"Hmm?"
"What's going on?"
Saint Rimoshifu, sitting on a rock, looked toward the distance with a puzzled expression. "Why can't my Nightmare Creatures revive directly anymore?"
Under normal circumstances, his Nightmare Creatures could revive—this was the powerful aspect of his Devil Fruit Ability.
But now they couldn't revive directly?
"Could it be because of that special ability of the Blood-Eyed Ninja?" Saint Rimoshifu muttered. That ability that could even counter Elemental Transformation might indeed be capable of countering his ability as well.
Hmm, it might even be possible that their Undying Body could be restricted!
While thinking this, Saint Rimoshifu activated his Devil Fruit Ability, dispersing the defeated Nightmare Creatures on the other side, turning them into scattered Nightmare Energy.
Then, Saint Rimoshifu extracted a large amount of Nightmare Energy from the Nightmare Nest and manipulated it to rush toward the distant battlefield.
After doing this, Saint Rimoshifu sneered, "Although your ability can counter the Undying Body, if I abandon that portion of Nightmare Energy, your ability should become ineffective!"
Blood-Eyed Ninja... Hmph, let's see what you'll do this time!
After sneering, Saint Rimoshifu turned his gaze to the distant battlefield, intending to see what the opponent would do next.
"They actually disappeared?"
Meiser, who had just been about to attack Gunko, looked in surprise at the place where the black Giant and dragon had vanished. "Did they deactivate their ability?"
Knowing that those things were useless against him, so they deactivated the ability?
That possibility couldn't be ruled out.
"It seems our assumptions were correct," Gunko murmured. "This guy's ability is indeed somewhat sinister."
If it could make Saint Rimoshifu's Nightmare Creatures lose their revival ability... that meant the opponent's ability could counter their Undying Body!
Thinking this, Gunko created some distance between herself and Meiser.
Just at that moment, Meiser below launched an attack against Gunko.
"Whoosh"
The enormous pale golden spear was thrown by him, heading straight for Gunko in the air!
Seeing this, Gunko immediately activated her Devil Fruit Ability without hesitation.
In the next moment, an arrowhead appeared beside Gunko, then slammed hard into Meiser's TimePiercingSpearOfToki!
Then, something strange happened.
The huge pale golden spear, as if affected by some special force, instantly changed its attack direction.
Meiser: ???
Watching the TimePiercingSpearOfToki fly sideways along the arrowhead, question marks appeared above Meiser's head.
"What happened? Did I miss?" Meiser wondered.
No... that's not right!
With his control, it was impossible to miss!
So... was it because of that strange arrowhead?
Thinking this, Meiser focused his gaze on the peculiar arrowheads floating around Gunko.
'What kind of ability is this?' Meiser wondered to himself.
"It looks like an arrowhead made of bandages... Bandage Fruit? Or Arrow-Arrow Fruit?"
After pondering for a moment, Meiser asked, "What kind of Devil Fruit Ability User are you?"
"I have no reason to tell you," Gunko replied calmly.
Hearing her words, a strange look appeared in Meiser's eyes.
'How is this person different from other ability users?' Meiser wondered inwardly. Previously, most ability users he encountered would announce their abilities before battle, yet this person...
It seemed she was a cautious individual.
Since she didn't intend to answer, Meiser didn't press further.
Then, he thought to himself: 'That thing looks like an arrowhead made of bandages... So she's probably a Bandage Fruit or Arrow-Arrow Fruit ability user.'
However, Meiser felt the latter was more likely, especially since... she had just altered the trajectory of his TimePiercingSpearOfToki!
Considering this, the probability of it being an arrow-related ability increased.
Seeing Meiser halt his attacks, Gunko shifted her attention to the other Nightmare Creatures and Meiser's Shadow Clones.
'To create so many clones at once... As expected of a Blood-Eyed Ninja.'
It seemed unlikely she could rely on Saint Rimoshifu's Nightmare Creatures to defeat him.
