Battle to Seize Mercenary Tao

"Urgh—ah!"

White Face cried out uncontrollably, her voice filled with humiliation and pain. The agonizing sensation of a soul being forcibly squeezed out of her body nearly robbed her of all control over it.

Her Possessed Spirit, Fox Fire, whimpered twice in the air before going out.

White Face’s Shamanic Power rapidly receded as well. She staggered back two steps and fell into the Yellow Springs, its muddy yellow water washing over the golden-haired spirit body exposed from her abdomen.

Gilgamesh’s gloomy gaze seemed ready to devour White Face alive, but as the Heart’s Shield became whole, he was expelled from her soul.

Amid the churning Yellow Springs, Gilgamesh finally broke free from White Face’s spirit body. The scene looked remarkably like childbirth.

Black Face merely watched coldly, one hand resting lightly against the hilt of His blade, poised to draw it at any moment.

Yet His gaze kept sweeping over the Black Curses that were gradually filling the entire space. He could already faintly sense that incomparably powerful Soul Power.

A soul essence mixed with that of the Creator and something even more chaotic was gradually permeating every corner of the space.

That lord’s true power was awakening!

Black Face’s eyes burned with fanaticism, but the battle between Gilgamesh and White Face had only just begun…

Ring!

The distinctive, piercing cry of a sword rang throughout the battlefield. It had practically become the calling card of a Top-tier Swordplay Reincarnator’s arrival.

Phantom Sword Chu Qi, who had been gradually suppressing Abyssal Shadow · Bevani, was slightly distracted. His eyes shifted, and from the corner of his vision, he saw a streak of crimson sword light erupt from the distant forest.

The sword intent carried intense fire-element power. A woman in a short red robe wielded a Claymore engulfed in flames, each stride carrying her hundreds of meters as she charged over at breakneck speed.

The woman known as Echo was equally powerful. She too spotted Phantom Sword’s signature sword light, then laughed loudly and leapt high into the air.

"I knew you bastard wasn’t dead! Give back the card you stole!"

Ring!

A crimson fan-shaped slash swept directly across the entire battlefield. Everyone fighting instinctively dodged. The beach was sliced apart, and the sand along the cut flowed like glass.

Abyssal Shadow · Bevani, who had been firmly suppressed by Chu Qi due to their unfavorable matchup, also noticed Echo’s arrival. In an instant, she melted into the darkness and retreated, allowing Echo to unleash frenzied slashes across the battlefield.

Tianjie, piloting the Knightmare Divine Tiger, had no choice but to retreat as well. Swordplay Reincarnators were simply too destructive—cutting a Mecha apart would take only a few more strikes.

As a Knightmare developed by the Chinese Federation in Code Geass purely for high performance, Divine Tiger was beyond the control of ordinary pilots. Reincarnators, however, were rarely constrained by physical limitations.

Thus, in Tianjie’s hands, this high-performance Mecha possessed both mobility and destructive power. As its feet stomped across the ground and it slid at high speed, its massive metal ropes had already swept flat the forest behind it, while the Heavenly Shocking Overlord Charged Particle Cannon was ready to fire.

Ice’s body instantly shattered into chunks of ice that scattered apart. Using this, he blocked the slashes of several powerful swordsmanship experts. After the weaknesses of a Logia-type Devil Fruit’s Elementalization had been removed and optimized by Goddess, it had an extremely broad range of applications.

As Ice watched more and more Reincarnators awaken from the ice, he slammed both hands violently against the ground. Ice spears burst up one after another, instantly piercing several people through the chest.

Using the momentum from the strike, he slid toward Mercenary Tao from the other side. The reason they had crossed the sea aboard the Black Pearl today was to capture or kill Mercenary Tao.

As the Ice-Ice Fruit’s freezing aura erupted, black lightning appeared around his right hand as well—the sign of Conqueror’s Haki coating.

Ice threw a punch through the air at Mercenary Tao’s head. Before the fist could reach him, the distorted force field and Conqueror’s Haki had already struck first.

Bang!

Mercenary Tao was knocked off the ground. His body staggered several times in midair before both feet slammed down hard. With a boom, the ground shook as force swept outward.

Ice’s attack seemed ineffective, but rather than being alarmed, he was delighted.

His martial arts were decent enough, and he also practiced Haki, but compared to Mercenary Tao, who was rumored to stand at the pinnacle of Martial Arts Reincarnators, the gap should have been immense.

Yet Mercenary Tao had actually failed to dodge his attack?!

"My lord, something’s wrong with Mercenary Tao’s condition. This is our chance!"

Dragging Freezing Qi across the ground with one hand, he circled Mercenary Tao at incredible speed. Every punch Mercenary Tao threw made the air explode and sent clouds of dust scattering.

But there was none of that ruthless killing intent that could take a life with a single movement.

Instead, Mercenary Tao now resembled a battlefield general. Relying on his tyrannical physique, he continuously negated Ice’s freezing aura, but he lacked a weapon.

Great Sun of Finality understood Mercenary Tao’s current condition somewhat better. He realized that Mercenary Tao’s body most likely contained many souls.

It was not an abnormality on the level of two souls in one body, but a terrifying number beyond his ability to determine.

That was why neither his Finality nor Saint Killer’s firearms had directly killed the opponent. The system panel merely indicated that some unknown things had been killed.

And at this moment, the one controlling Mercenary Tao’s body was most likely a soul that also bore the name Lu Bu.

With a thought from Great Sun of Finality, Mahakala, who had yet to make a move, strode into the sky in several steps. His physical defenses were extraordinarily strong; ordinary slashes could not even break through them.

After a few strides, his body rapidly changed from that of a child into a dark-gold giant over three meters tall, and a Black Great Sun rose behind him toward the sky.

He was going to unleash Finality right here!

A powerful curse-corroding force emerged, and the Reincarnators locked in battle successively noticed the appearance of a judgment.

Echo, who was wildly slashing at Chu Qi and had forced him back near the sea, irritably raised her head to glance at Mahakala. Both her Strength and Spirit attributes had broken through their limits, giving her overwhelming frontal combat power. Chu Qi had already been firmly suppressed, yet Mahakala had chosen to interfere.

She had no choice but to let Chu Qi pull away. Then she turned and unleashed an explosive slash at the sky.

Flame Slash!

The enormous flaming slash, shaped like an orange fan, cleaved directly into Mahakala’s back alongside the instant hum of air being split apart.

Boom!

Amid the explosion of flames, the Reincarnators of the Finality Empire immediately recognized Echo’s attack.

Ice, who was continuously sliding about to freeze over the battlefield and restrict Mercenary Tao’s movements, also lunged straight at Echo.

Great Sun of Finality stood within a cage formed of ice. For the moment, only he and Mercenary Tao remained in this space.

A powerful Mental Shock erupted from within him and struck Mercenary Tao in an instant.

At the same time, a remote control appeared in Great Sun of Finality’s hand. He first pressed its button while pointing it at himself, then aimed it at Mercenary Tao.

LV5 Mind Control – Incomplete Version

As he repeatedly pressed the button, Mercenary Tao’s wild punches in every direction finally began to slow.