If the people of Planet Wotu were judged by power level, the strongest among them would be around 500 at most.
How could they possibly stand against Zamasu?
Zamasu floated high above them with a smile, letting the energy bullets strike his body as if they were nothing more than a light scratch. He looked positively comfortable.
"Mortals, today is the day your race comes to an end," Zamasu said with a faint laugh.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a blast of energy tore through the air, pierced Zamasu's defenses, and struck him in the face, leaving a long bloody cut across his cheek.
Zamasu froze for a moment, stunned.
At the same time, he felt a sharp, burning pain spread across his face.
He raised a hand, wiped at his cheek, and looked at his fingers.
There was blood on them.
Veins bulged on Zamasu's forehead, and his expression turned vicious.
"You damned devil! This is the newest energy round I developed! I refuse to believe it can't kill you!" an old white-bearded man shouted angrily.
"Dr. Luo!"
A general standing nearby looked at the old man with excitement.
The old man was Dr. Luo.
After days and nights of nonstop research, Dr. Luo had finally developed a new weapon with tremendous destructive power.
That single shot had actually managed to injure Zamasu.
The only problem was time. He had only completed one gun and had not yet been able to mass-produce it.
Zamasu's face darkened further as he slowly descended from the sky and landed in front of Dr. Luo.
"Get Dr. Luo out of here now! The rest of you, hold this devil off with your lives!" the general barked.
Rat-tat-tat!
A fresh barrage of energy rounds poured toward Zamasu.
At the same time, several soldiers moved to escort Dr. Luo away.
As long as Dr. Luo lived, he could keep developing more powerful weapons. Sooner or later, they would destroy this devil.
He was humanity's hope.
Dr. Luo understood the weight of that responsibility. He quickly shoved the gun into the general's hands and retreated under the soldiers' protection.
The general felt the gun grow heavier in his grip. Without a hint of hesitation, he aimed and fired at Zamasu.
"Hmph. Childish tricks," Zamasu sneered.
He had only been caught off guard earlier. Did they really think a toy gun could break his defenses?
Smack!
Zamasu casually slapped the incoming shot aside.
"Paibu, what are you still doing here? Go protect your father and get him out!" After firing the gun, the general turned and saw Dr. Luo's son still standing there, shooting wildly at the devil. He immediately shouted at him.
"I'll stay and live or die with you, General!" the young man called Paibu answered without hesitation.
Like the other soldiers, Paibu wore a sleek combat suit and a full helmet, so his face was impossible to see.
"You're Dr. Luo's only son. You cannot die here!" the general snapped. "Leave now!"
Paibu still refused to back down. If anything, he fired even more fiercely.
"Your most important duty is to protect your father," the general ordered again. "Leave this place to me and your comrades. That is an order!"
"Yes, General!" Paibu hesitated for a second, then saluted and turned to run.
But the moment he moved, Zamasu appeared right in front of the general. A purple energy blade formed in his hand and sliced the general's head clean off.
The severed head rolled across the ground.
Paibu had only taken a few steps when he saw it rolling toward him.
He looked down and saw the general's face.
The man he respected more than anyone else.
The general's eyes were still open, filled with the injustice of an unfinished death.
Paibu's pupils shrank. His fists clenched so tightly his whole body began to tremble.
"General!"
Dr. Luo saw it too, and his face changed drastically.
The other soldiers erupted in fury and unleashed another round of completely useless attacks at Zamasu.
"Hmph. You fools still don't know when to give up." Zamasu sneered again and again. "I'm going to kill every last one of you today. I'll start with that old man who injured me."
With that, Zamasu ignored the bullets striking him and quickly caught up to Dr. Luo, kicking him to the ground.
The surrounding soldiers panicked and opened fire even more desperately.
Dr. Luo was humanity's hope.
If he died, no one would ever be able to kill this devil.
But as before, the bullets hit Zamasu and did absolutely nothing.
Zamasu turned his head and soon spotted the pistol that had injured him.
It was still clutched tightly in the dead general's hand.
Zamasu crooked a finger.
