Several thorny vines burst through the ground, rising up to form a shield in front of Sommers.
With a single swing of his axe, Valthior smashed them into splinters. Sommers clearly hadn't expected Valthior to show him zero respect—he rolled away in a panic, barely dodging the attack.
"Hey, you bastard—" Sommers had just started to speak—
When a fierce glint flashed in Valthior's eyes. His Mangekyō suddenly appeared as he shouted:
"Four Seasons: Divine Departure!"
With a sharp crack, Roger's full-powered Divine Departure suddenly appeared right in front of Sommers. This time, there was nowhere to dodge. Pain exploded through his body as he was instantly cleaved in half, blood spraying everywhere. Even as he hit the ground, he was still cursing:
"You bastard… you don't show even a shred of loyalty!?"
After essentially one-shotting Sommers, Valthior didn't bother replying. His skeletal Susanoo accelerated and charged straight toward the battlefield.
On the other side, Garling seized an opening and thrust his sword toward Rayleigh's chest, vengeance burning in his eyes as he roared:
"I'll take your life!!!"
Rayleigh had intended to deflect the attack, but in the next instant, he seemed to sense something. Without hesitation, he ignored Garling entirely and swung his blade, sending a slash toward Harald.
"Dark Burial…"
This filled Garling with joy, as if revenge was finally within reach.
But in the very next second, a chilling frost suddenly surged forward. Before he could even react, his entire body was frozen solid into an ice statue.
Immediately after—
"Screw you!!!" Valthior roared.
The massive Susanoo brought its axe down, smashing Garling into a scatter of blood-red ice shards. At the same time, the skeletal giant's left hand reached out and grabbed Gunko as she fell through the air.
Gunko looked at Valthior in shock, as if she wanted to say something—but he didn't give her the chance. With a single squeeze, the Susanoo crushed her slender body like a bursting blood pack, exploding her into a spray of gore.
"Just die for me!"
Then he casually tossed what was left of her aside like trash.
"Valthior, you're going too—" Maffey opened her mouth and fired a laser, hitting Valthior square in the chest.
It failed to break his defense entirely, the Susanoo tanking it head-on.
At the same time, Valthior grinned viciously.
"Old hag, I've wanted to cut you down for a long time!"
A chain shot out from within the Susanoo, whipping forward like a serpent and wrapping tightly around Maffey. With a powerful yank, Valthior dragged her straight toward him.
Maffey struggled desperately to break free, but she couldn't escape the restraint. Then, at the center of Valthior's forehead, frost rapidly condensed into a crystalline horn. A silver-white gleam flashed across it—
—and transformed into a beam of light that slammed directly into her.
"You want to fly? I'll make you fly, bitch!"
In an instant, Maffey's body froze solid. Valthior then swung his chained axe, dragging her along and smashing her into Harald's body. She shattered on impact, just like Garling—reduced to a scatter of blood-red ice fragments.
From the moment he entered the battlefield until now—it had only been a few breaths.
Facing the "comrades" of the Holy Knights, Valthior displayed overwhelming strength. One strike, one kill. In mere moments, he completely reversed the disadvantageous situation from before.
Harald also noticed Valthior at this point. After deflecting Roger's fierce assault with a swing of his blade, he slid back slightly, creating some distance as he looked at Valthior with surprise.
"What kind of ability is that?"
"Hahahahaha! That's the bond between us!!!" Roger laughed loudly, spouting nonsense as his relentless attacks continued.
Valthior clicked his tongue in annoyance, but his hands didn't slow down. His right Mangekyō spun wildly, and a streak of dark red blood trickled down from beneath his eye.
He knew very well that, with his current strength, he wasn't qualified to face Harald head-on. If he wanted to help, he had to go all out!
As the power of Besshi Hachiman surged within him, his Conqueror's Haki rose rapidly, feeding into his Susanoo and strengthening it further.
The half-formed skeleton began to grow at a visible rate. In the blink of an eye, it expanded into a massive frame comparable to Harald's size. Then "muscles" formed over the bones, followed by armor emerging layer by layer!
