Chapter 298: Desperation, Magic and Miserable End
_________ POV Narration_________
The monstrous amalgamation of Elders was really the last thing that the leaders of Enel's Army expected.
But after all of them suffered enough damage, they realized they could not win under any circumstances.
Warcury had lost his tusks and all of his limbs.
Nusjuro had been disarmed, then dehooved rather forcefully as well.
And Peter... Well, the worm Elder didn't even get the chance to do anything against Dragon, only taking further damage, like being skinned alive by wind blades a few times, and having his bones crushed with sheer strength.
There was a literal lake of blood underneath him, one that Dragon had extracted out of him brutally. And it was obvious that his regeneration was slowing down exponentially.
The three of them were all that was left of the 5 elders.
Mercury and Saturn had already been crushed, and they knew that they would be soon to follow them into the afterlife...
So they did something drastic.
Warcury and Nusjuro both regrew their limbs and rushed towards pinned down Saint Peter.
They knew that they were making a mistake, turning their backs on their enemies like that... But they were already near their wits end.
"Santoryu Ogi: Ichidai Sanzen Daisen Sekai!(Great Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds!)" "Emperor's Severance!"
Nusjuro continued rushing forward, even as he felt Zoro's blade cut into his neck. The three sword wielders had proved to be an absolute detriment to the skeletal half-horse swordsman's existence.
That was especially the case after the Elder had taken off Sanji's leg. Zoro started coming at him with a vengeance after putting his bandana on.
Now was no different, as his haki-enhanced blade decapitated him from behind in seconds.
Warcury was in a similar situation with Big Mom, the Francisco-inspired flying slash from her beheaded his gigantic Boar head just as swiftly.
The Boar Elder had managed to get the slightest upper hand against her before Marco awakened and healed all of her injuries. After that, it was just a losing battle...
Much like Nusjuro, he continued rushing towards Peter even as Big Mom's large blade cleaved at his neck.
There was desperation in their eyes as their heads flew... But it seemed that they had already managed to get close enough...
As soon as the heads of the two monstrous elders hit the pool of blood, the ground shook.
In an instant, Zoro took a step back as the blood that had pooled around Peter's gigantic body started shifting, moving violently.
It took a strange form, retracting and expanding, before finally taking on a final shape. It turned into a gigantic magical circle, reminiscent of the one they had used earlier.
Seeing that, Dragon couldn't help but snarl and dog his claws deeper into Peter's back.
'You aren't getting away that easily!'
But the purpose of that circle was not to teleport them away... Instead, all of the blood rushed into the middle.
Dragon's eyes widened as he felt his claws sink into liquid. He immediately lost his grip on the Worm Elder as his gigantic body also seemed to submerge into the pool of blood almost lifelessly.
For a second, they thought they had somehow won the fight. Especially when the bodies of Nusjuro and Warcury lay there lifelessly.
But what formed within that Pool of blood quickly brought them back to reality.
Dragon's gigantic body barely managed to lean out of the way, as a gigantic blood hoof hammered away one of his wings, evaporating it in an instant.
The Revolutionary leader immediately lost his balance in the air and swayed to the side. He was bound to hit the ground at that point.
The blood pool shifted as well, forming solid blackened spikes that started extending towards the Revolutionary Dragon, aiming to skewer him in one fell swoop.
And maybe they would have succeded...
"Ursus Shock!" "Devine Departure!"
In an instant, a gigantic flying paw print embedded itself into Dragon's midsection, sending him flying out of range of the pool of blood.
At the same time, a red flying slash aimed to sever all of the spikes and cut into the gigantic red blob that had now started building in the centre of it all.
But the spikes, imbued with the combined haki of three elders, were able to block the flying slash, redirecting it into the sky.
By the time Mihawk's green flying slash reached the blob in the middle, the strange fusion of the elders was already done.
The creature that emerged from that blood pool was an utterly unnatural amalgamation of the remaining elders.
The bulky torso of a boar, filled with tusk-like tentacles on all sides, perched on large horse-like hooves and muscled legs.
The tail extended upwards, into a gigantic worm almost fully covered in teeth without any eyes.
And for a head, the neck diverged into the head of a boar, and the head of a skeletal horse with a flowing mane.
