"Damned alpaca!"
Bastille scrambled up from the ground, his body blackened by soot and a smear of blood tracing the corner of his mouth. He glared venomously at the Cannon-Llama, Alpacacino, standing not far away.
By now, Onifox and Shuzo were already locked in a fierce exchange. Bastille gripped his Shark Cleaver blade, intending to reinforce the frontline.
"Mosa! Mosa! Mosa!"
Suddenly, emerald-green vines, thick as a man's arm, erupted around Bastille. They lashed out like striking cobras, seeking to bind him.
"These vines..."
Bastille was taken aback. He dodged nimbly as he caught sight of Binz, standing atop a meteor fragment ten meters away. Binz's body contorted in a rhythmic, frantic dance, causing more vines to burst from the earth, coiling and crushing the surrounding Marines like giant constrictors.
"Binz, you traitor!" Bastille roared, swinging his blade in a wide horizontal cleave.
Sshhh—!
A massive blade-wave erupted, instantly severing the vines before him and continuing its path toward Binz without losing momentum.
"Vines! Vines!"
Seeing the incoming attack, Binz's dancing became even more erratic.
The surrounding vines acted like snakes sensing danger, snapping back to form a dense wall composed of dozens of interlaced stalks right in front of Binz.
BOOM—!
The titanic blade-wave slammed into the verdant wall. It tore through nearly ten layers of vines like a hot knife through butter, leaving a two-meter gash that nearly breached the entire defense.
"Go!"
Seeing his defense hold, Binz swept his arms forward. A dozen vines shot out like arrows, aiming to impale Bastille's towering, muscular frame.
"Get back!"
Bastille barked, performing an upward reverse slash.
An even more massive and sharper blade-wave burst forth, instantly shredding the incoming vines. The strike carried so much force it traversed the entire high slope and slammed into the opposite bank of the river.
RUMBLE—!
In an instant, the powerful slash carved a ten-meter-wide crater into the far embankment, kicking up a massive shroud of dust.
"What a devastating strike!" Binz gasped. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a corner of his shirt had been shorn off, fluttering to the ground.
Realizing the scale of the Vice Admiral's power, Binz resumed his dance. With cries of "Mosa! Mosa!", another dozen stalks erupted from the soil. They grew at a visible rate, darting high and low, some slow and some lightning-fast, all weaving a web to entangle or impale Bastille.
Slash! Rip! Tear!
Bastille swung his Shark-Slicing Blade with frantic precision. Within moments, seven or eight vines lay severed on the ground.
However, Bastille was a classic power-type warrior. His strength was undeniable, each swing could cleave steel, but he lacked the necessary speed and agility to keep up with the shifting environment.
Under the relentless, rapid-fire assault of Binz's flora, a thick vine finally broke through Bastille's guard. It coiled around his ankle and yanked him into the air.
Simultaneously, the surrounding vines lunged at him like a pack of starving pythons.
"Not good!"
Bastille's face went pale. He swung his blade wildly, trying to hack away the vines that were seizing the opportunity to bind him.
"Damn it... damn it! Ugh...!"
Despite his desperate resistance, Bastille could not stem the tide. Within seconds, he was wrapped tight in a multi-layered cocoon of vines, his movements completely neutralized.
…
BOOM—!
In the center of the battlefield, two figures blurred as they closed the distance. Fist and blade collided in an instant, unleashing a series of powerful shockwaves that distorted the air and sent a gale-force wind howling outward.
The ground was unable to withstand the counterforce. Beneath their feet, the earth instantly buckled and shattered, forming a circular crater several meters wide.
Issho held his sword in a reverse grip, delivering lightning-fast slashes that left trails of afterimages. They clashed relentlessly against Zephyr's pitch-black, hardened iron fists.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The rapid-fire ring of steel echoed through the air. Sparks flew in the void, and the rolling shockwaves caused the ground to crack further under the pressure.
"Gravity!!!"
Suddenly, Issho let out a low growl. The invisible gravitational field around them shifted violently.
"Hmm?"
Zephyr's brow furrowed. He felt as if a weight of ten million pounds had been dropped onto his shoulders, causing his movements to lag for a fraction of a second.
Issho didn't hesitate. He stepped in and delivered a horizontal slash. The blade was lethally sharp. Zephyr hurriedly raised his blackened, Armament-hardened arm.
CLANG—!
The impact sent a violent gust of wind outward. Immediately after, the gravity intensified, forcing Zephyr's body to buckle slightly. The earth beneath him was pressed down into a perfectly round indentation.
Just as Issho was about to follow up, Zephyr flicked his finger. The air rippled slightly as a compressed bullet of air shot out.
"Shigan: Flying Style!"
CLINK—!
Issho tilted his head, listening intently. He pulled his arm back, holding the sheath of his cane sword vertically before him. The invisible air bullet slammed into the blade, producing a metallic ring that left the steel vibrating.
Seizing the opening, Zephyr flipped backward, retreating ten meters to escape the gravitational press. He followed up with a sweeping kick; his exquisite control meant there was no wasted wind, just a pure Rankyaku slashe.
The meter-long vacuum blade shrieked through the air like silver crescent, homing in on Issho.
BOOM—!
Sensing the lethality of the attack, Issho stepped aside. The crescent blade tore through the ground, leaving a narrow, fifty-meter-long scar in the earth before flying off the slope and dissipating hundreds of meters away in the sky.
Abruptly, Issho's brow twitched. He swung his blade to his right with lightning speed.
CLANG—!
Zephyr had appeared as if by magic, his fist slamming into Issho's blade. the resulting air pressure whipped into a miniature cyclone, scouring the ground and leaving fine cracks in the soil.
"Gravity Blade: Raging Tiger!!!"
Issho let out a cold shout. The gravity focused on his cane sword intensified exponentially.
CRACK—!
In an instant, the ground split open. Under the crushing weight of the gravitational field, Zephyr's body began to buckle.
If this keeps up, the ground is going to collapse entirely! Zephyr thought. He let out a sharp cry.
"Hardening!!!"
The next second, the ground beneath Zephyr's feet flashed with a faint, imperceptible light. The cracks that had been spreading stopped dead in their tracks.
"Hmm? The ground... it seems much harder now!" Issho's brow furrowed. He felt the earth beneath him turn rigid, as if he were standing on a solid plate of reinforced steel.
Though he didn't fully grasp the mechanism, Issho reacted instantly. Purple light shimmered on his blade as the gravitational field shifted again, becoming even more oppressive. A massive wave of gravitational energy gathered at the tip of his sword.
"Not good!"
Zephyr's scalp tingled with a sense of impending doom.
"Gravity Blade: Fierce Tiger!!!"
Issho roared, swinging his blade with everything he had.
A wave of purple energy erupted, forming a localized purple tornado that let out a haunting, wailing shriek.
For a heartbeat, the world seemed to lose its color, fading into a stark monochrome. The air distorted, and even the hills on the opposite bank seemed to warp, as if all of reality were being sucked into a twisted space.
KABOOM—!!!
As if the space had reached its breaking point, the high slope on the opposite bank simply detonated. The hundred-meter-long ridge was pulverized into dust. Boulders were hurled in every direction, and a pillar of dust shot into the heavens. Half the riverbank groaned and trembled under the sheer magnitude of the blast.