At once, the gun flew out of the general's grasp and landed in his hand.
He inspected it carefully and studied it for a moment.
"I see. The energy inside this weapon has been compressed to a certain intensity. That's the only reason it managed to injure me," Zamasu said with a light laugh. "But if you think this much power is enough to kill me, you are far too naive."
He raised the gun and aimed it at Dr. Luo.
"Tell me, where did the energy inside this come from?" Zamasu asked with interest.
"You think I'd tell you? You devil! You destroyed the peace of our world!" Dr. Luo snorted. There was no fear in him at all.
"If you don't want to say it, that's fine. I was never that interested to begin with." Zamasu smiled coldly and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The shot hit Dr. Luo in the thigh.
"Ahhh!"
Dr. Luo let out a scream.
The soldiers stared and saw at once that his leg had been mangled beyond recognition.
"Still trying to act tough?" Zamasu said with a smile. "I'm not going to kill you quickly. I'm going to torture you to death, slowly. Do you know what happens when a mortal injures a god? You're about to find out."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zamasu lowered the gun and aimed it at Dr. Luo's other leg.
"Dad… Dad…" Paibu suddenly snapped out of his shock and threw himself forward.
"Oh?" Zamasu blinked, then smiled wider.
So this man was the old fool's son.
This was getting more and more interesting.
He had originally planned to shoot out Dr. Luo's other leg, but after learning who Paibu was, he changed his mind.
"You have a strong will," Zamasu said, smiling at Dr. Luo. "Even after losing a leg, you only cried out once or twice. You didn't keep screaming."
All around them, despair spread across the soldiers' faces.
By now, they all understood the truth. Their bullets were hitting this devil, but not one of them could do even the slightest damage.
It was like attacking an enemy in a game and seeing the word "Immune" appear every single time.
This was a nightmare.
At least let them deal even one point of damage.
"Why did you all stop attacking?" Zamasu mocked them. "Weren't you shooting pretty fiercely a moment ago?" He swept his gaze across the soldiers like he was looking down on insects.
None of them spoke. Fear had already seized them completely.
They had not feared death before, but now that they knew their attacks were useless, the terror they had been suppressing for so long finally overwhelmed them.
And with Dr. Luo crippled, whatever little resistance they had left was almost gone.
Humanity was finished.
This devil was going to slaughter every last one of them.
"You're his son, aren't you?" Zamasu asked, smiling at Paibu as if he were looking at a tiny ant.
Paibu showed no fear. He clenched his fists and glared straight at him.
"Old man, since you claim you aren't afraid of death, then I'll let you watch your own son get tortured to death piece by piece," Zamasu said with a cruel smile.
"You… let him go! If you have the guts, come at me instead!" Dr. Luo roared through the agony, forcing the words out between clenched teeth.
"I enjoy watching you suffer," Zamasu said coldly. "You are the first mortal ever to injure me, a god." He waved his hand through the air, and an invisible force of divine power instantly covered Paibu's body.
Boom!
With a sharp blast, Paibu's helmet exploded on the spot, revealing a handsome face beneath it.
"Paibu, my son… this is all my fault…" Dr. Luo let out a cry of despair.
"Dad, don't say that," Paibu replied at once. "He wants to wipe out all humanity. I'd rather die than crawl and beg for my life."
"That's my son!" Dr. Luo said, smiling through the pain, filled with pride. Then he shouted at Zamasu, "Come on, devil. If you've got the nerve, kill both of us!"
But the moment those words left his mouth, Dr. Luo noticed something strange.
Zamasu had gone completely still.
He was standing there without moving, staring fixedly at Paibu.
Dr. Luo looked utterly confused.
The other soldiers were just as baffled.
Had he frozen in place?
Why wasn't he moving?
Then everyone present realized something even stranger. Fear had appeared in the eyes of this devil who had seemed unstoppable until now.
Fear.
He looked like he had been frightened by Paibu.
What was going on?
"K-Ken?" Zamasu stammered.
Because he had just realized that this young man called Paibu looked exactly like Ken.
Other than the difference in hair color, they were almost identical.
