Boom!
A deafening explosion echoed as the wall shattered, rocks flying in all directions. A raging shockwave roared out, stirring up a sky full of dust.
When the dust settled, the ground was littered with rubble and debris. Jagged fences were overturned, and even the supposedly indestructible Seastone prison had been blasted open, leaving a huge hole.
"Cough, cough! Hey! Were you trying to kill me?!" Caesar shouted furiously, covered in dust and dirt.
Kaguya snorted coldly. "You're lucky I didn't kill you. Keep whining, and I'll kill you too."
"How dare you treat a great scientist like this!" Caesar yelled angrily.
"Still not leaving?" Kaguya shot him a cold glance. "If you don't go now, you won't be able to."
"None of you are leaving."
A thunderous voice suddenly rang out, shaking the ground slightly like a great bell. A figure dropped from the air with a booming impact.
"M-Magellan?!" Caesar was terrified, stumbling back a few steps before falling to the ground in shock, his face turning pale.
Before them stood a burly giant of a man, with two horns on his head and a stern expression. He wore a black coat and had bat-like wings on his back. He was the prison chief—Magellan.
"You're the one who released those prisoners, aren't you?" Magellan said coldly.
"You got here so fast? What a surprise," Kaguya turned around and mocked, "I thought you'd fallen into a latrine and couldn't get out."
"You planned this all along, didn't you?" Magellan's crimson eyes locked onto Kaguya.
"That's right, it was me," Kaguya snorted. "What, got a problem with that?"
"Good. Then don't blame me for being merciless." A trace of fury appeared on Magellan's face. As his fists slammed together, his body instantly transformed into a mass of thick, purple liquid that emitted a pungent stench.
"Poison Dragon!"
A dragon formed from concentrated poison suddenly emerged from Magellan, coiling into the air. With its blood-red maw wide open, it lunged at Kaguya.
Kaguya's eyes sharpened. Raising her arm, a black and crimson longsword appeared in her hand. With a swift swing, a powerful gale roared out.
"Wind King Hammer!"
The hammer formed by the Wind King's barrier (Invisible Air) collided heavily with the Poison Dragon. With a loud bang, poisonous liquid splattered as the dragon was shattered.
"Is that all you've got?" Kaguya looked up coldly.
"You're too naive," Magellan sneered. Another mass of purple poison emerged behind him, splitting into two giant dragons that shot toward Kaguya from the left and right like lightning.
Kaguya gripped her sword tightly and lunged forward, a glint of icy light flashing in her eyes.
"That's why I said—you're the naive one," Magellan said coldly.
Just then, the previously shattered Poison Dragon suddenly reformed behind her into an even larger dragon and struck like lightning at Kaguya's back.
In an instant, Kaguya was besieged from all directions.
But instead of panicking, she smirked, a hint of triumph on her lips.
"Wind King Barrier."
As soon as the words fell, a powerful whirlwind surged up beneath her feet, transforming into a storm that shredded the incoming Poison Dragon into pieces. All traces of poison around her were instantly swept clean.
At the same time, she kicked off the ground, her figure shooting forward like an arrow. With both hands gripping her black-and-crimson sword, she raised it high and slashed down at Magellan like lightning.
"It's useless," Magellan said coldly. "I am poison, and poison is me. You can't touch me. Give up and surrender quietly."
As he spoke, Magellan slammed his arms together. A surge of venom burst out, transforming into a cloud of toxic mist that instantly engulfed Kaguya.
"Poison Cloud."
"Is that so?"
A pleasant, melodious voice suddenly rang out.
From within the dense poison mist, a figure abruptly emerged, tearing through the air in the blink of an eye like an arrow loosed from a bow, hurtling straight toward Magellan.
"What?!"
Magellan was shocked—how could this be?
His Devil Fruit was the Venom-Venom Fruit, granting him the ability to produce deadly poison from any part of his body. Sweat, saliva, breath, even sighs could become toxic gas.
His poisons could paralyze nerves, cause intense pain or hallucinations, and even lead to death. The toxins were so potent they could melt stone with a single touch.
The Poison Cloud just released would normally strip an opponent of all senses upon contact. By now, the entire prison was filled with the noxious fog—there should have been no escape. By all accounts, she should be poisoned.
But now wasn't the time to ponder it.
Magellan slammed his arms together again, and a torrent of venom erupted from his back, morphing into a massive three-headed dragon that lunged at Kaguya with gaping, fang-filled jaws.
"Poison Dragon!"
Boom!
Kaguya collided fiercely with the venom, causing an explosion of toxic fluid.
"Foolish," Magellan snorted coldly. Charging into his venom like that was nothing short of suicidal.
But at that moment, a low cry rang out.
"Wind King Barrier."
A sudden gale erupted, shattering the venom in a burst of flowery mist. A figure burst out of the toxic cloud, a black-and-crimson sword flashing like lightning as it pierced straight into Magellan's chest.
Caught completely off guard, Magellan's pupils shrank sharply.
Blood sprayed.
"Cough… cough…"
Magellan clutched the sword embedded in his chest, blood dripping from his lips. Gritting his teeth, he stared at the figure before him and growled, "How… how is this possible?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" Kaguya said coldly. "You were too confident in your poison. Idiot." As she spoke, she gripped the sword tighter and drove it deeper into his chest.
Earlier, Kaguya had used the Wind King Barrier not only to block the venomous attack but also to keep out the all-pervasive poison mist. However, the Wind King Barrier wasn't absolute—if enough time passed, the poison would eventually seep through.
She had discovered this flaw during her battle with the Red Earl.
