Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1027 The 72-Hour Purge III: The Burning Legion Descends!

Despite being on the defensive, the members of the terrorist mobile squad did not give up the fight.

The captain of the Glory Guard calmly commanded: "Spread out! Use the terrain to counterattack!"

However, the power of the Thread King still suppressed them; every time their chainsaws slashed into the air, they were entangled by the endless lines.

The players could only fight back while being forced to retreat.

Just then, the AV-9 airborne vehicle reappeared overhead, its powerful machine gun flashing in the air before it began strafing, accompanied by violent explosions, attempting to open a path for the team members.

But the Line Emperor smiled contemptuously, waved his hands, and the bullets and explosives that were flying were instantly turned by countless lines, completely losing their trajectory.

"Your firepower is nothing special."

The sky was as dark as ink, and the smoke of battle had not yet dissipated.

Just as the airborne vehicle group adjusted its formation and prepared to launch a second round of firepower, the Line King in the center of the battlefield finally revealed its true fangs.

He let out a low growl and suddenly spread his arms wide.

The ground cracked open, and a terrifying energy of rules erupted from his body—thousands upon thousands of hair-thin threads rose from the ground, gleaming like steel, dense as a forest, wrapped in jet-black armor color, forming a pair of enormous structures in the air comparable to the wings of a flamingo.

Those weren't wings, but... the judgment blades unfurled by Death.

"A thousand arrows pierce the heart, feathers strike the line!"

The moment the words fell.

A series of explosions suddenly rang out in the air. The pair of wings made of white lines flapped violently, and thousands of threads tore through the air like arrows, slashing down from the sky and turning into a terrifying rain of arrows that precisely locked onto the five hovering AV-9 air vehicles.

Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom—!
The deafening roar of flames and metal twisting filled the air as five heavily armored hovercars had their engines pierced and their electromagnetic cores shattered, causing them to crash into the flames like nailed steel coffins. Sparks flew as parts scattered, tumbling and disintegrating in the inferno like the carcasses of raptors that had fallen to the ground.

The surrounding air vibrated from the aftershocks of the explosion, and the smoke and the smell of blood filled the air.

But this calamity is far from over—

The Thread Emperor roared, his voice hoarse and strained like steel wire, sending shivers down the spine. With the reactivation of his power, he began to be corrupted by the fruit's rules!

His flesh and blood body rapidly transformed under the influence of the silk threads, his arms, neck, chest... turning into white lines inch by inch.

His skin was no longer human; his face gradually peeled away, transforming into a bizarre face woven from threads, with a sharp and abrupt bird beak in the center.

He... is no longer human.

He is the embodiment of lines, the rule of Miko, and a distorted projection of madness, assimilation, and defiance of the [Black Wall].

Filth, evil, distortion, chaos...

These are all the auras emanating from the Emperor at this moment.

His aura could no longer be described as combat power; it was simply pollution.

The very next second after this bizarre turn of events, a system notification popped up in the tactical communication channels of all wolfpack units:
【warn--】

[Identification ID: LV4 - High-Level Ability User]

[Characteristics: Capable of strategic-level destructive power, able to alter local environments or counter large-scale enemies!]

[The target has been corrupted by the "roaming rule system," its individual personality has perished, and its current behavior is dominated by abnormal logic!!!]

[Status Assessment: The black wall has been breached, and the region is currently assimilating environmental parameters on a large scale.]

[Warning: There is a risk that this individual may break through from LV4 to LV5 superpower level!!!]

As the system notification popped up, an entire company of the [Terrorist Mobile Platoon] and the fully formed [Honor Guard] completed their final assembly.

One hundred and ten "Sons of the Wolf Pack" stood in full armor, surrounding the twisted, alien-like Line Emperor in the center.

They wore heavy anti-Memite tactical armor, their figures like steel giants. The [Twilight Mantis Chainsaw Blades] on their arms were fully activated, their buzzing sounds rising and falling, shaking the ground. With each step they took, the ground was crushed and collapsed, as if they were walking into a grave.

No one spoke.

At this moment, only killing intent filled the battlefield—

The white-lined emperor standing in the center tilted his head slightly, his bird-beak face outlined by the lines looking at the beings trying to surround him.

He laughed—a laugh that didn't belong to a human, but rather seemed like the product of some abyssal creature mimicking human expressions with lines, extremely eerie.

His body was surrounded by swirling lines, like a vortex constructed of rules.

The Thread Emperor stood in the center of the half-destroyed, fissured plaza, his tall, twisted figure draped in layers of crisscrossing threads. These were not clothes, but the very rules that constituted his physical body. His face had been completely distorted, a bizarre smile appearing on his beak-like, thread-stitched face.