The head of Peter was the tail it seemed... But the creature's skin was mostly blood red, and it gave off an aura so overbearing that it made everyone surrounding the beast uncomfortable.
Steam came out of all of the beast's mouths, as their eyes glowed with pure hatred and hostility.
"This thing still seems stronger than it has any right to be..." Sabo muttered as his grip on his metal pipe tightened even further.
The three elders from earlier were struggling to keep up and were clearly headed to their respective deaths.
Hell, things had looked back for them for a while now, but they had not tried to merge before...
'Either the requirements were too specific to pull this stunt off... Or the price paid is too great for them to consider it a viable move before two of them died.'
And the price was almost apparent, as all of the fighters on the battlefield stared into the eyes of that beast they all noticed something... They all seemed almost empty, soulless...
"Seems like they gave up on their individuality in a bid to take us all down with them." Francisco walked forward fearlessly, his eyes narrowed as his now dirty blonde hair flowed in the wind.
"Makes sense why they'd be unwilling to do this... Still, I find it hard to understand how this 'magic' of theirs even works." Mihawk cracked his neck, his great Yoru dragging on the ground slightly as he walked forward as well.
"There are plenty of things hard to explain in this world. That 'magic' of theirs feels like an application of willpower of sorts, just coming from an external source." Big Mom was a lot more sensitive than them when it came to souls and willpower, she could feel that the circle was made of willpower, or at least energy similar enough to willpower.
"Maybe we'll get more answers after we beat the shit out of this thing." Dragon, now in human form and with a bloody gash on his back, seemed to be quite eager to jump back into the fray.
Especially so after Marco stepped up behind him, enveloping his wound in blue flame and closing it almost immediately.
"I may not be able to go all out as I am now, but I can at least provide you all with some support. I've sat on the sidelines enough." The Blue Phoenix was still mourning Whitebeard's passing, but he was in no mood to sit still and wait for things to end.
Kuma and Sabo both still appeared to be in top shape. And Zoro seemed just frustrated that he had failed to outright kill Nusjuro by himself.
In an instant, the tentacles on the boar's body shifted, all rushing forward trying to pierce the fighters that now surrounded its gigantic body.
Despite its great speed, the people around were still able to react in time. Dodging either to the side or jumping upwards and running up the tentacles towards the chimaera.
Big Mom was the only one to block the tentacle head-on, using her blade to try and cut it in two.
Sparks flew as her blackened blade clashed against the tentacle. Surprisingly, she was unable to cut into it, but she did manage to redirect it before jumping on her cloud and rushing to the sky.
Just as she did so, the gigantic worm tail moved to intercept her, aiming to slap her away and puncture her with its spikes.
But Big Mom wouldn't ever be caught off guard by such a simple attack. She gripped her blade with both hands and grunted, sending a gigantic flying slash towards the trial.
The slash cracked and broke the spikes, and left a bloody gash into the skin of the beast. Not deep, but still noticeable.
"The tentacles seem tougher than the rest of the body!" Big Mom then shouted, letting the others know as she then stepped onto the cloud underneath her and forced it to spit out some more lightning.
"God of Lightning Raijin! Hope you like dying to an attack named after 'him' ~MaMaMA~"
Big Mom laughed as she renamed her rather famous lighting attack on the spot. Of course, Zeus was making sure to not let his lightning hit any of their allies.
Below Francisco, Zoro, Mihawk and Shanks all danced around the beast's body, dodging any kick from its hooves and swerving around any tentacles while madly slashing away at the beast.
Sabo and Kuma seemed to be building up an attack, gathering more and more impact shockwaves into the Tyrant King's arms, to the point where they were glowing white.
That much would normally injure Kuma's arms just from gathering them, but Marco was constantly healing him, covering both of his arms completely in a blueish flame as he sweated a bit.
"It's individually a lot stronger than the elders... But it is mindless. Let's just put them out of their misery." Dragon scoffed as his body transformed, taking Sabo, Marco and Kuma on his back as he also took to the skies.
Lightning flashed and hit the beast many times, each bolt flashed past Dragon's body, avoiding it almost unnaturally.
As they reached the skies, Kuma heaved a bit of steam, as he felt the rest of his body and his palms heating up.
