82. Finishing Blow!

Beldia drew back his sword and Izumi slowly fell to the ground. Blood slowly spurted from Izumi's stomach and back.

"Izumi!"

"Miyamura!"

Luffy and Kuroneko screamed as if they couldn't believe that Izumi was stabbed despite having an intangible body. What they didn't know before, Izumi actually didn't have time to activate his Devil Fruit power when he was trapped in the magic field.

"Huh? You're still alive? Then, let me finish you off."

Since the magic field only lasted a few seconds, Beldia immediately made a follow-up attack to finish off Izumi.

"Stop!"

Luffy, Kazuma, and Kuroneko simultaneously shouted for Beldia to stop, but Beldia didn't budge at all. His sword slashes had already been launched.

*Slash* *slash* *slash*

As soon as he finished attacking to end Izumi, the effect of the magic field wore off.

"It's already 4 seconds, huh?" Beldia muttered. His magic field only lasted for 4 seconds. Even so, the effect was incredibly powerful. Too bad, there were some shorts of cooldown.

Suddenly.

"Go blown away!"

Izumi was already in front of Beldia with the compressed air that had been created in the palm of his right hand. He threw it when it was at zero distance from the headless Beldia's neck. Then with the palm of his left hand, he created a gust of wind so that he could be thrown backward because his current condition didn't allow him to fight against Beldia.

*Boom* *clank* *clank* *stab* *stab*

It exploded and created a sphere surrounding Beldia. Clinks could also be heard as the thin, wind needles created after the explosion collided with the armor and simultaneously pierced Beldia's entire body from the inside.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh." Beldia screamed, either because he was in pain or annoyed that Izumi was still alive, or maybe both.

On the other hand, Kazuma immediately asked Aqua to heal Izumi as soon as Izumi was thrown in front of them. Aqua took out her wand, then the crystal on its tip shone brightly after Aqua cast a healing spell.

Izumi's wounds began to close at a rapid pace. Then, he started to open his eyes.

"Miyamura!"

"Izumi!"

"Ah, you guys. It's fine. I'm alright." Izumi waved his hand to ease their worries.

"How did you get a stab? Aren't you a wind human?" Kuroneko asked. Weirdly, Izumi could be stabbed since he had an intangible body.

"Wind human?" Aqua pondered after she heard what Kuroneko said.

Meanwhile, Izumi answered.

"I was careless. Never did I think that Beldia could slow down time. As a result, I was late in using my power. I was lucky enough not to be finished off with that one-hit attack just now."

Due to time being slowed down, Izumi did not have time to use his Devil Fruit power when Beldia's first attack was launched. Only after that, his Devil Fruit power activated so he was able to escape from Beldia's attack who wanted to finish him off. Even so, Izumi was quite badly injured.

Luckily, he had told Kazuma to ask Aqua to use healing magic in case something unexpected happened. If it's too late, Izumi might have met the goddess Eris in that realm.

Izumi stood up. He narrowed his eyes while looking at Beldia seriously. He could see that those small fries had been slain by Kuroneko's divine sword. However, the real problem lay in Beldia whose abilities were unknown.

"You guys should step back! We don't know yet how long that skill cooldown is. I will try to calculate it while fighting against him." Izumi said while gesturing to them to stop moving.

"But, you just—" Kuroneko was worried. It was the first time she had seen her acquaintance seriously injured before her eyes. And she didn't want that to happen again.

"Don't worry. This time, I will fight seriously from the start."

Izumi dashed forward to confront Beldia.

*Clank*

Their swords clashed. Beldia's expression was in disbelief now.

"How come you're still alive?" He was pretty sure he had cut Izumi's body over and over again. But surprisingly, Izumi was able to attack him after that.

"Hehe, I'll leave it to your imagination." Izumi just smirked in reply.

Beldia found Izumi's words annoying. So, he immediately launched an attack. Beldia thrust his sword into Izumi's head. However, Izumi only tilted his head to dodge.

Izumi didn't use his Devil Fruit power. However, he was full of concentration while activating Kenbunshoku Haki so he could predict what Beldia would do. After that, he counterattacked by slashing at Beldia's head which was held in his left hand.

"You fucker!" Beldia angrily shouted at Izumi when Beldia's head was targeted. He could only guard it with his body. Then, he slashed Izumi after Izumi's attack was repelled by his armor.

Izumi jumped backward in a somersault. After landing on the ground, he dashed forward to launch a thrust.

Beldia was pushed backward. However, Izumi didn't stop his assault.

*Clank* *clank* *clank*

The clash of metal clanged in everyone's ears. Izumi's movement was faster than Beldia's. However, because Beldia was undead and wearing armor, Izumi didn't know how to kill him unless he used Kuroneko's divine sword.

Suddenly, Beldia threw his head again.

"30 seconds." Izumi murmured.

The gigantic flame eye appeared, then created a magic field surrounding Izumi.

"Your life is mine now!" Beldia said in a hoarse voice.

Beldia confidently approached Izumi. Then released dozens of slashes to chop Izumi to pieces. Izumi's body was cut into pieces and fell to the ground slowly due to the slowing effect of time.

Apart from Luffy, Kuroneko, and Kazuma who didn't seem worried about Izumi's condition, the others were dumbfounded by Izumi being cut to pieces. They didn't even know how to fight Beldia because even someone as strong as Izumi could be defeated tragically.

However, Beldia frowned at that very moment.

"It's strange, his body is so easily cut like it was before as if his body was born to be easily cut off. Don't tell me…"

Beldia had an uneasy feeling. Too bad, when Beldia was about to attack again, his magic field had disappeared and Izumi had already disappeared from his position using his Devil Fruit power.

Beldia opened his eyes widely. Then, he used his hands to turn his head left and right to look for Izumi.

"Where are you looking for?" Izumi's voice was above him. But, Beldia couldn't even react before Izumi's attack landed on him.

Izumi's palm was above Beldia's neck. He created a violent wind through his palm and sent it into Beldia's body.

Izumi's attack tore apart Beldia's body from the inside which caused Beldia's limbs and body to be cut off.

"Y-you!! How were you still okay after I cut through your body?" Beldia shouted angrily at Izumi.

But, Izumi shrugged his shoulders.

"Aren't you the same?"

"Bullshit! I may not die. But you cut my limbs and body."

"Who cares." Izumi turned to Kuroneko and gestured to her to act.

Kuroneko stepped forward and started chanting while pointing her sword at the sky.

"O supreme conqueror of the sky, lightning thunder that incinerates even souls to ashes, ashes to nothingness, I beseech thee, let the collapse of thine origin manifest—"

"Lightning Descend!"

Sparks of light appeared on Kuroneko's sword, forming thunderbolts that imbued that sword.

Beldia felt goosebumps when he saw something coming out of Kuroneko's sword. He wanted to run away, but his condition was not possible at all. He couldn't even stand up.

Kuroneko swung her sword. Divine lightning instantly struck Beldia's entire body even though it had been cut into several pieces.

*Boom* *boom* *boom*

The sound of repeated explosions made everyone's ears ring.