Chapter 541: The Fourth Eternal Heart!
"Is that all?"
Ryuunosuke watched the Heavenly Prison Gate fade into nothing, his eyes calm.
"So those terrifying rules only apply to whoever gets locked in."
The clone stepped up beside him, face pale.
"My lord, once you get locked down, every other rule becomes meaningless. And there's a destructive force chewing through my body."
He swallowed, still shaken.
"That ability is terrifying."
Ryuunosuke nodded slightly.
He had been cautious from the start.
Atostana had already been punished by him before, yet he still dared to show up and fight again. That only meant one thing.
Those old monsters never stepped onto a stage without a guarantee in their hands.
So Ryuunosuke let the clone test the waters first.
While the clone fought, the real Ryuunosuke stayed hidden inside an invisible realm, observing every detail.
Just as he expected, none of these so called elders were simple.
…
When he returned to the ship, the atmosphere was strangely peaceful.
"Brother Ryuunosuke, dinner's ready."
Akame walked over with a plate, wearing an expression that said I told you so.
As expected, their belief had been correct. Ryuunosuke was fine.
"Good," Ryuunosuke said, taking the plate. "By the way, where's Roy?"
When he came down, Roy was nowhere to be seen.
"Mr. Roy left with Miss Imu," Gaino reported as he appeared in front of him. "He said he was going to look for something and would be back soon."
Ryuunosuke's brow twitched.
Looking for something?
That did not feel like Roy at all.
If it were anyone else, he could understand. But Roy, with his condition and his habits, should not be wandering off alone.
Gaino continued, already knowing what Ryuunosuke wanted to ask.
"Shanks and his crew left with them too. Kaido is staying to keep Charlotte Linlin company."
Ryuunosuke rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing.
"Left with Shanks, huh. So Shanks and Roy really do have some kind of relationship."
He took two fast bites, finished the food Akame handed him, then stood.
"Leave them for now. I'm going to check the Aragami situation."
The next moment, he launched into the sky.
…
Up in the air, the scene was not what he expected.
He thought his people would be struggling.
Instead, it looked like a festival.
"Hey, don't steal it!"
"I'm almost done with this one!"
"The captain's waiting, hurry up!"
"Stop being stingy, there are plenty more!"
All around, his crew were fighting like they were having the time of their lives. There was excitement in their voices, not panic.
If anything, they looked too comfortable.
"Captain!"
Enel flashed over the moment he spotted him, landing near Ryuunosuke with a tired grin.
Ryuunosuke took one look at his face and felt his mood tighten.
Enel looked weak, drained, like he had been scraped clean.
"Are you alright?" Ryuunosuke asked, voice steady but clearly concerned.
"It's fine," Enel said, waving it off. Then he lifted a blue stone and tossed it over.
"This is the mother stone of the Infinite Blue Stone. That thing was just sitting there on the Infinite Continent like trash. Nobody even wanted it."
He sounded genuinely offended by how easy it had been.
"Did I pick up the wrong thing?"
Even after everything, Enel's first instinct had been to check on Ryuunosuke, not to brag about the mission. That alone said a lot.
Then Enel explained what happened.
After he took the stone, the Aragami started chasing him.
At first, he did not take it seriously. He killed them like it was routine.
But the moment Aragami's blood spilled, the aura from it spread like a beacon.
And that single scent dragged countless Aragami out of nowhere.
Enel still could not understand it.
The Infinite Continent was only so big.
How could it possibly hide that many Aragami?
After handing over the Heart of Eternity [Blue], he finished his report.
"I see," Ryuunosuke said, eyes calm. "Makes sense."
He looked past Enel toward the battlefield.
"You rest. Let the ones with too much energy handle the rest."
Enel exhaled like his soul finally got permission to leave his body.
He stumbled back, collapsed onto the ship, and fell into a deep sleep on the spot.
Even after joining the Dragon Hunter Pirates, Enel's stamina had grown terrifying.
But this time he had been forced to fight at full output for days, nonstop, against endless Aragami throwing power around like a storm.
He even burned through all the life essence Ryuunosuke had given him before.
After holding on for so long, he finally hit the wall.
Still, Ryuunosuke could tell something else from Enel's condition.
This kind of extreme grind always left a gift behind.
When Enel woke up, his strength would probably rise again.
…
"Gaino."
Ryuunosuke lifted his hand, summoning Gaino directly.
"Captain."
Gaino's presence surfaced from within his palm.
Ryuunosuke held out the blue stone.
"Is this the Heart of Eternity?"
He could not confirm it by sight alone.
But Gaino could.
After all, he had already fused with three Eternal Hearts.
Gaino placed a hand on the blue stone.
The next moment, a burst of light erupted.
The stone dissolved into a stream of energy and flowed straight into Gaino's hand, vanishing like water soaking into the skin.
"Captain, it's the Heart of Eternity," Gaino said immediately.
Then he added, without wasting another second.
"I'm going back to the ship now. I need to digest this properly."
Before Ryuunosuke could respond, Gaino vanished back into his palm.
Ryuunosuke's lips curled.
Good.
As long as it was real, this fight was not a loss.
Now, only one remained…
"Wrong."
The thought hit him like a slap.
Earlier, he had been dragged into an illusion by Lilith's projection. In that illusion, he witnessed the formation of the Infinity Stones and the Hearts of Eternity.
There were six Eternal Hearts in total.
Ryuunosuke's expression hardened.
"System."
He called out immediately.
"The condition for opening the Gate of Eternity is five Eternal Hearts?"
"Yes," the system replied.
Ryuunosuke stared ahead, face unreadable.
So the system insisted it was five.
That meant either what he saw in the illusion was false, or Lilith's projection had deliberately shown him nonsense to confuse him.
Either way, he trusted the system more.
"Roar!"
A monstrous roar suddenly shook the sky.
Ryuunosuke turned his head.
On the distant horizon, an enormous shadow rose, its body massive beyond common sense.
For a moment, a line flashed through Ryuunosuke's mind, wings like clouds hanging across the heavens.
The creature before them looked like a god that had fallen straight out of the sky.
Aragami really did deserve the name.
"Whoa, I hit the jackpot!" Ban shouted, eyes blazing. "That big one is mine!"
He launched forward like a cannonball.
The moment he moved, a wave of others followed, abandoning their current targets without hesitation.
Of course, plenty stayed behind too.
There were still too many Aragami here to ignore.
"Roar!"
As more people rushed toward the giant Aragami, another Aragami peeled off from the chaos and charged straight at Ryuunosuke.
Ryuunosuke did not move an inch.
He drew his sword and slashed downward in one clean motion.
The Aragami in front of him split apart instantly.
Blood sprayed across the air.
And in that moment, a strange feeling crawled up Ryuunosuke's spine.
Something about these Aragami felt wrong.
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