He opened his arms as if embracing the bloody frenzy of the battlefield, and laughed loudly. The laughter was dry, mechanical, and grating, like a misaligned audio track from a ripped cassette tape being played back.

"Power... I can feel it! More lines... more dominance... I will become the ruler of this city!"

He abruptly lowered his head, scanning the wolf pack's formation. His eyes were filled with a chaotic, freakish gaze, and his tone was one of disdain and madness.
"Could Hugh Abraham have done it?"

"He can't do it! I can!"

"Today I will turn this city into a woven curtain... and make all of you... my puppets!!"

He stomped his foot on the ground, unleashing his devastating Devil Fruit power once more.

【Rule Fragments & Environmental Assimilation: White Waves of the Sea】

In an instant, the earth vanished.

Instead, an ocean of lines appeared—twisted waves, indistinguishable as solid or liquid, surging in like the tide. The white wave of lines swept all around, and the sound of space being torn apart continued unabated.

The entire war zone began to sink! The world beneath our feet was no longer reliable.

"All retreat! Small formation! Maintain the Black Wall Protocol barrier!" The wolf pack company commander roared, and the orders thundered like bullets in the tactical communication channel.

A dozen or so members of the terrorist mobile squad quickly activated their protective gear. The pressurization units on their backs emitted a deep roar, and the Twilight Mantis chainsaws on their arms were activated simultaneously, their teeth spinning rapidly and scattering a faint light.

The chainsaw and heavy boots clashed against the ground, forming an unbreakable heavy impact line.

Three heavily armed members led the charge, dragging chainsaws that shimmered with sparks. Just as they were about to be swallowed by the wave of lines, they leaped into the air and crashed heavily into the white line wave in front of them!
"Bite him down! Hold him down!"

The suppressors at the rear unleashed a barrage of fully automatic rifle fire, raining down bullets. However, all the bullets were instantly absorbed, cut, and decomposed upon contact with the surface of the "Sea of ​​Lines." This area itself had become a shattered vortex of rules, devouring all physical attacks.

"Conventional firepower ineffective! Switch to chaff!" A squad leader quickly adjusted the weapon parameters.

"Unable to pinpoint the target! Line of sight interference and automatic ballistic calibration system!"

"Continue the suppression! Honor Guard, prepare for the assault!"

In the communication channel, a system notification popped up coldly:
[WARNING! The current area has entered an "irregular stability zone"!]

[Line King - Construction Level: LV4 / Out of Control]

[Note: Its abilities have exceeded the logic of the original Devil Fruit and are now projecting assimilative pollution outwards.]

Gunshots, explosions, roars, and the buzzing of chainsaws mingled with the thunderous waves of the "ocean of lines," creating a frenzied symphony composed by the battlefield itself.

The Honor Guard—an elite squad of five—slowly emerged from behind cover.

They stepped into the ocean of lines, and with each step of their boots, the ground trembled and the lines scattered and twisted.

"Target confirmed."

"The Black Wall Protocol suppresses the field frequency."

"The chainsaw unfolds."

They were like five black whirlwinds, instantly rushing diagonally into the center of the battlefield!

Directly in front of them, the mutated being spread out its countless white lines, like wings, like a white bird perched on death.

“Come on.” He laughed, his voice like a shriek after hundreds of steel wires had been torn apart.

The first member of the Glory Guard rushed in front of him and slashed with a chainsaw.

however--

Snapped!
A thick thread, as thick as an arm, shot out from the ground, blocking the slash. Then it suddenly wrapped around the teeth of the chainsaw, pulling it backward and throwing the man and weapon three meters backward!
"Scatter!" the second man shouted, and the two men on the left flank immediately flanked the enemy.

"Conduct a cutting test!"

The member on the left activated his knee thruster, slid across with one knee, and swept his chainsaw with a backhand upward motion—severing more than ten white lines at once! But the next second, the severed lines reassembled in mid-air, intertwining once more, transforming into sharp "thread spears" that suddenly stabbed towards him!
Ding!
The third member blocked with his shield, and the line spear struck the shield, creating a violent explosion of sparks. The entire EVE alloy shield cracked from the impact.

"He can control the remaining wires after cutting and has the ability to reconstruct them!" the fourth person reported in a deep voice.

But the Glory Guard is no ordinary terrorist mobile squad. They are the strongest elite troops, personally selected and surgically enhanced to eight layers of structure by the First Son.