For others, this battle would be unwinnable. But unfortunately for Magellan, Saber had extremely high resistance to magical debuffs, which included poison.
Although it couldn't completely nullify toxins, small amounts were entirely manageable.
"Unforgivable… unforgivable!" Magellan suddenly roared in fury. The venom on his body turned crimson, transforming into a blood-colored tidal wave that surged down upon them.
"Venom Giant: Judgment of Hell!"
The crimson poison was eerie and viscous, emitting a pungent stench as it surged upward, transforming into a monstrous tidal wave that swept toward Kaguya like a tsunami.
Kaguya tried to pull back, but found her sword tightly gripped by Magellan's massive hands.
"Give it up, lawless scum," Magellan sneered with a ferocious grin. "The prison is where you truly belong."
Kaguya suddenly looked up with a sweet smile and said, "I have no intention of staying in a place that smells like a latrine. If you want to, feel free."
"What?" Magellan's eyes narrowed.
At that moment, dark, inky light erupted from Kaguya's body, burning and leaping like fire, swirling around her like a whirlwind. The surrounding area dimmed under the chilling aura.
Suddenly, a vast and deep black light burst from the Sword of Promised Victory in Kaguya's hands, shooting out like a blinding black beam.
"Excalibur."
Boom!
A beam of black light tore through the sky. Amid thunderous explosions, the ground collapsed, rocks shattered, and walls were pulverized. Even the supposedly indestructible Seastone was melted like butter before the black light.
The underwater prison shook violently, like an earthquake. Buildings trembled as people inside were thrown to the ground, caught completely off guard.
"What's going on?!"
Navy soldiers in the prison widened their eyes in terror, unable to comprehend what was happening, panic spreading rapidly.
"Quick! Check the surveillance—what in the world is going on?!" shouted a beautiful blonde woman in a military cap and uniform. She was Domino, Vice Warden of Impel Down.
"Yes, ma'am!"
The navy soldiers saluted and rushed to the surveillance room.
"Damn it! What's happening?" Domino was frantic. "Not only is Vice Warden Hannyabal missing, even Warden Magellan, who's usually holed up in the restroom, is nowhere to be found. Did something happen?"
A sense of foreboding rose in Domino's chest, and she hurried toward the surveillance room.
But upon arriving, she saw the navy soldiers staring wide-eyed, stunned as if they had witnessed something unbelievable.
"What is it? What the hell ha—" Domino's words were cut short as her gaze fell on the monitors.
The display showed nothing but devastation. The area was strewn with rubble, the ground collapsed into craters, smoke and dust choked the air. Even the Seastone-built prison had become a ruin, the view terrifying to behold.
What kind of force could have destroyed a Seastone prison like this? Seastone was incredibly hard—its toughness rivaled diamonds. Constructing this facility had required extreme effort and hardship.
But then she caught sight of a faint figure on the screen, and her pupils contracted sharply.
On the monitor was a delicate and beautiful blonde girl. Beneath her feet—shockingly—lay Warden Magellan.
Could it be… Warden Magellan had been defeated?
How was that possible?
Magellan now lay in utter ruin, his clothes torn and disheveled, his body covered in bruises and burns as if scorched by flames. Most horrifying of all was the gaping hole in his chest—it had pierced clean through, nearly tearing his body apart.
On the screen, the blonde girl raised her black-and-crimson longsword high, then drove it down with both hands, stabbing it deep into Magellan's chest.
Scarlet blood sprayed through the air.
Domino stood frozen, her hands and feet ice-cold.
Their prison warden… had just died like that.
As if sensing their gaze, the blonde girl on the monitor wiped the blood off her cheek, then looked up and flashed them a dazzling smile.
Meeting those pale golden eyes, Domino's heart clenched, as if gripped by an invisible hand—plunged into an icy abyss.
Ding!
As Kaguya finished absorbing Magellan's Devil Fruit, a crisp system notification chimed.
[Congratulations. Mission progress has reached 80%. As a reward for your outstanding achievement, you are granted one item card.]
Item card?
What was that?
Kaguya looked at the card in her hand. It didn't appear much different from a trading card in a card game. If there was any difference, it was the intricate and ornate patterns on it, and the pitch-black aura emanating from it—a faint chill even seeped into her palm.
She flipped the card over. On it was a golden cup. But she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination—it seemed to exude a cold and ominous presence.
The Black Holy Grail.
Kaguya was visibly surprised when she saw the name.
If she remembered correctly, the Black Holy Grail was from Fate—a corrupted version of the Holy Grail containing the Black Mud, known as the Evil of Humanity. It carried the desires and malice of six billion people.
But what use did she have for something like that? It didn't seem particularly practical.
Then she read the item description and froze.
Source of Power: You will gain a continuous stream of energy, allowing you to unleash even more powerful abilities without restraint.
Effect: Excalibur will no longer consume your personal mana. It can be used without limitation, and your own mana will remain at peak condition under the immense magical support.
That's insane!
Kaguya's eyes widened.
If that were true, wouldn't that mean she could use Excalibur without using any mana?
Previously, because her transformation was merely a projection, she didn't possess much mana herself. She needed to consume large quantities of food to replenish it and had to carefully manage usage when wielding Excalibur or releasing magical power.
But now… it meant unlimited mana and no cooldown.
However, as she continued reading, Kaguya gradually calmed down.
Evil of This World: Because the Black Holy Grail carries the desires and malice of six billion people, the host will suffer mental corruption each time it is used. Mental resistance will gradually decrease. Once corruption reaches the host's mental threshold, a blackened transformation event will be triggered.
Blackening?
What the hell was that?
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