"Let's wrap this up quickly."
Kairos D. Vale closed his eyes with a helpless sigh.
He had just finished challenging an old man, and now he was beating up kids.
Looking down at Lucci, whom he still had pinned into the ground—
Kairos suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.
So, in order to soothe his conscience—
he decided to knock this whole group of brats flat as fast as possible.
Boom!!
In an instant, faint light shimmered within the dust cloud.
Rippling bands of cold light swept outward, as though an invisible sea had descended over the battlefield and begun spreading waves in every direction.
Bruno's fist slammed into one of those cold ripples.
At once, a sharp, drilling pain shot through his arm.
He sucked in a breath, immediately activating the Door-Door Fruit to retreat at top speed. He vanished into a door and reappeared more than a hundred meters away.
His fist trembled slightly.
Blood was already dripping from it.
Pfft—
A burst of blood sprayed from Fukurou's leg.
He forcibly used Shave in midair to twist his trajectory and barely slip past Kairos' side, but his round body still flew off like a cannonball. He smashed into the ground and only managed to stop after crashing into a towering tree that would have taken three grown men to encircle.
"S-so scary…"
Fukurou's huge eyes shook violently.
One hand braced against the ground as he forced himself to stand.
A deep gash had opened on his right leg, and he could barely keep his balance.
But only Fukurou himself knew—
the fact that he could still stand at all was already pure luck.
"Careful. Don't touch that cold light!"
Jabra's wolf-form body shuddered as he twisted through the air in a crescent-shaped arc, retreating away from Kairos' position.
And not just him—
everyone else's assault stopped at the same time.
"This… this is sword light?!"
Kaku kicked off the air with Geppo and abruptly halted his charge, his pupils shrinking in shock.
He trained in dual swords himself, so he knew exactly what that cold light filling the air was.
But—
how could sword light hang in the air like this without dispersing?
And Kairos was still standing there without even raising a hand.
He hadn't swung his weapon at all.
So how could sword light be spilling out?
It made no sense.
"I used Iron Body just now," Bruno said, his speech still slow even now, as if his thoughts only caught up with the moment after it passed.
"And you were still hurt through Iron Body?" Kalifa bit her lip, stepping back lightly on her heels.
Kairos felt far too strange.
Strange enough that even she was starting to feel fear.
That emotion shouldn't have existed in CP9.
But in the face of an unknown power that far surpassed common sense, even they couldn't suppress the instinctive fear rising from the depths of their bodies.
Every member of CP9 focused completely on Kairos.
But at that moment, the place where he stood was still swallowed by dust and shimmering cold light, and they couldn't clearly see what was happening inside.
"Damn it. This mission is probably already lost. Save Lucci first, then withdraw!"
Kaku made the call immediately.
Light gathered around his legs, Tempest Kick ready to burst forth at any second.
"Kids… that's not sword light. That's sword intent."
Kairos' voice drifted out from the dust.
His tone was different now.
Free.
Unrestrained.
That easygoing rhythm belonged to one of the Four Blade Masters—
Xiran.
The moment his voice sounded, every CP9 member froze.
Large beads of sweat rolled down their temples and fell to the ground.
In just a few seconds, their clothes were completely soaked through.
Something—
something had already locked onto them.
It felt as though the moment any one of them took a single step forward, they would die instantly.
"…Damn."
Kaku stopped cold.
The light gathering for Tempest Kick was forcibly suppressed and never released.
And so, in one strange instant, the cold-blooded killing machines of CP9 were reduced to obedient children standing in place, none of them daring to move.
What held them there—
was that frigid sword intent rippling through the air like waves.
Then suddenly—
a violent gust rose and blew the dust away.
Kairos' figure finally became visible again.
He was no longer crouched over Lucci with one hand gripping him.
Now he simply had Lucci pinned beneath his foot.
At that moment, there was a faintly intoxicated look on his face.
The power of Xiran, one of the Four Blade Masters, was flowing through every part of his body.
Overwhelming sword intent had gathered inside his chest, so full it needed release.
Kairos lifted his right hand and loosely gripped empty air.
A katana engraved with sinister patterns slowly appeared in his grasp.
"No. Not this."
Kairos still hadn't opened his eyes.
He shook his head.
The demonic katana vanished.
In its place, a plain, unremarkable bamboo rod appeared in his hand.
"That's better."
Kairos opened his eyes, weighed the bamboo rod once in his hand, and gave it a light swing.
Sharp whistling sounds tore through the air.
"Grr…"
With Kairos' foot pressing into his back, Lucci struggled fiercely, all four limbs straining as low, animalistic growls spilled from his throat like a wounded young beast.
Then Kairos crouched.
He pressed the bamboo rod against Lucci's back, pinning him firmly in place.
After that—
Kairos reached out with his other hand
and gently held Lucci by the chin.
"Why does your face look so cold all the time? There's not a trace of warmth in it."
He studied Lucci's face carefully, speaking with complete seriousness, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"AAARGH!"
Lucci felt utterly humiliated.
Those amber beast-eyes erupted with savage killing intent, as if they wanted to devour someone whole.
"Kids should stay quiet."
Kairos shook his head.
Then—
Bang!
The bamboo rod came down hard.
Lucci's limbs jerked once—
then went limp.
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