He then turned towards the Elder Chimera, before slowly stepping off of Dragon's back and pointing both of his palms towards the ground.
"Get away from the beast!" Kuma's voice sounded out as he reached the halfway point, and aimed his plans towards the enemy.
"Tyrant King's Shock!"
Just as Zoro and the others dashed away from the Elder Chimaera, a gigantic Paw Print descended onto the beast from the skies.
The ground shook and quaked, the swordsmen being forced further away by the shockwave as the Beast's body was pressed into the ground with great force, many of the bones in its body cracking and breaking under the pure pressure and the hard ground underneath it.
Kuma was not spared, he could feel his hands shattering on impact, his bones turning to literal splinters.
The healing effects of Marco's flame had disappeared as the blue flames themselves were blown away due to the shockwave.
The Tyrant King didn't scream in pain, he didn't grunt, he just retained the same resolute look in his eyes.
Eventually, the shockwave of his own move sent him flying back upwards, allowing Dragon to catch him.
"Keep up this intensity! Don't let this thing regenerate!" The Revolutionary dragon bellowed as he quickly placed the gravely injured Kuma on his back for Marco to stabilize his injuries at least.
"Don't need you to tell me that!" Big Mom shouted right back, Phrometeus and haki covering her blade.
That blackened flame-covered edge was immediately swiped at the collapsed body of the beast.
The tentacles moved to block it, but that was far from the only attack it had to deal with.
"Devine Departure!" "Sever!" "Nine Sword Style: Asura Sword-Drawing: Jest of the Dead" "Night's Fall!"
Shanks, Francisco, Zoro and Mihawk all attacked in quick succession with their strongest attacks.
Throughout the battle their coordination had increased by a lot, they were all monstrously talented fighters at the end of the day.
Shank's red flying slash split the creature in two. Francisco's dark red flying slash cut the body as well as all of the tentacles, allowing Big Mom's attack to also land cleanly.
Zoro's attack was more personal, jumping into the fray and portraying a swift dance as he slashed at the creature's innards. Before jumping away to dodge Mihawk's attack.
The hawkeyed Swordsman's attack came last, but its power was undeniable. His dark green flying slash covered a much wider range than the others, swiping widely at the creature and enveloping its entire already-directed body.
That slash seemed to almost erase what remained of the creature, leaving behind a broken-down skeleton stripped of any flesh and organs.
But before any meat or nerves started growing back out, Dragon roared and pointed his large mouth to the ground.
"Storm Dragon's Breath!"
A gigantic and visible stream of wind and lighting flowed out of the western dragon's mouth, completely covering what remained of the Chimera Elder's body.
Meanwhile, Big Mom laughed and continued raining down lightning onto it as well.
Explosions rang out everywhere on the battlefield, and all of the swordsmen had already pulled backwards.
By the end of it, the ground was once again turned to magma, and there was nothing left within that large crater.
Big Mom then jumped into the crater, sniffing around for a moment before she grabbed at the air, grasping some white cotton-candy-looking wisps before stuffing them in her mouth.
She chewed on them for a bit, before rubbing her belly and unleashing a large burp.
"Mamama~ They tasted really boring!~" She couldn't help but laugh as she let the others know that things had ended.
"Good riddance..." Francisco muttered at the edge of the crater, a wide smile rising on his face.
They had finally done it.
The Elders were dead, their souls eaten by Big Mom. A fitting end for a bunch of 'superior' celestial dragons.
What was left of their last fight was nothing but a pitiful last attempt at taking at least one of them to the grave.
It was a massive gamble, one that had failed miserably, the Elders individually had posed a greater threat than that mindless beast.
It was just an inefficient large target that all of Enel's army could focus on and take down together.
'What a disappointment... That Nusjuro individual seemed like a strong Swordsman.'
Mihawk sighed sheathing his blade and walking back towards the islands, likely going for a tea break.
"Let's go and help the others..." Shanks patted Zoro and the back, and the two of them went off, being a lot more proactive than Mihawk.
The others also didn't stick around that side of the battlefield.
Just like that, one side of the conflict concluded. Aramaki, the Forest God, was now the World Government's last line of defence.
But how much longer was he going to last, I wonder?
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