From different directions, the three launched a thunderous assault on the Slaanesh space marine. This intricate triangular pincer movement required no verbal coordination; after dozens of days of combat, it had become an ingrained instinct.
"Somewhat interesting." However, Gerard, at the center of the storm, showed no sense of urgency. He even chuckled softly, "But... only somewhat interesting."
Before his voice faded, Gerard swung the power sword in his hand, and a perfect circular arc of light suddenly spread out from him!
"Clang—!"
A deafening crash echoed through the twisted art hall. The three players' attacks seemed to have struck an invisible wall of sighs. Immense power surged back from their sword blades, causing them to involuntarily retreat several steps simultaneously. A perfectly synchronized attack was thus effortlessly repelled by the opponent.
"This isn't good..." AlphaBravo used all his strength to grip his violently trembling power sword, preventing it from flying out of his hand. "This speed and strength are too exaggerated. If we hadn't used combat stimulants, the three of us would probably have been cut in half by that one swing... Should I say, as expected of a space marine?"
"Too slow, too late, too many superfluous movements," Gerard stood leisurely in place, critiquing their attacks as if an art master were pointing out flaws in an apprentice's clumsy painting. "If you have any other tricks, use them quickly... Otherwise, your lifespan will probably only have ten seconds left."
"Tch." Garry spat in annoyance, casually turning on the portable radio at his waist. A ethereal yet slightly deranged music began to echo through the hall. He looked up and shouted at Gerard, "Ugly freak, don't be so arrogant!"
To everyone's surprise, this casual remark from Garry, which wasn't even a proper taunt, instantly darkened Gerard's perfect face.
"You... what did you just say?"
"Oh?" Garry immediately reacted, keenly catching the shift in the opponent's emotions. "So he's the type who cares about his appearance?"
"Heheheh..." So, Garry immediately put on Stephen Chow's classic punchable expression from the movies, drawing out his voice in an extremely exaggerated tone: "Ugly freak~ Ugly freak~ U-gly~ freak~! I said it, what are you going to do about it? If you're so capable, come hit me!"
Gerard was silent for a moment. The handsome face no longer held any laziness; it was replaced by overflowing killing intent. He said in a cold tone, "Since you're seeking an early grave, you can't blame me. Anyway... there are two other toys; it doesn't matter if one is accidentally broken."
This was the first time Gerard had taken the initiative to attack in this battle!
His speed indeed caused the pupils of the three present to constrict sharply—after injecting combat stimulants, their neural reflex speed had reached five times their original, but even so, they could only barely catch a purple afterimage!
And Garry, even before the opponent's voice had faded, had already, by virtue of his battle-hardened instincts, abruptly raised his power sword.
This action saved his life.
"Clang!"
He successfully blocked the enemy's first strike. But this heart-stopping parry also made Garry instantly realize... his life wouldn't last much longer.
"To finish us in ten seconds..." Garry gripped his power sword tightly with both hands. The terrifying force from the sword shook his tiger's mouth until it split open, blood flowing freely. "At this intensity... I really might be dealt with in three moves."
"Are you despairing, mortal?" Gerard held his sword with one hand, effortlessly suppressing the two-handed blocking Garry, and said arrogantly, "The gap between me and you is as vast as that between a lowly insect and a god high in the clouds."
"Clang!"
Another extremely fast slash. Garry again strained to parry it. But his condition was already as bad as it could get. The piercing sound of bones cracking came from his arms; his wrists were completely fractured, and electric sparks shot out from the arm joints of his carapace armor. The next sword... he was destined not to be able to block it.
"It's over, insect." A cruel pleasure flashed in Gerard's eyes. He swung his sword again, the blade pointing directly at Garry's neck.
Just when everyone thought Garry was about to lose his life... that fatal sword strike went awry.
"What?!" Gerard shouted out the most common death flag used by villains in various comics.
Garry watched with wide eyes as the opponent's sword blade was forcibly twisted by Gerard's own power at the last moment, grazing his helmet. Gerard, meanwhile, inexplicably turned around, completely facing away from the ready Garry, and looked back at AlphaBravo and Name on the other side of the hall.
No, to be precise, he was staring intently at Name.
Garry also took this opportunity to see clearly. At this moment, Name was holding a thick, ancient tome in his left hand and a quill pen in his right, having evidently just written something in the book with that pen.
"You are very confident, confident to the point of arrogance." AlphaBravo's voice rang out, with a hint of mockery, "You think that even with your back to us, you can react in time to our surprise attack."
"Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is." Name closed the book and sneered, "Fool, what did you think I was bothering to ask your name for just now?"
Name: The Book of Hatred
Type: Tool
Quality: Excellent
Attribute: None
Effect: After the holder writes the Name of an intelligent creature on it, the creature will uncontrollably develop immense hatred for the holder, abandoning all ongoing tasks and making killing the holder their top priority
Usage Condition: The holder is weaker than the intelligent creature whose name is written
Remark: "I only remember that day, the High King called me into his room and lectured me at length. To be honest, I didn't listen much, because I had just drunk a bottle of Erguotou that day, you know, those fine spirits from the East, very potent... Ahem, I've strayed. In short, the High King believed that our dwarven hatred for others everywhere was ultimately wrong, so he ordered me to forge a book with attributes opposite to the Book of Hatred... Now that I think about it, what the High King wanted me to forge should have been the 'Book of Benevolence' after all." — An unnamed dwarven elder
Garry ignored the intense pain in his arms and seized this rare opportunity, savagely plunging his power sword into Gerard's unguarded lower back.
Gerard was severely wounded by this sword strike, yet he did not retaliate. His cursed will remained fixated on Name in the distance, only letting out a howl filled with fury and humiliation. A large amount of blood gushed from the wound like a fountain, and his overwhelming aura was rapidly weakening at a visible speed.