Chapter 9 - The Villains of Eternal Hell
"Magellan, you're overestimating yourself. If your poison didn't work, you'd be just a useless sack of gas."
"Too bad for you, my poison does work. Which means—you're already dead. Poison Channel!"
In the next instant, torrents of venom burst from Magellan's body, racing along the ground like a river, directly toward Nathan.
But Nathan was ready. He activated the [Chiyo] character card instantly.
Ding! Host has successfully used the [Chiyo] character card. Possession uses remaining: -1.
With the system's alert still echoing in his mind, Nathan launched himself backward over ten meters in a flash, narrowly dodging the rushing poison.
However, even though the toxic sludge didn't hit him directly, it quickly spread through the air, forming a thick, suffocating wall of poison.
"A wall of gas, huh?" Nathan muttered.
"Let's see how long you can run. Poison Pufferfish!"
Magellan opened his massive mouth and spewed a barrage of toxic spheres.
The poisonous orbs shot through the haze and surged toward Nathan like missiles.
He knew—if those orbs detonated anywhere close to him, even with his current puppet-body state, the toxins could invade and corrode everything.
"White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Parade of Chikamatsu!"
With a swift chant, ten chakra threads launched from Nathan's fingertips, connecting to ten cloaked puppet warriors, each wielding a unique weapon.
These were the legendary works of Monzaemon, the originator of puppet techniques—the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets.
With a twitch of his fingers, the puppets lunged forward, intercepting the incoming orbs mid-flight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The puppet weapons slashed and blocked the poison orbs, neutralizing them before they could explode near Nathan.
As the purple gas dispersed into the air once more, Magellan's face darkened.
"Hmph… Didn't think you had this much skill. Fine, then let's see you dodge this—Poison Dragon Summon!"
From his body erupted three massive serpentine beasts—dragons composed entirely of writhing venom, hissing and surging toward Nathan like nightmares made flesh.
Nathan narrowed his eyes. It was time to bring out his own ultimate technique.
"Let's see whose dragon wins! Puppet Technique: Sanbō Kyūkai! (Three Buddhist Treasures Vacuum Smash!)"
Three of the puppets leapt into position, one climbing atop the shoulders of the other two.
As the poison dragons approached, the trio extended their arms, generating a powerful vacuum vortex.
The vortex spun rapidly, absorbing everything in its path—air, poison, energy—compressing it into a singular point, then firing it back with incredible force.
The three poison dragons were sucked into the vortex and reduced to a cloud of dense gas—then shot straight back at Magellan.
Although he wasn't harmed by his own poison, Magellan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Never had anyone returned his most devastating technique to him.
Nathan didn't waste the opportunity. He knew if he hesitated, the poison cloud would swallow him whole.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed all ten puppets forward, charging toward Magellan in a full assault.
—
Meanwhile, at the lowest level of Impel Down—Level Six: Eternal Hell—
Domino stood before a pitch-black cell door.
Her heart pounded, her fingers trembling as they gripped the sweat-slicked key.
This place was unlike any other floor above. The air was suffocating, the silence terrifying.
Here, only the worst of the worst were held—monsters deemed too dangerous to exist.
Every cell housed either a death-row inmate or someone condemned to lifelong imprisonment.
Most of them had committed atrocities so horrific, the World Government erased their records from history. Not even newspapers dared mention their names.
Even Domino, a senior officer of Impel Down, felt intense pressure just standing here.
"Domino… something major must've happened upstairs, huh?"
A calm voice echoed from deep within the darkness.
It was the man in the cell—Shiryu of the Rain.
"We need you now, Shiryu," Domino said, voice heavy.
"Judging by your tone, it sounds like all hell's broken loose. But now I'm curious…
Who exactly is powerful enough to threaten our dear Warden Magellan?"
"A common inmate from Crimson Hell. No one knows how, but he's already defeated Saldeath, Sphinx, Sadie… even Vice Warden Hannyabal. Magellan is most likely confronting him now on Level Four."
Shiryu chuckled.
"Fascinating… I never thought I'd live to see the day someone actually tries to escape this place."
Just then, another voice echoed from the adjacent cell—a sharp, mocking woman's voice.
If Nathan were present, he would have seen a heavily made-up woman with bizarre clothing and a tall, pointed nose—Catarina Devon.
"Catarina, you'll never leave this place alive!" Domino snapped back.
"Oh darling," Devon purred, "worry about yourself first. That little hero of yours is almost here…"
"No need to wait. He's already arrived."
Shiryu stepped forward from the shadows, now standing in front of his cell door.
His sudden appearance made Domino instinctively flinch in fear.