Don't just look at the trunk. That elephant trunk weighs ten thousand pounds. Although Zou's physical size had been reduced, its actual weight had remained completely unchanged.
Joy Boy's "Promise of All Things" was truly a terrifying power, one capable of altering the very rules that governed reality.
Lloyd glanced at the bloodstained elephant trunk in his hand. Dark Power immediately surged from his body, swallowing the enormous trunk whole until not even a trace remained.
With its trunk severed, Zou began gushing blood. Its enormous body darted wildly through the air, with Joy Boy still standing upon its back. Joy Boy hurriedly comforted Zou while simultaneously using Nika Power to stop the bleeding and stabilize its condition.
The moment Zou was barely under control, Lloyd attacked again.
He swung his blade.
As the weapon descended, space itself twisted along with its trajectory, the distortion spreading outward from the edge of the blade.
Joy Boy immediately leaped from Zou's back. White light erupted around his body, brilliant and almost blinding. Nika Power rapidly gathered before him, condensing into a gigantic white fist that collided head-on with Lloyd.
Dark Power surged violently.
White light exploded across the sky.
Lloyd pierced straight through the enormous white fist and appeared before Joy Boy in an instant. The Dark Power surrounding his body transformed into eight razor-sharp black tentacles, which shot forward simultaneously and drove into Joy Boy.
Joy Boy endured the assault with his extraordinarily tough body.
The black tentacles pierced into his abdomen, while a thick, tentacle-shaped bulge emerged from his back. Yet despite the force behind the attack, the tentacles failed to penetrate completely through him.
Joy Boy's brows furrowed.
He seized the black tentacles embedded in his abdomen. The moment his hands, glowing with white Nika Power, touched them, black smoke immediately began to hiss and rise from their surfaces.
His arm muscles swelled.
With a furious shout, Joy Boy ripped the black tentacles from his abdomen and violently swung them toward Lloyd.
Lloyd immediately severed the tentacles with his blade and closed the distance between them.
Then he kicked Joy Boy directly in the crotch.
An extremely strange expression appeared on Joy Boy's face.
A peculiar, spherical elasticity pressed against Lloyd's foot.
Lloyd chuckled softly.
"Nice feel underfoot."
Joy Boy showed no sign of irritation. Instead, he seized the opportunity and clamped his legs together, trapping Lloyd's foot between them.
Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
Joy Boy grinned.
The object between his legs suddenly contracted inward, even pulling Lloyd's toe firmly inside.
The sensation was disgusting.
Lloyd immediately raised his hand and slashed toward Joy Boy's neck. Joy Boy reacted by using the same bizarre technique again, retracting his entire head into his chest cavity.
The next instant, Joy Boy burst into hearty laughter.
His body began spinning rapidly like a top.
Faced with such an absurd maneuver, Lloyd merely sneered. Dark Power gathered around his foot, growing increasingly dense.
"I don't have time to play around with you here."
With that, Lloyd raised his foot and forcibly pulled a rubber-stick-like shape from Joy Boy's crotch before swinging his blade.
That finally frightened Joy Boy.
A chill shot through his entire body, particularly through his crotch. He immediately stopped spinning and retreated at tremendous speed.
However, he was still a step too slow.
The tip of the rubber-like shape was severed by Lloyd's blade.
A small piece of clothing formed from Nika Power drifted downward.
Beneath it, a small mushroom-shaped object was revealed.
Demon Blade Muramasa trembled violently in Lloyd's hand, as though throwing a tantrum.
Lloyd did not rush to pursue Joy Boy. Instead, he calmly stroked the blade of Demon Blade Muramasa with his fingers and gently comforted it.
"I'm sorry, baby. I let you touch something dirty."
Only then did Demon Blade Muramasa stop trembling, releasing a low, dissatisfied hum.
Lloyd turned his attention back to Joy Boy.
Joy Boy's eyes were wide open.
Combined with his exaggerated, cartoon-like physique, his eyeballs seemed to bulge from their sockets like Tom Cat's. His face was filled with pure disbelief.
The clothing around Joy Boy's crotch had not regenerated.
He slowly lowered his head.
After confirming what had happened, his expression froze completely.
His mushroom-shaped appendage was gone.
He had genuinely never imagined that Lloyd would actually...
Although Nika Power possessed the ability to repair physical injuries, it did not grant true limb regeneration.
Joy Boy's face instantly became red with fury.
He was enraged.
Completely and utterly enraged.
Joy Boy had been humiliated once again, but this time the damage extended from his spirit to his body, from the inside to the outside.
Although Joy Boy had never been particularly interested in women, he was still a man.
What man would not care about such an important part of himself?
Even the eunuchs of ancient history, after being castrated, had treated what had been removed from them with extraordinary importance. Some had even preserved it carefully, regarding it as something that had to be respected.
"Celestial Dragons!!!"
Joy Boy's furious roar echoed across the heavens and earth, his voice carrying both rage and profound grief.
The Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise had no way of seeing what was happening so high above them. They could only look around in confusion, completely unable to understand the source of the tremendous roar.
Deep within Mary Geoise, inside the Flower Room, Imu slowly raised his head while sitting upon the Empty Throne.
A strange expression appeared within his eyes.
Then, beneath the shadow covering his face, two faint blushes appeared.
If Saint Nusjuro and the others had witnessed this sight, they would have been utterly stunned.
Imu, the figure who stood at the highest point of the World Government, was actually blushing.
The one who held the greatest authority in the world could actually become shy.
Fortunately, none of them witnessed it.
Had they done so, Imu would certainly have erased them without hesitation. He would never permit outsiders to see him in such a discomposed state.
After a moment, Imu shook his head and spoke softly.
"This Saint Lloyd... Heh heh..."
A quiet chuckle escaped him.
"He truly is an interesting person."
After those words, the Flower Room once again fell into absolute silence.
Only two dazzling points of white light flickered within the darkness, the reflection of Imu's hands resting upon the armrests of the Empty Throne.
Outside the Red Line, Lloyd tilted his head and looked toward the furious Joy Boy.
A mocking expression appeared on his face.
"Why are you shouting so loudly? What use is that thing to you anyway?"
"Bastard!!!"
A flash of white light passed across Joy Boy's crotch.
His clothes were restored by Nika Power, but the object beneath them had permanently lost its "head."
Feeling the strange emptiness between his legs, Joy Boy's fury intensified.
His forearms suddenly swelled to an absurd size, his muscles expanding like those of a cartoon strongman. At the same time, his legs began spinning like rapidly rotating windmills.
Then his entire body shot toward Lloyd.
In an instant, he arrived directly before him.
Joy Boy threw a furious punch straight toward Lloyd's face.
Lloyd raised his left hand. Black gas surged from his palm as he blocked the incoming fist, his dark hair fluttering slightly from the force of the impact.
The veins on Joy Boy's forehead bulged.
His teeth were clenched so tightly that his words seemed to be forced through them.
"You actually dared to take my..."
Lloyd stared expressionlessly at Joy Boy's distorted face.
Joy Boy remained silent for several seconds.
Yet even after holding back his fury for so long, he still could not bring himself to say the rest of the sentence.
How could he?
Was he really supposed to say that Lloyd had "decapitated" his second brother?
The humiliation and anger were too great.
Joy Boy's expression twisted further as he unleashed his Nika Power.
Thick white steam erupted behind him, dense enough to resemble a tangible substance. Countless white arms extended from within the swirling steam, rapidly multiplying until they filled the space behind him.
Then the countless fists descended upon Lloyd in a storm of attacks.
"Nika, White Gatling!"