The Guardian Beasts manifested in slightly varied ways, but overall, they weren't much different from what Joey had seen in the illusion—they were still the condensed forms of the dead princes' beasts, gathered within the Coffin Zone.
Joey had no intention of giving them a chance to strike first.
In Nen combat, the first move often determined everything.
The war chariot's impaling explosion detonated with a thunderous roar—but the Fourth Prince's Guardian Beast wasn't obliterated.
Still, that outcome was within Joey's expectations.
He wasn't sure if the beast had heat within it, but as with his attack on the royal guards earlier, he used friction in the atmosphere to generate heat, guiding the chariot toward its target.
This method only triggered a physical explosion—not the vaporizing effect of the First Bomb.
To expect such an explosion to destroy a creature made of Nen was clearly unrealistic.
Joey's true aim with the chariot was to test whether Killer Queen's ability could affect the Guardian Beast—and, more importantly, to stall its full materialization.
As the explosion scattered the black miasma around the beast, Joey's eyes lit up. The hummingbird—carrying the First Bomb—reached the beast.
The chariot, even after one detonation, didn't retreat or change course. Just as the hummingbird closed in, it exploded again.
The hummingbird dove into the blast—
But instead of the expected erasure effect, a coin shot through the malice and the beast, flying off into the distance.
Killer Queen's thumb had already pressed down when the hummingbird pierced the miasma. Yet the First Bomb failed to annihilate the Guardian Beast.
Only one explanation: the beast wasn't fully formed.
Which meant he could only use the First Bomb to destroy it once it had completely materialized.
Above him, thunderclouds reappeared, crackling with surging energy.
On the third detonation, as the war chariot blew away more malice, lightning imbued with Nen crashed down—striking the nearly complete Fourth Prince's beast squarely on the head.
The bolt pierced it completely.
But the beast regenerated instantly under the influx of dark miasma, as if the lightning and Nen hadn't harmed it at all.
Still, the thunder didn't stop. It rained down again and again, relentless as if it wouldn't stop until the beast was disintegrated.
From afar, Nugui watched Joey's almost maniacal onslaught, eyelids twitching, heart shaken.
He saw the truth.
The lightning, while ineffective against the beast, had shattered the coffin beneath it.
And as both the coffin and the ground were damaged, the malice fueling the beast's regeneration began to thin.
He clearly saw the miasma decreasing.
Especially since, alongside the lightning, the strange chariot continued its explosive barrages.
As a Nen user, Nugui could sense the absurd energy drain per second of this assault.
Yet Joey showed no sign of fatigue.
He's… terrifying.
Nugui's alertness peaked.
But then his vision warped.
The Fourth Prince's Guardian Beast—the one being pummeled by thunder—vanished.
Not just that one—the Third and Eighth Princes' beasts vanished too.
Only one remained, cloaked in roiling black miasma, glaring murderously at Joey.
A hulking beast, like a massive, bloated lizard. Tentacle-like appendages writhed from its body, whipping wildly, as if ready to tear anything that approached into ribbons.
But Joey didn't move toward it. Instead, it was struck again by falling lightning and charged by another suicidal chariot.
This time, the lightning lacked Nen.
From afar, Joey calmly watched, handing coin after coin to Killer Queen beside him.
Meanwhile, his clone approached Nugui, completely obstructing the minister's line of sight.
Before Nugui could react, the clone drove its hand into his body—
But there was no physical sensation.
Nugui felt like a spirit. His body rippled like a lake surface disturbed by a pebble.
As expected.
Joey thought as much.
Suddenly, thick mist erupted around the clone, enveloping both it and Nugui.
"Useless," Nugui murmured, unmoving.
Joey didn't know if he meant the attack, or something else.
But he didn't care.
Outside the fog, Joey could clearly see hummingbirds imbued with the First Bomb flying toward the coffins.
Explosion after explosion erupted with the vaporizing effect.
One by one, the supposedly indestructible coffins were pierced.
Each blast released a plume of dark miasma.
Unlike the flames from before, the black mist this time twisted into grotesque screaming faces—howling like tormented souls.
They resembled that famous painting Joey had once seen: The Scream.
Each figure clutched its head in agony, mouth gaping with shrill, distorted wails—forming a continuous symphony of horror across the Coffin Zone.
It felt like a descent into Yomi—the netherworld.
Were these the things that had kept the princes trapped on the Black Whale?
