Crack, crack...
That strange sound once again came from the pitch-black tentacles, carrying a piercing friction like misplaced bones. Then they stabbed into Ron's body again.
"Domi Reversi!"
[System has denied access!]
"Domi Reversi!"
[System has denied access!]
"Domi Reversi!"
[System has detected an unruly civilian attempting forced access. Executing purge command.]
The moment that command fell, the black tentacles stabbed into Ron's body suddenly stiffened. Then, starting from their tips, they shattered segment by segment into tiny powder, like ash scattered by the wind, leaving not even a trace behind.
Swish!
Linlin did not hesitate. The instant the tentacles shattered, she swung her sword. Napoleon, wrapped in Haki, accurately slashed toward the slowly writhing black mist behind Ron.
When the blade fell, it produced a dull explosion. The black mist was violently knocked away and smashed against the inner wall of the golden Nine-Tailed Fox, flattening like a shadow before sliding slowly down the surface.
"Hey, Ron!"
Linlin's voice carried rare urgency. Her gaze swept across Ron's back, then across his rigid body. "Are you all right?"
She had seen the tentacles pierce him twice with her own eyes. What made it unsettling was that there was no blood and no wound.
Boom!
At the same time, five enormous figures descended from the sky. They landed heavily from five directions, surrounding the golden Nine-Tailed Fox.
The ground shook violently the instant they landed, and rings of dust waves spread outward.
Five pairs of scarlet eyes shone in the dim light like deep lanterns, all locking onto the same target.
Ron did not move. His body still maintained its previous posture, as if nailed in place by something invisible. After several seconds of silence, he finally recovered from the lingering fear.
Then he laughed.
"Hehehe..."
At first, the laughter was very light, like air accidentally leaking from deep in his throat.
Then the sound grew bit by bit, louder and louder, increasingly out of control.
"Hehehehahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Ron laughed until his head tilted back and his shoulders trembled violently. His laughter echoed among the ruins, forming a sound that made one's scalp crawl.
Linlin stood beside him and looked at him like this. She could not help taking half a step back.
There was an emotion in her eyes that she rarely revealed: fear.
Yes, fear. But not fear toward the enemy. It was the fear one felt when a familiar person suddenly became unfamiliar, the fear of no longer knowing how to approach him.
"Ron... don't be like this... you're scaring me," Linlin said quietly.
But Ron's laughter did not stop. He still raised his head, and his hands slowly spread open.
"Hehehehahahaha!"
Ron's laughter continued until Linlin unconsciously tightened her grip on her sword.
Then the golden Nine-Tailed Fox abruptly vanished. Linlin lost her balance and fell downward, but in the next instant, a chakra arm extended from Ron's body and precisely caught her waist.
In the end, they landed on the ground together.
"Ron, you can no longer escape," the skeletal horse said in a deep voice.
The moment that voice fell, Ron's laughter stopped abruptly. His head slowly lowered. His gaze swept over the five enormous figures around him and finally landed on the empty bone face of the skeletal horse.
"Escape?"
"Who?"
"Escape where?"
"Why escape?!"
Ron's words grew louder one after another until the last was practically roared out.
As his voice fell, a terrifying shockwave suddenly erupted from his body.
The shockwave roared outward with him at the center. The ground was peeled up layer by layer, and broken stone and dust were pushed into the distance, carving a wide, deep circular trench through the ruins.
Golden chakra covered his whole body. Nine-Tails Mode activated. Blue steam erupted from his surface. Eight Gates, Seventh Gate: Gate of Wonder, opened. Orange eyeshadow appeared at the corners of his eyes, and his aura became thick and long. Sage Mode activated at the same time.
The three powers bloomed simultaneously in that instant, intertwining over Ron's body into a flowing halo like armor taking shape.
He stood there, both feet on cracked ground. The wind curved around him, carrying burning heat, lifting dust and sand before silently letting them fall.
He slowly raised his gaze, and an unbelievable curve appeared at the corner of his mouth. "From now on, offense and defense have switched..."
Then Ron turned his head toward Linlin. His tone softened slightly. "Linlin, you go first."
Linlin's eyes darkened faintly. Her hand did not loosen around Napoleon. After a moment of silence, she spoke. "Don't order me around, Ron. I'm the one who asked you to come here. If I leave like this, it won't sit right with me."
"Hehehe..." Ron laughed low twice before slowly answering, "They can't kill me. If you stay here, you'll only affect me."
What was that?
Affect you?
Linlin was a little annoyed. Just how much was he looking down on her strength?
"I refuse," Linlin said in a low voice.
Ron did not answer. He only stared at Linlin.
After they remained deadlocked for a while, Linlin sighed lightly, turned, and walked away. "Fine. Don't call me back later to help you."
"Trying to leave?"
The skeletal horse's low voice rolled down from that tall frame. "None of you can leave. No one on this island can leave."
As its voice fell, its body suddenly shrank. Its bones reorganized and its form shifted. In an instant, it transformed into a human-beast form.
Its upper body was human, while its lower body was that of a skeletal horse.
Human-beast form.
A black blade flipped into its hand. Dark, surging aura wrapped around the blade, and purple-spotted flames slowly rose along its spine.
Swish.
The human-beast skeletal horse swiftly slashed down in Linlin's direction. The blade cut through the air with a dull whistle.
Whoosh!
At the same time, a sonic boom exploded in the air, like something tearing through space.
Violent wind surged along the edges of the shockwave.
When Ron's figure appeared in front of Linlin, he was already leaping high. In midair, he turned slightly sideways, and from behind his right arm extended an incomparably huge golden chakra arm. The arm was even larger than the skeletal horse in its human-beast form.
Then Ron swung it down fiercely.
Boom!
The shockwave, wrapped in a violent sonic boom, roared forward like an enormous wave compressed to its limit and suddenly released.
...