Could this person really be Ken?
Have I walked straight into disaster?
Zamasu trembled in fear. His knees nearly gave out beneath him.
But soon, he noticed something was off.
With his sharp senses, he caught the bewilderment on Paibu's face.
So he wasn't Ken?
He only looked like Ken?
That was entirely possible.
The universe was vast. Two people looking exactly alike was hardly impossible.
And if this man was not Ken, then everything became much simpler.
If he tortured this guy brutally, it would be just like torturing Ken himself.
I'm a genius.
The thought filled Zamasu with delight.
The fear in his eyes slowly vanished, replaced by vicious glee.
"Hmph. You only look the same. I refuse to believe you're really Ken," Zamasu sneered and waved a hand through the air again.
Boom!
The same invisible power slammed into Paibu.
With a dull crash, Paibu was blasted backward, arcing through the air before crashing hard onto the ground.
"Pff—"
A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips, and his face turned deathly pale.
"You bastard!" Dr. Luo gritted out as he tried to crawl to his feet.
But he had lost too much blood. The moment he got up, he collapsed again.
His vision began to blur.
"That really scared me for a second. I almost thought you were Ken," Zamasu said with a sigh of relief.
If it had really been Ken, there was no way a casual wave of his hand could have sent him flying.
That alone proved this man had nothing to do with Ken.
"Hmph. This is satisfying," Zamasu said with a cruel laugh as he slowly walked toward Paibu.
Paibu struggled and forced himself back to his feet.
"Not bad," Zamasu mocked. "You can still stand after taking that hit. On this planet, you'd count as one of the stronger ones."
Whoosh!
But just as the words left his mouth, a streak of red light suddenly shot toward his chest.
Zamasu flinched slightly. Light flashed across his body and neutralized the red beam on contact.
Everyone stared toward the source of the attack.
And the moment they saw it, they were stunned all over again.
The one who had fired the red beam was the general's severed head.
That was right. The general's head alone.
A red gem-like core had appeared in the middle of his forehead.
It was from that gem that the red beam had fired, almost piercing Zamasu's heart.
"General!"
The soldiers cried out in shock.
"All hope is gone…" the general sighed. The light in his eyes was growing dimmer and dimmer.
"General…" Even Paibu looked stunned.
"So you were a machine. I underestimated you," Zamasu said, slightly surprised. He had not expected the general to be a semi-cyborg.
"Devil… one day, someone will destroy you and save this planet and all humanity," the general said, his voice fading.
"Hmph. Even if that day comes, you won't live to see it," Zamasu snorted, forming another energy blade.
Slash.
With one swing, he split the general's head cleanly in half from top to bottom.
The ruined head cracked apart, and both eyes burst out of their sockets. It was a horrific sight.
The soldiers stared in shock and rage, their faces filled with hatred.
"You tried to ambush me with nothing but a head left. Now you're finally dead for good," Zamasu said, his contempt growing even stronger.
"Ah… AHHHHHHHH!"
But the instant those words left his mouth, Paibu suddenly let out a furious roar.
Rumble!
A tremendous energy burst erupted from his body and spread violently in every direction.
The earth itself trembled under the force of it.
"What is this?" Zamasu said, stunned.
How could this man be releasing so much power?
"AAAAAAAH!"
The energy pouring from Paibu expanded even further.
"You hurt the person I respected most," Paibu growled through clenched teeth, his hatred reaching its peak. "I will never forgive you!"
Flash!
A purple-red light burst from his body.
In the next instant, his hair shot upward and turned magenta.
"What is going on? He transformed?" Zamasu cried out, his face full of disbelief.
Bang!
Paibu turned into a magenta streak and appeared directly in front of Zamasu in an instant, then drove a punch straight into his chest.
The impact landed cleanly. Zamasu never even had a chance to dodge.
His chest caved in on the spot.
"Pff—"
Zamasu spat out a huge mouthful of blood, his face turning pale as he was sent flying backward.
Boom!
His body traced an arc through the sky, crashed to the ground, and tumbled hundreds of times before finally stopping.
