The scene fell silent for a moment, as the surrounding zombies advanced from both sides of the area. In the space where this demon stood, even the horned demons dared not approach.
Rosen had seen a lost five-armed horned demon, and as soon as it drew near, it was instantly killed by a powerful hand gripping its head.
"Human, die!" The demon looked down at Rosen, speaking in human language, its murderous intent radiating outwards. It was reminiscent of the aura Rosen sensed when he condensed the Abyssal Rift; it was indeed the Rift's master.
However, it had just managed to conceal its presence and lurk among the zombies, indicating that this demon possessed a certain level of intelligence, possibly even mature intelligence.
Perhaps it couldn't compare to humans, but it was certainly not on par with the horned demons.
"Stand down," Rosen said to the soldiers. While the demon assessed him, Rosen was also sizing it up; both were making estimations of each other's strength in their first encounter.
"But..."
"There's no point in throwing your lives away like this, and your captain is still alive. Shouldn't you be protecting her?" Rosen's expression was grave; he wanted to avoid confrontation.
But the demon was fixated on him.
"I understand. Be careful. I heard from the captain that this monster is a phantom beast type demon fruit known as Charles," a squad leader nodded, leaving one last sentence before taking his team to protect Alice.
Otherwise, if some zombies slipped through, Alice, unable to resist, would be left to await her demise.
"Truly a demon, simple and direct." Upon hearing this, Rosen felt an alarm ringing in his mind; these undead creatures possessed a phantom beast type demon fruit, an extravagance beyond belief.
Rosen only knew that the fruit ability of the "Buddha of the Warring States" was the animal system phantom beast type human fruit, with the Buddha form, while this so-called phantom beast type demon form was evidently of a similar fruit category.
It would likely be quite formidable.
"Servants..." The demon seemed a bit interested in Rosen, pointing at a nearby horned demon, struggling to utter a few words.
"NO, Earth Roll. Sandstorm." Rosen, of course, refused, while simultaneously launching an attack, pressing his hand to the ground. The sandstorm erupted violently, surrounding the Charles demon, with the swirling dust ready to bury it.
"Kill, kill~" Charles immediately flew into a rage, dark mist once again enveloping its body, mixed with wild electric sparks, exuding an eerie presence.
It glanced at the towering sandstorm around it, extending its right arm, palm facing the sky.
With a hum, the void trembled, and a black ripple spread from its palm. Rosen sensed immense danger and retreated rapidly.
"Boom!" A black shockwave centered on Charles formed a semicircle, expanding rapidly from small to large. With a deafening roar, the black semicircular shockwave engulfed everything within a ten-mile radius.
Every inch of land and anything within that range, whether obstacles or zombies, was instantly crushed by the terrifying shockwave, the earth splitting apart.
The black shockwave also carried electric sparks, making the scene resemble a hell of death; zombies struck by the electric sparks instantly turned pitch black and began to rot, turning into puddles of mud.
"Damn." Although Rosen had retreated from the attack range in time, seeing this world-destroying strike made him curse, feeling unprecedentedly grave.
This was the ability of the phantom beast type demon fruit, not only an extraordinarily powerful shockwave but also a corruptive electric spark; a single shockwave had directly obliterated the sandstorm.
It had also bombarded the ground within ten miles to pieces.
"Whoosh!" A piercing sound of the void being pierced rang out as Charles shot straight towards Rosen from the dissipating shockwave, its demon hand reaching for Rosen's head.
"Not a chance, Armament!" Rosen's right hand was covered in Armament Haki as he threw a full-powered punch, not daring to be careless against such an unprecedented enemy.
"Bang!" The Haki-coated fist struck the demon's palm, and a terrifying shockwave instantly turned the battlefield around them upside down, rivaling the previous shockwave.
Neither side yielded an inch, but Rosen felt unusually strained; the relentless wave of power was incredibly strong.
"Die!" At that moment, Charles surprisingly still had the strength to raise its other arm, using its primary arms rather than those on its back.
It lifted its arm, ripples of void beginning to vibrate in its palm, electric sparks appearing simultaneously. Rosen was alarmed; it was that same move again.
"Burial Sandstorm!" Rosen had no time to dodge; he could only frantically gather the surrounding sand with his other arm, forming a gigantic sandy arm.
"Not enough, more!" Rosen felt that a regular Burial Sandstorm punch wouldn't be able to withstand this attack, so he crazily absorbed more sand, condensing and compressing it.
"Die."
With a thunderous roar, the other two arms clashed together, the sandstorm surged, and the black shockwave pierced through.
The ground beneath them instantly collapsed several meters deep and shattered, as if the entire tectonic plate below was shifting, the cracked earth appearing grotesque and covering a vast area, resembling the aftermath of a magnitude ten earthquake.
Despite being far away, the surrounding zombies were obliterated by this strike, and the city walls that encountered the shockwave cracked and collapsed.
A relentless tide of zombies surged towards the rupture, fortunately being held back by the soldiers.
Rosen was directly blasted away by this black shockwave, flying several dozen meters, and only managed to stabilize himself by using the friction against the ground.
Frowning, he looked at the remaining yellow sand on his arm; the sand had changed color, turning black and becoming corroded. He then severed his control over the sand.
This black mist and electric spark could even corrode the sand; if he had not cut off the connection in time, the next moment it would corrode his entire body.
Although Charles did not understand Haki, its ability still posed a significant threat to Rosen's natural powers, showing no element transformation; in other words, its ability was effective against all things.
It directly corroded the sand and anything it touched, like a disaster.
Seeing that Rosen was still alive, Charles displayed a hint of confusion, then opened its mouth, rapidly condensing black mist and electric sparks within.
A black mist intertwined with electric sparks shot out of its mouth, piercing through the void like a laser, instantly appearing in front of Rosen's forehead.
"Don't get too cocky." Rosen roared; in the face of such a rapid attack, he had no time to gather stronger sand for a counterattack, like the Yellow Sand Absolute Death Sword.
At that moment, Rosen found himself suppressed by this demon, Charles.
"Finger Gun. Fist Explosion!" He unleashed all the power in his body without holding back; his left hand, formed from golden sand, became a fist—his hardest and strongest metallic sand yet—and unleashed a punch using the finger gun technique.
As the punch was thrown, it broke the sound barrier, sonic clouds swirling around Rosen's fist. When the speed reached supersonic, fog-like sonic clouds would appear for a few seconds, a phenomenon resulting from increased air pressure compressing the surrounding air.
It was clear that this punch from Rosen was unprecedentedly powerful.
(End of Chapter)