Alucard held nothing but utter contempt for "Gods." Whether such beings actually existed was irrelevant; his conviction remained the same.
God would not descend. Alucard's entire existence was built upon the creed of "Blasphemy." Marked by the inverted cross, he was the monster who desecrated the divine: Alucard.
When the Gorosei and the Celestial Dragons deigned to call themselves Gods, they and Alucard were destined to be eternal enemies.
"God now stands before you."
The robed Elder drew his blade halfway. A flash of sword-light erupted, cleanly and beautifully bisecting Loli A's body right down the middle.
After passing through Loli A, the slash vanished into the clouds, carving a massive rift across the sky. The sight left Princess Vivi, King Riku, and the other representatives at the harbor paralyzed with fear, momentarily forgetting to evacuate.
"Hmph. Pathetic."
The robed Elder sheathed his half-drawn blade. Sensing the young girl's life force dissipate, he turned to return to the sanctuary. "Soon," he said over his shoulder, "the newspapers will carry photos of your corpse to every corner of the world."
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sudden gunshots rang out. The robed Elder drew his sword fully this time, deflecting every incoming bullet with a rhythmic series of clangs.
"Oho~"
Loli A, restored to her original state, held her white handgun, Casull. She watched the robed Elder who had swatted her bullets away and smirked. "I didn't expect anyone to avoid a headshot under those circumstances."
There weren't many people capable of blocking a shot from Casull, but they did exist. However, to block so sharply while caught off guard and with his back turned... in Alucard's memory, only a young Golden Lion Shiki possessed such reflexes.
As for Hawkeye... Alucard hadn't fought him at full strength yet, so it was hard to say.
"The same ability as your Captain? Are you his daughter or something?" the robed Elder speculated.
He had only ever sensed this level of eerie resilience from one other person: Alucard. If someone like Doflamingo used a string puppet, their life force wouldn't vanish; such a trick only fooled rookies with poor training. But just now, this girl's life force had truly vanished, yet she was not dead.
This was identical to Alucard's state when he attacked the Government nearly twenty years ago. In that battle, the Celestial Dragon families had lost two top-tier powerhouses in a single stroke.
"What's the matter? Is this the extent of a self-proclaimed God?"
Loli A mocked him with a flick of her wrist. Countless shadow hands erupted from the blood pool. "If you won't move, I'll start the show."
Innumerable shadow hands wearing white gloves surged from the blood, some extending over ten meters. Like a mass of eldritch tentacles from myth, they blanketed the sky to strike.
"Your opponent is but one man. What is the point of such a wide-range attack?"
Facing the overwhelming onslaught, the robed Elder remained calm. He returned his blade to its scabbard, then suddenly drew it in a violent burst, charging forward. Magma-colored veins pulsed across his skin, bearing a slight resemblance to Zephyr during his Blacklight infection.
Slash!
In the blink of an eye, the "tsunami" of shadow hands was pierced through, leaving a gaping hole as the Elder lunged directly for Loli A's heart.
"A Kishin?"
Even Alucard, who disbelieved in gods and walked the path of blasphemy, couldn't help but utter the words upon seeing the flaming, four-armed Wisdom King manifested around the robed Elder.
"I am the Non-Celestial... the Kishin, Asura!"
As the robed Elder spoke, the tip of his sword was less than a centimeter from Loli A's heart.
"Gods claim to be the Heavens, yet you call yourself the 'Non-Celestial'? Isn't that a contradiction?"
A dark shadow lunged out, biting down on the blade and forcing it off its intended trajectory. The robed Elder's pupils shrank—it was a beast covered in eyeballs, Baskerville, using its jaws to forcibly slam the sword off course.
With a grimace, the robed Elder twisted his grip and exerted his strength. Starting from the mouth, he sliced Baskerville perfectly in half down the middle.
Just as he prepared to swing downward to cleave Loli A, she blocked his blade with the back of a Haki-hardened hand. Blood spurted, but the hand wasn't severed!
"Though it wouldn't matter if you pierced my heart... no, this won't do."
Loli A's expression turned manic. "Those who call themselves Gods are my absolute enemies. For me, losing to a 'God' is something that can never be allowed."
"To think someone of this age could train their Armament Haki to such a degree."
The robed Elder was in disbelief. In his mind, only two people could stop his blade with Armament Haki and sustain only a superficial wound: the Hero of the Marines, Garp, and the late Black Arm Zephyr. And even then, it would have to be them in their prime, not their current aged states.
"I am the blood that runs through your veins. I am the dark shadow that chills the hearts of men as you pass. I am the fury... your hate and your vengeance. I am... your destiny!"
Loli A recited an incantation, distinct from the River of Death, and the blood pool on the ground rose up, enveloping her body. Sensing an instinctive threat, the robed Elder retreated five paces.
When the blood pool subsided, a man in his forties stood in her place. He was clad in ancient bronze heavy armor with a long black cape billowing behind him, looking like a knight out of English legend.
The Impaler, Alucard!
"You... who are you!?"
The sudden, total transformation shocked the robed Elder. Did that girl have the power to shapeshift? But the presence and aura of these two individuals were worlds apart.The Great Eruption surged forward with energy surpassing the speed of light, closing in on the robed Elder. As he watched the Gorosei member being swallowed by the magma, Alucard the Impaler's lips curled into a smirk. "One Gorosei down."
