.
Without a single moment of hesitation, the unfeeling construct would drive the razor-sharp ice spear in its hand directly through the enemy's chest.
Hot blood sprayed across the freezing weapons, instantly turning into morbid, crimson icicles.
These creations of Esdeath felt absolutely no pain and feared no death.
There was no human hesitation in their movements, only a faint, eerie blue Soul Fire burning silently in the empty sockets of their eyes.
They existed solely to execute their creator's absolute command—slaughter!
"Are you kidding me?! Why are these damn ice block puppets so incredibly tough!"
"Damn it! My sword just chipped! Ignore the riders, cut the legs! Cut the horse's legs to bring them down!"
"Ah—! Help me! It stabbed me!"
Agonized screams rose and fell continuously across the frontline, creating a chaotic chorus of despair.
The elite Tobi Roppo had initially held a strong hint of contempt when the charge began.
They had arrogantly believed these were merely flashy, impractical ice sculptures meant to intimidate rather than kill.
But very quickly, the arrogant expressions on their faces completely changed.
"Damn it! Get out of my way!"
Who's-Who, fully utilizing his terrifying physical prowess, coated his blade in jet-black Armament Haki.
With a single, devastatingly fast strike, he sliced an imposing Ice Cavalryman, both man and horse, completely in half.
The two halves of the frozen construct crashed to the ground, shattering into a thousand harmless pieces.
But even as he cleared the area immediately around him, more Ice Cavalrymen were already surging past him.
They mindlessly trampled towards the ordinary crew members, their ice hooves crushing bone and rock alike.
"These things are a nightmare! Guys below the rank of Gifters can't handle them at all! They can only barely hold them back with their lives!"
Just as Who's-Who observed, only the high-ranking executives who were Headliners or above could crush these ice crystal constructs.
They relied heavily on the sheer destructive power of their Armament Haki to shatter the magically reinforced ice.
As for the ordinary, mutated Gifters, they found themselves in a living hell.
They struggled even to leave a scratch on the thick ice armor of the horses.
Within moments, they were instantly cut off from their squads, surrounded by this silent Legion of Death, and dragged into a bitter, losing struggle!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the chaotic battlefield, a bizarre "solo performance" was unfolding.
It was a sight so absurd that it made the veteran members of the Beasts Pirates question reality itself.
"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!"
"Plague" Queen was acting like a complete madman, his eyes bulging out of their sockets in sheer frustration.
The signature cigar he had initially held clamped in his mouth had long since fallen somewhere into the mud, entirely forgotten.
His massive, heavily modified cyborg body erupted with a terrifying agility that completely belied his tremendous size.
He opened fire with absolutely everything he had.
Searing yellow lasers shot from his mouth, melting the very earth into glowing slag.
Scorching flames spewed from his modified throat, and razor-sharp claw strikes from his mechanical arm tore through the air with sonic booms.
Various lethal, high-tech attacks poured out of the All-Star like a violent, inescapable storm of destruction.
However, the sole target of all these world-ending attacks—Albedo—simply stood perfectly still in place.
She hadn't even taken a single step backward.
Upon stepping onto the battlefield, the Overseer of the Guardians had immediately switched to her dedicated battle stance.
Her majestic, Gothic, pure black full-body armor, known as "Hermes Trismegistus," perfectly enveloped her flawless figure.
The armor exuded an ancient, demonic aura, absorbing the ambient light around it like a miniature black hole.
From beneath the heavy, horned helm, only a pair of vertical reptilian pupils, flashing with cold, arrogant golden light, were visible.
Queen's proud, devastating attacks slammed relentlessly onto the dark armor.
A massive cloud of smoke and fire engulfed her position, the ground beneath her feet cracking under the kinetic pressure.
But besides producing dull, echoing "clang, clang" sounds, the bombardment couldn't even leave a microscopic scratch on the dark metal.
"Can't... I can't even break her defense?!" Queen roared, his mechanical arm whirring in overdrive as he gasped for breath.
"What the hell is this?! Is that woman a monster...?"
Every single one of Queen's furious, desperate roars seemed like nothing more than applause celebrating Albedo's Absolute Defense.
Albedo didn't even bother to move her hands to block.
The feeling permeating this specific clash was incredibly bizarre.
It didn't feel like a battle between two top-tier fighters of the New World.
Instead, it looked more like a thick-skinned, rabid wild boar fruitlessly charging its head against an unbelievably solid, immovable mountain.
"Elder Sister, watching this is getting boring! Let us go help too!"
"Alright, let's go and clear the trash!"
A light, pleasant laugh sounded over the din of battle, and two beautiful figures aggressively joined the fray.
Ram took a step forward and elegantly spread her hands.
Violent, highly concentrated blue-violet electric snakes began to dance fiercely at her fingertips, the air smelling sharply of ozone.
"Divine Punishment!"
