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An ice-blue saber was embedded in Kuzan's chest. Blood seeped out, quickly soaking his clothes. Under the control of his ability, the saber rapidly vanished, and a layer of frost spread over the wound.
"Whatever happens… be careful…"
Grinding out those words, Kizaru, lying on the ground, rolled his eyes back and completely lost consciousness.
His injuries were simply too severe. The gash on his chest stretched from the upper torso all the way down to his abdomen, nearly splitting him in two. As for his right leg, even the bone itself had cracked.
Such wounds appearing on someone with Admiral-level combat power from Marine Headquarters fully demonstrated the sheer brutality of the enemy he had faced.
That monster's assault and savagery were like a wild beast viciously tearing into its prey.
"Leaving me alone like this… that's honestly kind of scary," Kuzan muttered helplessly.
The look in that Bull-masked monster's eyes reminded him of facing a lone wolf in the wild when he was a child.
Fear and helplessness washed over him in an instant.
"Whoosh!"
As he sighed inwardly, Bull-masked Rojen tilted his head. His entire body shot forward at low altitude, dragging up a violent gale that ripped huge cracks into the ground as he appeared directly in front of Kuzan.
"So you're the only one left now!"
With a vicious downward slash, his blade smashed into Kuzan's saber.
"Crack!"
The saber shattered. The black blade continued its arc from above, cleaving Kuzan cleanly in two.
"Another ice block?"
Bull-masked Rojen narrowed his eyes. He swung his long blade again, blasting apart the ice pile that had stacked up like a small mountain.
"What a ferocious will to fight… truly frightening."
From within the shattered ice, Kuzan's body slowly reformed and condensed.
"Interesting. No physical body either?" Bull-masked Rojen laughed.
"Just like that guy's light, you're ice."
As he spoke, Kuzan stepped forward and vanished. Amid the rushing wind, a saber slashed in from the side.
Bull-masked Rojen leaned his head back, his black blade reflexively slashing forward.
Kuzan hopped back, then rushed in again.
The weapons in their hands swung at blinding speed as the two fought across the open ruins.
Bull-masked Rojen grew more excited with every exchange, loud laughter ringing out again and again, while Kuzan's forehead was already covered in dense beads of sweat.
This opponent's strength far exceeded his expectations. Every slash brought him incomparable pressure.
The enemy's blade was impossible to predict, there was no way to tell from where the next strike would come. Even Observation Haki was completely useless. It was as if none of his attacks passed through conscious thought at all; wherever he felt like slashing, that was where the blade went.
In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged several hundred blows.
Kuzan's body was riddled with countless small wounds, blood flowing freely, yet all of it was frozen solid by his ice.
Though he could still barely hold on, the pressure kept mounting.
He could feel it clearly, the opponent was actually getting stronger!
"Hahahahaha! Just like that other guy, you people don't understand what fighting really is at all!"
With a heavy slash, the blade smashed hard against Kuzan's saber.
"Snap!"
The saber shattered once more. The tremendous force sent Kuzan staggering backward more than ten steps before he managed to stop himself.
"Then let me be merciful and teach you what true combat is!"
Amid loud laughter, Bull-masked Rojen once again stretched into a black streak, closing in on Kuzan.
"Slash!"
The black blade chopped down viciously. The void trembled, erupting with a deafening boom. This strike was faster, fiercer, and more violent than before!
"Pfft!"
A long gash was instantly torn open across Kuzan's chest, blood bursting forth.
"But the price, will be your life!"
Bull-masked Rojen laughed loudly as another finger snapped forward.
"Pop!"
"Gran Rey Cero."
Blinding light burst forth, completely swallowing Kuzan at point-blank range.
"Rumble… Rumble… Rumble!"
An explosion spanning a thousand meters erupted. Scorching flames devoured everything, annihilating all within that radius.
From the inferno, a figure staggered out in a miserable state, his entire body covered in burns, his face twisted in extreme pain.
"Still not dead? Such tenacious vitality."
An icy voice sounded from within the flames. Under an overwhelming pressure, even the fire seemed to bow and split apart on its own. Bull-masked Rojen stepped forward, kicked off the ground with both knees, gripped Zangetsu, and charged again.
"It's over…"
Kuzan stood there helplessly.
The opponent's speed was terrifying. With his heavily injured body, there was no way he could resist this attack.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
A pitch-black crescent twisted as it burst from the blade, tracing an arc before slamming brutally into Kuzan. His body was instantly blasted away, sent flying nearly a hundred meters before a sky-shaking explosion erupted.
Rojen raised his blade and dove forward, arriving at the site of the explosion.
Sure enough, within the flames, Kuzan's figure staggered upright, his body drenched in blood, barely standing, yet still alive.
"One last slash, to finish you!"
Rojen sneered, surged forward, appeared before Kuzan, and raised his blade with both hands, chopping down violently.
"Is this… the end?"
Kuzan closed his eyes. Exhaustion and helplessness washed over him, and in that moment, he lost consciousness.
Bull-masked Rojen's slash rushed toward Kuzan as the distance between them closed rapidly.
Ten meters.
Five meters.
Three meters.
Two meters.
One meter.
Suddenly, Bull-masked Rojen's entire body froze.
The sinister mask shattered violently. The white bones covering his body crumbled into fragments and drifted away.
Black hair scattered in the air as Rojen's pale face was revealed. He stood there blankly, frozen in place.
He lowered his head to look at the black blade in his hands. After a brief tremor, it too vanished.
"Time's up…?"
Looking at Kuzan collapsing limply before him, realization dawned in Rojen's eyes.
The moment Bull-masked Rojen had fully awakened, he had lost consciousness. It was an extremely dangerous act, allowing a possessed entity to seize his awareness and control his body, while his own soul-consciousness was completely suppressed, even losing all perception of the outside world.
During that time, there was absolutely nothing he could do.
Fortunately, Bull-masked Rojen was nothing more than a machine that knew only battle and slaughter. He had no extraneous thoughts. Even more reassuring was the outcome of this fight.
Looking at Kuzan lying at his feet, and Kizaru in the distance, his fate unknown, Rojen knew that guy hadn't disappointed him after all.
"What an insanely explosive power… just what did that thing do?"
Rojen stood dazed in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by nothing but ruins.
These ruins stretched for seven to eight kilometers. The southeastern region of Marine Headquarters had been completely annihilated.
Even more unbelievable, two fighters with Admiral-level strength were now lying on the ground, their lives hanging by a thread.
"Still… I feel like my body has changed a little."
His fingers trembled as Rojen's eyes flickered.
That sensation, of instinct controlling the body, of fighting in a frenzy, seemed to have been imprinted into his consciousness.
With a slight motion, the Seven Stars flew from his back and were gripped firmly in his hands.
Then, facing a towering wall a hundred meters away, Rojen raised his sword with both hands and slashed down.
A cyan, crescent-shaped slash burst forth in an instant.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
(End Of This Chapter)