The tentacles struck first, breaking the silence of the Pristine Room like living blades. The impact split the floor in half. Fragments of marble flew, slicing the air with dry cracks.
Riser simply vanished.
ZUP
Soru hurled him upward, then right, then backward in a sequence so fast that the room itself seemed delayed in following his movements. The tentacles pierced the space he'd occupied a heartbeat earlier, crushing the floor and carving uneven craters.
Another attack came from above, brutal.
Riser stepped on the air and disappeared again, slipping through the corridor of blows as if strolling between trees on a lazy afternoon.
The tentacles collided with each other, misaligned, reacting to their inability to reach the target.
Riser landed beside the shattered throne. A thought crossed his mind, dry and precise.
'He doesn't know what he's doing.'
Imu lunged. Not with technique—
but with raw force.
The body was thrown forward, dragged by its own tentacles, as if something far away manipulated it like a puppet. Each step destroyed more of the floor while the black tendrils whipped the air with savage violence.
Riser moved again.
ZUP
A strike pierced the space he had just left. Another tore through a column, and another blew open the ceiling above. Nothing had form. Nothing had method. It was aggression for aggression's sake.
Another thought surfaced, colder.
'This isn't an ability. It's not a Devil Fruit. It's not Haki. None of this belongs to the world of One Piece.'
The tentacles all returned at once, trying to encircle him like a living net. Riser lifted his left hand and activated Busoshoku. The clash exploded in sharp vibrations as he stepped aside and let the ends grind the floor into dust.
"Pathetic."
The comment slipped out as he dodged another strike with a short step. A tentacle passed mere centimeters from him, exploding the marble behind.
'Not even this came from him…'
Riser leaned forward, Mangekyō activated to track the rapid motions of the attacks.
No technique.
No style.
No personal intention.
Only spasms.
'Everything comes from the portal.'
The tentacles increased their speed, as if trying to adapt to Riser's movements. One tried to grab his leg.
Soru blasted him backward in a sharp flash.
ZUP
Imu hunched forward, pulled by invisible threads.
The portal above pulsed, sending a crude, almost desperate command.
In the next instant, dozens of tentacles shot at once from above, from the side, from below, diagonally.
A rain of blows so intense the entire hall shook.
Riser didn't move.
At the last second, he stepped forward.
Soru split the air in a dry burst.
The tentacles passed behind him like lost blades.
The ground exploded in a wall of dust.
A strike came from below.
Riser jumped a handspan and landed atop the tentacle itself, using its rigid surface as support for half a second.
Imu reacted instantly.
The tentacles lifted as a block, all yanked upward with brute force. The portal behind the creature pulsed like a massive muscle issuing a single desperate command.
The next blow attempted to crush him against the floor.
Riser descended calmly.
And activated Kamui.
His body lost density at the exact moment the attack touched him.
The tentacle passed through his chest like water.
Riser sank into the black mass entirely.
The sensation was disgusting.
A warm, wet, sticky touch wrapped his shoulders, arms, and ribs. The texture resembled raw flesh mixed with living tar, pulsing in chaotic intervals.
"Disgusting."
The words came out short and revolted.
The tentacles tried to press from every direction but found nothing solid. Riser remained inside the creature yet intangible, an irritated ghost watching the living structure contract around him, trying to crush empty space.
He walked through the shapeless mass with slow steps, emerging behind Imu in absolute silence.
The tentacles rose again, all at once, like blades ready to drop over him.
Riser lifted his face.
The Mangekyō spun.
His gaze locked.
And he activated the technique.
"Amaterasu."
The black flames were born without sound.
FWOOM
They erupted where his eyes pointed—directly on the tentacles, at the points where they connected to Imu's body.
The impact was immediate.
The tentacles writhed in silent agony. Their dark surface began to contract, twist, and crumble into burning ash rising like black dust.
The portal reacted.
A violent pulse shook the hall like a muffled thunderclap. The luminous opening thrashed, as if breathing too fast. The tentacles connected to it stretched in one last effort to flee the black fire.
Too late.
Amaterasu caught every exposed inch.
The flames raced along the strands like predators, climbing the mass and burning everything that existed in the real world.
The portal felt it.
It closed abruptly.
WHRRRRP
The crack of light contracted like a wound stabbed shut. The edges sealed quickly, slicing all tentacles in half.
The parts dragged to the other side vanished.
The ones that remained…
Kept burning.
Black flames devoured each mutilated strand.
Ash fell across the destroyed Pristine Room.
The smell was dense and strange—something between melted metal and torn flesh.
Riser watched with the calm of someone who already knew the outcome.
'Even the portal fears Amaterasu.'
Imu tried to react.
The body trembled uncontrollably, as if half its support had vanished. The remaining tentacles whipped the air in a desperate attack, but they were slow—weak.
Riser simply stepped back.
The blow slashed the air but found nothing.
The mutilated tentacles rose one last time, shorter now, deformed, with black fire devouring every inch.
Riser fixed his gaze again.
The flame expanded.
FWOOSH
The black fire surged stronger, clinging to Imu's body as if ignited from the inside out. The reaction was immediate. The body jerked violently, the torso arched, and a rough sound escaped his throat.
It was the first time Imu screamed.
It didn't sound human. It was harsh, broken—like something that had never experienced pain trying to learn how at that moment. The body tried to pull away, but its movements were uncoordinated since the severing of the tentacles.
The flames advanced down the arm, across the shoulders. Imu tried to raise his right hand to shield himself, and for the first time since Riser saw him, did something on his own.
His skin darkened into rigid plates.
A dull shine appeared on the surface.
Riser recognized it instantly.
"Busoshoku…?"
The words escaped, almost surprised.
Imu thrust his arm forward, trying to harden more of the skin to contain the flames. The effort was visible: the hand trembled, the fingers clenched tight, the neck strained as if something fought for control inside the body.
Riser watched without hurry.
'So only now does he try to act on his own.'
The black flames touched the hardened coating.
For a moment, it looked like Haki would hold.
It looked like it.
Amaterasu pierced the layer as if it were wet paper. The fire spread across the hand, up the forearm, rising along the neck. The hardened plates disintegrated in seconds, melting and falling like burnt shells.
Imu screamed again, louder, more irregular. The entire body trembled. There was no coordination left. Each part moved in its own way, as if multiple conflicting commands fought inside.
The fire spread across the chest.
The legs failed.
The body collapsed to its knees.
Imu tried to rise again, activating Haki once more—this time on both arms. It was desperate, almost primal. The hands shook, trying to push the fire away. The black plates reappeared and vanished too fast, without strength, without structure.
Riser commented in a low voice.
"Now you try… too late from the start."
Amaterasu continued advancing, firm and inevitable. The flames consumed the left side of the face. Part of the jaw cracked, dropping dark fragments to the floor.
Imu tried to retreat, but the body no longer obeyed.
Each attempt to raise his arms resulted in more burned fractures.
His screams shortened, as if the throat were being taken from the inside.
The flames climbed the torso until reaching the severed portal atop the head.
There was no connection left.
No command.
Only living flesh being consumed.
Imu collapsed onto the floor.
The black flames overtook the last part still moving—
the right eye, which tried to find some focus, some chance, some visible enemy.
Riser merely watched.
The fire closed over the final point of light.
FSSHHH
The body gave out.
Ash spread across the ruined floor.
No part remained whole.
No trace of life endured.
Riser drew a slow breath, unhurried.
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