Nahamah was feeling an intense wave of weakness coursing through its body.
Yet its face was still adorned with a gleeful grin.
Only, what Sakazuki did next made that smile freeze.
[BOOM!!!]
Suddenly, the volcano behind Sakazuki erupted. A torrent of lava, radiating unbearable heat, surged out in an endless tide.
But instead of shooting straight into the sky, the lava arced midair and poured down in a precise cascade toward Nahamah's position.
The whole process flowed with perfect smoothness, and the magma within the volcano seemed utterly inexhaustible, as if it were draining the earth's core dry.
But what truly shook Nahamah wasn't the overwhelming volume of lava, nor Sakazuki's heightened control over it—it was the intangible fluctuations emanating from the molten tide.
Those were the fluctuations of a Law—one Nahamah knew all too well!
"You… how could you possibly also—"
Yet before Nahamah could finish its stunned scream, the deluge of molten lava had already crashed into the 'Black Sun' above its head with a deafening thunderclap.
A blinding radiance, far more dazzling than the sun in the sky, erupted at the far western edge of the Shinobi World.
Black flames and crimson lava painted the entire sky in apocalyptic hues.
In that moment, heaven and earth lost their color. The monstrous heat wave gave rise to a towering mushroom cloud, unleashing the most violent hurricane yet seen. It tore through the entire peninsula, even sending the surrounding seas into a frenzy of crashing waves.
Such might, such scale—it immediately impacted the distant battle between Lilith and Kuzan.
The tidal wave of searing air swept away the blizzard that had engulfed their battlefield.
But instead of fear, Lilith's face lit up with delight at the terrifying spectacle.
Ignoring the blood streaming down her body and the sharp pain radiating from her wounds, she shot toward Nahamah's location at full speed.
Kuzan's pressure wasn't as intense as Sakazuki's, but the torment from his relentless slashes hidden within the snowstorm had brought Lilith a kind of agony she had never experienced before.
She had to team up with Nahamah again.
Lilith knew: in a two-on-two, Sakazuki and Kuzan were no match for them.
'Faster! Faster! Faster!'
Lilith cried out in her mind, panic mounting, as she flew forward in a battered and desperate rush.
However, how could Kuzan simply stand by and let Lilith get away?
He and Sakazuki had both come after carefully studying the intelligence provided by Imu.
So the moment he saw Lilith move, he instantly guessed her intention.
The intel was crystal clear: if Lilith and Nahamah merged into one, they had to retreat to Rōran without hesitation—even if it meant abandoning the First Main Battle Corps and every last member of the Allied Shinobi Forces!
"Alalala… I think you better stay here. Otherwise, Sakazuki's going to complain again that I'm slacking off."
Lilith suddenly heard Kuzan's calm voice from behind her.
In a flash, a pale blue halo swept across the battlefield. Lilith immediately sensed the change in her surroundings.
"Hmph, that move again? I didn't expect even he could use it. Too bad—it's useless against me!"
She scoffed coldly. She'd seen Guren use Makahadoma before and knew that this technique, which seemed to freeze all things, was powerless against her demonic ice.
Because her ice could freeze Laws and concepts themselves!
In an instant, thick waves of pitch-black, ultracold air burst from Lilith's body. Like writhing serpents of dark magic, they coiled and lashed in the space where all had been frozen solid.
Normally, the moment this chilling aura appeared, the surrounding void would crack apart with a shattering sound, and everything would return to normal motion.
But this time, all it managed to do was distort and blur the air within a few meters around her.
Even the speed at which the cold spread slowed drastically—and with it, Lilith's flight speed took a sharp hit.
"How is this possible?!"
She let out a shrill cry, stunned. "Why can't I break this power?!"
"This! This! This—!"
In disbelief, Lilith turned around to stare at Kuzan, who stood calmly atop a massive ice bird, gazing down at her.
"Thanks for the test," Kuzan said flatly, "but you still have to die."
As his words fell, within the space where even light had frozen, countless sharp ice spears began to form—growing denser by the second.
The waves of energy radiating from those ice spears filled Lilith's eyes with sheer terror.
"You've mastered my power! The power of my Demonic Ice!!"
"Yes. That's the power of the Devil Fruit. Goodbye."
Kuzan gently swung his right hand forward.
