Colorless Realm · Holy Cathedral
"Hmm, seems like there's a little mouse scurrying through the dreamscape?"
The blond guy speared a chunk of meat from his pristine white plate and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
"Yeah, totally! While I was hunting in the Transformation Realm, I spotted that girl the Five Elders ordered us to capture alive."
"By the way, Boss Jelingom, this stuff really has zero calories, right?"
The blue-haired, golden-eyed girl took a bite of cake, her face lighting up with pure bliss.
"Millia! Why didn't you report something this important sooner?!"
Draped in a black military uniform with flaming clouds swirling around his shoulders, the dark-green-haired Celestial Dragon—Limosif Jelingom Saint—pressed a weary hand to his forehead.
"Who cares? They're already inside your dream, Boss. Plus, that girl is so cute. I really wanna..."
Millia's cheeks flushed as she cupped her face with both hands, little hearts floating in her golden eyes.
"You pervert, don't go too wild! If they strip your reserve status, the Manmaia family will be disgraced because of you!"
The blond guy who'd first sensed the dream fluctuations raised his dinner knife and drew a giant X in the air toward Kamayel.
Millia pouted her delicate lips, shooting a teasing look across the table at the blond.
"You're such a buzzkill, Dorian. No wonder you can't land Charlía. The Marcus family isn't exactly weak, and the Five Elders even gave you..."
SLAM!
Dorian Marcus slammed both palms on the table, cutting her off.
"Enough! This doesn't concern you!"
"I'm full anyway. Time to go catch those two rats!"
With a cold huff, Marcus Dorian strode through the hall etched with a runic pentagram array and exited the cathedral.
He swung his arm, and a flood of paint surged behind him, forming a pair of wings that flapped and launched him into the sky.
"Hey, Millia, you said that pirate was in human form, right?"
Watching his teammate leave, Jelingom set down his hot tea with a grave expression.
"Yep! It totally freaked me out. I never thought someone could stay human under my powers. What is she? A pure human?"
The blue-haired girl slumped her head onto the table, twirling the tablecloth around her finger with a dreamy gaze. "I want her so bad... Keeping someone like that as a slave would be so much fun..."
"Don't lay a hand on her. I've heard rumors. It's not the Five Elders who want her—it's the big boss on the throne!"
Jelingom waved a hand, opening his Nightmare Cavern and releasing more MMA beasts fused with Colorless Realm wanderers to bolster the top layer's defenses.
"Fine, whatever. Boss Jelingom is such a bore!"
Millia straightened up, sticking her tongue out at Jelingom behind his back.
"If the Divine Kingdom Game succeeds, your contributions will be enough to promote you to full members. This is about your future—take it seriously!"
Jelingom stood, snapped his fingers, and transformed into a massive bubble-headed kirin, diving deeper into the cathedral.
"Looks like the big guy's taste isn't half bad. That girl... I'm really looking forward to this~"
Humming a cheerful tune, the blue-haired, golden-eyed girl skipped away and vanished.
Meanwhile, howling winds whipped across the sky, dragging in heavy, oppressive clouds. Icy rain poured down.
Having launched from the cathedral, Marcus Dorian soared across vast distances, rocketing to the edge of the city walls.
"Found you, rats!"
White Rabbit Cho, standing beside Little Sakura, broke into a cold sweat, his pupils trembling.
"No way! We didn't even say anything!"
"You stupid lower-world ants. This entire realm is my canvas. You think staying quiet helps?"
Grinning wickedly, Marcus Dorian grabbed at the air, and pure white folds appeared in his hands.
He ripped them apart like peeling back a painting's background layer. Rain, trees, rocks, beasts—all dissolved into simple lines amid surging paint.
The man unleashed the savage power within the paint flood, shrieking as it surged toward Little Sakura and White Rabbit.
"Wait, dude? Did you steal Oda's paintbrush?!"
Little Sakura twisted her wrist, and her pale storm greatsword Yuning roared to life. A strand of storm-laden pale light stabbed forward.
Like a knight foolishly challenging a windmill, it slashed into the ocean of paint.
The moment storm met paint, an explosion erupted. Frozen air and scorching heat blasted outward.
Little Sakura didn't even need to control it—the paint sea's cruel chaos was instantly incinerated to ash or frozen into ice sculptures.
"Hmph, cheap tricks!"
Marcus Dorian flicked his fingers like a conductor's baton, commanding the paint.
The pure white sea began assimilating ice and flame, draining their color and devouring them.
"Pure White Sea · Jaw Kiss!"
Faster than the eye could track, a ferocious maw opened in the white paint ocean.
In an instant, it swallowed Little Sakura whole, chomping down greedily.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
As if the sea had gained life, chewing its prey, grating noises echoed from the giant jaws.
"Ant, now you know the price of opposing us?"
Marcus Dorian flapped his wings, drifting closer to open the maw and admire the filthy lower-worlder's torment.
But when the jaws parted, the pure white paint held nothing but a massive ice block.
Cold sweat poured down Marcus Dorian's face.
He whipped around—and behind him, a silent pink-haired shadow had appeared.
"You..."
"My enemy, here's a spear for you to critique. Weiguo!!!"
Carrying blazing Conqueror's Haki, the legendary spear surged with fury!
Two clashing wills collided. Little Sakura and Dorian's spirits sparked endless arcs of vicious lightning.
The Giant King's brutal violence, amplified by Haki and chakra, tore into Marcus Dorian's body.
Cracks ripped across his surface...
BOOM!
Marcus Dorian's upper body exploded, his lower half limply dropping toward the paint sea below.
"You... killed a Celestial Dragon!"
White Rabbit's heart pounded in terror, his little face flushed red as he let out a rabbit-like scream.
"No big deal! He was trying to kill us first!"
Little Sakura grabbed the flailing rabbit, yanked steel wire from her ninja pouch, and tied his mouth shut.
"Besides, we don't even know if that filthy thing is dead!"
Little Sakura's eyes flashed with Observation Haki's rainbow light, her emerald gaze locked on the swirling paint sea below.
Sure enough, the moment she spoke, a giant face opened its eyes in the white paint vortex.
"An—ant!"
The ground quaked. The paint sea raged unchecked, even devouring the holy city's towering walls.
"This is bad! Our footing's about to collapse!"
Little Sakura snatched White Rabbit, hurling him skyward, then used high heat to generate steam and rocket herself upward.
But at the storm's end, emerging from endless thunderclouds and gales, a colossal beast revealed itself.
A dragon-like sea monster covered in jointed limbs, countless spikes raining from the clouds, piercing the pure white Colorless Realm. Its inverted-triangle scaled head, lined with dozens of glowing blue eyes opening and closing, roared as it opened its maw!
ROOOAR!
"Oh, Boss Jelingom's MMA? Tough luck, ant!"
Marcus Dorian smirked from within the paint sea.
He raised two dripping, slime-covered hands, framing Little Sakura and White Rabbit like a viewfinder with his thumb and forefinger.
"Pure White Sea · Thorn Prison Gate!"
Dozens of lines extended from his hands, crisscrossing and sprouting thorns like briars, whistling toward the pair in the sky.
"Crap!"
Caught in a pincer attack and without a Flying Thunder God mark on the rabbit, Little Sakura's flight speed couldn't save him and escape in time.
Guess defense is my only option?
Gritting her teeth, Little Sakura's body rapidly turned snow-white.
Low-Temperature Mode · White Snow Warrior Body!
Just as Little Sakura grabbed the rabbit and shielded him beneath her...
A lazy but crisp voice rang out right in front of her.
The dragon-like beast suddenly spoke: "Don't move ~ my little ~ Sakura ~"