"Why do you look so astonished?" Gehrman asked calmly in the middle of his assault.
"I’m far slower now than I was in the past."
BOOOOM!!!
Gehrman intensified his attack, completely overwhelming Wesker, each strike releasing devastating waves of aura.
"At my peak... neither the Demon King nor my lord Nameless could even perceive my speed."
"In this regard... I stood above the entire world."
In a world filled with monsters and beings who had transcended all limits .. Agaroth, Nameless .. it was nearly impossible for any warrior, no matter how powerful, to surpass them in any field.
Yet Gehrman had surpassed them in at least one.
One crucial thing.
Speed.
That was what it meant to be Number One within the Shadow Sect.
Even now, far from his peak, Wesker could barely track him using the King’s Eye.
The Rank Four Demon abandoned any attempt to match Gehrman in speed .. it was pointless.
Instead, he chose raw destruction.
Manipulating waves, Wesker formed the gaping maw of a grotesque, filthy beast of colossal size, unleashing it directly from his body toward Gehrman.
The creature spanned hundreds of meters, devouring Gehrman in a single bite.
But the instant it did ..
The beast froze solid and shattered into countless pieces under the frost’s overwhelming power.
Gehrman escaped the attack’s range, but the moment he did, he found himself surrounded by thousands of dark stars that began to orbit him at Wesker’s command.
"If I can’t match your speed..." Wesker said with a bloodthirsty grin, spreading his arms,
"Then all I have to do is destroy everything."
The dark stars unleashed a torrential barrage of shadow projectiles, ripping apart the sky itself.
Gehrman immediately began dodging every single attack, moving at an inhuman pace.
"I’ve realized something, Gehrman!" Wesker shouted, tracking him through the dark stars.
"You may have borrowed power from somewhere to fight at this level again—but your body is still frail, isn’t it?"
Wesker’s grin widened.
"That’s why you’re dodging every attack... because your body can’t endure even a single additional hit from me!!"
He intensified his assault, having identified the Engineer’s weakness with terrifying speed.
Gehrman continued evading everything with impossible agility, while trying to close the distance between them.
"As expected of that filthy demon... He’s already figured it out."
Wesker was no ordinary opponent.
From that brief exchange alone—and from Gehrman’s constant evasion—he had already discerned the Engineer’s physical limitation.
The demon’s eyes truly saw too much.
"I borrowed immense power from Fulgor, allowing me to fight at a level close to my former self... but my vessel remains fragile."
Gehrman’s blue eyes gleamed as he locked onto Wesker.
"A single direct hit from him at full power would be enough to end me."
This was a completely unfair battle.
Gehrman had entered it at an absolute disadvantage.
The Rank Four Demon needed only one successful strike to end the fight instantly.
And unfortunately ..
Wesker had already realized that.
"This is a massive gamble you’ve chosen, Saint!" Wesker roared.
"You’re underestimating me, aren’t you?!"
He spread his arms to both sides, and the sky itself trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
"Do you really think you won’t get hit even once?! Who the hell do you think I am?!"
His face twisted into a nightmare as Wesker’s crimson eyes flared with murderous light.
"I will show you true hell."
From behind the demon’s back, a gate began to form.
A colossal, pitch-black gate emerged from nothingness.
The door opened as if by magic, and from within its depths came sounds straight from hell .. things that should never exist in this world.
Then, without any warning, hundreds .. no, thousands .. of filthy, viscous creatures stretched out from the gate, flooding the sky as they opened their maws in search of Gehrman.
"Supreme Art : Gate of the Sinners."
This was one of Wesker’s most powerful abilities .. a gate from which grotesque, nightmarish beings poured forth, creatures so horrific in form they could drive a sane mind to madness.
It was as if the end of the world had arrived.
Those repulsive entities spread endlessly, covering the entire sky.
Before the Engineer .. now little more than a single point in an infinite sea .. the monsters erupted from every direction, all lunging toward him at once.
Immediately, the blue-eyed man unleashed his power in return, striking back without hesitation.
And so the clash began.
Blood rained down upon the land.
Rain made not of water .. but of the filthy blood of monsters.
In mere seconds, Gehrman slaughtered an astonishing number of them, yet it was only a drop in the ocean.
The creatures continued to pour from the gate without end.
