The memory ended, and the intense pain of reality intertwined with the despair of the memory, causing Gouket's massive body to tremble violently.
He looked at Lin Mo.
The man still stood there, his breathing as steady as if he hadn't fought.
Yet, it was this man who effortlessly crushed him, who was dozens of times stronger after becoming a Monster than he was before.
KING had shown him a cruel truth with his actions.
"So... that's how it is..."
"So, that wall... it really can be broken..."
Extremely complex emotions—regret, relief, and a hint of... liberation—flowed from his single eye.
"It wasn't that the path of Martial Arts had reached its end... it was me... it was I who had reached my end..."
He mumbled, as if speaking to Lin Mo, yet also as if reminiscing.
"I didn't lose to Monster King Orochi's power... I lost to my own weakness..."
If... if he had met this man before challenging Orochi... if he had witnessed firsthand that humans could truly reach such unfathomable heights, even surpassing the so-called Monster King Orochi... would he still have made the same choice?
The answer was obvious.
That initial devotion and pride in Martial Arts would never have allowed him to abandon his dignity as a human.
"KING..."
Gouket raised his head, with its single remaining eye. For the first time, his voice lacked arrogance and brutality, containing only a Martial Artist's final request.
"I chose the wrong path, and there's no turning back... As a former fellow practitioner, could you... use your strongest Martial Arts to send me off?"
Lin Mo watched him silently. From the other's murky single eye, he saw the final awakening of a lost soul.
He slowly nodded.
"As you wish."
This was not only the end for an enemy but also a sign of respect for a former Martial Artist.
Lin Mo took a deep breath, and his entire aura suddenly changed.
The previously overbearing Intimidation quietly receded, replaced by a pure, unadulterated clarity, as if he had returned to his true self and merged with all things in heaven and earth.
His three fundamental attributes, driven by Martial Arts · Pinnacle, began to resonate, circulate, and finally merge in an incredibly profound way.
He slowly raised his right fist.
This movement was very basic, as if it were just a simple starting pose for a punch.
However, in Gouket's perception, the entire world changed.
The wind stopped, the dust ceased to float, and even the flow of time seemed to slow immensely.
KING's figure seemed to become the center of the world.
His slowly raised fist, though devoid of any light, shone brighter than the sun in Gouket's perception.
Within that fist, it seemed to contain everything of Martial Arts—beginning, process, end; strength, softness, motion, stillness... all opposing yet unified concepts were perfectly integrated within it.
"Martial Arts · Pinnacle..."
In Gouket's single eye, the approaching fist was reflected. He felt no killing intent, only the highest form of Martial Arts.
His consciousness was clearer than ever at this moment, as if he saw the most magnificent scenery at the end of Martial Arts.
"This is... truly..."
His consciousness remained forever at this moment.
Lin Mo's voice rang out in the silence, ethereal and majestic.
"Martial Arts..."
"—Return to Origin."
[From Gouket's awakening and relief, Energy Points +9000!]
...Meanwhile, a single-eyed flying object, attracted by the immense energy fluctuations from this place, silently peeked out from behind the ruins of a collapsed building.
This was one of Gyakusatsu's countless clones used to monitor the battlefield and gather intelligence.
It was inherently cautious, carefully casting its gaze into the distance, wanting to see which executive had caused such a massive disturbance here.
Then, it witnessed an unbelievable scene.
At the collapsed building, the injured and dying executive Gouket lay there as if resigned to his fate.
And opposite him, the legendary "The Strongest Man on Earth," KING, was completely spotless, without a trace of battle visible on him.
This stark contrast led the monitoring clone to an immediate initial judgment:
Gouket had suffered an overwhelming defeat!
The next second, KING slowly raised his right hand.
In the clone's eyes, the entire world seemed to slow down, and the image showed strange motion blur and delay, undoubtedly caused by interference from some incomprehensible force!
It could only see that seemingly ordinary fist touch Gouket's body.
Subsequently, Gouket's Monster body, whose hardness was comparable to super-alloy, became as fragile as tofu upon contact with that fist.
Starting from the chest where the fist made contact, an annihilating force spread out.
First the chest, then the massive torso, the thick limbs, the ferocious head... everything, under the will of that "Return to Origin," vanished from this world.
It was over in barely a second.
One second, the Dragon-Level Monster Gouket existed; the next, only scattered debris remained.
On the spot, only the man slowly retracting his fist remained.
And... the clone subconsciously looked past KING, towards Gouket's back.
It was a gully, starting from KING's feet and extending into the distance of the city, an endless chasm!
This... this was not the aftermath of a battle!
This was the collateral damage caused by the mere force of the punch after it was thrown!!
The monitoring clone froze; extreme fear, transmitted through the mental link, caused the main body deep underground to falter.
Just then, the man slowly retracting his fist seemed to sense something and turned his head.
His gaze, crossing hundreds of meters, locked onto this monitor hiding behind the ruins with pinpoint accuracy.
"Not good!"
...Monster Association, deepest part.
Within the vast underground space, Gyakusatsu, seated at the core, suddenly trembled.
The extreme fear transmitted by that clone, and the last image before Gouket was completely erased, were deeply etched into its mind.
"Gouket's... life signs... completely gone..."
Gyakusatsu's giant single eye stared fixedly at the last frame before the clone was destroyed—
KING's retreating back, and that terrifying trajectory that split the city in two, as if tearing even the sky.
Its brain was frantically working, analyzing everything that had just happened.
"How terrifying... just pure... physical attack... can have such power?"
This conclusion caused it greater concern than facing Tatsumaki's psychic powers.
In its plan, Gouket was an ace capable of suppressing multiple S-Class Heroes, and definitely one of the strongest among the executives.
Even if he lost, it should have been an earth-shattering battle, never... never to be "one-shotted" like this?
The word surfaced in its thoughts.
Yes, in the limited scene observed by its clone, the entire process was—KING appeared, punched, Gouket disappeared.
One strike.
Just one strike completely erased the terrifyingly strong Gouket from this world.
"Re-evaluate... must re-evaluate the threat level of S-Class Rank 6, KING!"
Gyakusatsu's disguised voice vanished, replaced by the voice of its true self—Psykos.
"Threat level... incalculable!"
"Damn it, why do the Association's files only have vague descriptions like 'unknown battle record' and 'strongest man on earth' for such an existence?"
"This is not human power! What in the world is he..."
As this murmur, mixed with fear and incomprehension, faded, the massive underground space returned to silence.