“That’s…”

  “An isnd cloud? And it’s… smiling?”

  “What 'is' that thing?”

  “Wait—that’s the ‘God,’ along with the Priest and the members of God’s Army…”

  “Heavens, have they been killed?”

  “Damn it, what are these people pnning?”

  That afternoon, uhe fearful gazes of tless onlookers, the massive Atntis desded from the sky. In shod ahe residents saw the bodies of Angel Isnd’s God, Priest, and God’s Army dispyed, hanging in pin view.

  “Swish… swish…” A regiment of thousands of Homies-armored soldiers moved in synized formation, stepping onto the soil of Angel Isnd. Among them, hundreds of angelic robots—retly built by the Fallen Angel Pirates’ stist Ryan and brought to life by Gerd’s soul power—flew above, wielding swords, spears, and guns, each with wings on their backs. The sight created an immense sense of dread, leaving the isnd’s patrol guards pale and shivering with cold sweat, too terrified to resist.

  “People of Angel Isnd…” Gerd’s voied through the air, amplifying her words across the isnd. “There is no need for panic. We mean you no harm. Cooperate peacefully, and there will be no unnecessary bloodshed.”

  “For now, everyone is to gather at the coastline immediately!”

  Before long, despite some initial chae crowds of Angel Isnd’s residents, filled with both terror and e over the death of their ‘God,’ had no choice but to gather together, helpless and visibly distressed.

  “Whoosh—”

  With bck wings spread wide and a bzing aura radiating from his back, El’s t figure appeared in the sky. His preseuhe crowd, filling the thousands of Angel Isnd residents below with overwhelming pressure.

  Looking down at the people of Angel Isnd, El spoke in a calm, anding tone: “From this moment, I decre that God’s Isnd shall officially return to the Shandian tribe. If Angel Isnd attempts any further invasion, you will be treated as enemies of the Fallen Angel Pirates.”

  “Damn it—”

  “Pirates, you fet it!!”

  “God’s Isnd, Upper Yard, was a gift from the heavens!”

  “What right do you have to give it back to the Shandians?”

  “We will never surrender!!”

  Upon hearing his words, several Angel Isnd residents, those who saw themselves as brave, ched their fists and gred in fury, while others shouted in defiance.

  “For over three hundred years, your so-called ‘God’ shamelessly ihe Shandians’ homend, driving them out to take Upper Yard for himself. The warriors of Angel Isnd fought tless battles with the Shandians, sacrifig endless lives….”

  El’s voice was impassive as he tinued, “Yet in the end, only the so-called ‘God’ was ever allowed to live there, forbidding anyone else from eveing foot on that nd. Any attempt to take even a handful of soil would be met with severe punishment.”

  “You’ve sacrificed and bled feions to cim that nd, paying a tremendous cost, yet for you ordinary citizens, it has always been utterly meaningless!”

  Hearing El’s words, a number of the female residents fell silent. They all yearned for nd, but indeed, apart from the God, Priest, and God’s Army, none of them had ever been allowed to step foot on Upper Yard. Even gathering a small handful of soil from there had been strictly prohibited, and anyone who dared would face harsh punishment.

  For tless years, warriors had shed blood and sacrificed their lives for this nd, yet only the high and mighty ‘God’ was deemed worthy to possess and enjoy it. Many had harbored rese for a long time, though they had never dared to voice it aloud, only muttering pints i.

  Of course, there were still many who were indignant, furious, and utterly unwilling to accept it. Yet, uhe terrifyingly overwhelming presence of the newers, they didn’t dare voice their objes.

  “But ultimately, none of that matters….”

  Seeing through the thoughts of the Angel Isnd residents, El’s face remained posed. “I didn’t e here to reason with you, nor to persuade you to surrender.”

  With that, uhe eyes of tless Angel Isnd residents—some filled with awe, others with anger, hatred, fear, or ay—he rose into the air aended his right hand. “Fme—”

  “Crackle, crackle…”

  A fme burst into life, growing rger and rger, dist the very air around it.

  “Whoosh… whoosh…” Rolling waves of intense heat radiated outward, as the residents looked on in horror and disbelief. The fme took the shape of an enormous fireball, over a thousaers in diameter, resembling a miniature sun, illuminating the entire sky in a fiery red glow as it rested in El’s hand.

  The sight left them breathless, their skin tingling with fear.

  “Sizzle… sizzle…”

  The intense heat emanating from El’s “sun” tio evaporate the surrounding clouds, creating an unbearably hot atmosphere. Although El had deliberately flown to a height far enough away from the crowd below, the very grouh them—the cloud isnd itself—began to soften, almost as if it were about to dissolve entirely. The residents staggered in panic, feeling as though they were about to fall.

  “Unbelievable…”

  Standing ontis, the Shandian warrior Leo looked up at the god-like figure of El holding the bzing sun aloft. Shocked to his core, he couldn’t help but gasp, “So… this is the power of El-sama?”

  He could hardly prehend that anyone, even a Lunarian like El, could wield such immense power.

  “A walking camity…” murmured Dr. Kureha as she looked up at the radiant, terrifying sphere of fme high in the sky. She marveled, “If he ever lost trol, he would truly be a disaster upon the seas!”

  “Indeed…” Tsuru was equally astonished. She had always known El was formidable, but never imagined he could unleash something of this magnitude so effortlessly. Such a massive fireball could easily annihite a small isnd or town, redug it to nothing.

  “Amazing…”

  “What kind of power is this?”

  “El-sama is truly incredible!”

  “He’s practically a god…”

  For the newers—Baka, Rufe, Sak, Tom, and Mad—the sight was beyond words. Could a human even aplish something like this?

  “Ma-ma-ma-ma, you’ve only seen a fra of his strength!”

  “El is destio bee King of the World!”

  “What you’re seeing isn’t even his full power…”

  With worshipful gazes, the senior members of the Fallen Angel Pirates—Linlin, Nef, Moss, Rock, Stussy, and Gerd—looked at El’s t figure with pride and reverehey knew better than ahe sheer extent of his might.

  ‘Whoosh… whoosh…’

  In the moment, before everyone’s astonished eyes, El threw the enormous fireball into the distant White Sea. It plummeted with devastating force.

  ‘BOOOOM!’

  The impact was deafening, shaking not only the “sea” but even causing Angel Isnd itself to tremble. The isnd’s residents staggered, pale with fear, as their world seemed on the brink of colpse.

  Fmes and thick smoke filled the sky as a massive crater, several kilometers wide and unimaginably deep, opened up where the fireball had he clouds and sea in that area had pletely evaporated, leaving an immense bck void.

  “No way…”

  “What kind of power is this?”

  “This has to be a nightmare!”

  “The White Sea evaporated like it was nothing…”

  “If that had hit Angel Isnd…”

  “It’s like fag a god…”

  Watg this terrifying se unfold, every resident of Angel Isnd gaped in utter disbelief. They trembled with fear, cold sweat running down their faces. If that devastating force had strugel Isnd, it would have been an unimagiastrophe.

  “This was just a small warning. I am not asking for your sent but a courteous warning…”

  El’s imposing figure desded from the sky, his gaze pierg as he addressed the residents below with an icy tone. “We will indeed be leaving soon, but we will tio stay in tact with the Shandian people and will even send people here periodically.”

  “Should I discover that Angel Isnd has dared to invade God’s Isnd, Upper Yard, or initiate any attack against the Shandian tribe…”

  “Then Angel Isnd will have no reason to tiing.”

  Bleam