"Sabo!"
Seeing Sabo reappear, Koala felt a surge of joy instantly eclipsed by agonizing heartache.
"Sa... Sabo..."
Hack, his body charred black, forced his eyes open and reached out a trembling, wavering hand.
"Tch."
Enel shot an annoyed look at Aeridar, then shifted his gaze toward the floating lake in the sky with a hint of wariness. If that massive volume of water were to drench him, he'd go weak and lose his abilities, leaving him a sitting duck for slaughter.
The water in the aerial lake churned relentlessly. Every time Sabo tried to hold his breath and swim out, the violent currents beat him back. After several attempts, his lungs were screaming for air, and his strength was spent.
"It's useless. No one escapes today, not even if Dragon himself shows up!" Aeridar declared with grim pride.
Aeridar possessed both instantaneous movement and supersonic flight, and Enel's lightning speed was even faster. Even if Admiral Kizaru, Borsalino, were to arrive, he wouldn't be able to easily rescue anyone from under their noses.
"Rokushiki: Rankyaku!"
Aeridar leapt into the air and whipped out a kick. A massive vacuum blade sliced through the sky, severing a third of the floating lake.
SPLASH—! SPLASH—!
Gargantuan masses of water plummeted back into the Red River, kicking up waves dozens of meters high. The riverbed, which had been nearly visible moments ago, surged with a sudden influx of water.
"Rankyaku!"
"Rankyaku!"
"Rankyaku!"
Aeridar followed up with three more kicks, each air blade carving away a chunk of the floating lake.
SPLASH—! SPLASH—!
As three more massive volumes of water fell, the Red River's water level surged again, nearly returning to its original depth.
In the sky, only a small portion of the lake remained—a hundred-meter sphere of water. Inside, Sabo's eyes were rolling back, and bubbles continuously escaped his lips.
"Drowning already?"
Aeridar raised an eyebrow at the sight. He beckoned toward the sky, controlling the hundred-meter sphere to drift toward the shore.
BOOM—! SPLASH!
When the lake reached the land, it fell with a heavy thud. The sudden deluge sent waves fifteen meters high washing over the riverbank.
"Cough! Cough—cough—!"
Sabo lay kicked out onto the muddy ground, his face a deep, suffocating red as he vomited river water from his lungs.
"I can't kill you yet. I hope Pudding's ability is as effective as they say," Aeridar mused coldly, already deciding Sabo's fate. "However, I still need to teach you a lesson, a scar you'll never forget!"
In a flash, Aeridar moved. He appeared instantly before Sabo, his fingers pressed together like a spear. He thrust his hand-blade directly toward Sabo's midsection.
"No—!"
Sabo's eyes widened. He had no strength left to resist; he could only watch as the obsidian hand-blade plunged toward his chest.
PLOO-CHIT—!
Blade met flesh. Blood sprayed across the mud.
"AAAAAARGH!"
Sabo screamed in agony, his face contorted. Aeridar's hand-blade had pierced clean through his abdomen, emerging from his back. Blood gushed uncontrollably from the puncture.
SHLUCK—!
"You'll definitely remember this!"
With a savage expression, Aeridar yanked his arm out, shaking off the gore. Sabo collapsed backward, a bloody hole through his gut as thick, dark blood pooled beneath him.
"SABO!!! No! It can't be!"
Koala shrieked, her body shaking uncontrollably as she stared in disbelief at the fallen Chief of Staff.
"Hey, Captain. Are you trying to kill him?" Enel asked, puzzled.
If it were a killing blow, he should have gone for the heart. If that hole in his abdomen wasn't treated immediately, he'd bleed out in minutes.
"He's still useful. As for the rest, take a few prisoners and kill the others!" Aeridar grabbed the semi-conscious Sabo by the collar and gave Enel his orders. Then, he took to the sky, flying toward the Chris hovering in the clouds.
"No problem!" Enel waved him off dismissively.
Once Aeridar was gone, Enel turned to Koala and the others, baring his teeth in a malicious grin. "You heard the man. A few live, the rest die. Yahahaha!"
"I'll give you two paths. One: kill each other until only four of you are left alive. Two: you all come at me together and try to defeat me. Though, I can't guarantee how many will survive that."
Enel looked at the remaining dozen Revolutionaries with the playful, cruel gaze of a cat toyed with mice. Koala, Len, and the other officers traded glances; the atmosphere turned suffocatingly tense.
"Don't fall for it! We are dedicated to overthrowing this unequal world! We will never submit to 'power'!" Koala lifted her head defiantly, her eyes burning with hatred as she rallied the others.
"That's right! We won't yield to power!"
"Koala-san is right! No surrender!"
"We are brave warriors of the Revolutionary Army! We stand together!"
The soldiers' spirits surged at Koala's words, their faces filled with a grim resolve to die for their cause.
"Oh? Is that so?" Enel grinned.
SHLUCK—!
Suddenly, a Revolutionary soldier moved. His long blade plunged directly into the chest of the comrade standing next to him. Blood splattered instantly.
"You... you..."
The victim stared at the blade in his chest in utter disbelief, gasping for breath until the light left his eyes.
Koala was frozen in shock.
In the next moment, it was as if Pandora's box had been flung wide. The group fell into a frenzy of fratricide. They swung their blades and pulled their triggers with madness in their eyes, showing no mercy to their former brothers-in-arms.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! SHLUCK! SQUELCH!
The scent of gunpowder and the metallic tang of blood, briefly washed away by the river, returned with a vengeance.
"Townes... do you really have to do this?"
"I'm sorry, Len-san! I want to live! I don't want to die here for nothing!"
Len, the regional head, found himself under a frenzied assault by his own trusted subordinates. Even Koala was forced to fight; as their lives were threatened, they were compelled to strike down their former friends.
Soon, only Len and Koala remained standing. Enel had watched the slaughter with no intention of stopping it.
"Two left? That'll do. Yahahaha!" Enel laughed up at the sky, indifferent to the carnage.
"You... you monster!"
Koala's face was flecked with blood, her eyes burning with a fire born of pure hatred and fury.
"A monster? No. I am GOD!!!"
Enel gave a cruel smile, and his entire body erupted in a blinding discharge of electricity.
ZZZT—ZZZT—!
The screeching sound of high-voltage current filled the air. Several bolts of lightning lashed out, striking Koala and Len instantly.