"These beasts are the manifestation of all those wretched souls who suffered and died at my hands over the countless years I’ve lived," Wesker declared coldly.
"Their negative emotions—their agony, hatred, resentment—all of it shaped them into these foul, twisted forms... hoping to take revenge on me."
"But despite everything, they were nothing more than fodder .. fuel for my gate!
The Gate of Hell, now overflowing with their cursed souls!
Ahahahahaha!!"
Wesker’s laughter echoed wildly through the sky, accompanied by the unified shrieks of the mutated horrors, as though the world itself were screaming its final moments.
Gehrman and Wesker became mere specks within that hellscape—nearly invisible amid an abyss that seemed endless.
This was the optimal technique in Wesker’s arsenal to deal with an opponent of overwhelming speed.
An attack that covered such an immense area that evasion was impossible.
And Gehrman could not afford to take even a single hit.
To ensure victory, Wesker had already prepared dozens of traps around himself .. just in case Gehrman managed to break through the tide of monsters by some means.
"Show me what you’ll do now, Gehrman!"
Even if Gehrman had regained a portion of his former strength, entering this battle while knowing a single mistake would mean death was a colossal gamble .. and his opponent was anything but weak.
Wesker currently held the advantage, and he intended to tighten the noose further as Gehrman slaughtered the creatures at a terrifying pace .. yet still not fast enough.
Observing from afar, Wesker noticed something strange.
He was extremely perceptive.
"That bastard... is he fighting using only his left hand?"
Thinking further, Wesker realized that since the battle began, Gehrman had attacked exclusively with one hand.
He had never used his right arm .. the one encircled by those clock-like rings.
Even the earlier storm of punches had all come from a single hand, appearing as thousands only due to his absurd speed.
Wesker would never overlook such a detail.
The King’s Eye had already captured it.
"What exactly is he planning...?"
The demon pondered .. when suddenly his attention was drawn elsewhere.
Far below, a colossal explosion erupted, shaking the world with overwhelming force.
The combined attack of father and son.
The strike that ended the life of the Tenth-Rank High Demon.
Staring downward, Wesker’s awareness drifted for a brief moment as he grasped what had just occurred.
"...Zibar."
The Tenth-Rank High Demon was dead.
He had fallen to Abraham and Frey.
Because Wesker could not see the fate entwined with Frey Starlight, he had never foreseen this outcome.
Zibar’s death stunned him.
It was the first time in ages that one of the Ten High Demons had perished.
And in those few precious seconds of shock ..
A man’s voice pulled Wesker back to reality.
"Do you truly think you have the luxury of watching other battlefields, Fourth-Rank Demon?"
Wesker spun around instantly.
Gehrman was right in front of him—despite having been far away just moments earlier.
"What—?!"
Wesker froze in disbelief.
All the monsters he had summoned were now suspended in midair, frozen in place, wrapped in strange rings bearing the same clock-like symbols.
It was as though time itself had stopped for them.
As for Gehrman ..
He raised his left hand, forming an immense mass of frost-fire that took the shape of a towering spear.
"High-Rank Demons are nothing more than creatures that can be killed at any moment," Gehrman said calmly.
"Just like any other being in this world. When the moment of truth arrives, you will fall just as flies and insects do."
"There is no difference between you and them."
"And your time..."
"...is near."
In a speed beyond perception, beyond sight ..
Gehrman hurled the spear with all his might.
The spear of frost tore through space itself before slamming into the gate from which the monsters emerged, obliterating it in a single strike.
The gate shattered into countless fragments, raining down around Wesker.
Once more, it was just the two of them.
Back at the starting point.
This time, Wesker’s smile vanished.
Veins bulged across his monstrous face, his features contorting into something even more terrifying.
He was furious.
"Playtime is over, Nameless’s lackey," Wesker growled, releasing his full aura at once.
"Here and now, I’ll kill you—and every last one of your followers."
Seeing the Fourth-Rank High Demon finally lose his composure ..
Gehrman laughed softly.
"You’ve finally lost your composure... it’s a sight that truly pleases me."he said calmly.
"A rare sight. One I greatly enjoy."
Gehrman’s body flared with power as well, ready to continue the fight.
"You will not win today, Wesker," he declared.
"I told you already."
"The end is near."
"Very near."