As Azrael's cards fully materialized, a deathly silence descended upon the secret realm.
"If I remember correctly," Dick hesitantly whispered to Menia after a moment of stunned silence, "aren't these the cards belonging to members of the Crimson Oath Society from that night?"
Ignoring the rambling tech specialist beside him, Menia stared solemnly at Azrael, who stood protected by a swarm of summoned figures, and exhaled slowly through gritted teeth.
"I never would have imagined that the President of the Donglai Cardian Master Association would actually be a member of the Crimson Oath Society."
"Not that it matters now."
Without expecting a response, Menia slowly drew a gleaming silver dagger from her waist, her eyes narrowing with lethal intent.
"Either way, you won't be leaving this place alive today."
"I'm certain when I inform those guild fools about this discovery, their expressions will be absolutely priceless."
Dick gradually regained his composure from the initial shock, scanning the dense crowd of pirates surrounding them with renewed confidence.
This entire scenario had been orchestrated to encircle and eliminate the Association's strongest fighters. While Azrael's true identity was somewhat unexpected, he remained outnumbered, and they would overwhelm him through sheer force of numbers.
Dick slammed his hands against the ground and shouted, "Weapon Enhancement!"
"Buzz!"
A subtle humming resonated through the air as the weapons in the pirates' hands began emanating continuous azure light.
Witnessing this transformation, Dick raised an eyebrow triumphantly. "Do you have any idea how much effort I invested in modifying these weapons?"
As the Seven Seas' most renowned craftsman, Dick had earned his position among the Seven Kings not solely through combat prowess, but more importantly for his scientific innovations.
This technological mastery alone placed him on equal footing with those powerful rulers.
However, upon observing this display, Azrael's expression shifted to a cold, predatory smile. "Leave no one alive."
Human wave tactics?
That was precisely what he feared least in his current state.
"BOOM!"
As Azrael's words echoed, everyone's hearts skipped a beat in unison.
At that moment, the clouds were shattered by an overwhelming violet spiritual pressure, while the air itself seemed to crackle with menacing black and red lightning.
Dick and Menia's pupils trembled as they stared at the two men flanking Azrael.
The brown-haired man's expression remained completely impassive, his eyes devoid of any warmth or mercy.
The young man sporting a cross-shaped scar on his chest pressed his right hand against his straw hat, shadowing his eyes with its brim.
A captivating aura of supreme dominance emanated from both figures, an unmistakable manifestation of Conqueror's Haki that could render weaker-willed opponents unconscious simply through its overwhelming presence. Simultaneously, Aizen's violet spiritual pressure, his Reiatsu, pressed down upon their enemies with crushing intensity, a force so overwhelming that it could bring even powerful demons to their knees.
No... it transcended mere aura.
"Gu!" Dick swallowed hard, feeling the crushing weight bearing down on him. "Vangeance?!"
He immediately sensed the familiar presence within the straw-hatted youth who had descended alongside the others.
"That bastard Li Gang wasn't lying after all!"
In that terrifying instant, both demons finally comprehended that Li Gang hadn't deceived them. Garciwell and Vangeance had indeed perished at the hands of the young man standing before them.
Menia whirled toward the green-haired swordsman beside Azrael, sudden recognition dawning in her features. She finally understood why Zoro had seemed so familiar during their previous encounter.
Of course he would be familiar, he was crafted using Garciwell's very essence as material!
"Ding-ling."
The sound of weapons clattering to the ground echoed throughout the realm.
A massive number of low-level pirates lost consciousness in the overwhelming aura radiating from Luffy and Aizen. Some of the more cowardly demons even perished from sheer terror.
Observing this devastating scene, Dick's face flushed with humiliation and rage.
He hadn't anticipated his carefully orchestrated human wave strategy would prove utterly useless without achieving a single meaningful effect.
"What was all my painstaking preparation these past nights worth?!" he snarled in frustration.
Fortunately, the battlefield wasn't populated exclusively by weak pirates.
Like Garciwell before them, both Dick and Menia commanded their own elite lieutenants. Combined with Vangeance's remaining forces, a considerable number of Gold-ranked demons remained conscious and combat-ready.
The quality of these survivors varied significantly, but the human wave strategy retained some effectiveness since they still maintained numerical superiority.
Offering himself a few words of encouragement, Dick retrieved a small iron block from his pocket and hurled it behind him. The device instantly expanded into a massive cannon.
"BOOM!"
As the barrel expanded and contracted, a solid, blue-tinged cannonball hurtled toward Azrael's position with devastating velocity.
"Swish!"
The distinctive ring of steel meeting steel echoed as the massive projectile was instantly bisected.
Emerging from between the separated shell fragments was a rubber giant with gleaming black limbs coated in Armament Haki.
Uncertain of his current location and considering the precarious situation within Donglai City, Azrael had chosen to deploy his cards at maximum power.
Regarding the revelation of his Crimson Oath Society identity, after witnessing these cards exposed, no demon present could be permitted to survive.
Luffy, having activated Gear Fourth, experienced significant enhancement across all physical capabilities. With just a few powerful bounds, he reached Dick's position.
"Gum-Gum Ape King Gun!"
His pitch-black right arm suddenly contracted like a coiled spring, and the next moment, it slammed into Dick like a devastating cannonball.
As a researcher, Dick's close-quarters combat abilities were practically nonexistent.
Fortunately, he still commanded loyal subordinates.
"Bang!"
His massive Haki-infused fist drove two Gold-ranked demons deep into the ground, sending the surrounding terrain surging like violent waves.