The skeletal general donned heavy armor, evolved four arms, and in those four hands wielded an axe, a long blade, a shield, and a war hammer. Its eyes burned crimson.
"I'll take the front!" Valthior shouted, immediately driving his Susanoo forward in a frontal assault against Harald.
Roger and Rayleigh didn't argue. Without hesitation, they regrouped at the same position, drawing their blades as one. Their slashes merged into a single strike, cutting toward Harald from Valthior's flank.
Harald swung his sword down onto the shoulder of Valthior's Susanoo. The overwhelming force shattered the ground beneath its feet instantly. The massive form staggered, nearly being cut down entirely.
At the same time, the armor on its shoulder broke apart. A large chunk of the Susanoo was destroyed by that blow, along with one of its arms!
Still, it managed to endure. Valthior roared as freezing energy erupted, trying to restrain Harald. But Harald's combat skill was exceptional—his blade slid smoothly down from Valthior's shoulder, perfectly intercepting the combined strike of Roger and Rayleigh.
Even so, Harald felt immense pressure.
Truthfully, while he was incredibly powerful—standing at the very top of the seas—he wasn't so strong that he could overwhelm Roger and Rayleigh working together. At best, he could suppress them for a short time. If the battle dragged on, he would inevitably start to fall behind.
And now, with Valthior forcefully joining the fight, the pressure on him only intensified.
Taking a few strategic steps back to create distance from the three members of the Roger Pirates, Harald's gaze darkened. Conqueror's Haki rapidly wrapped around his sword. Before Valthior and the others could press the attack, he roared and swung his blade:
"Valhalla: Hall of the Fallen!!!"
With that strike, it was as if countless giant warriors roared into existence, charging forward to crush everything in their path.
At that very moment, Roger and Rayleigh leapt onto the shoulders of Valthior's Susanoo from opposite sides. Their expressions turned serious as their blades surged with Haki.
"Use that move!" Roger called out first.
Rayleigh immediately understood—and so did Valthior.
As Harald's devastating attack surged toward them, blood began to flow from Valthior's left Mangekyō as well. The moment his gaze locked onto the incoming strike, ripples of space-time spread outward.
As if unable to fully bear the force of Harald's attack, the towering body of the Susanoo began to flicker, like a flame in the wind that could go out at any moment.
At that instant, Roger and Rayleigh leapt into the air, their twin blades meeting Harald's attack head-on as they roared:
"Higanbana: Kagutsuchi!!!"
The moment their strike was unleashed, Harald's attack vanished into thin air, revealing his towering figure behind it.
The sudden shift caught Harald off guard—but as a top-tier warrior who had fought countless battles, his experience kicked in instantly. He raised his sword into a guarding stance, Conqueror's Haki surging and wrapping around it.
"Four Seasons!" Valthior could no longer withstand the strain of maintaining his complete Susanoo while forcibly absorbing Harald's ultimate attack. He released the suppression, letting the power loose.
In the next instant—
Harald first blocked the combined strike of Roger and Rayleigh, stumbling slightly. But before he could recover, his own attack—Valhalla: Hall of the Fallen—suddenly reappeared right in front of him.
The roaring phantom army of giants, carrying the force of the slash, slammed violently into his blade. The King of the Giants couldn't withstand the terrifying power. His sword was forced aside, blood burst from his body, and his massive form was sent flying, crashing hundreds of meters away—nearly shattering a mountain!
"I… can't keep this up…" Valthior muttered, blood streaming from his eyes as he cursed under his breath. His Susanoo instantly dissipated, and his body fell from the sky.
But before he could hit the ground—
Far behind him, at the spot where Sommers had been crushed earlier, the pentagram formation suddenly began to glow. Two powerful presences emerged from within it.
Roger and Rayleigh, who had been about to pursue Harald, both froze, their expressions changing as their brows furrowed.
"There are more strong enemies!?"