"Swords? I fight better without them." Riser tilted his chin slightly. "It's simpler."
He raised his hands in front of his body.
Red flames emerged from his skin as a direct response to conscious command. Demonic magic took shape in his fingers, intense and dense, spinning in a compact spiral before stabilizing into continuous combustion. The heat distorted the air ahead, creating visible ripples between him and the God's Knights.
The armor creaked as they adjusted their stance.
Shamrock's death still reverberated across the field. The formation was broken, but not undone. Swords were raised again, now with explicit caution.
The Mangekyō Sharingan rotated slowly.
'Come to my position, Merlin.'
The mental call crossed the distance without sound.
___
NEW MARINEFORD
The sky was covered by fragments of ice and dust lifted by the previous clash. Merlin maintained her position, electric runes orbiting her fingers as high-level presences reorganized around her.
A meteor tore through the clouds, drawn by Fujitora's gravity.
Merlin raised her hand.
Lightning condensed around her arm, bluish and dense, compressed into a single point before being released.
KRRRRAAAAAK!
The lightning beam struck the meteor in a straight line.
The rock shattered in the sky into dozens of smaller pieces, pulverized before touching the ground. Incandescent fragments dissipated in the air like burning dust.
"I think Riser-sama's plan has been completed. Now you can do whatever you want."
She did not wait for a response.
Her body dissolved into luminous particles.
The admirals remained where they were.
Sengoku slowly turned his face toward the damaged base building, his eyes fixed on the partially collapsed structure.
"This is going to be a lot of work."
Kizaru kept his arms crossed as the light around his body decreased in intensity.
Garp watched in silence. Tsuru adjusted her glasses. Kuzan kept his gaze on the spot where Merlin had disappeared. Fujitora remained still, his sword resting on the ground.
___
MARY GEOISE
Merlin appeared beside Riser, posture aligned, expression steady despite the ruptured scenery.
"Riser-sama."
The God's Knights immediately split their attention, redistributing the axis of formation.
Riser kept the flames active in his hands, the red combustion reflecting on the blades raised ahead.
"Send the Revolutionary Army to the Navy headquarters. Now."
Dragon stood a few meters behind, the wind compressed around his body, ready to advance again.
"Wait—"
Merlin raised her hand.
CLAC!
The snap echoed dryly.
The space around the revolutionary forces fragmented into multiple luminous rectangles. Portals opened beneath their feet, behind their backs and around the disorganized formations.
Soldiers disappeared in coordinated sequence.
Sabo was pulled through the opening beneath his feet.
Dragon was the last to be enveloped.
The wind dissipated at the point where he had stood.
The battlefield became empty.
Only Riser, Merlin and the God's Knights remained.
The flames in Riser's hands grew a degree stronger, the intensity increasing in a controlled way. The red reflected on the remaining armor, creating distorted shadows across the cracked marble.
He took one step forward.
A man dressed in white and gold crossed through the rear of the Knights. The inflated cloak dragged across the debris as he forced his chin upward, even with the battlefield still marked by Shamrock's blood.
"Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?" The finger pointed directly at Riser. "I am Saint Harland Voss, a direct descendant of the founding lineage! Kneel now and I might allow your execution to be quick!"
The Knights did not move to stop him.
Riser did not respond.
The noble took a step forward, ignoring the cracks beneath his own feet.
"You killed a God's Knight. That alone is reason enough for your head to be displayed on the gates! If you surrender now, I can intercede on your behalf!"
The Mangekyō Sharingan rotated once.
Riser raised his right hand.
The flames compressed into his palm, dense, concentrated until the core reached an almost white glow. Demonic magic was shaped into a compact mass before being released.
He pushed his hand forward.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion did not spread in all directions. It advanced in a straight line, an arc of compressed fire that swept the space ahead like a colossal blade made of pure combustion.
The noble did not finish the next word.
His body was swallowed in the first instant, the white clothes carbonizing before touching the ground. The wave of fire did not stop with him.
The remaining God's Knights were struck in the same advance.
Armor melted.
Swords lost their shape.
The stone beneath their feet split open into a deep fissure as the impact tore through the entire intermediate sector.
CRAAASH!
Columns exploded into incandescent fragments. The partially intact ceiling collapsed under the extreme heat. The ground sank along a descending axis, creating a wide crater where seconds earlier an organized formation had stood.
The fire persisted for two additional seconds before Riser closed his fingers.
The combustion ceased.
The sector was devastated.
There were no intact bodies.
There were no survivors.
The marble had transformed into a vitrified surface, black, marked by fusion lines. The air still trembled with residual heat.
Merlin observed the result without altering her posture.
"That was brutal, Riser-sama."
"More effective." Riser kept the flames active for one additional second before beginning to reduce the intensity, the red fire shrinking until it completely disappeared from his hands.
Silence returned to the field.
The remaining God's Knights did not advance. The formation, once rigid, was now disoriented, without central command and without a front line to sustain.
There was no longer any line left to maintain.
"Merlin, go to the center of Mary Geoise and take all the gold. Bring it to the Nest and then you can rest." Riser kept his gaze fixed ahead as he gave the order, as if the task were just an administrative detail inside a war that had just ended.
"Of course, Riser-sama." Merlin tilted her head slightly, posture impeccable even amid the ruins.
She raised two fingers.
CLAC!
Her body dissolved into geometric particles, disappearing from the intermediate sector as if she had never occupied that point.
Riser remained alone.
The structures around him were still broken. Fragments of marble slowly slid through the cracks opened during the confrontation, and Shamrock's blood continued to run in thin streams across the slanted ground.
'I've already done everything. Now the only thing left is to become the Pirate King… and what about the flooding?'
His gaze moved across the shattered columns and the sky partially covered by distant smoke.
'No. I don't want to be king. And Merlin's magic can stop the flooding easily. I still have to marry Vivi… but I don't think that's really necessary either. Maybe go to another world… but which one?'
He closed his eyes for a second.
The war had ended at that point. The Celestial Dragons were being eliminated. The root of the throne had been torn out. The World Government had lost its center.
Two days remained until the System evolved to Level 3. After that, no structural limitation would remain. He would be free to go wherever he wanted.
Riser opened his eyes.
Absolute freedom was heavier than any battle. Decisions were all he had now, but the truth was simple.
'I've already destroyed the top of the world. And now?'
The field of Mary Geoise remained silent. Broken structures, dried blood and cracked marble were all that remained of what had once been called sacred.
For the first time since he arrived in this world, there was no immediate enemy to crush.
He breathed once, slow and controlled.
Then he slightly raised his heel.
The magic circle of the Phenex family activated beneath his feet.
Red runes lit up in sequence, forming the complete crest of the demonic lineage. Energy began to rotate around his body, rising in a concentrated spiral.
The heat increased.
Red flames exploded around him.
FOOOOM!
The fire rose in a vertical column, consuming the space he occupied for a single intense instant.
When the flames dissipated, there was nothing left there.
The stone was still hot.
But Riser had already departed.
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