As the Five Sage Lords surged toward him, Souta Kiryuu—known to his allies as the Flame Fist—felt no fear. Instead, rage boiled through him, fierce and pure, like a lion wreathed in fire.
"Blazing Seal—Sun Emperor!"
Spiraling flames erupted around Souta, twisting upward in a blinding vortex. The heat condensed into a massive sphere of fire above him—like a miniature sun hanging in the sky.
Civilians watching through the live broadcast could only gape at the sight. That radiant inferno seemed capable of erasing an entire village from existence.
So this is the power of the Second Division Captain under the Whitefang Clan!
"Pathetic. You think this level of trickery will impress me?" scoffed Lord Masu, his monstrous avian face splitting into a grin lined with fangs. With wings like spears of iron, he dove straight at Souta, intent on shredding the so-called "heir of sin" into ash.
"Die!" Souta roared, hurling his burning sun toward the Sage Lord. It was this monster's sudden appearance that had left both the Old Master and the clan patriarch gravely wounded. Vengeance burned hotter than his flames.
"Souta! Don't be reckless!"
The cry came from Shanksu, the Red-Haired Sannin, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His killing intent burst outward, a tangible wave of King's Will, crashing toward Lord Masu like a storm.
But at Masu's level, such power was meaningless. His will was an abyss. Even taking a direct hit from Shanksu's aura meant nothing to a being whose body refused to die.
Behind them, the Phoenix Sage Marco transformed completely, his body enveloped in azure fire. With wings blazing, he darted through the air and caught the massive, falling Whitefang, dragging the wounded giant back aloft.
Whitefang gasped raggedly, clutching his chest as blood dripped into the ocean below. The pain in his organs finally began to ebb, but when he saw Souta charging recklessly toward the Sage Lord, his weathered face twisted with fear.
That fool of a son had courage in abundance—but far too little caution. Even Whitefang himself had once bowed his head before the terrifying might of Rocks, the Mad Titan of a generation past.
"Souta! Get back here!" Whitefang roared. His fist glowed with trembling white light as he tried to unleash the Quake Release—his clan's forbidden bloodline technique. But the glow flickered, his pupils shook, and another spasm of pain sent blood spilling freely from his mouth. The light in his hand shattered and faded.
"Father!" Marco's phoenix eyes shone with worry. His healing flames poured over Whitefang's wounds, but his gaze flicked nervously toward Souta's blazing sun.
That Sage Lord isn't like the others... Souta, you idiot, you're going to get yourself killed!
Lord Masu ignored Shanksu's raging aura and plunged straight into the miniature sun. For a heartbeat, his body was lost in fire—but in the next instant, he burst out again, his feathers burning yet already regenerating.
When he reemerged, the flames had barely scorched him. His body healed faster than the eye could follow, and his killing intent hadn't dulled by a fraction.
Souta's eyes widened in disbelief. His strongest technique, the Sun Emperor, had done nothing. The very heat of his soul's fire couldn't burn this monster.
"Souta! Dodge!"
The commanders of the Whitefang Clan shouted desperately as Whitefang himself clenched his teeth, forcing the quake energy back into his trembling fist.
Two gunshots cracked through the chaos—sharp, distant. From atop a crimson dragon in the sky, Beikuma and Yasuburo fired their chakra rifles, bullets forged of pure seastone alloy meant to suppress any chakra beast.
"Seastone bullets?" Masu hissed, feeling the rare twinge of danger. He twisted through the air, abandoning his fatal strike on Souta to evade the deadly shots.
But as he rolled clear, his long serpent-tail lashed out, wrapped in the suffocating pressure of King's Will. The tail struck Souta squarely in the ribs with a thunderous snap.
The blow landed too fast for Souta to phase into flame. His body bent like a red shrimp before crashing into the sea below, blood exploding into the air as the waves erupted into a towering column of water.
"Souta!!"
The cry from his comrades split the heavens. Despair turned to fury as members of the Whitefang Clan dove into the ocean, searching desperately for their fallen brother.
On the battlefield above, Shanksu's hands trembled as he gripped his blade, Griffon. His breath came short, but the enormous azure dragon behind him closed in for another attack. There was no time to mourn.
"Our fight isn't over yet!" bellowed Kaido of the Hundred Beasts, his monstrous chakra cloaking him like armor. He didn't care about Souta Kiryuu—the son of the Pirate King's bloodline. All that mattered was killing the man before him.
The two titans clashed again, shockwaves tearing through the skies.
"Souta!!"
Whitefang's roar shook the battlefield. His quake chakra exploded outward, his arm snapping forward with cataclysmic force. A white shockwave, ten meters wide, tore through space itself and slammed into the monstrous bird form of Lord Masu.
The world cracked open with a deafening roar. Masu screamed as blood poured from his beak, his divine body splitting apart, scattering across the air as he plummeted toward the ocean.
"Long live Father Whitefang!!" his men screamed, tears and fury mingling in their voices.
Across the world, civilians watching through chakra broadcasts erupted in disbelief.
"Did he kill one of the Five Sage Lords?!"
"The supreme power of the world… slain by Whitefang?!"
"His rage is terrifying!"
Far above, in her floating fortress, Lady Linlin—the Great Mother of Beasts—laughed until her massive form shook. "Let them tear each other apart! Whether Whitefang dies or the Sage Lord falls, it's all good for me."
Once, the joint forces of the Hidden Navy and Whitefang had cornered her forces. But now, with the Sage Lords' sudden interference and Garp's unexplained disappearance, chaos ruled the battlefield.
Her alliance with Kaido, once strained and losing ground, suddenly found itself with the upper hand.
Meanwhile, aboard the Ark Prophecy, the warlord Ararion watched the battle unfold on his screen, his expression dark and conflicted. He knew all too well that the Five Sage Lords wouldn't die so easily.
He worried that Whitefang's old body wouldn't survive long enough for his teleporting cherub weapon to reach the G-18 fortress. If Whitefang died before then, the entire plan would collapse—and the quake power would vanish with him.
If that happens, Ararion thought grimly, I'll have to find the reincarnated Quake Release myself… somehow.
But against the vast dominion of the World Council, the odds of recovering such a bloodline were nearly impossible.
And sure enough—on the live broadcast—the impossible happened.
The giant avian form of Lord Masu, torn to pieces and falling toward the sea, began to knit itself back together. Within moments, the creature's body was whole again, its fall halted midair.
"His recovery… that's not healing. That's resurrection!"
"He was shattered, and yet—he regenerated? Is that the power of an awakened Mythic Beast bloodline?"
"This is insane! Are the Sage Lords truly immortal?!"
The world trembled with realization. Even the mightiest forbidden bloodline—the Quake Release, said to have the greatest destructive power in existence—couldn't kill a Sage Lord.
The war was far from over.