Rain hammered the ruined warehouse district in thick sheets. Streetlights flickered and died one by one as water shorted out old wiring. The Deep Sea King—now fully hydrated—stood taller, broader, veins bulging beneath slick blue skin. Its coral crown had grown into jagged horns that scraped sparks against metal beams when it moved. Every breath released a low, gurgling hiss.
Nova stood twenty meters away, soaked to the bone, but smiling.
The overflow energy in his body felt like bottled lightning—unstable, hungry, begging to be released. Blue-white arcs danced between his fingertips and along the veins of his forearms. His hair, dark and plastered to his forehead, crackled faintly.
The monster tilted its head.
"You still stand? After touching me?" Its voice boomed like thunder rolling underwater. "Impossible. All humans break."
Nova rolled his shoulders. "I'm not most humans anymore."
He took one step forward.
The Deep Sea King exploded into motion.
It crossed the distance in a blur, fist cocked back in a haymaker that could level a small building. Raindrops bent around the incoming strike.
Nova didn't block this time.
He met it.
Fist against fist.
The collision was apocalyptic.
A white shockwave erupted outward, vaporizing rain in a perfect sphere before the blast front shredded it into mist. Nearby shipping containers crumpled like foil. Lightning Max and Bunbunman, still dazed on the ground, were thrown back another ten meters. Windows a block away shattered in sequence like falling dominoes.
Nova slid back five meters, heels gouging trenches in asphalt.
But he didn't break.
Kinetic Charge: Overflow dischargedImpact absorbed: 84% efficiencyNew Stored Capacity: 142% (Overflow threshold increased)Current Output Multiplier: 3.80×
The Deep Sea King staggered. Its arm trembled. Bone-deep cracks spiderwebbed up its forearm.
It stared at the human who should have been paste.
Nova flexed his hand. Steam rose from his skin where rain met superheated flesh.
"That actually stung," he said, almost impressed. "Good. Means I'm not wasting my time."
Rage twisted the monster's face into something primal.
"I WILL DEVOUR YOU!"
It lunged again—this time with both arms, claws extended, acid-green saliva dripping from its maw.
Nova moved.
For the first time since waking up in this world, he truly let go.
He sidestepped the double claw swipe with casual grace, then drove an elbow into the King's ribs. The impact sounded like a grenade going off inside a drum. Ribs shattered. The monster's body caved inward.
Before it could recover, Nova spun and planted a knee into its solar plexus—another thunderclap. Air blasted from the creature's lungs in a wet spray.
It tried to grab him.
Nova caught the wrist mid-air, twisted, and yanked.
The arm hyperextended with a sickening pop.
Then he headbutted the monster square in the face.
Forehead met scaled brow.
The Deep Sea King's head snapped back so hard its neck vertebrae cracked audibly.
Nova didn't stop.
He hammered blow after blow—each punch carrying the accumulated force of every impact he'd ever taken since arriving in this world.
Left hook → jaw dislocates Right cross → cheekbone caves Uppercut → chin shatters upward Knee to gut → internal organs rupture
The monster tried to regenerate—skin knitting, bones grinding back into place—but Nova was faster. Every time it healed, he fed it more damage, siphoning the kinetic rebound to fuel the next strike.
Kinetic Charge cycling: 180% → 220% → 260%Output Multiplier climbing: 5.1× → 6.7× → 8.2×
The rain itself seemed to shy away from the fight, parting around the two combatants in a perfect dome of dry air.
Finally, the Deep Sea King collapsed to one knee, gasping, blood and bile mixing with rainwater.
Nova stood over it, breathing steady, eyes glowing faintly blue from the overflow.
"You're done," he said quietly.
The monster looked up—fear in its yellow eyes for the first time.
Nova raised his fist.
One last punch.
Not a haymaker. Not flashy.
Just clean, perfect form.
He drove it downward like a meteor.
The impact was silent for a split second—then the ground buckled.
A crater thirty meters wide erupted beneath them. Shockwaves rolled outward, toppling lamp posts and crumpling abandoned cars. The rain was blasted straight up into the sky in a temporary dry column before crashing back down.
When the dust and water cleared…
The Deep Sea King lay motionless at the bottom of the crater, body broken in ways biology couldn't repair. Its regeneration had finally given up.
Nova stood at the edge, unscathed except for singed clothing and faint smoke curling from his skin.
Threat neutralized: Deep Sea KingKinetic Charge stabilized at 312% capacityCurrent Output Multiplier: 9.4× (new personal record)Hero Association emergency broadcast incoming…
His phone vibrated violently in his pocket.
He pulled it out.
The screen was cracked, but still readable.
URGENT: S-Class emergency dispatchMultiple witnesses confirm solo defeat of Demon-level threat "Deep Sea King" by C-Class hero Nova.Rank re-evaluation expedited.Provisional promotion: B-Class Rank 1 pending full review.All nearby heroes: stand down. Nova has claimed primary contribution.
Lightning Max, limping over with Bunbunman supporting him, stared down into the crater.
"Holy shit," Max whispered.
Bunbunman just nodded, too stunned to speak.
Nova looked up at the circling news helicopters—cameras undoubtedly zoomed in.
He gave a small, tired wave.
Then he turned and started walking away through the rain.
Behind him, the crater slowly filled with water.
In the distance, sirens wailed anew—not for monsters, but for the man who had just rewritten the power scale in one brutal, one-sided beatdown.
He had a feeling the Hero Association was about to have a very long night.
End of Chapter 4