Joey connected them with that manga image. But his hands didn't slow.
As more coffins were destroyed, his attention turned to the strange device at the zone's center.
Nearby, the Thirteenth Prince's Guardian Beast still held its ability. The chariot couldn't reach it. The non-Nen lightning couldn't hurt it either.
But it was also clearly restricted while channeling its power—rooted in place, repelling all attacks with only its extended aura.
The beasts it had pulled into the Inner World couldn't strike Joey from across dimensions.
In shielding them, it also protected Joey from them.
But did malice even exist in the Inner World?
Could the beasts in there finish forming without it?
With these thoughts, Joey chose not to prioritize the giant lizard, and instead focused his assault on the coffins, the floor, and the central device.
It wasn't until his strikes landed on the central zone that he realized the truth: the "frozen" device was merely encased in a thick layer of ice. Inside—it was dry. Not frozen at all.
Another tremor rippled through the room. Joey sent a hummingbird to the central device.
To hit what was inside, he needed to break the ice first.
Just as he prepared to shatter it—he saw eyes.
Eyes blazing with fury.
Nasubi Hui Guo Rou.
Joey recognized the man instantly—and the grotesque Guardian Beast behind him.
Now you show up?
Joey frowned. Even now, Nasubi made no move to step out of the device. Joey saw miasma flowing into it through floor-carved grooves.
An ominous chill climbed Joey's spine.
Was Nasubi… trying to end the Succession War himself?
Joey's gaze lifted to the urn above Nasubi—where a monster began crawling out.
It had dark skin, leathery wings like a bat, curved horns, protruding tusks—its crimson eyes locked on Nasubi.
As it emerged, black malice poured into the black orb it cradled in its hands.
Nasubi's eyes left Joey and turned to the orb—greed and resentment flickering within.
The ice encasing the device melted rapidly. A hole opened.
The hummingbird dove in and struck the inner mechanism. Killer Queen pressed its thumb.
A crack split the machine.
But Joey watched, stunned, as the hummingbird withered—shriveling into a rusted coin before it even hit the ground.
Even with the machine damaged, Nasubi and the monster from the urn remained unmoved.
The creature presented the orb to Nasubi, just like when the Urn Ceremony began. As Nasubi breathed in, the orb vanished into his mouth.
The monster flapped its wings and returned to the urn.
Nasubi shifted his gaze back to Joey—joined by the eerie, malformed Guardian Beast cloaked in dark Nen.
Boom!
Without warning, as Killer Queen shoved Joey away, a hole opened in his abdomen.
No blood poured out. Instead, the wound was clogged with black malice.
"So fast!" Joey muttered, stumbling. "No… it's time?"
A scalpel appeared in his hand. He stabilized himself, dug into the wound, and excised the corrupted flesh wrapped in black mist.
Blood didn't gush out. Once the corrupted tissue hit the floor, the wound began to seal.
More fog spread through the room.
Joey vanished into it.
Nasubi expanded his En, engulfing the zone—only to sense multiple Joeys scattered throughout.
But he didn't care. His finger summoned black Nen. Wailing faces formed Nen bullets. His beast's eyes flashed red.
The clones?
Let them die.
Anyone who defiled his ritual had to be prepared to die.
Nasubi stepped forward—
And heard the click of an automatic pen.
Annihilation enveloped him.
But before he could fully disintegrate—time twisted. His form rewound, returning to the moment of his step.
This time, he saw a button in the puddle beneath his foot.
His Guardian Beast vanished. Black malice swirled from his body. The monster reformed from it, eyes glowing red, flesh pulsating with corrupt organs.
One glance triggered a wave of mental contamination.
Hidden in the mist, Joey glanced at the wound in his shoulder, then sensed Nasubi's aura—virtually untouched.
A creeping despair rose.
He'd long suspected Nasubi's beast could only use its time-rewind ability once before vanishing.
Back when Nasubi reappeared with the Fourth Prince's beast, it had seemed his own had been replaced.
Even outside the zone, Joey saw Nasubi still using beasts of other princes, while his own had vanished.
Now, it had returned.
Had Joey's actions in the Coffin Zone disrupted Nasubi's control over others' beasts?
Or had his own become usable again?
To test it, Joey had dropped a First Bomb button into the puddle.
With Weather Report manipulating the water, the button had reached the device's base without fail.
(End of Chapter)