"All right! Finally!"
Facing three opponents at once, Gray's eyes sharpened with excitement.
He had been itching for a chance to fight!
"Ice-Make: Ice Wall!"
Gray brought his hands together, and a thick wall of ice formed in an instant, blocking Kotetsu's heavy strike as he burst through the smoke.
At the same time, Gray took a breath, and cold air exploded around him.
The Cygnus Cloth covered his body.
"Ice Devil's Zero Long Sword!"
Clad in armor, Gray vanished from where he stood and appeared in front of Kotetsu.
The ice wall disappeared, and in Gray's hand, a blade formed from Ice Devil Slayer Magic flashed out in a quick-draw slash.
Crack!
Kotetsu's iron-hard body was cut cleanly in half at the waist. Both halves froze almost immediately, turning into ice sculptures.
The cold spread through the hall, freezing Gennai's smoke into tiny ice crystals that fell like glittering dust.
The view cleared at once.
Gray could now see Gennai and Sai's panicked faces.
Kotetsu had fallen too quickly.
In the blink of an eye, he had been cut down, and in the one area he should have been best at.
What happened to being hard as iron?
Gennai gripped his pipe and tried to release smoke again, this time preparing a poisonous cloud.
"Too slow!"
Gray's voice was sharp.
"Ice Devil's Rage!"
He opened his mouth and released a wide blast of frost.
Devil-slaying ice magic turned into a roaring frozen vortex, crashing toward every enemy in front of him with enough force to freeze and tear them apart.
Bzzzz!
Gennai froze solid on the spot.
Seeing the situation fall apart, Sai immediately tried to run.
He had no idea why his usually reliable alchemy had failed.
His soul-targeting ability had been erased by a stronger power before it could take effect.
Whoosh!
Gray appeared in front of Sai like a ghost.
His ice-covered fist slammed into Sai's stomach.
Sai's eyes rolled back, his face twisted in pain, and he collapsed limply to the floor.
In only a few breaths, Duke Barbaroa's proud alchemical doll combat team had been crushed by Gray's combination of Ice-Make Magic and Ice Devil Slayer Magic.
"Useless trash!" Duke's face turned livid.
He clearly had not expected this result at all.
They had not even forced Mercphobia or Elefseria to act. The other side had only sent out a weakling and still won.
"That felt good!"
Gray looked thrilled and fairly satisfied with himself. Finally, he had gotten a chance to show what he could do.
Marco clapped with a pleased smile, giving Gray his encouragement.
Then his gaze shifted back to Duke Barbaroa, his tone carrying clear mockery.
"Still not willing to show yourself? Or are you scared?"
Duke's expression grew uglier under Marco's taunt.
He hate the fact that his research was not complete.
If his ultimate weapon had been finished, how would these dragons dare to stand in front of him?
"Forget it. Let's test something."
Since Viernes still had no intention of appearing, Marco stopped wasting time.
Buzz.
His figure vanished and reappeared right in front of Duke Barbaroa. He placed one hand on top of Duke's head.
Duke's body locked up, the shock on his face freezing in place.
In Marco's hand, he had no power to resist at all.
"Genro Mao Ken."
Marco tried to see whether he could control Duke Barbaroa.
But before he could even look through Duke's memories, Duke's body began breaking apart piece by piece.
In the end, he turned into a stream of golden dust and sank into the floor beneath them.
There was no flesh, no blood, no scream.
It was as if Duke Barbaroa had never truly existed in the first place.
"So he really was only an illusion," Elefseria said in a low voice.
Everything confirmed what he had suspected.
"Everything here was created by the Gold Dragon God."
Seeing Gray and Mercphobia's confused expressions, Elefseria explained.
"Huh?"
Gray still looked completely lost.
"Then where is the Gold Dragon God now?" Mercphobia frowned.
He was confused too.
He could sense Viernes's presence, but he could not tell where the dragon was hiding.
"Everything in front of us is him," Marco said.
It was difficult to explain, but Viernes seemed to have turned himself into magic, spreading himself through everything here.
"Everyone outside! I'm going to try something."
Marco did not hesitate as he brought the group back out of the castle.
He was done being gentle.
It was time to hit hard first!
Once they were outside Gold Owl's headquarters, the Leo Gold Cloth shone brightly around Marco.
"Lightning Plasma!"
Without hesitation, Marco attacked the magical castle.
A storm of light and shadow rained down on Gold Owl's headquarters. Each blow carried enough force to shatter mountains and tear open the sky.
The gorgeous castle was punched full of holes, wide sections collapsing before the whole structure was reduced to dust and ash.
Mercphobia and Elefseria both swallowed as they watched.
Even after seeing Marco fight several times already, every new attack was still shocking. If anything, each display only made them trust his strength more.
"As expected, no effect."
Even though Gold Owl's magical castle had been destroyed, Viernes had not been harmed.
Marco frowned.
The Gold Dragon God's presence was still attached to this land, still existing here as if nothing had happened.
"Sekishiki Meikai Ha!"
Marco quickly switched to the Cancer Gold Cloth and tried attacking the soul instead.
But after the Cancer Cloth's Accumulated Corpse Qi blasted through the area, it failed to catch any clear soul fluctuation.
Viernes's current state was a true Schrodinger existence.
If one said he was dead, he was still alive. If one said he was alive, neither his body nor his soul could be located.
"Now this is annoying."
Even Gray, who had been confused earlier, understood the situation now.
Marco was strong, but Viernes was hiding in such a slippery way that there was nothing obvious to hit.
"Don't rush! Let me think."
Elefseria, who had been deep in thought the whole time, tried to calm everyone down.
He felt he was just about to grasp the key.
"Perhaps... there really is one method that might work."
Under everyone's gaze, Elefseria's eyes lit up.
The old Law Dragon's vast magical knowledge had finally found a possible answer.