Once he confirmed that everyone who needed to leave had already departed, Lucian stopped waiting.
He gazed at the "solar energy sphere" he had been charging—a sphere capable of wiping the entire island off the map—and the corners of his mouth curled into a faint arc.
Then, he siphoned off a small fraction of the massive energy gathered in his hand, casually tossing it toward the heavens above.
A gesture as light as brushing away dust.
The moment the energy sphere left his palm, it transformed into a golden streak of light that shot upward into the sky.
In an instant, the cloudless firmament was violently torn apart by an invisible divine force.
A massive rift spanning the horizon was ripped open.
From beyond the crack, the tip of a colossal sword emerged.
A giant sword forged entirely from the purest golden light began to reveal itself at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
Its silhouette resembled the one Lucian had casually condensed during the Summit War.
But this one was too massive.
The sky itself served as its scabbard.
Compared to the light sword from the Summit War, this one was a hundred times more solid in form and a hundred times more terrifying in its latent pressure.
The giant sword fully materialized.
A killing intent so pure it could freeze and shatter souls crashed down from the highest heavens.
Pure.
Terrifying.
Dozens of nautical miles away, aboard their respective ships, the crews of the Roger Pirates and the Rocks Pirates—who had already boarded and were preparing to permanently flee this vortex of trouble—were struck with shock all over again.
Their very souls trembled.
Roger snapped his head around. His azure eyes narrowed to pinpricks, locked onto the golden colossus piercing heaven and earth above God Valley.
His hand moved uncontrollably to rest on the hilt of Ace at his waist.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Roger's lips were dry. He forced out the words, one by one.
"Just what kind of monster... is that guy?"
On another ship, Whitebeard also looked back. His massive frame, for the first time, was pulled taut as a bowstring. The veins on the back of his hand gripping the naginata bulged fiercely.
The power radiating from that sword was enough to evaporate him, his ship, and this entire stretch of sea in an instant.
An irresistible, incomprehensible power.
They couldn't even begin to imagine the horrific pressure the enemy beneath the blade's edge was enduring.
God Valley.
Lucian's icy voice echoed across heaven and earth, a divine decree passed down upon mortals.
"Prepare to die, gentlemen."
"Ultimate Corona Light!"
The moment the words fell, the golden giant sword suspended in the sky moved.
Dragging a ten-thousand-meter-long golden tail of flame, carrying an aura of purification and the destruction of all worldly filth, it plummeted straight down.
The world fell silent.
No sonic boom. No roaring tear through the atmosphere.
Absolute dead silence.
In everyone's vision, there was only the constantly magnifying golden giant sword, and the shadow of death it brought—a shadow heavy enough to crush souls into powder.
Its target pointed directly at Imu, bound below by chains of light, along with those Five Elders and Saint Garling who dared to stand in its way like mantises trying to stop a chariot.
Death was imminent.
"Defend!"
"Now!!"
The Five Elder wielding the Shodai Kitetsu let out a hoarse, desperate roar, his voice laced with unprecedented terror.
They no longer cared about attacking the unbreakable chains. Every remaining member, including Saint Garling and the elite of the Holy Knights, immediately squeezed out the very last drop of dark energy and Haki from their bodies, funneling it all overhead.
A hemispherical barrier composed of the purest dark energy rapidly formed above their heads.
They attempted to use this final defense to tank the heaven-shattering strike.
However.
Under the supreme pressure of the judgment sword, their defense shattered on contact.
The moment the barrier touched the tip of the golden sword.
"Crack... crack..."
The crisp sound of fracturing was particularly ear-piercing in the dead battlefield.
In an instant, the dark barrier jointly constructed by multiple powerhouses was covered in spiderweb-like golden cracks.
The cracks spread at a visible, frantic pace, on the verge of complete collapse.
'It's over.'
That was the only thought in everyone's minds.
At this moment of despair, Saturn—bound by the golden chains, or rather, Imu—let out a curse brimming with venom and unwillingness.
All divine indifference was gone from his voice, replaced only by teeth-grinding hatred for a certain existence.
"Davy Jones!"
"If it weren't for that damn bastard, how could my true body be unable to leave the Holy Land!"
This vicious roar contained centuries of pent-up fury.
With the defense on the brink of collapse, he couldn't allow this vessel carrying his consciousness, along with these loyal lapdogs, to be wiped out just like that.
Far away, at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, the world's center.
Deep within the forbidden depths of Pangaea Castle, where no one was allowed to tread.
Upon the Empty Throne.
A majestic, unobservable, indescribable figure finally made a decision.
He could not afford to lose these pawns just yet.
He had to intervene.
Even if it meant risking massive side effects, even the danger of severe injury to himself.
A surge of origin power a hundred times greater than before was forcibly stripped from his main body, crossing space, ignoring rules, and frantically pouring into the God Valley battlefield, directly into Saturn's projection.
On the battlefield.
Under the despairing gazes of the Five Elders and the others, the projection possessed by Imu underwent a drastic transformation.
The originally hazy silhouette rapidly solidified in this instant.
From a vague shadow, it became a clear, tangible entity.
A dark aura a thousand, ten thousand times denser than before skyrocketed at a geometric rate, instantly sweeping across the entire battlefield.
"Snap!"
A crisp sound rang out.
Those several chains of light, which not even the combined might of the Five Elders and Saint Garling's group could budge, actually shattered under the sudden surge of power.
The golden chains turned into a sky full of light particles and vanished without a trace.
"Roar!!"
Freed from his bonds, Saturn threw his head back and let out an inhuman howl.
Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately channeled the newly born, overwhelmingly massive dark energy threatening to burst this shell, and in a split second, blasted it all upward.
A pitch-black energy pillar, thicker than a mountain, shot into the sky, fiercely meeting the descending golden giant sword.
On one side, sacred light that purified all things.
On the other, terminal darkness that consumed everything.
The two collided violently in midair.
No earth-shattering explosion.
Only the ultimate white and the ultimate black, locked in a stalemate, mutually annihilating each other.
In the end, both light and dark dissipated.
But the shockwave generated from their collision transformed into a visible ring-shaped storm, once again brutally plowing through the nearby terrain.
High above.
Lucian observed the changes in the Imu projection above Saturn's head.
The curve of his smile deepened.
"Oh?"
Lucian murmured with genuine interest.
"Willing to risk side effects just to boost your power?"
He raised his other hand.
The hand that had remained casually tucked in his pocket since the battle began.
His voice, laced with a smile that made the enemy's scalps crawl, echoed across the heavens once more.
"In that case."
"Let me make you despair a little more."