"Hm!?"
However, the very next second after the Elder was engulfed by the Great Eruption, the magma unexpectedly shattered into countless pieces. The molten rock burst into myriad tiny pebbles that shot back toward him. Alucard tracked their trajectory and smashed the returning fragments; each pebble carried enough force to effortlessly pierce through a Sea King.
"What happened?"
Alucard looked ahead once more. The robed Elder remained standing exactly where he was, but his body was now emitting an eerie white radiance. His pupils had turned a shimmering silver, and his skin glowed with the same metallic luster.
"This is...?"
At this sight, a memory surfaced from nearly twenty years ago, when he and Golden Lion Shiki had simultaneously attacked the World Government and Marine Headquarters.
Back then, Alucard had fought a silver-eyed old man who was the predecessor to Scarlett as the Swap-Swap Fruit user. That man had exhibited this same condition: his eyes had lost their pupils and focus, filled instead with a silver light. It was like a silver-hued version of the Byakugan.
However, that silver-eyed old man only had eyes that emitted that eerie light; this robed Elder was radiating it from his entire body. Just what was this?
"To think you'd force me to use this... Now that you've seen it, I definitely can't let you leave alive."
The robed Elder fully drew his katana and tossed the scabbard aside, shifting into a pure combat stance. For a swordsman, discarding the scabbard meant only one thing: only one of them would leave this place alive.
"Just what is this power...?"
Alucard's brow furrowed. Was it related to the "National Treasure" Doflamingo spoke of, the power hidden within the Celestial Dragons?
Zip!
The robed Elder vanished instantly. Alucard swapped his longsword for his weapon Impaling Castle. He swung upward, clashing with the Elder's blade as the man materialized above him.
One above, one below, the colossal impact shattered the Red Line beneath Alucard's feet, the cracks spreading further and further.
"To be able to block me in this state... you truly possess Yonko-level strength." The Elder's eyes were completely filled with silver light, making his expression impossible to read.
"How strange..."
Alucard used the Impaling Castle to shove the robed Elder back. As the Elder noted that Alucard surpassed the level of a Yonko, Alucard realized the same was true for his opponent, at least in this glowing state, he had transcended that limit.
If one Gorosei possessed this kind of power, it was impossible that the other four didn't. But if there were five Yonko-level combatants, plus the World Government Army, the Air Force, Commander-in-Chief Kong, lapdogs like Flurette, and countless Knight Orders... they could have wiped out the Roger Pirates or even the current four Yonko groups combined without issue.
Why had they let the pirates run wild for so long?
In an instant, countless spikes erupted from the ground, forcing the robed Elder to retreat. But the retreat lasted only seconds. He immediately coated his katana in Armament Haki and slammed it into the ground.
The earth collapsed instantly, causing the Impaling Castle's area-of-effect attack to lose its footing. The robed Elder seized the opening to lunge before Alucard again, leaving a bloody gash on his left waist.
"You move fast." The robed Elder appeared behind Alucard, stating coldly, "I almost pierced your heart."
"Heh... heh heh heh..."
Even without the lives from the River of Death to replenish him, the vampire physique allowed Alucard's wound to close instantly. He couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" The silver-eyed Elder turned, his voice cold. Could this brat not see the gap in their strength?
"I'm just so happy."
Still in the form of the Impaler, Alucard turned around, his expression manic. "To think this world still holds monsters of this caliber... I'm so happy! I'm delighted!"
"Now, let me try going all out! Gorosei!"
Alucard threw his arms wide, and the Impaling Castle he had been holding was actually cast into the blood pool.
"Discarding your weapon? What do you intend to do?" The Elder narrowed his eyes.
"Do you know what happens when a vampire temporarily discards the vampire's way of fighting?"
Alucard's sudden question left the Elder confused. What did he mean by "discarding the vampire's way of fighting"?
"Even I don't know what I'll become."
Alucard laughed wildly as the blood pool rose to cover his body. When it subsided seconds later, he no longer held the eerie allure of Loli A or the overbearing majesty of the Impaler. Now, Alucard was draped in clothes that looked like tattered mops stitched together, revealing a tall but gaunt frame. On these rags, countless eyes manifested, every single eyeball staring fixedly ahead.
But the transformation continued. Alucard's facial features gradually vanished, replaced entirely by shadows. His entire face was filled with innumerable eyeballs. He looked like a mass of the blood pool condensed into a humanoid shape.
"Alucard!? It really is you!"
Though it was only for a few seconds, the robed Elder had caught a glimpse of that face.
"Does that even matter now?"
Alucard, having discarded his vampire form, raised a limb that could barely be called a "hand" and laughed crazily. "I told you, once I use this ability, even I don't know what will happen. Witness it for yourself!"
BOOM!!
Just then, the Red Line beneath them trembled. A pale gold vortex manifested out of thin air behind the robed Elder. The curly-haired Elder and the long-bearded Elder stepped out from within.
"You actually used this power without authorization," the long-bearded Elder said, his expression grim.
The robed Elder glanced at the vortex behind him and said coldly, "Haven't you all used it too? Yours just isn't as exaggerated as mine."