Two figures crossed paths.
With a clang...
A segment of metal fell onto the ground, littered with broken stones, making a muffled sound.
Testom slowly lowered his head, and within his line of sight, that mechanical arm, still attached to half a jacket sleeve, was conspicuously in view. The smooth cut end did not bleed a single drop.
The grey-white artificial muscle fibers wrapped around the titanium skeleton, reflecting a unique luster under the firelight.
Why, after that kid opposite him picked up that ridiculous triangular military dagger, did everything change...
Why did the other's strength and speed suddenly surge several times over in that instant.
"Why!?"
This time, Testom's voice lacked the hunter's derisive sneer towards his prey; what was there was just disbelief.
Thump-thump, thump-thump, the surging heartbeat echoed from within Mu Fan.
At this moment, Mu Fan resembled a mutant more than Testom, yet Mu Fan did not answer his opponent's words but simply stopped spinning the triangular spear in his hand, holding it horizontally at his side.
"45 seconds," Mu Fan stated coolly.
"You pushed me..."
Pain, suppressed, lingered in his voice.
With a hiss, steam furiously surged around Testom's body once again, engulfing him in a white maelstrom.
In that moment, he seemed like a large machine running at full power. Mu Fan only heard the creaking and groaning emanating from within that white mist—the sound of twisting metal.
Mu Fan narrowed his eyes, his entire body hunched like a cheetah ready to pounce, his right hand gripping the triangular spear as he fiercely rubbed his fingers together, strong as eagle claws.
The triangular spear spun like an overdriven drill in Mu Fan's palm, its sharp point aimed directly ahead.
Boom!
Suddenly, the ground trembled heavily, and Mu Fan only felt a massive mecha charging at him with ferocious momentum.
The white maelstrom's currents rapidly fluctuated, but before it could change form, a gigantic fist, which had swollen to five times its size, tore through the mist and came hurtling towards him.
Then the mechanical face, its eyes insanely flickering with a red glow, followed.
Overload Strike—Meteor!
This was Testom's sui generis Wrecking Technique, a Super Heavy Strike carried out at the expense of bodily harm.
In that instant, Mu Fan's eyes sparkled sharply, muscles on his body rippled up, and he suddenly sprung forward.
Boom, a web-shaped depression appeared on the ground where Mu Fan had stood.
On his body, countless muscles bulged and swelled before eerily flattening.
In that instant, Mu Fan completed the transformation into a Steel Body.
Six Forms—Steel Body!
However, Testom could see none of these changes; all he could see were those cold, indifferent eyes suddenly divided by...
A thousand droplets of rain!
Wait, rain?
What was that?
The most potent Wrecking Technique of the Mohandas Inheritance Martial Arts, the Second Stage of Redemption Seven—"Thousand, Fierce, Rains!"
A breath he drew up from his belly was held by his steel-hardened muscles and then compressed bit by bit to his throat, ultimately erupting into an explosive burst of sound.
Shout!
His right arm, blurred into a phantom, thrust forward with force.
One could almost see the air warped around him, as if the strike pierced the sound barrier itself.
Riding the surge of a thousand raindrops, Mu Fan's leaping figure violently collided with Testom's charging figure, which resembled a terrifying mecha.
Ding ding ding...
A multitude of dense, crashing sounds resonated, eventually converging into one—
Bang!
Where the two figures clashed, the exploded air wave surged out for meters, yet Mu Fan's projected form was repelled at even greater speed.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
A series of intense collision sounds rang out.
One house, two houses, three...
Six residences, over twelve walls, were all shattered by Mu Fan's hurtling body.
Finally, after his feet plowed a deep trench in the ground, he stopped at the corner of a large building.
Boom... Amidst leaping flames, dust rose, and huge net-like cracks appeared on the wall.
Mu Fan's body was heavily lodged inside, his head hung low, his life or death uncertain.
At the other end of the long passageway created by Mu Fan's impact, Testom maintained his punching stance.
"Rat... you still not dead this time? Hehe, hehe... Ugh!"
He tried to retract his left arm but suddenly discovered that his body wasn't responding to his commands, and then the voice in his throat became abnormally hoarse.
When he tried to lift his head, he felt a stabbing pain in his chest that he hadn't experienced in a long time; it seemed that apart from his head, he couldn't move any muscles at all.
The moment he looked down, immense fear rose in his heart.
His body had dozens of holes going clean through, he could even feel the chill of the air passing through them, and at the very center of his chest, blood was gushing out.
That was the mark of his humanity, something he hadn't shed blood for in many years.
Seeing the fresh blood, his mind even went blank for a moment.
The triangular spear he had mocked was now deeply pierced through his chest, leaving only half of the military dagger visible.
"How is this... possible."
"Cough cough."
Cries of despair still reverberated in the distance, yet the sound of violent coughing was clear in his ears.
Mu Fan spit out a mouthful of blood, then, under Testom's incredulous gaze, he broke free from the wall.
Staggering with one hand over his chest, he walked toward Testom.
That ever detached gaze, the jade-white mask now flecked with blood stains, those chilling words made Testom feel as if his heart was soaking in ice water.
Why hadn't that kid's flesh been smashed to pulp!
Why!
"To live up to this moment... the thing I fear the least is... death."
The intense breath through the cold mask belied the calm terror of Mu Fan's words.
The staggering figure walked along the shattered passageway, like a War God returning from a bloody battle.
"Who do you think you are?"
"And who do you think I am?"
Mu Fan's figure drew nearer, stopping five meters in front of Testom, his lone-wolf eyes staring at Testom.
"Do you think this is the end... Hehe." Mu Fan stepped to within half a meter of Testom, looking at the half-exposed triangular spear in the other's chest.
He reached out his right hand, grasped it, and while the other's eyes were frozen in death and suppressed roars, he slowly drew out the triangular spear, now slightly deformed and twisted.
With a wrenching noise, blood gushed out.
"Ah! I will kill... you!" Testom's eyes were frighteningly red, his face grotesquely twisted with pain, which continually tormented his brain.
Fingers lightly twisted, the somewhat deformed spear strangely levitated onto Mu Fan's palm.
"I've even killed Solomon's Andumari... You think I'd be scared of you?"
"Starting with you, I will erase the Night Teeth Team... from this universe!"
The look in his eyes revealed an unprecedented bloodlust and ruthlessness, Mu Fan's blood-stained right hand raised high, then forcefully plunged down.
Testom's maniacal expression froze on his face.
The triangular spear pierced through the center of the forehead...
Passing through a once whole head, it pinned deeply into the ground with terrifying kinetic energy!
Brain matter, blood, spilled across the ground.
Time fell silent at that moment.
Mu Fan's knee that had been touching the ground gently lifted, his right hand slowly loosened its grip on the blood-printed triangular spear, then shook slightly as he touched his face and removed the jade-white mask.
Lifting his head, he looked up at the night sky, where stars adorned it, and the Fleet arrived belatedly.
...
A Patrol Ship hovered slowly in the high sky, but the soldiers inside were far from relaxed, all in a state of extreme busyness.
"Report, Major, a fire has been spotted near sector E10, should we investigate?"
"Lower the flight altitude, perform a detailed scan."
"Signs of life detected, ruins of a building found. Major, you need to see this!"
The observing soldier called out loudly. The Major hurried over, and when he saw the image captured by the high-altitude imager on the ground.
He clutched his mouth, trying hard not to vomit.
"My... God."