The dull thud of Christopher being blasted into the ruins still vibrated in the air, and the fully demonized Dragon had already turned its eyes towards Ivankov.
There was no time for hesitation; Tiger stomped the ground, shattering it, and plunged into the smoke as Dragon flapped its wings and ascended.
Christopher was half-buried in the rubble, his back bones broken, making it difficult for him to stand.
"Hold on, Christopher, I'll get you out of here."
"We failed this time, but one day we'll be back!"
Tiger ripped off his cloak and wrapped it around Christopher's bleeding ribs. The roar of collapsing buildings came from afar; Dragon had already started attacking Ivankov.
Christopher forced a bitter smile, blood at the corner of his mouth:
"I won't hypocritically tell you to let me go."
"But if it truly comes to it, one of us must escape."
"Don't worry! Leave it to me!"
Tiger knelt on one knee and punched the ground fiercely with his right fist.
The shockwave traveled along the cracked earth, detonating all the weapons Lindbergh had scattered across the battlefield.
The chain explosions created a new smoke screen, and he took the opportunity to carry Christopher and flee into the distance.
Although the airflow on the battlefield was slightly more stable, it still hadn't returned to a state where Observation Haki could be freely used for detection.
Among everyone present, only Imu and Blake in the distance noticed Tiger's departure.
Blake had no intention of stopping them.
These people's purpose was to help him gather information on Imu, and now the mission was complete.
Whether they lived or died depended on their own abilities; Blake did not intend to interfere.
Imu glanced in the direction they left, also showing no intention of finishing them off, and it was unknown what he was thinking.
Perhaps he felt that these two posed no threat to the World Government, and if they ran, they ran.
This was very consistent with the World Government's usual style.
Later, when Sabo left Mary Geoise, he also seemed to have encountered no significant resistance.
As the smoke began to dissipate, the Gorosei and God's Knights behind Imu finally noticed something amiss.
Garling leaped into the sky, his eyes scanning everywhere.
After a major battle, Mary Geoise was full of ruins, with no decent buildings left.
Soon, he discovered Tiger, who was carrying Christopher and fleeing.
Garling turned to look at the Blake smoke above Saturn's head, seeing no reaction from Imu.
Hesitating for a moment, Garling still knelt on one knee and requested:
"Lord Imu, please allow me to pursue that traitor!"
Fanatical flames burned in his eyes:
"Christopher's betrayal must be washed away with blood, and that Fishman..."
"A mere inferior race daring to cause a riot in the Holy Land deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces."
"Hmm..."
Imu let out an ambiguous hum, waving his hand as if shooing away mosquitoes.
It was an expression of "Go if you want, I don't care."
But how ambitious was Garling?
Upon receiving permission, he immediately chased in Tiger's direction.
A fierce wind rose, and Garling's figure transformed into a blood-red meteor, streaking into the distance.
Blake's attention, however, was not on Garling, who was giving chase, but continued to watch the demonized Dragon.
Dragon had already defeated the last Revolutionary Army cadre, Ivankov.
Although Ivankov tried to use words to make him regain consciousness, he obviously did not succeed.
Imu's demonization was not possession or hypnosis, but a form of control at the soul level.
To be honest, the more Blake watched, the more it resembled a sorcerer's ability.
At this point, among the Revolutionary Army members who came to Mary Geoise, except for Belo Betty, who was taken away by Blake at Red Port, and the low-ranking soldiers guarding near the elevator—
All were either dead or severely injured and unconscious, completely losing their combat ability.
However, Blake noticed that after Dragon dealt with all the Revolutionary Army cadres, his aura became even more vigorous.
Even though there were no longer any enemies, his Conqueror's Haki began to erupt uncontrollably.
But when the last wisp of Blake wind dissipated from his bat wings, Dragon knelt to the ground.
The mutated keratin began to peel off, revealing dry, bark-like skin underneath.
The horns on his head broke off, hitting the ground and crumbling into grayish-white powder.
Those once fearsome eyes gradually became cloudy, finally solidifying into two dull glass beads.
Time on his body seemed to have been accelerated—
In just a few minutes, he experienced the aging of an ordinary person's entire life.
When the last bone supporting his body shattered, Dragon, like a weathered stone statue, collapsed into a pile of ashes under the setting sun.
The night wind blew, and the ashes swirled upwards into the sky, merging with the thick smoke still rising from Mary Geoise.
Blake did not care about Dragon's life or death; what truly interested him was this demonized state.
"No wonder Dragon, who was originally at the end of his rope, suddenly unleashed combat power stronger than his peak at the very end."
"It turns out it was at the cost of his life force."
After watching the entire process of Dragon's dissipation, Blake gained a relatively clear understanding of Imu's demonization ability.
He had previously wondered why, even if the Revolutionary Army cadres were all at their last gasp, they wouldn't all be taken down by Dragon in a single move, would they?
Except for Christopher, the others didn't even put up a decent resistance.
Blake had originally thought that Imu's magic array had restored Dragon to his peak state, or even enhanced him.
But in reality, Imu's demonization contract itself did not possess restorative abilities, but rather achieved recovery and enhancement by squeezing the life force of the demonized individual.
Secondly, once this consumption of life force began, it was irreversible, and perhaps even Imu himself couldn't stop it.
Otherwise, he could have taken Dragon back and thrown him out to use again whenever there was another enemy.
When his life force was depleted, he could simply let him dissipate naturally; there was no need to maintain the consumption after clearing the field.
Blake admitted that his thoughts were somewhat deserving of being hung on a lamppost, but this situation was also highly likely to occur.
On the battlefield at this moment, apart from the World Government's side, there were no other standing individuals.
Above the thick smoke, Imu's strange eyes scanned the battlefield.
His gaze lingered for a moment on a broken table and chair, a hint of confusion appearing in his eyes, but quickly dissipating.
Immediately, the Blake smoke began to gradually converge.
Seeing this, the remaining Gorosei and God's Knights all knelt on one knee:
"Farewell, Lord Imu!"
Imu did not reply, his figure completely vanishing.
The rising sun in the sky illuminated Mary Geoise, its light seemingly dispelling the Holy Land's night-long clamor.
Seeing everything come to an end, Blake stood up and stretched:
"Let's go! It's time for us to return too."
With that, he took Stella back to the manor.
Along the way, Blake pulled out a white transponder snail and instructed:
"Alright, you can go back now."
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