Damian stamped forward all at once, charging like a humanoid tank.
As he cracked the ground beneath his feet, his explosive, powerful body rode a gust straight up to his opponent.
He lifted his hand and threw a punch.
The female Apostle's movement clearly exceeded sonic speed.
Seeing Damian rush her, she slipped aside at once, leaving a trailing afterimage.
The fist-gale blew a smoking crater into the ground.
The female Apostle glanced down at her left arm, found it gone, black blood pouring, and her blood-red eyes went wide in disbelief.
"Interesting. You dodged a Mach 20 punch?"
Damian was a bit surprised too. He hadn't used lightspeed punches, but the girl's evasion was fast enough.
The Apostle gave Damian no time to react; her figure wavered.
In a blink, Damian saw a clawed hand, nails black-red and razor-sharp, lunging straight for his heart.
Skritch, skritch!
He felt the blows land on his chest and saw her claws pierce his Muscle Cloth, carving clear grooves across it.
The force at her fingertips knocked him back half a step.
Thud…
Both feet gouged a deep pit of shattered earth where he slid to a stop.
Looking down, he saw her talons had fully punched through the Muscle Cloth—almost marking his skin.
So she wasn't just fast—she hit hard.
His Muscle Cloth was a special externalization of Cosmo—barely at Bronze Cloth hardness—and could shrug off most Saints' strikes.
And now it had been punctured with ease. No wonder Marin had run.
"Then I won't be polite."
"Great Horn!"
Cosmo surged. Damian's skin flushed with a pale golden glow; his arms crossed.
At the instant she came in, he snapped up and launched a savage Great Horn.
The lightspeed blow slammed into her midriff.
The female Apostle's waist folded like a shrimp; she crashed to the ground, abdomen and armor pierced through.
Before she could react, Damian snatched her like an eagle grabbing a chick and smashed her into the ground, stamping out a Great Horn crater and sending dirt and stone billowing.
Watching the stranger before her—masked, body radiating golden light—Marin felt heat rolling off him. He shone like a Gold Saint, Cosmo roiling off him in crushing waves.
The pressure was like facing a Gold Saint—she could hardly breathe.
"Is he wearing a Gold Cloth? Why is he blazing like the sun?"
Marin found it unbelievable.
He certainly wasn't a Gold Saint, but that shine looked like a Gold Cloth no matter how you cut it.
This female Apostle hit extremely hard and moved extremely fast. Even a Silver Saint's supersonic assault couldn't pin her down.
Now she looked like a kid running into a bodybuilding champion—completely outmuscled by that golden frame.
The Apostle was even more perplexed than Marin.
"Ah…"
She couldn't even see the masked hulk's punches, let alone escape his grasp.
Before she could react, her gut tore with pain.
His big hand had sunk into her lower abdomen, scorching hot, while he pinned her to the ground—she couldn't budge.
That blistering palm was packed with a brutally domineering, burning Cosmo, leaving her with no room to resist—only scream.
"Interesting. Very interesting. You clearly don't have human organs—so why the human form?"
Damian grinned and started ripping at her armor. "Let's see what you've got under that shell."
Riiiip!
Armor peeled away with flesh attached.
The body was hideous, tumors everywhere—identical to the Apostle he'd seen before.
Ugly and twisted.
An eyesore!
Damian felt a little sick.
"Wh-what kind of monster are you?"
The female Apostle shrieked hysterically.
Black miasma boiled out of her belly wound as her core essence bled away.
"Monster? You're the monsters."
Damian curled his lip, eyes burning. "You wrecked my life. You bent the main plot off course."
"Talk! Where do you come from? Who do you serve?"
He'd only relaxed a hair when she gaped her jaws and a strange power rippled out.
In the next second, she loosed a piercing scream.
"Aaaah!!!"
Even braced, Damian still took the hit.
His mind went blank; his ears filled with a thousand venomous whispers clawing at his eardrums and brain. He couldn't make out a word—only feel his head about to split.
So this was an Apostle's trick.
Can't let them open their mouths, after all.
The Apostle tried to bolt, but a big hand clamped her thigh.
A red needle jabbed into her throat—and no sound came out.
Trying to run?
Damian's clothes erupted off him, muscles bared. His whole frame swelled, veins bulged, his twin pecs hammered, and the armor blazing over him threw off dazzling gold like the sun.
The Apostle's body reacted like ice pressed to red-hot iron—searing.
Aaaaahhhh…
She howled helplessly; black smoke fumed off her; she hurt—badly. She thrashed, body spasming.
"Hahahaha—looks like you fear heat! Then let's turn it up."
Damian laughed, his body temperature surging.
Her head twisted a hundred and eighty degrees; those spiteful eyes glared daggers at him.
Still glaring?
Fury snapped in Damian's eyes. He slammed her down and stomped—over and over—cracking her frame.
"Glare at me? Go on—glare! I dare you!"
He stomped her into the ground.
Her flesh was pulp, but she wasn't dead—still writhing.
That vitality was something else.
Her head and body were almost entirely shattered—a paper shell—but the meat still writhed and twisted.
"Is it that worm?"
Watching her final death throes, Damian paced up.
He reached in and yanked out something like a spine.
It was a big worm—a very big one—much larger than the one he'd seen before.
Skrrrip!
The spine-like worm snapped apart. Black fluid spattered and a heavy black reek spilled out.
The Apostle's remains finally dissolved to nothing with the black ichor.
"Hahahaha—now that's a rush!"
Wild exultation in his posture, Damian threw his head back and roared, muscles shivering in the wind.
All done!
Marin was slack-jawed, at a loss.
She'd watched a brutal execution. The golden muscleman had pounded, hugged, and slammed the Apostle into paste.
The powerful female Apostle hadn't stood a chance.
Who on earth was he?
She stared at the hulking gold titan with corded muscles and those two bounding pecs as her vision swam.
Why did this feel familiar?
Like she'd gone through it herself.
He came toward her, his pecs thumping.
Blood loss made Marin's heart race. Her head spun, the world reeled, and her vision went black.
Honestly…
(End of Chapter)
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