In the next second, the countless ice spears rained down from all directions.
A relentless barrage of piercing whistles tore through the air.
"No!!!"
Lilith's eyes widened to the brink of rupture, dark red tears of blood welling up from within.
She couldn't accept this—she refused to accept it. If only she had merged with Nahamah, she would've obtained the true power of a Supreme Demon and crushed these human insects with ease!
In her final moments, Lilith cursed with burning hatred in her heart.
"Nahamah, you damned bastard! This is all your fault! All your fault! If only I had devoured you sooner, none of this would've happened!"
...
Meanwhile, as the blinding light faded and the energy storm dissipated—
The ground, once a roiling sea of lava, had been reshaped.
Now it lay as a vast, circular crater, utterly barren.
The surface within had crystallized entirely, with threads of heat still rising into the air.
Sakazuki stood shirtless in the pit, his pants tattered and body covered in burns. He loomed over the collapsed Nahamah, staring down with eyes as cold as death itself—unflinching as they met the demon's gaze, filled with paralyzing fear and shock.
"You… you actually learned to burn Laws and concepts themselves!"
Nahamah hissed through clenched teeth, voice trembling with rage.
"Ah... it really took everything I had to hold back. I could've blown your chest open and scorched your heart yesterday."
Sakazuki's face remained expressionless as he added, "Your close-combat skills are garbage. You rely way too much on your powers. Even Borsalino's better than you in that regard."
Nahamah's face twisted with fury. It didn't care who Borsalino was—but the scent of death in its nose? That frightened it to its core.
It was a scent Nahamah knew all too well, but had never imagined it would one day belong to itself.
"Human… before you act, I must warn you: the moment you kill me, this world will be forever linked to our Underworld! You will then face the second layer, the third—perhaps even the Supreme Demon King himself: Lucifero!"
Nahamah clung to its last, desperate thread of life.
"Then let them come. The justice of the World Government fears nothing!"
Without hesitation, Sakazuki's lava-forged right arm, already in elemental form, surged forward and struck the despairing demon with unstoppable force.
"It's over, demon."
"Great Eruption!!!"
...
Sea Circle Calendar Year 1503, August 3rd.
Starfish, Red Line, Holy Land—Mary Geoise.
Room of Authority, Pangaea Castle.
"The Other Worlds Strategic Committee has sent word: Sakazuki and Kuzan have successfully eliminated the two top-tier demons. However, they both sustained severe injuries and are currently returning to Rōran aboard the airship."
Ju Peter sat cross-legged on a single-seat sofa in a neatly tailored suit.
Nusjuro added, "It was fortunate we had the intel granted by Lord Imu. If those two demons had managed to fuse, the consequences would've been unimaginable. But now there's another problem."
"What problem?"
Warcury, fingers interlaced and hands resting between his legs, turned with a steady gaze toward the nearby Nusjuro.
At the same time, Saturn and Mars also turned to look.
"The next mission for the First Main Combat Legion is to wipe out the demons that have already emerged, while gradually pushing the front line forward—until we seal off the exit of the 'Gate of the Underworld.' The problem is that simply sealing it won't be enough. We must find a way to shut it down completely."
Nusjuro explained in a flat tone.
"That's right—the question is how to close that gateway for good. And we have to do it fast."
Ju Peter picked up the thread of the conversation: "Both the intelligence given by Lord Imu and the 'last words of Nahamah' relayed by Sakazuki mention higher strata of the Underworld and even stronger demons."
"If a top-tier demon from the second layer of the Underworld were to appear, unless Lord Imu personally intervenes, we'd be forced to abandon the Shinobi World entirely… and possibly even the First Main Combat Legion stationed in the Land of Swamps."
The other four immediately fell silent.
As painful as it sounded, the harsh reality was that the so-called pinnacle of the World Government's military might simply could not contend with the highest-level demons.
Previously, there had been talk of Nahamah and Lilith, who claimed to be top-tier demons—but in essence, they were not.
Only when the two merged did they become a true highest-tier demon—the real sovereign of the first layer of the Underworld.
Even in their separated states, Nahamah and Lilith were significantly stronger than Sakazuki and Kuzan at the outset.
When fighting together, they could easily overpower Crocodile, Guren, and Esdeath.
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