At the same time—near the entrance platform of the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, within a shadowed corner—
Two members of the God's Knights stood frozen in disbelief.
One wore a ram-skull mask, the other carried a long sniper rifle.
They were staring at the scene before them as if their understanding of the world had just been shattered.
Especially after witnessing it with their own eyes—
Figarland Garling Saint.The Supreme Commander of the God's Knights.The man whose strength they had always believed to be unfathomable.
He had been—
Sent flying by a single slash from that Marine Admiral.His life or death unknown.
That was the captain of the God's Knights!
A man of supreme status and power—and he couldn't withstand even one move?!
The sheer shock caused their minds to go blank for a fleeting instant.
But in that very moment of stunned hesitation, a terrifying realization struck them—
Gern didn't even stop walking.
He hadn't looked back.Hadn't checked the result.
He simply continued forward, striding deeper into the Holy Land—
toward the true core of the World Government's power:Pangaea Castle and the Land of the Gods, where the World Nobles resided.
Was he… actually planning to storm Pangaea Castle alone?!
That insane thought sent a chill straight up their spines.
If Gern broke through—
their families would be finished. Completely.
"Stop him!"
The ram-skull–masked knight didn't hesitate for even a heartbeat. He snarled low to his companion as his figure exploded out of the shadows.
His speed was extreme—like a specter melting into darkness.
The massive scythe in his hands carved out a chilling arc of black light as he appeared soundlessly behind Gern, slashing horizontally toward his neck—
"Shadow Flash Guillotine!"
SHRK!
The razor-sharp scythe cut cleanly through Gern's neck, even slicing his upper body diagonally apart!
But before the ram-skull knight could even feel a flicker of triumph—
an eerie sensation crawled up his arms from the blade.
This wasn't the resistance of flesh.
It felt like slicing through a high-frequency vibrating energy field.
Sure enough, the next instant—
Gern's "severed" body rippled like disturbed water.
And then—
It seamlessly rejoined.
Perfectly intact.
Even his coat hadn't been damaged.
"So,"Gern said calmly as he began to turn his head,"the rats who hide in the shadows… finally decided to crawl out?"
Those ice-cold eyes locked onto the ram-skull–masked knight.
"Ram-skull mask… then you were one of the ones who attacked Enel."
The moment that killing gaze settled on him, alarms screamed in the knight's mind.
Yet bound by duty, he forced himself to stand tall and barked sternly—
"This is the Holy Land, Mary Geoise! Not a place where you can run wi—"
Before he could finish the word wild—
Gern vanished from where he stood.
"Quake Flash."
In the very next instant, Gern appeared directly in front of him—as if summoned out of thin air!
The distance between them was nearly zero.Face to face.
But a God's Knight was no amateur.
The ram-skull knight's figure flickered again, reappearing ten paces away. He held the scythe horizontally, voice edged with arrogance.
"Your movement path… I've already seen through it."
He spun, scythe sweeping outward as a crescent of black light tore through the air.
"The power of the God's Knights is beyond your comprehension!"
Gern finally stopped walking.
Slowly, he turned his head.
For the first time, his gaze truly settled on the ram-skull mask.
"Seen through?"He spoke only two words—
—and his figure blurred.
The knight's pupils shrank. He snapped the scythe back defensively, barely managing to block a sudden straight kick that had appeared at his side out of nowhere!
BOOM!
A colossal force slammed into him, sending his body skidding back dozens of meters. Stone tiles shattered beneath his feet, and his arms trembled from the impact.
"Good strength," he said grimly, steadying himself."But it means nothing if you can't hit me!"
His body dissolved back into shadow.
"I can see all of your attack trajectories now!"
The next moment, he burst out from another shadow behind Gern, scythe thrusting straight for his heart!
But Gern seemed to have eyes on the back of his head.
Without even turning around, he swung a fist backward into empty space!
HUM—!
A violent tremor erupted—
but the ram-skull knight had already shadow-jumped away, reappearing at another angle as his scythe slashed like a venomous serpent toward Gern's ribs!
"It's useless! I told you—I see right through you!"
His voice carried a hint of smugness now. His attacks grew faster, sharper, his figure flickering endlessly around Gern.
Every time, he narrowly avoided the edge of the震动 force.Every time, his scythe cut in from the most vicious angles.
For a moment—
it almost looked as if he had completely entangled Gern.
"Now! Keep him pinned!"The sniper knight in the distance raised his rifle, searching for an opening.
Another shadow jump.
The ram-skull knight appeared directly above Gern, the massive scythe crashing downward with a force meant to cleave everything in two!
"I've got him!!"
At the very instant he believed he'd succeeded—
Gern slowly raised his head.
And for the first time, a trace—so faint it was almost imperceptible—of mockery flickered through his deep, dark eyes.
"Seen through?"The same words—but with an entirely different meaning.
Gern's left hand, which had been hanging loosely at his side, was now raised—five fingers spread—aimed directly at the descending ram-skull knight.
"What you're seeing…"
"…is only what I allow you to see."
Warning sirens screamed in the knight's mind—but it was already too late to change course.
Gern's right fist had drawn back to his waist at some point. Upon its knuckles, an insanely compressed, frenzied vibration began to form—a spiraling vortex of power.
The surrounding space itself warped and caved inward under the pressure.
Reflected in the knight's widened pupils was that terrifying fist—
and in that instant, boundless fear seized his heart.
He tried to evade—
only to realize that arcs of Haki lightning had completely locked his body in place!
At the same time, Gern's cold voice—like a death sentence—rang clearly in his ears.
"Black Quake · Star-Piercer."
The moment the words fell—
Gern's right fist fired forward like a catastrophic shell unleashed from a god of destruction!
Along its path, space itself could no longer endure the force—visibly collapsing inward in a horrifying distortion!
Then—
It slammed squarely into the center of the ram-skull knight's chest.
Time seemed to freeze—for one-tenth of a second.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
A massive cylindrical shockwave composed purely of annihilating vibration erupted from the point of impact, blasting straight upward!!!
The deafening explosion swallowed all other sound.
The supposedly indestructible platform of the Holy Land shattered like paper—layers cracking, disintegrating, and finally pulverized into primordial dust!
The shockwave, carrying countless fragments of stone and debris, surged skyward like a roaring black dragon—as if it truly meant to pierce the stars themselves!
At the very center of the attack—
the ram-skull knight's bulging eyes filled with absolute agony and disbelief.
All defenses.All strength.
Before a vibration that could pierce the stars—
they were nothing but a cruel joke.
His internal organs—flesh and bone alike—were completely pulverized.Every bone in his body shattered, inch by inch.