With a casual, almost dismissive wave of her arm, a thick, blindingly bright whip of raw lightning swept out across the shoreline.
The crack of thunder was deafening!
The lightning instantly electrocuted a large, dense swath of charging pirates.
They didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were left charred black, foaming at the mouth, and falling down in smoking rows!
"Rem can also contribute to Lord Suzaku's victory... Take this, you ugly beasts!"
On the other side of the twin formation, the heavy, spiked Chain Mace in Rem's hand spun so fast it turned into a terrifying Death Windmill.
The sheer velocity of the iron ball tore the air apart, creating a localized hurricane.
Every time she swung it forward, the strike landed with a devastating wind pressure that sounded like ghosts wailing and gods howling.
"Boom!"
The massive iron ball smashed into the ground, instantly crushing several Gifters into meat paste and sending shockwaves through the earth.
Deep, massive spiderweb cracks spread rapidly across the rocky terrain, leaving the surrounding enemies either instantly dead or severely wounded!
The two demonic women immediately displayed immense, unstoppable power as soon as they rushed out of the Vermillion Wing's shadow!
"I can finally go wild!"
Yamato roared excitedly upon seeing this spectacular scene of destruction.
Having been imprisoned and shackled for twenty years, the sight of Kaido's forces being crushed ignited an unquenchable fire in her soul.
Unable to hold back her warrior's instincts any longer, she charged headfirst into the dense enemy formation.
She wielded her massive, black Spiked Club, "Takeru," swinging it with terrifying, monstrous physical strength.
She moved like a starving tiger entering a flock of helpless sheep, sending pirates flying dozens of meters into the air with every swing!
Seeing the overall situation of the battlefield rapidly descend into a completely one-sided slaughter, Suzaku remained perfectly calm.
Standing near the rear, he simply waved his hand expressionlessly, his dark eyes observing the flow of the war.
On the ground behind him, a hundred pitch-black, unnatural shadows began to writhe and bubble like boiling ink.
Without making a single sound, they pulled themselves up from the two-dimensional plane.
They rapidly transformed into a hundred terrifying Shadow Soldiers, their eyes glowing with an eerie light as they tightly gripped sharp, shadowy blades.
In perfect, absolute silence, they sprinted forward, flawlessly merging into the chaotic battlefield to support the Ice Legion.
And a crimson figure, moving as silently and deadly as a vengeful specter, followed closely behind the ranks of these Shadow Soldiers.
Using their dark forms as absolute cover, Akame completely vanished from everyone's sight, her presence erasing itself from the world.
"Hmm?"
Standing casually in a slightly elevated corner of the battlefield, Uchiha Madara crossed his arms across his crimson armor.
He had been watching the chaotic battle unfold, and upon seeing the melee escalate to such a bloody degree, he raised an eyebrow.
The legendary Ghost of the Uchiha felt his blood pump.
The tomoe in his Sharingan spun lazily, and a distinct, undeniable hint of fighting spirit appeared in his cold eyes.
His fingers twitched, aching to weave signs and summon a rain of fire to properly test these so-called "pirates."
But before he moved, he glanced sideways at Hashirama Senju standing right beside him.
The God of Shinobi remained entirely calm and composed, his arms resting casually at his sides.
Hashirama's deep eyes observed the chaotic battlefield without a trace of urgency, acting as if he were simply waiting for the grand finale to begin.
"Hmph, boring..." Madara scoffed, his pride refusing to let him act like an eager child.
Although he verbally claimed the skirmish was beneath him, seeing that Hashirama had absolutely no intention of entering the fray just yet, he forcibly withdrew his surging fighting spirit!
If Hashirama wasn't going to move, then Madara certainly wouldn't lower himself to clean up the fodder!
Meanwhile, back in the thick of the meat grinder, the Beast Pirates' leadership was panicking.
"Forget about those damn immortal ice blocks! Deal with those two women first!"
The Tobi Roppo and the massive, towering executives known as the Numbers immediately assessed the deteriorating situation.
They could clearly see the devastating battlefield impact of the Oni twins.
The two young women easily wielding raw lightning and a crushing chain mace posed a far greater, immediate threat to their ranks than the mindless Ice Cavalrymen!
"Crush them into paste!"
The executive group, aggressively led by the agile Who's-Who and the colossal, horned Number known as "Ten Ghosts" Juki, roared in unison.
Their massive strides shook the earth as they forcefully changed their trajectory, charging straight toward Ram and Rem!
"Hoh? Are the supposed executives finally stepping onto the field themselves?"
Ram stopped her lightning barrage and licked her lips, her eyes holding an undisguised, mocking provocation.
She didn't retreat a single inch. "If you think you can do it, come and try, you overgrown brutes!"
However, just as the massive executives were about to close the distance and approach the waiting twins, the shadows twisted.
Dozens of elite Shadow Soldiers suddenly emerged from the darkness cast on the ground.