Gear Fourth, empowered by advanced Haki techniques, inflicted immense damage on the two pirate demons.
With just one devastating strike, the two pirate commanders were rendered barely conscious, appearing to teeter on the verge of complete collapse.
Just as the various pirate leaders, whose strengths spanned a wide spectrum, began trembling with genuine fear, Menia vanished in a silver flash.
The next moment, a gleaming silver dagger, radiating lethal intent, appeared beside Azrael and thrust toward his kidney.
"I've got you!" Menia's face twisted into a bloodthirsty grin.
Having operated in this realm for an extended period, they were no longer the ignorant demons they had been initially.
In any battle against a Lore Cardian, successfully eliminating the summoner would rapidly conclude the engagement.
Moreover, considering her recent experiences, the group of Lore Cardians she had encountered in Korea had proven remarkably weak!
Eight or nine out of ten would have perished under her signature sneak attack.
However, her strategy was doomed to fail, for Azrael wasn't some incompetent Lore Cardian from Korea.
He was the monster of the Empire of Aetherlight's Lore Cardian system.
More accurately, any genius from the existing great powers wouldn't fall to such a simplistic assassination attempt.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Bakudō #81: Dankū."
Menia's dagger pierced through numerous honeycomb-like defensive spells before finally stopping at a transparent barrier of spiritual energy.
Looking up, she discovered her target standing with arms folded, staring coldly down at her with complete composure.
Menia's pupils constricted in alarm, and she immediately attempted to dodge into the distance.
The next moment, a sharp violet light flashed past her previous location.
"Ah, she escaped? How disappointing!"
Shiraori raised her right foreleg and scratched her head with apparent annoyance.
Menia's back was drenched in cold sweat. In that careless moment, she had genuinely felt death's icy breath.
Steadying her trembling right hand, Menia glanced toward Dick in the distance.
Dick was being relentlessly pursued by two Straw Hat Pirates, completely oblivious to the ongoing battle around him.
Fortunately, with the support of his pirate leaders, Dick's life remained temporarily out of immediate danger.
Pursing her lips grimly, Menia dodged the incoming electromagnetic projectile and deadly magic spells, then utilized the sunlight to split into multiple figures, simultaneously charging toward Azrael while one duplicate rushed toward the secret realm's entrance.
"If I can escape, he'll definitely pursue me," Menia reasoned with tactical clarity.
While the current situation appeared unfavorable, she recognized the young man possessed a critical weakness: he absolutely could not afford to have his identity as a member of the Crimson Oath Society exposed.
Otherwise, someone wouldn't have impersonated him that night to assassinate the former president of Donglai.
If she could escape this secret realm, her enemy would undoubtedly pursue her with desperate intensity.
Menia remained confident in her superior speed; if she could reach Donglai proper, the hunter would become the hunted.
Gazing at the rapidly approaching entrance, she smiled triumphantly.
But in the next instant, her expression froze completely.
The intelligence Li Gang had provided to the demons before the battle contained only general information about the two cards Azrael had publicly revealed, omitting any details about the Crimson Oath Society's exclusive summons.
Therefore, Menia remained unaware of Shiraori's spatial manipulation abilities and Frieren's versatile magic.
Witnessing Azrael and his cards appear instantaneously at the secret realm's entrance, her face paled dramatically. She abruptly halted her sprint, stomped forcefully, and launched herself backward.
"BOOM!"
A devastating combination of dark abyssal magic and piercing killing spells ravaged the ground, rapidly pursuing Menia's retreating form.
Within moments, the dagger-wielding female pirate was torn apart by the magical onslaught.
However, even as Menia appeared to perish, Azrael remained vigilant and alert.
He couldn't believe someone of Garciwell's caliber could be eliminated so effortlessly.
Garciwell had previously single-handedly blocked attacks from both Aizen and Misaka simultaneously.
Sure enough, when the silver dagger reappeared, it struck viciously at Luffy, who was pursuing Dick.
"Ding!"
Metal clashed against metal as a pitch-black long sword firmly intercepted the gleaming silver dagger.
The two contrasting weapons sparked violently as they ground against each other.
Menia glared grimly at the green-haired swordsman who had blocked her strike. In an instant, she separated into multiple figures and attacked Zoro from all directions.
"Three Sword Style: Black Rope Great Tornado!"
A giant emerald dragon, wrapped in a devastating hurricane, unleashed razor-sharp slashes in every direction.
Menia's duplicates vanished into nothingness within a single breath.
She couldn't suppress her growing frustration.
But just as Menia contemplated how to counter this overwhelming assault, an crushing sense of threat suddenly approached from behind.
"Gum-Gum Snake Fist!"
Turning, she witnessed a rubber fist extending from the distance, already positioned mere inches from her face.
It was Luffy.
He had temporarily abandoned his pursuit of Dick to provide crucial support to his crewmate.
"Bang!"
Caught completely off guard, Menia was violently launched through the air, rolling and tumbling while raising clouds of debris.
"Menia!" Dick shouted with genuine concern.
However, it was obvious that a single blow wouldn't defeat such a formidable demon.
When the dust settled, Menia appeared before everyone with disheveled hair and blood trickling from her mouth.
She raised her left hand to wipe the crimson from her lips, her expression wild with desperation. "You want my life?!"
"Dream on!"
However, confronted by her defiant provocation, Azrael responded with chilling calm, "I said leave no one alive."
"Every demon in this secret realm today..."
"Vangeance die."
As his words faded, all six of Azrael's cards launched their coordinated assault simultaneously.