Lily focused on the Breath of All Things, and now she emphasizes defeating the enemy with a single strike, while Marika has deepened her control over Life Return.
She can precisely control her hair, utilizing it to execute Six Styles techniques. By covering the strands with Armament and piercing the enemy, then exploding from within, she's simply added some finesse.
However, the destructive power produced is entirely different.
The exploding fragments hit the ground, all emitting a metallic sheen. Upon examining the debris, parts that should be veins aside, the bones and internal organs have all become metal!
Though not as intricate as the Peacekeepers, these are undoubtedly cyborgs!
"Dismantle them!" Marika commanded coldly.
Over a hundred members of the Demon Race responded, no longer holding back. Earlier attacks aimed only to subdue, considering them merely miserable folk, not intending to kill. This is the rule of the Disaster Pirates: unless they perceive resistance as life-threatening, they usually only aim to subjugate civilians.
But now it's different. The Demon Race members are at least human, while such advanced cyborgs can't really be considered human anymore.
The thousand-plus cyborgs couldn't even resist the full assault of the Demon Race. As they passed, each cyborg was either beheaded or their bodies were violently smashed. While Marika's level of shredding them is something they couldn't achieve, given the cyborgs' steel interiors, rendering them immobile was still exceedingly easy.
These miners didn't even touch the Demon Race members, scattered like rotten wood, with twisted limbs and folded bodies—heads detached, limbs dismantled—soon the ground was covered in parts.
Among them, were Robby's parents.
"No, impossible!"
Robby stumbled close to his very familiar parents, now bodies twisted and bent, yet showing no trace of pain, expressionless, just lying there. Their limbs even twitched, as if trying to complete some command.
"No way! Absolutely no way!"
Robby shouted, "My parents are regular people, not a bunch of machines, not like this. It must be fake! Damn it, where did you hide my parents?!"
"Hehe, truly impressive. But I also felt these people couldn't stop you. Initially wanted to use them up... Forget it, just a bunch of trash. Next time I'll gather more people for reconstruction."
In the cavern, the low voice echoed again, "As for your parents, they're right in front of you... all because of you. If you hadn't wanted to go outside, not willing to stay here until being transformed, your parents wouldn't have been remodeled at such a young age."
"They were still young, at least had about fifteen years left, as humans with flesh and blood working for fifteen years, only then would they contract 'Freezing Syndrome'.
"What did you say?!" Robby was infuriated.
"Hehe, I said it was all because of you. What's good about the outside world? The ocean is full of dangers, Sea Kings, climates, poverty, hunger, and dangerous Pirates... Do you think they're here to save you? Dream on. They're simply here to plunder, and won't care about this island's fate afterward."
"But underground, are you really living poorly? Although it's underground, we make sure to give you sufficient light, and your food and drink are purchased with the company's money without skimping. The environment might be the only negative, but you wouldn't live long anyway; fifty years at most before transformation, then you'd remain here forever."
"What's bad about safe living for fifty years without witnessing external conflicts, quietly residing here... Such a beautiful life, yet you still yearn for the outside? It's all your fault, leading to your parents being transformed. To us... two usable human labor pieces for over ten years were lost."
"All your fault, they became mindless, program-following husks!"
"I, I didn't, I..."
Robby knelt on the ground, hands clutching his head, body gradually curling up, crying out, "I didn't know this would happen, I..."
Boom!
Strands of hair shot into the cave edge, knocking loose some fragments.
"Your only mistake was lacking strength, that's all, kid. No need to listen any further."
Marika smiled at Robby before looking up, "Furthermore, bullying even little children, detestable."
"I'm speaking the truth!"
The cave's voice suddenly increased, mechanical sounds emanating from above, shortly followed by a swarm of shadows descending from the cave entrance, landing on the plain.
Each a colossal Iron Person standing five meters high, numbering at least two hundred, left arms transformed into chainsaws, fingers on the right hand elongated like claw machines, with blades inside the fingers glinting with cold light.
"If those can't handle you, then I will! With two hundred and thirty steel soldiers here, only I control the core. Hehe, but you won't find me before I destroy you!"