Meanwhile, at the other part of the maze.
Shun was troubled by the bizarre situation.
"I feel like I've seen you guys somewhere… but I can't remember. Would you mind introducing yourselves?" Shun asked with a calm but curious tone
Not long after entering the maze he met them… Three incredible strong looking men. One of them even looked like a demon. Shun knew they were an illusion with his observation haki, however he was curious why would the illusion show them.
The test was supposed to be about testing willpower. So I assumed it would be about trauma, insecurities or hidden desire…
Whatever, no point pondering. Just ask them.
"$&@&@! Finally found you! You won't escape this time!" Demon looking guy with a purple skin, green hair and a total of SIX arms, spoke with a wild grin
"Huh? You look similar to $&@&@, but you look different… are you his son?" The human with blue hair and a huge scar below his left eye said with an arrogant tone
"No it's him, he probably used his peculiar magic again to reverse his age." The last one, a human that looked like a young man in his twenties with a black hair said with a serious face
Two humans with swords and one demon-race guy with six bare knuckles were scrutinizing Shun.
"Hello? Who are you guys again?" Shun asked again
"…"
"Huh?! Did you forget about us?!" Demon guy asked with a shocked face
"Don't be fooled! He might be pretending to catch us off guard. It's his signature move." The young man with black hair warned the two
"…"
'They seem to know me, and being this cautious… Are they part of the memory fragment? Did the old man Makarov hire the illusion guy from Alvarez twelve Spriggan? That sounds too far-fetched.'
While Shun was pondering about the strange situation, his opponents didn't wait.
'Demon looking guy… let's call him demon king for now.'
The demon king made his move.
The air shattered.
It wasn't a figure of speech. The very atmosphere fractured under the impossible pressure as the demon king's foot, clad in a simple sandal, drove into the earth. The ground didn't merely crack. It erupted, a localized cataclysm that vomited stone and soil into the ceiling of the cave. There was no winding up, no gathering strength.
Just a simple leap.
In a blur of motion, he was gone.
Shun didn't have time to think. His Observation Haki sensed the danger of possible death, if he took the brunt force of the attack. Before he could fully process the attack his hand moved on its own. His palm stretched out towards the giant punch of the demon king!
The clash of their fist and paw was like an ant challenging a meteor.
*POOF-!*
To no one's surprise, the ant utterly dominated the clash. The meteor who was the demon king with six arms flew hundreds of meters away. Shattering countless layers of stone in his way.
'That was dangerous if I didn't have the Observation Haki… but that exchange should've done some serious damage to him, as his own momentum was used as a counter.' Shun thought with a serious face
'This demon king is way stronger than Master Zero he fought before, if the other two are on the same level. I'm in danger. Lately, I've been getting a bit arrogant. It'll be a good practice.' Shun was nervous but had a small grin on his face
"Hahaha, this annoying magic! It's the same bastard as expected!" The demon king appeared from the cloud of dust, his wounds healing at a visible speed
"Let's attack together, don't let him escape again!" The black haired swordsman said to the other two
"Don't give me an order! I'll do what I want." The other swordsman refuted, but still got into the formation
Three enemies way stronger than Master Zero against Shun.
The battle started.
*POOF-!*
As they prepared to leap forward, Shun made the first move and disappeared from their eyes.
"Where did he go?!" Demon king shouted
"Above!!"
"!"
*POOF-!* *POOF-!*
Shun shot his signature paw shaped bubbles like a gun aiming at their temples and hearts.
However the real attack came from his mouth.
'Poison Dragon's Roar!'
While the two swordsman dodged and blocked the continuous paw shaped shots, the demon king just took them on and regenerated at a terrifying speed.
'This monster's regeneration is troublesome.' Shun thought
'Let's see how you deal with a poison!' Shun aimed the poisonous roar from his mouth at the demon king
A giant storm of purple poison swallowed the demon.
"Guh… AGHHHHH!" It was not a roar of rage but a raw, ragged scream of agony. For the first time in centuries, perhaps millenia. The demon king felt a true pain. Not a fleeting sting of a blade, but a venom that sought to corrupt his very essence. His head tilted back to the sky, tendons cording in his neck, his cry of anguish echoed across the battlefield.
This whole time his paws didn't rest to pause his continuous attacks on the other two.
'The title of a 'Predator' was a bitter pill swallow. Yet I can't deny its necessity; without it, my magic would lack this lethal edge. To think my venom at maximum potency could achieve this… one for already neutralized. I must eliminate the other two before he regenerates.' Shun mused then sent another wave of a roar at the two swordsmen
However they had already adapted to the speed of the paw shots and dodged Shun's attacks. The righteous looking knight with a black hair leaped towards Shun.
'As expected same attack can't work for a long time against people that trained their bodies to their limits.' Shun thought then with his paw he tried to repel the sword that was swung towards his neck.
However right when the paw was about to meet the sword, the momentum of the sword stopped!
Shun's Observation Haki was sensing a lethal danger from the swordsman's palm. Next moment a concealed projectile, a powerful nail or a dart was launched at a point blank range, aiming towards Shun's heart.
'This bastard's whole character and every word until this moment was a deception for this moment! He is a cunning bastard that follows the rule of 'win by any means necessary' Shun realized this belatedly
Shun used his paw to recoil his body backward desperately to dodge the blow to his heart.
'Seriously… If I didn't have the Observation Haki, I would've died many times today.' Shun thought with self-mockery.
"Tch! He dodged your trump card! Hahaha. Let's just attack together." The other swordsman laughed at his partner
"Shut up! Let's attack and buy time for @&$@& to recover."
They argued for less than half a minute and were about to launch forward once again. But
"…"
Shun was long gone.
'There is nothing to gain for me to keep fighting them any longer. Those bastards were too cautious to even introduce their names. Or rather I couldn't hear the name, I only heard a gibberish.'
'Those mere illusions created from a magic was incredibly strong. Did the old man hire the strongest illusionist in this planet or someone from the outside help those illusions to manifest with most of their powers?'
'A certain someone… with the name…
'System!'