In the blink of an eye, Hot Spring Island was split into more than a dozen sections.
The slashes fell into the lake as well, cutting the water apart and carving enormous trenches across the lakebed.
A thunderous impact followed.
The divided lake surged back together, throwing up towering waves. Everyone who witnessed it felt their scalp prickle.
At the shore of one broken section of Hot Spring Island, a huge wave came crashing in, moments away from sweeping the civilians away.
A figure returned in time and punched the wave apart.
Lake water scattered like rain.
Tekular looked at the scene before him and felt a headache coming on.
"This is far too reckless."
Elsewhere, the commander of the Norvind Legion had suffered a disaster for no reason.
He knelt awkwardly by the shore, half his body completely numb. His left arm hung limp at his side.
One of the slashes had caught him just now.
He had failed to dodge in time, and even being grazed by it had nearly taken half his life.
The power was horrifying.
"Unlucky."
The Norvind Legion Commander looked from afar toward Tekular and the others on another shore. He had no intention of attacking them.
After all, even protecting himself was already difficult.
Besides, it was hard to say whether the slash that had heavily injured him had been an accident or something Owl had done on purpose.
Either way, this was not the time to attack the rebels.
At that moment, blue lightning bloomed at the edge of the sky.
A figure wrapped in thunderlight dropped straight toward Hot Spring Island like a meteor.
After a massive crash, the figure walked out from the crater, blue arcs still dancing over his body.
Dragon scale like tattoos.
Golden pupils.
It was Mavren, one of the Calamity candidates.
He drew back the lightning around him and took the role of a spectator. He had no intention of joining the fight.
Looking at the miserable state of Hot Spring Island, he could not help sighing.
"What an exaggerated scene."
An entrance like that naturally drew plenty of attention.
Both Tekular and the Norvind Legion Commander looked his way. Once they saw he had no intention of interfering, they ignored him.
The Norvind Legion Commander, however, could not help feeling puzzled.
Why had Mavren appeared here?
If he had come for Owl, then where had he obtained the information?
And so, the military, the Executioner Unit, the rebels, and a Calamity candidate had all gathered on Hot Spring Island.
A situation like this was rare indeed.
Just from the state of the island, Mavren knew Caelum was absolutely worth a bounty of 5 million.
He had missed the opening of the show, but at least he had not missed the best part.
After killing the giant beasts, Caelum looked toward the volcano.
He knew very well that the previous slash was not enough to kill Kukured.
His strength could not end there.
"Since they can all transform into beasts, I suppose you have no reason not to."
Sure enough, a half human, half beast figure shot out from the volcano.
Black and red lightning surged wildly.
Kukured rushed before Caelum at a speed even more astonishing than before and threw a punch.
Caelum held Cloudrend across his body.
Haki wrapped over the blade, making Cloudrend almost indestructible.
It blocked Kukured’s punch steadily.
The Conqueror Haki of both sides collided violently, weaving dense black and red lightning between them.
At this moment, hard scales had grown across Kukured’s face, while black bone spikes jutted from his fists and joints.
Unlike the other Executioners, who had fully transformed into beasts, Kukured could keep himself in a half human and half beast form after awakening.
His body had not grown much larger, yet his strength had not weakened in the slightest, and his speed had risen even higher.
Violent power pressed down.
The ground beneath Caelum’s feet cracked apart and sank.
Kukured’s full power strike was blocked by Caelum with casual ease.
And worse, because he had moved too violently, the wound across Kukured’s chest grew even worse.
After transforming, his self healing ability should have been greatly enhanced.
A mere blade wound should have been nothing.
Even severed limbs should have regrown in a short time.
Yet the wound Caelum had cut with Conqueror Haki coating showed no sign of healing at all.
Seeing that his all out strike had failed to harm Caelum in any way, Kukured could not accept it.
This was the first time he had experienced such a crushing sense of defeat.
Compared with fully awakened bloodline inheritors like them, this kid was the real monster.
A human could never possess strength this great.
"Unwilling?"
Caelum noticed the feeling in Kukured’s eyes and said, "Among everyone who has fought me so far, you are the strongest."
"You still failed to let me enjoy myself, but at least you showed me something interesting."
"This battle ends here."
The moment he finished speaking, a thunderous force erupted.
A chill tore through Kukured before he had time to react.
Caelum’s Conqueror Haki blasted him away.
Caelum’s Haki was simply too powerful. Kukured had no strength to resist it.
Stronger Haki meant stronger power and defense, greater speed, and attacks with even more devastating destructive force.
Because of that, Caelum crushed Kukured in every aspect.
Kukured could barely fight back.
In the next instant, blade light bloomed at an extreme speed.
Countless slashes shredded Kukured to pieces in a heartbeat, and at the same time cut the entire Hot Spring Island into countless fragments.
Cloudrift Style, Hundredfold Execution.
Slash after slash landed on the lake and wove together.
Every stroke reached dozens of kilometers away, splitting the entire lake apart like a cake being sliced.
Some slashes shot into the sky, cutting open the clouds above.
Air currents rose along the paths of the slashes, rolling the clouds higher and creating spectacular waterfalls of cloud that flowed upward.
When the slashes finally faded, the divided lake closed again, raising huge waves.
The civilians huddled together on the broken floating pieces of island, trembling.
"This..."
"Am I dreaming?"
Cedran once again felt his view of the world being rewritten by Caelum.
Slashes dozens of kilometers long had split the entire lake apart.
The sight was truly frightening.
"Is this his real strength?"
Cedran could hardly steady his thoughts.
It was not only Cedran.
Every spectator present felt their heart tighten.
Destructive power at this level had completely surpassed their imagination.
Blue lightning crackled over Mavren’s body, then slowly died down.
He forced down the battle intent boiling inside him. His golden pupils shone with unusual brightness.
He would lose.
Mavren knew it clearly.
If he chose to fight Caelum, the result would be a crushing defeat.
The gap between them was too large. There was no need to invite humiliation.
A smile appeared on his face.
"With this, the Empire will have no way to step down."
The total destruction of the Executioner Unit would be an unbearable blow to the Empire’s upper ranks.
The loss of top level combat strength would further weaken the Empire’s rule.
Tekular understood this.
The Norvind Legion Commander understood it as well.
He watched Caelum’s back, his face ugly to the extreme.
Eight hundred years of accumulated prestige had vanished in a single day.
The Executioner Unit had deployed in full force, only to meet total death on the road to Sumeru.
As a noble, he could not accept such an ending.