Mutreph was enraged. Since the arrival of the Satsujin Otoko, he no longer controlled the situation. Uncertainty absorbed him so much that he no longer knew what he was doing. He threw himself at Bakuzan to settle it, but Sakolomé intercepted him in mid-charge and violently struck his head. Mutreph's decaying body exploded on the impact.
— Yuck!
Then the flesh liquefied and reconstituted itself in the solidified form, even more massive.
— You, stop annoying me!
He ran toward Sakolomé and struck with his metallic fist, which had become gigantic, the size of a front door. Sakolomé did not move. He too opposed a punch, and Mutreph's broke with an atrocious metallic screech. Mutreph's anger grew.
— How? How can he do that? In my solidified form, my body is harder than steel!
His broken arm regenerated. He joined his two fists to pin Sakolomé to the ground, but Bakuran interrupted him, attacking him with greenish flames that slightly disintegrated his metallic body. Mutreph turned toward him and charged.
— You, you filthy little brat, you're not going to understand what hits you!
He struck. Bakuran was neither frightened nor intimidated by it. He stretched out his right hand and stopped Mutreph's enormous fist as if nothing were the matter.
— What?
Bakuran smiled.
— You thought my only asset was magic, admit it!
He leapt and delivered a powerful kick to his belly, which propelled Mutreph more than seventeen meters away.
— Very well! Massive dematerialization!
Mutreph's body liquefied.
— What is he trying to do now? asked Sakolomé.
Mutreph was now entirely liquid.
— I can combine my skills. Dematerialization, with the metamorphosis that allows me to modify my size. You won't get out of this!
At that instant, his body increased in volume and grew.
— I'm going to devour you all!
Everything around him was absorbed.
— Killer freeze!
Bakuran froze Mutreph entirely, but at once the ice broke, and Mutreph continued to grow while swallowing everything around him. The Satsujin Otoko rose into the air. The humanoid mutants, for their part, were incapable of it, and they began to run to escape Mutreph.
Zeltania looked up at the sky.
— Do you plan to abandon us like that? That's really unfair!
Bakuzan sighed.
— What a pain!
— I'm going to use a Killer punch, and we'll see the result! said Sakolomé.
— No, drop it. I'll take care of Mutreph.
— If you think I'm going to leave him to you!
— Uh, guys, he's still growing, in case you hadn't noticed, intervened Bakuran.
Bakuzan looked at Sakolomé.
— Fine, Sakolomé: rock, paper, scissors. The winner takes care of Mutreph.
Sakolomé nodded and placed himself opposite him. They took position, then:
— Rock, paper, scissors!
Sakolomé had played paper, Bakuzan, scissors.
— Ha ha! I won! You're really a big loser, Sakolomé!
— Pff, you just got lucky, that's all.
Bakuzan turned toward Mutreph.
— Just the two of us, you enormous growing scum.
He stretched out his hand, and a mass of aura similar to blue flames escaped from it to envelop Mutreph. As he grew, Mutreph touched this mass, which burned him and interrupted his feast.
— What? In my dematerialized form, I feel pain? No… I'm dreaming, it's impossible!
Bakuzan charged like an arrow and struck Mutreph, in his liquid form, with a punch saturated with mana aura. Mutreph took it, shaken in every direction, and felt an even sharper pain.
— How… how is this possible?
He lost his size and resumed his normal form. It was clear he was not doing well: he no longer stood as he should have. Bakuzan looked at him from the ground.
— You… how did you do it? How?
— I thought your dematerialized form was also a reset. Yet you don't seem to be doing very well.
— Don't mock me! Solidification!
Mutreph became a metallic body and charged at Bakuzan. He chained kicks and punches, but despite all his efforts, he could not manage to hit Bakuzan, who dodged with great agility.
— Is that all you can do?
Bakuzan seized Mutreph's arm and struck him on the ribs. Mutreph's metallic body broke. Then he struck him in the belly, in the head, and broke his leg with a kick. Mutreph was projected into the air and fell back to the ground, defeated. He then lost his metallic form.
The young humanoid mutants, as well as Bakuran and Sakolomé, had returned and were watching the scene.
Mutreph liquefied the parts broken by Bakuzan's blows, to repair them. But despite that, he noted that he was no longer as effective: after the dematerialization, his damage was only repaired to eight percent, and not to one hundred. He could not believe his eyes, and wondered what Bakuzan could possibly have done to him.
He stood up, disoriented, and charged Bakuzan all the same.
— You, you wretched little Satsujin Otoko, who do you think you are?
He attacked blow after blow, but Bakuzan dodged with too much ease. Mutreph felt humiliated, and fear began to overtake him. He lost all control and began to cry, before the stunned humanoid mutants.
— Why… sniff… why is it so… sniff… so difficult? Why?
Bakuzan paid no attention to his distress. He struck him in the belly, chained countless punches and kicks, then finished with a roundhouse kick. Mutreph collapsed flat on his stomach. The sewn parts of his body detached slightly, and blood flowed from them. His forehead touched the ground: he was trying to hide his face, filled with humiliation.
— M… mm… mama, he murmured, what do you think of me? It looks like I'm going to join you soon… That monster of a father is decidedly lucky…
He raised his head and saw Bakuzan in front of him, standing, looking down at him. Behind Bakuzan, he spotted the young humanoid mutants and the two other Satsujin Otoko. He plunged his gaze into Bakuzan's, and saw only emptiness there: not a glimmer of compassion.
— This boy, this Satsujin Otoko, he surely wants to kill me, he murmured. He won't let me live. He's here to kill me, that's all.
He raised his eyes to the sky. Clouds floated there, of strange shapes, which reminded him of his mother. He smiled, and thought: *Mother, did you ever consider that life perhaps did not want us, you and me? That would explain why it made us endure all that.*
— Hey, you, we're not going to spend the whole day here, you know?
Mutreph stood up.
— Yes, I know. But I won't leave alone for the realm of the dead. I'll take you all with me, ha ha ha!
The sewn parts of his body detached completely.
— My last skill is called suicide. My body explodes and I die, but I'm capable of destroying the equivalent of a large city like Monor City. See you again, children!
His body emitted small sparks. The humanoid mutants, seized with fear, began to scream.
— Bakuzan, let's get out of here, quickly, with your teleportation! begged Zeltania.
— You, shut up, Zeltania. Who said his wish would be granted?
Bakuzan stretched out his hand toward Mutreph.
— Voracious flames!
Blue flames enveloped Mutreph's body.
— Huh? What's that?
— Disappear!
Mutreph's body was consumed, then disappeared entirely. Bakuzan's voracious flames had devoured him.