"Release the princess!!"
Igaram's roar exploded across the ruins.
His curled hair shook violently as he rushed forward with a squad of royal guards behind him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several gun barrels suddenly extended from his curls and opened fire at the same time.
Flames burst from the muzzles.
Bullets ripped through the air toward Kairos in a dense storm.
Every shot was carefully aimed.
Even if Kairos dodged, none of the bullets would hit Vivi.
Kairos glanced up lazily.
The Sandai Kitetsu instantly flew from his waist.
Black Armament Haki coated the blade.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sharp flashes of steel cut through the air.
Every bullet was sliced apart before it could get close.
Half-melted bullet fragments scattered across the sand.
Princess Vivi stared with sparkling eyes.
"So cool…"
Meanwhile, Kairos' attention had already shifted elsewhere.
Igaram was here.
That meant Cobra and the palace guards would arrive soon too.
Interesting.
Kairos stepped forward.
The moment he moved—
the Yū Kanda card activated.
A violent wind suddenly erupted across the ruins.
Sand shot into the air.
Broken stone pillars cracked apart under invisible pressure.
Even the ground trembled faintly.
The guards instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves.
"What is this pressure?!"
Igaram gritted his teeth as the storm forced him backward several steps.
Then—
just as suddenly—
everything stopped.
The wind disappeared.
The sand slowly fell back to the earth.
And Kairos walked out from the ruins carrying a strange white blade.
Mugen.
The weapon looked cold and unnatural beneath the sunlight.
Black markings slowly spread across Kairos' exposed chest and collarbone.
Ancient.
Complex.
Almost like some kind of curse seal.
Igaram's expression became even heavier.
This feeling…
Kairos now seemed completely different from before.
Behind him, Vivi and the other children remained unharmed.
Only then did Igaram relax slightly.
At least the princess was safe.
But the danger hadn't passed.
Not even close.
Igaram's hair shifted again.
This time, a cannon barrel extended directly from the middle of his curls.
Boom!!
The cannon fired.
A shell blasted toward Kairos at terrifying speed.
At the same time, the machine guns hidden in Igaram's hair opened fire again.
The air filled with roaring gunfire.
"Go!"
Igaram shouted toward the guards behind him.
"Report this to His Majesty immediately!"
He knew perfectly well that he couldn't defeat Kairos himself.
Right now, all he could do was stall for time.
The guards immediately scattered.
Kairos didn't stop them.
He simply watched quietly.
He wanted stronger opponents to come.
That was the entire reason he stayed here in the first place.
Then—
Kairos lightly lowered Mugen.
The white blade touched the sand.
A strange vibration spread outward.
Buzz…
Buzz… buzz…
The sound was tiny.
But it instantly made everyone's skin crawl.
It sounded like countless insects crawling inside the blade.
"Calamity Summons…"
Kairos' calm voice drifted across the ruins.
"First Illusion—Realm Insects."
The cannon shell arrived.
The bullets followed right behind it.
Then—
something pale appeared in the air around Kairos.
One.
Ten.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Ghastly white insect-like creatures suddenly swarmed into existence around him.
They looked twisted and unnatural, with sharp mouths and translucent bodies that almost resembled ghosts more than living things.
The shell vanished the moment it touched them.
Not exploded—
eaten.
The pale insects devoured the cannon shell in seconds.
The bullets met the same fate.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound of chewing echoed through the ruins.
The guards froze.
Even Igaram's pupils shrank violently.
"What… are those things?"
He had seen Devil Fruit users before.
He had fought pirates before.
But these creatures—
they felt wrong.
Completely wrong.
The pale insects swarmed around Kairos like a living tide while he calmly leaned against Mugen with one hand.
Relaxed.
Unhurried.
As if this entire battle bored him.
The white insects continued wriggling through the air, their tiny mouths opening and closing as they devoured every piece of metal they could find.
Just looking at them made the guards' scalps numb.
It felt like staring at creatures that should never exist in this world.
Like monsters crawling straight out of a nightmare.
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