At that moment, Meiser hurled another TimePiercingSpearOfToki at Gunko, aiming to pierce through her body.
Yet again, it narrowly missed her.
"Useless," Gunko stated calmly. "Your attacks will never hit me."
As long as she detected an attack, she could use the power of her Arrow-Arrow Fruit to alter its direction!
"It seems my assumption was correct," Meiser said, staring at Gunko. "You're an Arrow-Arrow Fruit ability user, aren't you?"
Gunko fell silent for a moment before replying indifferently, "Sorry, you guessed wrong."
"Even if not, it's close enough," Meiser retorted.
Perhaps the name differed, but the ability was likely similar to what he imagined.
Just then, Meiser's Mangekyō Sharingan detected a strange energy emerging from the ground.
"Hmm?"
Glancing at the rapidly approaching dark energy, Meiser frowned. "What the hell is this now?"
Why were the Celestial Dragon guards' abilities all so bizarre?
With that thought, Meiser materialized another TimePiercingSpearOfToki and thrust it downward!
"Clang!"
"Boom!!"
The strike carved an enormous crater into the ground!
"Rumble!"
Surrounding buildings shook violently from the impact, eventually cracking and collapsing!
"Boom!"
"Hurry!"
"Get away!"
The guards, feeling the ground tremble, fled in terror, fearing being struck by falling debris.
As for whether they'd be punished for fleeing...
That was the least of their concerns now!
After all... that level of combat was far beyond their involvement!
Meanwhile, the slaves roared upon witnessing the scene.
"Quick, the guards are in disarray—kill them!"
"Kill!"
"Follow the divine one and fight our way out!"
"Roar!!"
With their morale steadily rising, the slaves began charging toward the guards with furious shouts, intending to eliminate them and escape this place.
As for why these people insisted on calling Meiser "Lord God"...
A hero willing to rescue them from hell had summoned a sacred golden Giant, using its power to defeat the evil dark creatures...
Could such a being not be called Lord God?
"Kill!!"
"They've gone mad! These lunatics!"
Watching the crowd surge toward them, the guards' eyes flickered with panic as they instinctively retreated. But after considering the consequences of letting the slaves escape, they gritted their teeth and charged forward again.
"The Five Elders have commanded: execute all escaping slaves! Leave none alive!"
"Don't let these slaves get away! Slaughter them!"
"Charge!!"
Upon learning this was the decree from those five esteemed figures, the guards' eyes burned crimson as they lunged at the slaves.
Soon, the two groups collided again, engaging in brutal combat!!
At that moment, a slave stared into the distance in shock and exclaimed, "What the hell is that?!"
From his perspective, a strange black energy mass had risen from the ground, continuously contorting!
The energy mass then expelled a portion of itself before devouring the remaining black energy emerging from the earth.
After completing this act, the black energy began violently shuddering.
"What fresh horror is this?" Meiser frowned at the bizarre energy mass. "Another dark creature?!"
Under Meiser's gaze, the black energy convulsed intensely, gradually coalescing into a bodily form until it fully transformed into the Giant from earlier!!
Meiser: !!!
Witnessing the black Giant's resurrection, Meiser's eyes flashed with astonishment.
"It survived?!"
His Sharingan clearly confirmed this was the same entity he had slain earlier.
But the question was... how had it revived?
Not only that, even the head wound had completely vanished... How was this possible?
"To resurrect after being struck by my 'Yomotsu Hirasaka' ability..." Meiser murmured, "This truly exceeds my expectations."
Just then, Meiser recalled the black energy mass the creature had "spat out" earlier.
'If I'm not mistaken, that expelled energy was the shattered portion of its skull,' Meiser deduced internally.
'So it revived itself by replacing that damaged energy.'
Though it seemed implausible, considering the peculiar nature of Devil Fruit Abilities, Meiser found the explanation logical.
'It appears completely defeating these creatures won't be easy,' Meiser mentally noted.