Everyone present stared without blinking at the transformed Paibu and at Zamasu, who had been blown away by a single punch. Not one of them could make sense of what they were seeing.
Even Dr. Luo was completely lost.
How could his son turn into something like this?
No, that wasn't right.
Plenty of people had told him before that his son looked nothing like him, but he had never taken it seriously.
At the time, he had simply assumed Paibu took after his mother.
Now that he thought about it carefully, his wife had once disappeared for a while. And when she came back, she had brought this child with her and claimed he was his son.
Dr. Luo suddenly had a terrible suspicion that he had been cheated on.
Still, he was a man who understood priorities. Compared to this devil, that hardly mattered at all.
His son had just punched that monster away.
Who would believe that if he told them?
"Huh?" Paibu lowered his head and looked at his own right fist, equally confused.
I sent that guy flying with one punch?
How did I do that?
Wait… I can feel an incredible power inside me.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, his body suddenly felt drained, as if everything inside him had been sucked dry.
Pop!
The magenta aura around him scattered at once, and he returned to normal.
Zamasu had landed at least a thousand meters away. His body had smashed through a building and ended up buried in the rubble.
"Pff—"
He coughed up blood again and felt as though his life were slipping away.
When he looked down, he saw that his chest had caved in badly.
If he didn't heal himself immediately, he might really die.
"Damn it! What was that just now? Could that man be a clone created by Ken?" Zamasu muttered through clenched teeth as he hurriedly used a healing technique on his chest.
After treating himself, his injuries improved somewhat, and he slowly stood up, his face dark with rage.
"I will never forgive that man. Even if you really are one of Ken's clones, I'll still erase you!" Zamasu snorted coldly and rose out of the rubble, flying back toward Paibu.
The two were only about a thousand meters apart, but Zamasu took a full ten seconds to cover the distance.
When Paibu saw him returning, he braced himself and forced his shaking body to stay upright.
"What is your relationship with Ken?" Zamasu demanded coldly.
"I don't even know who this Ken person is!" Paibu shouted, his expression tense.
"That's perfect," Zamasu said with a smile. "It means you aren't him. I'm going to kill you first, and then I'll wipe out every last person on this planet."
"If you've got the guts, come over here," Paibu snorted. "Didn't you already suffer enough just now?"
"Hmph. The light around your body is gone, and you haven't attacked me on your own. That means the power you used earlier is already exhausted," Zamasu said with a sneer. "And I am the greatest god in this universe. I can kill you with ease."
With that, he began walking toward Paibu again.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
He drew closer and closer.
When Zamasu was less than three meters away from him—
Flash!
A magenta aura suddenly exploded around Paibu once more.
Zamasu's pupils contracted. The smile on his face froze, and his expression instantly turned ugly.
Wasn't his power already used up?
How could he transform again?
That was impossible.
"Hmph!" Paibu snorted and threw another heavy punch.
"N-no!" Zamasu cried out in shock, hurriedly throwing up both arms to block.
But Paibu's fist was far too terrifying. It smashed through Zamasu's guard without the slightest difficulty and struck his chest again.
"AAARGH!"
Zamasu screamed as he was launched backward once more.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
His body tore through one building after another and flew even farther this time.
"Haah… haah…"
After throwing that punch, Paibu felt even weaker than before. His legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground again.
"Paibu!"
Several soldiers rushed over and helped him up.
"Forget about me," Paibu said weakly. "Go check on him. I injured him badly. Kill him while you still can!"
The soldiers did not hesitate. They immediately ran toward the direction where Zamasu had been sent flying.
Zamasu was on the verge of blacking out. Even more blood spilled from his mouth.
But he was still a god, and not a low-ranking one.
At this point, Zamasu was an apprentice Supreme Kai, second only to a true Supreme Kai.
And every apprentice Supreme Kai possessed healing abilities.
Grinding his teeth, Zamasu released healing light from his hands and treated his body again, dragging himself back from the brink of death for a second time.
"I… I won't forgive you." Zamasu hated him so much his teeth were nearly cracking as he forced himself back to his feet.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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