"What are they doing?"

Ivalis was stunned. Ritual suicide on the battlefield?

In the next instant, what flowed from the bellies of those men, aside from geysers of blood, was a sinister purple glow that radiated a lethal threat.

Alucard’s left hand snapped up, index and middle fingers extended. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the five summoned souls retreated into the blood pool at maximum speed.

BOOM!!!

"RETREAT, NOW!!!"

Ivalis’s roar was swallowed by the thunderous roar of the explosion.

From high in the air, Aranea watched as several purple spheres of light expanded rapidly on the ground. Two seconds later, they merged into a single, world-ending detonation, forcing her to fly even higher to escape the blast.

"Is that... the rumored Dyna Stones?"

The shockwaves whipped Aranea’s hair into a frenzy. It reminded her of the terrifying weapon she had heard about back when she served in the Government’s military.

"ROOM!"

Amidst the inferno, a pale blue dome expanded, Shambling people into the sky. Law, Bonney, Cavendish, and the other Supernovas were suddenly whisked upward.

RUMBLE!!!

While the Immortal Pirates took the brunt of the blast, the Government’s own forces were devastated as well. It was a "kill a thousand to lose eight hundred" tactic. Pure self-destruction.

"Dammit..."

Ivalis, Benn Beckman, and the others managed to clear the blast zone, but they were in rough shape. The skin on Ivalis’s left arm had been nearly shredded off, while Beckman’s cloak was incinerated, revealing scorched flesh beneath.

The Pacifistas and the Kuja Pirates had also suffered significant casualties.

Splash...

The blood pool surged outward, extending thousands of meters to escape the explosion’s radius. Hancock’s figure rose slowly from the crimson tide, her hand grazing her collarbone as she frowned. "To think they kept such a card hidden..."

"Haah... haah... ROOM!"

Law had manifested over a dozen ROOMs in the air, pulling dozens of people five hundred meters above the ground. Once the fires began to subside, he Shambled everyone back to the surface.

In less than twenty seconds, he had pushed himself to the brink of collapse. Falling to the ground, Law supported himself with trembling hands, gasping for air.

Slap!

Bonney slammed a hand onto Law’s shoulder, nearly knocking him flat. "Not bad, Dead-Eyes! I guess I owe you one this time!"

Without Law’s powers, she likely would have perished in the heat of that explosion.

"I’ll... I’ll take your life as payment later, but if you dare steal my spotlight, I’ll still kill you," Cavendish muttered, turning his head away. He caught sight of Ivalis’s left hand, now little more than nerves and bone, and fought back a wave of nausea. "Hey... you alright?"

"Rookie, if you have time to worry about me, get back in fighting shape." Ivalis’s voice remained steady despite his mangled limb. "A second or third wave of explosions might be coming."

The survivors paled. Another explosion like that?

"Pacifistas, withdraw!" Aranea shouted from above. Of the fifty units she had brought, fewer than ten remained functional.

"Damn it! One Pacifista costs as much as a battleship! How am I supposed to explain this to Dr. Vegapunk?!" Aranea fumed as she rounded up the remnants.

In the distance, Jarram peered through a pair of binoculars. "The core executives of the Immortal Pirates are wounded. Because of Trafalgar Law, the rookies survived, but it looks like he can’t pull that stunt again."

"Except for Boa Hancock, everyone is injured. The captain of the Golden Hair Pirates, Ivalis, has essentially lost an arm. The tide is turning in our favor," Jarram said gleefully, lowering the binoculars.

Kong’s face was a mask of grim fury. The Immortal Pirates were hurt, but his own army had lost over ten thousand men in that blast. Kong had always despised such disregard for human life.

However, because Jarram and his knights were direct subordinates of the Government, Kong, who only commanded the three main branches, had no authority to stop him.

More importantly, the tactic had worked. Or had it?

"What’s Alucard’s status?"

That was Kong’s only concern. If Alucard had truly lost his immortality, that blast should have killed him.

Whoosh...

The blood pool formed into the shape of massive wings, sweeping away the lingering smoke and heat of the Dyna Stone explosion. The Government forces stiffened. Alucard stood exactly where he had been, showing none of the injuries sustained by Beckman or the others.

He was unscathed!

"Strapping Dyna Stones to your bellies or hiding them in your clothes for a suicide attack... a useful method, indeed." Alucard raised his right hand, and a spear slowly rose from the blood pool. It was Impaling Castle.

"Had I used the full version of the River of Death, I might actually be dead now," Alucard chuckled.

In a "Complete Form" of the River of Death, Alucard would have had to reabsorb millions of souls to regain his immortality, a time-consuming process. Had he been caught in the blast then, he would have died.

But because he had only released five souls, the recall was instantaneous. His immortality had returned before the blast hit.

The Government playing dirty was exactly what he had expected.

——————— 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over here ——— pa-tre-on.c-om/AlexandrusTL [remove the hyphen for normal access]