Chapter 274: Three Elders, One Dragon
Nusjuro still looked bewildered at what had just happened.
It was as if he hadn't accepted what had just happened. He kept on looking at where Saturn was last standing.
"Y-you, what did you do to him?! Where's Saturn?!" Nusjuro roared.
"He should be dead, but he's always free to surprise me," I shrugged. That attack was supposed to incinerate him down to the atomic level, but if he actually managed to come back from this. I'd probably have to give up or try harder.
However, looking at how I hadn't sensed his presence around anymore. It was safe to say that the so-called 'immortal' had officially died. Nusjuro was going to be the next target on the list for this brief experiment.
"BASTARD!!" Nusjuro roared as he began changing to his awakened form.
A black ribbon of smoke formed around his shoulders as he held his Katana and looked at me with potent killing intent. He was big mad now.
"You'll be joining him soon; no need to be so angry," I remarked lightly as I readied my axe.
I kicked the ground and lunged right at the charging Nusjuro. My axe greeted his Katana as we both clashed mid-air.
Nusjuro tried to push me away, but I ended up kicking Nusjuro right in the chest and creating some space between us. Nusjuro's hind legs reared as he resheathed his sword and gritted his teeth. His forelegs stomped on the ground before he promptly disappeared and reappeared right in front of me.
"Hade's Wrath!!"
I had already predicted this, thanks to the use of my Observation Haki, and I was ready for him.
"Lightning of the Dead!"
Once again, our weapons collided and created another shockwave that shook our immediate surroundings. It was more than obvious that I was stronger than him, but the fact that he was able to engage in a test of strength with me was a testament to how formidable he had gotten.
Eventually, I managed to overpower him and push him back, and sent back with him was the actual lightning of the dead, which I had purposefully withheld for a bit.
Nusjuro didn't even manage to catch his breath before an explosion engulfed him.
I was about to start channeling more lightning to finish him off when suddenly I felt three more similar presences akin to Nusjuro's suddenly appear right behind me.
My eyes narrowed as I used Soru to get myself out of the range of their attacks.
I reappeared a bit of a distance away from them and reassessed the sudden developments.
They all immediately landed right next to the fallen Nusjuro and waited for him to get back on his feet.
"Are you okay?" Saint Ju Peter asked.
"I'm fine. This is nothing, but we need to kill him. Immediately," Nusjuro growled as he slowly stood up.
By now, he had reverted back to his human form. A little bit of blood trickled from his mouth, but he immediately wiped it off by using the sleeve of his lightly charred keikogi sleeve.
"To think that he'd be able to kill Saturn...I still can't believe it," Saint Mars remarked as he stared at me wearily.
"Neither did I until I saw the burnt ground that I last saw him in," Nusjuro said as he stared at the burn marks on the ground.
"Let's work together then....to get rid of this.....problem," Saint Marcus Mars stated as he slowly grew into his animal form.
"I agree," Saint Ju Peter said as he turned into a giant worm.
"I'll make sure to lop his head off this time," Nusjuro growled as he morphed back into his awakened hybrid form.
Two heads began to grow from both of my shoulders.
All three Elders immediately rushed at me. I raised my axe and coated it with Advanced Armament Haki before swinging it downwards with reinforced strength. The force of the swing forced both of them to take a few steps back before they actually reached me.
I used that chance to appear right in front of Mars and kick him square in the feathery chest, sending him flying out of close-quarters combat.
Nusjuro took that opportunity to bring his blade down on my back, but I managed to block the strike at the last minute with my axe. The Dragon heads that were on my shoulders immediately turned their heads and hit him point-blank in the face with an energy blast.
Another hole formed in his chest as he flew backward promptly. However, Ju Peter was there to immediately pick up the slack that the other two elders had failed to account for.
By opening his large jaw, he tried to suck me in with his vacuum abilities, and it started to work. Normally, I could have taken this opportunity to grab something large and shove it down his throat, but I didn't have anything worthwhile to use at that time.
Instead, I decided to launch myself right at him, channeling lightning and Haki in my axe as I raised my axe and held the blade right over my head.
"Lightning of Destruction!!" I growled as I swung the axe downwards right as I got a few inches close to his maw.
I aimed my swing right at where I had assumed his jaws had been. Resulting in me tearing the corners of his mouth and letting his jaw drop to the ground. His entire mouth was essentially split in two.
"Urgh!" Ju Peter fell back into the ground before burying himself in the ground.
"Not so fast!" Mars reappeared in my view and spit out a pillar of fire right at me.
The flames burned, but I persevered and went right through the flames before appearing right in front of Mars.
"What?"
"Lightning of Destruction."
A humongous flash immediately appeared between the two of us, and I immediately sliced right through the bird that was Marcus Mars. A wave of destruction immediately followed as Mars was sent flying in two.
Nusjuro suddenly appeared right beside me with his blade sheathed, poised in a quick draw stance as all four hooves sank into the ground.
"Hade's....." Nusjuro began; the hole that I put right through him was still there but slowly healing.
He immediately rushed at me before finishing what he was saying. My Observation Haki was working overtime trying to predict the tradgectory of the blade.
'This bastard...'
I smiled as I channeled a significant amount of Conqurer's Haki and lightning on my axe. I normally needed a little more time to prepare for the attack, so I didn't think that this attack alone would finish the job.
That's why the two dragon heads that rested on my two shoulders had already prepared energy blasts for him.
He still had it sheathed, no matter how far in the future I looked. It seemed that these two attacks were going to meet each other simultaneously.
"Wrath!"
"Endens Lyn!!"
The two attacks immediately met each other at point-blank range.
The force of the attack immediately sent me back quite a bit. My Observation Haki told me that Ju Peter was about to pop up from somewhere nearby, so I had to use Soru to dodge the sudden upsurge before the bastard could swallow me.
Another thing that I noticed with my Observation Haki was the fact that Ethanbaron Nusjuro's presence could no longer be felt.
As the light faded, I could hear a baleful roar in the distance, even more foreboding than the roar I normally would have let out in my animal form. Following that was an almost incomprehensible surge of Conqurer's Haki.
I could feel his presence.