They will not back down!
"Lure him to unleash his area-of-effect attacks, then we'll focus our attack on his core!"

"Prepare the turbulence field—three, two, one!"

The five-man captain leaped up and fired an [EVE Magnetic Storm Interference Bomb]. The electromagnetic waves surged and the shockwave distorted the air—in an instant, a vacuum patch was torn out of the "line domain" formed around the Line Emperor!
"It's now--!"

The other four pounced like ferocious beasts, their chainsaws simultaneously piercing the gap, slashing down from both directions in a cross pattern!

The light in the Emperor's eyes suddenly exploded.

"You bunch of—damned hounds!" he roared, swinging his arm and instantly transforming his body into a core of countless lines, like a giant cannon of war being launched in a spiral, spinning upwards, with the surrounding lines surging layer upon layer!
boom--! !

Sparks, broken wires, impacts, and the sound of metal tearing exploded dozens of times in just three seconds.

The five-man squad of the Glory Guard was blasted out of the battle and rolled around in a sorry state.

The Thread Emperor stood in the center of the "Ocean of Threads," his body contorted, his beak trembling violently. "You all must die...you scum—all of you, go, die!!!"

Transparent lines floated in the air.

One by one, they are born from nothingness, spreading silently from the ground, walls, buildings, and steel beams, like spider silk emerging from the depths of hell, carrying an extremely dangerous stillness.

His face, which had been distorted and corrupted by the rules, suddenly cracked open, and the bird's beak sewn with white thread burst open, with a thick white line shooting upwards through the sky!

then.

Crack, crack, crack, crack——!!

Countless threads descended from the sky, like divine decrees descending upon the mortal realm. Each one was as thick as a human leg, its surface faintly shimmering with the mark of "assimilation," carrying the vibrational fluctuations of an armed will level.

In an instant, these white lines spread out in a fan shape, instantly covering the entire combat zone.

【Birdcage】—Start.

The entire battlefield was like being trapped in a hellish prison made of twisted rules.

White lines crisscrossed, completely obscuring the sky, like a supernatural, surreal net pressing down. They intertwined, tangled, and reconstructed, weaving a giant silken dome in the air, firmly locking away everyone's escape route.

The next second—the birdcage began to slowly close.

“Alert! Alert!!”

At the same time, a sharp mechanical sound rang in the ears of all members of the terrorist mobile squad.

[Horizon Genealogy Hint]

[Target: Devil Fruit user "String Emperor"]

[Rating: LV5 / Borderline of Rules / Exceeded Assimilation Threshold]

[Status Report: Entered "Rule Rewriting Level Mode," its ability is modifying the current region's reality parameters—]

[The Fluid Rule Entity is completely possessing the ability users!!!]

This entity is capable of single-handedly confronting an entire battle group and has the ability to completely suppress regional forces. Do not attempt a single-target attack!

The buzzing continues! Warnings are issued repeatedly!
But it's too late.

The birdcage's threads began to tighten violently, cutting through everything around them. Buildings were flattened like blocks of tofu, concrete flew everywhere, and steel bars exploded. The buildings on both sides of the street collapsed in an instant, as if being peeled away layer by layer by an invisible anvil.

"What is this... what the hell is this! Back off!!"

"My communications are blocked! All signals are cut off!"

The ground trembled, buildings collapsed, and the air was filled with the smells of rust, burning, and the growing stench of death.

More than a hundred members of the Terrorist Mobile Squad and the Honor Guard are trapped in a birdcage, caught in a tightening trap of rules.

And the Line Emperor stood at the core like a god.

He threw his head back and laughed wildly, his face contorted with madness, his voice carrying a distorted, shrill tone that defied human frequency.
"Power, an endless source of power!!!"

On the battlefield, death is slowly closing in.

The white cage constructed of silk threads, like a cutting wheel between heaven and earth, is slowly devouring this area.

At this moment, the soldiers of the Terrorist Mobile Company had rushed to the edge of the birdcage.

They did not back down.

A whole platoon of wolf cubs, treading on sparks and scorched earth, were putting up a tough fight against the shrinking net of lines in the sky.

"Crack-crack—crunch-crunch—"

They used their over two-meter-tall armored bodies to withstand the high-frequency vibrating cutting lines, which were like high-speed rotating meat grinders, shredding any steel they touched.

These soldiers were like pushing against a moving, deadly wall.

They gritted their teeth, their legs gripping the ground, their heavy boots scraping against the earth, sending up bursts of iron filings and sparks, accompanied by shockwaves and roars, tearing open gaps for breath in the deadly landscape.

The growth period left for wolf pack forces is still too short.