Should I hunt down the Devil Fruit Ability User?
With this thought, Meiser scanned his surroundings, attempting to locate the hidden Devil Fruit Ability User.
But his search proved futile—he detected no enemy who resembled a Devil Fruit Ability User.
"That makes sense. Someone with this kind of ability should have a relatively fragile true body," Meiser thought to himself. "So it's normal for them to hide.
In that case... I'll have to eliminate these guys first!
That should force the opponent to transmit energy over, allowing me to follow the trail back to them!"
Having reached this conclusion, Meiser nodded firmly.
Just then, the black giant's form stabilized completely, and it charged toward Meiser with its massive sword.
"Roar!"
The resurrected dragon in the distance roared defiantly before flapping its wings and charging at Meiser, opening its bloody maw to bite down!
"Perfect timing!" Meiser shouted.
As he spoke, Meiser manipulated Susanoo to swing the TimePiercingSpearOfToki, striking hard against the black giant's greatsword.
Simultaneously, he threw a backhand punch that connected with the black dragon's tooth!
"Clang!"
"Boom!"
The collision between the greatsword and the pale golden spear immediately created a terrifying shockwave that sent surrounding debris flying.
Meanwhile, the dragon had its front tooth shattered by Meiser's punch, sending it flying backward!
"Whoosh~"
"CRASH!!"
It smashed into the ground, creating a massive crater!
After dealing with this, Meiser turned his attention to the black giant, saying, "Now let me..."
"Did you forget about me?!" Gunko shouted from mid-air.
As her voice echoed, numerous arrowheads infused with Haki appeared in the air before raining down on the ground like meteors!
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!"
The relentless attacks mercilessly pounded everything on the battlefield below!
Slaves, guards, clones, nightmare creatures—all fell within Gunko's attack range!
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!"
"BOOM!!"
"ARGH!!"
"Sir, we're Mary Geoise guards! Why are you killing us too?!"
"Dammit, I don't want to die..."
"Save me, someone save me!!"
For a moment, countless screams filled the battlefield, chilling to the bone.
"What a terrifying woman," Saint Rimoshifu remarked, his lip twitching as he observed through the nightmare creatures. "Completely devoid of humanity..."
While the slaves deserved to die, the guards didn't.
Those guards were their trained dogs—killing too many would be troublesome!
Yet Gunko had attacked without mercy. Truly... an utterly cold-blooded woman.
Shaking his head, Saint Rimoshifu turned his attention to the Nightmare Nest and muttered, "To prevent that guy from locating me, I'd better transmit the nightmare energy in advance."
With that thought, he activated his Devil Fruit Ability and sent out a considerable amount of nightmare energy.
After completing this task, Saint Rimoshifu turned his gaze into the distance.
"Heh heh~"
"Blood-Eyed Ninja, experience the might of our God's Knights firsthand!!" Saint Rimoshifu grinned.
As long as the nightmares of those sleeping people remained uninterrupted, he could continue using his ability indefinitely!
"Ahahahaha!"
"Aha..."
Saint Rimoshifu's laughter suddenly stopped, then his head tilted and he fell asleep.
Clearly, this was the side effect of his Devil Fruit Ability activating.
The Five Elders observing this scene immediately showed exasperated expressions.
"Why has he fallen asleep again?" Saint Nusjuro frowned.
"That's just how the side effects of this Devil Fruit are," Saint Saturn said, rubbing his forehead.
This was precisely why he wasn't suitable for the front lines—he could fall asleep at any moment!
"Is there really no way to overcome the side effects of the Devil Fruit Ability?!" Saint Mars exclaimed.
If they could overcome the side effects of the Devil Fruit Ability, even these old men could...
"At least not currently," Saint Saturn replied.
He had been researching this matter for many years, but the conclusion remained that it was uncontrollable, leaving him with no solution.
The other four fell silent upon hearing this, then sighed quietly in resignation.
It seemed they had no choice but to continue enduring the damn side effects.