Chapter 128: Next Time (1/2)

”He shed his skin.” Ed looked in disbelief at Mehen. For an instant, he believed that another serpent appeared out of thin air, but in reality, Mehen molted. Ed's disbelief came from the fact that the process that should have taken a long time was done in under a second. The skin lying on the ground was being burned by Amaterasu while Mehen was fine.

”I'm guessing the recuperation period will be short as well.” Indeed Mehen's body that should be weakened was now looking better than before. The scales that shined before were now glistening. However, it didn't look like Mehen could play with this technique as much as he wanted. Ed could feel that his QI dropped a lot compared to before.

This didn't mean that Mehen's assault was going to be any weaker. His strongest weapon was his gigantic body. The magic attacks and abilities supported him in battle and didn't deal a finishing blow. He was now using his surroundings to his advantage. He could maneuver easily in the sand, but to others, it disturbed their movement. He was now dodging faster than ever, as well as hitting stronger than ever. The only ones able to do any damage to him were Ed and Gobuta who had overwhelming raw power. Yet, even those attacks didn't do much.

”I guess you need a giant to fight a giant.” Ed activated one of his Manekyo Sharingan's abilities. He was suspended in the air while a glowing golden energy surrounded his body. First, a skeletal structure appeared. Afterward, it was clad in armor like flesh. Ed was able to activate his Susanoo to the greatest extent he could for now. He was able to invoke a humanoid Susanoo. He was also able to use his Ki to make a giant sword. Now with both legs and arms, Ed's Susanoo was the one doing the moving instead of Ed.

The two giants started duking it out. Mehen's size was still bigger than Ed's Susanoo, but that was only taking the whole body into consideration. Mehen used his head to deal physical blows, and Susanoo was big enough to stand taller than only his head. Adding on top of that Ed's mastery over the sword, he was able to deal multiple damaging hits to Mehen.

Mehen had to focus his entire attention on Ed's Susanoo. This gave the others the chance to deal severe damage to him. Given enough time, Ed's companions were all able to bypass the scales' toughness. Suika was finally able to melt the scales with her poison, while the others blew their way through them. Mehen was now in danger as his protective armor was about to get destroyed.

Mehen was hit hard by Raikou and Sieg who used a powerful attack, making him flinch. Ed immediately slashed with Susanoo's sword towards the neck. A slight black color was seen on the blade of the sword. Ed could only use this much Armament Haki in order not to get tired out very quickly.

Susanoo's sword connected with Mehen's scales and Ed felt it going through it. If things continued this way, he would be able to sever Mehen's neck. Yet, before Ed could finish the job, the sword stopped. It wasn't because of hesitation on Ed's part, or his inability to completely sever the head. It wasn't even due to some hidden protective armor that Mehen used. It was because the serpent's head was no longer there. In fact neither was his entire body.

Ed was able to see what had happened clearly this time. In one breath, Mehen's body quickly shrunk and fell to the ground. The once gigantic serpent that was hundreds of meters long now had a length of only five meters. Yet, due to his size shrinking, his body looked almost jet black, giving him a dangerous look.

Mehen, who was on the ground, lunged at Ed who was in the air. Ed used Susanoo's sword to block him, but he was surprised to see it break. To protect himself, Ed blocked with Susanoo's arms. As expected, the strongest armor was able to stop Mehen, albeit having some cracks.

”So you've taken things more seriously.”

”I had to,” Mehen answered Ed with a nonchalant attitude.

'It's a disadvantage to use Susanoo now.' Ed undid the Susanoo and fell to the ground as well. Using Susanoo against such a fast and strong opponent simply made him a bigger target. It was also siphoning his Ki at a fast rate.