On another part of the battlefield, the azure sky stretched like a clear gem.
Azure Flames and laser beams intertwined wildly in mid-air, explosions resounding all around.
Marco moved with agile grace, his massive wings of azure flames spread wide as he navigated effortlessly through the hail of gunfire.
The Phoenix's azure flames swirled gently around him, shimmering with an otherworldly glow.
With every slight beat of his wings, brilliant sparks trailed through the air.
"Hey, fatso," Marco sidestepped nimbly, evading a whistling bomb.
The bomb shot past, grazing the edge of his clothes before detonating into a blinding flash of light in the distance.
Yet he paid it no mind, a lazy smile still playing on his lips, his eyes glinting with mockery.
"Your aim is even worse than the Plague Rounds."
Queen's bulky frame, encased in mechanical armor, appeared anything but clumsy—instead, it moved with surprising agility.
His mechanical eyes glowed with a dangerous red light, like two burning flames, radiating boundless fury and killing intent.
Unexpectedly, however, he gritted his teeth and pressed a button on his wrist.
Instantly, his mechanical arms emitted a low hum, rapidly splitting and reassembling to reveal rows of dark, gaping muzzles, like a beast baring its fangs.
"Don't get cocky, blue-feathered chicken!" Queen roared, his voice shattering the calm air of the battlefield.
"Taste my new tech—Spark QUEEN!"
In an instant, dozens of crimson beams shot forth from Queen's mechanical eyes.
These beams twisted and turned in the air as if possessed of a life of their own, relentlessly homing in on Marco's figure.
Even more terrifyingly, as each beam closed in on its target, it split into finer tracking projectiles.
Like a swarm of ravenous locusts, they wove an impenetrable net of death around Marco, leaving no room for escape.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
A continuous barrage of explosions shattered the battlefield's silence, dyeing the entire sky crimson.
Dazzling flames erupted one after another, setting the world ablaze.
Marco was forced to frequently shift into his elemental form to evade the rain-like onslaught.
The Azure Flames flickered unpredictably around him, sometimes revealing his figure, other times causing it to vanish.
Just as it seemed he'd be struck several times in those critical moments, Marco's form traced an elegant arc through the air.
With a gentle beat of his azure flame wings, he drifted like a weightless feather, narrowly and skillfully evading the dense laser barrage.
The crimson beams exploded behind him, their powerful impact stirring up a frenzied shockwave, yet they failed to even graze the hem of his clothes.
"Lasers of this level?" Marco tilted his head, a faintly mocking smile playing on his lips, his eyes brimming with disdain and contempt. In his view, such attacks were nothing more than child's play.
"When I fought Kizaru, it was far more thrilling than this."
Slowly, he raised a finger, a cluster of Azure Flames igniting at its tip.
The Azure Flames danced and flickered at his fingertips, possessing a life of their own.
With a casual flick, Marco effortlessly deflected the final Tracking Beam.
"Take this fat pig's toy and go amuse a child," Marco's voice echoed across the battlefield, dripping with provocation.
"Fat pig?!"
Queen's Mechanical Eye instantly flushed crimson with blood, the fatty flesh on his face trembling violently.
His eyes turned bloodshot with rage as he stomped his foot, making the ground shake.
Then, in a furious outburst, he slammed the button on his belt that glowed with an eerie light.
Instantly, his massive mechanical body awakened like some primordial beast, emitting a series of ear-piercing transformation sounds.
"I'll make you experience true terror—Electric Queen!" Queen roared.
His meticulously modified mechanical neck, covered in complex circuits and precision components, extended like a freed python at astonishing speed, shooting toward Marco with unstoppable momentum.
The metal jaw gleamed with cold light in the darkness, coated in a thick, nearly tangible layer of black Armament Haki.
The sharp alloy teeth resembled gleaming blades, dangerous currents crackling and sparking between them.
This strike was swift as lightning, cutting through the air with a sharp whistling sound as it aimed straight for Marco's vulnerable throat.
The very air rippled from the force of the attack.
Yet, at that critical moment, just as the deadly teeth were about to snap shut, Marco's body underwent a miraculous transformation.
His skin turned crimson like burning embers, instantly becoming scorching hot—the intense heat seeming capable of igniting the surrounding air.
Then his skin began to blacken, dark patterns spreading like sinister vines across his body while wisps of black smoke rose, carrying a pungent odor.
Soon, Marco's skin cracked open, revealing boiling, churning magma beneath—like an enraged beast rampaging through his body, seeking release.
Scorching lava dripped from Marco's body, falling onto Queen's mouth with devastating force.
Instantly, Queen's previously indestructible mechanical mouth melted like ice thrown into raging flames, burning several horrifying holes.
Molten metal dripped from the openings with sizzling sounds.
"Argh!!" Queen screamed in agony, retracting his neck as if electrocuted.
His body trembled uncontrollably, his obese frame writhing madly.
"Hot hot hot!!!"
His eyes widened in terror, fixed on his melted mechanical mouth, disbelief evident in his gaze.
Then he slowly raised his head to look at the fully magma-transformed Marco, his voice cracking as he stammered.
"When... when did you eat the Magma Fruit?!"
All of Queen's earlier arrogance had vanished, replaced by sheer panic.
Marco chuckled lightly, raising his lava-dripping arm where the magma flowed slowly.
"Who said a Phoenix can't play with magma?" His voice remained calm and firm, as if stating the simplest truth. He deliberately let a drop of magma fall beside Queen's feet.
Instantly, the steel plate beneath Queen's feet melted rapidly, like chocolate encountering hot water, forming a charred, gaping hole.
The magma continued to burn within the pit, emitting a roaring sound.
"Come on, weren't you going to bite me?" Marco taunted.