The vast majority of them have only completed five of the Sacred Forging Surgeries and have not yet reached the complete "Horizontal Sacred Body" state. Each Sacred Forging Surgery is a breakthrough to the limits of both body and spirit. Only those Wolf Pack Sons who have completed nineteen of the surgeries are the ultimate soldiers who can truly "confront the Rule-based Body".

Now, they still need fourteen more surgeries, countless more evolutions, and so much more...

If we could give them some more time.

If they can delay for a few more months, their bones will be able to withstand the eighth and ninth surgical modifications; their brains will be able to synchronize with their neural hosts; they will no longer be warriors, but a true "legion".

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" on the battlefield.

"呲呲呲——"

The boundless white lines began to accelerate, contracting, cutting, and roaring, as if the world itself was being peeled away, stripped into a sheet of pure white lines.

Blood and sparks flew everywhere, and some of the warriors' armor had been torn open, but they still did not retreat an inch.

They shouted, tearing the silence apart:
"For the sake of the son who returns home!!"

"For His Majesty Abraham!!"

"For the horizon—!!"

Those shouts echoed through the birdcage and resounded through the sky.

Flesh and blood against the power of rules.

This scene was undoubtedly tragic; without a miracle, they might all have perished here today.

"Give up the resistance!" The Line Emperor sneered at the wolf pack, shouting, "Unless a miracle happens, you have no chance against us..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence and looked up sharply at the sky above Far East City.

Just as the boundless white line rapidly contracted like a sharp cage, and the air was about to be shredded—the sky burst into flames.

Yes, literally, it burned.

It started as a tiny flame, flickering high in the sky.

Then came a deep rumble, like something awakening in the flames.

Immediately afterwards—flames tore through the clouds, like divine punishment descending!
"boom!!!"

Large swaths of crimson fire rained down from the sky, flames swept across the ground, and the entire fissure market was thrown into the throat of the volcano.

The ocean of threads controlled by the Thread King was instantly ignited, and the fine white threads twisted, charred, and exploded one by one in the intense heat.

Flames are devouring the rules.

This is no ordinary fire; it is an abnormal entity capable of polluting reality and devouring structures.

The white lines are burning, the buildings are burning, the air is burning, and even the structure of the "birdcage" begins to twist and collapse.

The Emperor's laughter abruptly stopped. He looked up, and his eyes reflected a hellish scene:
Flames descended from the sky, and burning human figures swooped down from the sea of ​​fire on the horizon.

They are not human.

They are—the Flame Demons.

Its body is made of pure flame, and its shape resembles the burnt remains of a human. It is scorching hot all over, with flames constantly erupting from its joints, eye sockets, and chest cavity. The arrival of each fire demon will trigger a small-scale explosion.

They didn't roar or howl; only the roar of flames spoke for them. It was the high temperature's declaration to the world: only by burning everything can new life be born.

One of Xia Xiu's spiritual legions, composed of the Undying Candle and the Balrog—an inextinguishable burning legion.

They possess:

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Properties of an inextinguishable candle:
I. An inextinguishable flame:
The flame can be extinguished by blowing on it, pouring water on it, or completely immersing it in water, but it will reignite immediately once the disturbance is stopped. Even in the absence of air (a vacuum) or in extremely cold environments, the flame will continue to burn.

II. The Everlasting Flame:

If the flame of an inextinguishable candle ignites other things (such as paper or wood), those things will also become fuel for the "everlasting flame." This is another anomalous mechanism.

This flame, once separated from the candle, will not stop burning even if you pour water on it, spray it with a fire extinguisher, or even cover it with flame-retardant material; it will continue to burn until all the fuel is burned out.

Balrog's main characteristics:
I. Morphological changes:
In its most basic form, the Balrog is merely a small flame, resembling a lit match.

As it acquires more fuel, its size and intelligence increase, eventually forming a humanoid shape made of flames.

II. Intelligent Enhancement:

The intelligence of a Balrog is directly proportional to its size and the amount of fuel it consumes.

When it reaches a certain scale, it will exhibit complex behaviors, such as using flames to burn words on walls to communicate, or using high-temperature, high-pressure air and the sound of flames to "speak".

III. Self-replication:

When the size and fuel quantity of the Balrog reach a certain unknown threshold, it will split into two new individuals. If there is enough fuel, it can "split" again after it grows larger, creating more fire monsters and eventually forming a legion of fire monsters.

However, these individuals are hostile to each other and often attempt to eliminate one another, especially when fuel is limited.

-

At this moment, the Burning Legion descended.