Without a single battle cry, they formed a silent, dense human wall of shadowy shields and blades that completely blocked the executives' path!
"What the hell is this now?!" Who's-Who yelled, genuinely startled as he skidded to a halt.
His Observation Haki hadn't even picked up their presence until they physically manifested from the ground!
"Who cares what they are, you coward! Just tear them to shreds!"
The towering Number, Juki, was incredibly hot-tempered and completely drunk on battle rage.
With a wild, uncoordinated swing of his massive, spiked beast club, he generated a shockwave of wind.
The strike connected, and he instantly ripped a defending Shadow Soldier into scattered, misty shreds.
"Gahahaha! Weak!" Juki roared, spitting foul-smelling saliva.
But the moment the soldier shattered into pieces, the remnants didn't disappear.
Instead, the fragments dissolved into a pool of deep black shadow and immediately merged back into the rocky ground.
The very next second, the shadow boiled, and two brand new soldiers simultaneously emerged from the darkness right beneath Juki's massive feet!
Without a sound, they brutally swung their shadowy blades, violently slashing at the giant's thick ankles!
At the exact same time, the remaining shadow of the soldier who had just been shredded flowed rapidly along the uneven ground.
Like water reforming, it stood back up, completely unharmed, just a few meters away!
This terrifying, logic-defying scene played out in front of all the charging executives simultaneously.
"Damn it! What is going on?! These things can't be killed completely!"
"It's endless! No matter how many times we smash them, they just come back! What kind of cursed ability is this?!"
The elite vanguard of the Beast Pirates was instantly, hopelessly tied down by this strange, immortal army!
Their momentum was completely broken.
And this localized chaos became the absolute perfect cover for the ultimate predator.
Not far from Juki, another Number, known as the "Four Ghosts" Yoki, was rampaging.
This pink-skinned, ancient giant failure was blindly and angrily swinging his massive Giant Spiked Club.
With a deafening crash, he successfully smashed a nimble Shadow Soldier into the dirt, watching it vanish into thin air.
"Die! Die! Die!" Yoki bellowed, his voice slurred and heavy.
In the exact, critical microsecond when the giant's old strength was fully spent, and his new strength had yet to materialize to lift the heavy club again, the air shifted.
A slender, crimson silhouette appeared completely silently in the blind spot directly behind his massive, exposed back.
There was no murderous intent. There was no displacement of air.
Just a swift, elegant flash of a cursed blade.
"Puchi."
The wet sound of the sharp, enchanted katana easily entering the giant's thick flesh was so incredibly faint it was barely audible over the roaring battlefield.
The giant Yoki only felt a very slight, almost insignificant chill on the side of his massive belly.
Frowning in confusion, he stopped his rampage and looked down at his side.
There, on his thick, pink skin, was only a subtle, extremely shallow line of blood. It looked like a mere paper cut.
He didn't even bother to turn around to see who had dared to scratch him.
Instead, the drunken giant threw his head back, laughing maniacally with absolute indifference.
"Ha... haha... are you serious? Just this tiny, pathetic wound? Did you come all the way here just to tickle me, little bug?"
"Hahahaha! I can't even feel—"
However, the crimson figure—Akame—had already smoothly sheathed her lethal blade, Murasame.
With her back turned to the colossal giant, she didn't even spare him a second glance.
She gracefully stepped forward and immediately merged back into another patch of dark shadow, vanishing entirely.
She left behind only two words, spoken with a tone as cold and absolute as winter frost.
"Oblivion!"
The giant's raucous laughter stopped with a terrifying abruptness.
It didn't taper off; it simply ceased, as if his vocal cords had been suddenly severed.
The arrogant, mocking expression on Yoki's massive face instantly froze into a mask of pure, unadulterated terror.
He violently widened his eyes, staring down in absolute horror at the supposedly insignificant wound on his belly.
From that tiny cut, dense rings of bizarre, purplish-black curse patterns had erupted.
They were spreading outward rapidly, crawling across his pink skin like thousands of venomous, writhing veins at a visible, terrifying speed!
An intense, unimaginable agony originating straight from the very depths of his soul washed over his entire being.
It felt as if his massive, overflowing life force was being instantly, forcefully drained out of his body by an unstoppable demon!
"Ugh... Ah... Ahhh!"
He tried to scream, but only choked, gurgling sounds escaped his throat.
His massive, mountain-like body swayed violently, his knees buckling under their own weight.
The aggressive, drunken light in his massive eyes quickly dimmed, replaced by the dull, empty glaze of absolute death.
"Boom...!!!"
Under the utterly horrified, disbelieving gaze of his surrounding Beast Pirate comrades, the towering Number, Yoki, fell straight backward like a felled redwood.
His enormous, lifeless body crashed heavily into the earth, kicking up massive, obscuring clouds of dust and debris.
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