Chaos. Absolute, unmitigated chaos.
Worm operatives flooded through every major entrance surrounding the arena. The surviving Kengan proxy fighters were forced into a desperate vanguard, fighting frantically to hold the perimeter and protect the panicked corporate executives and global VIPs.
"Damn it! Where the hell are they all coming from?! How did this many heavily armed terrorists breach the island?!" "The Wild Tiger," Takeshi Wakatsuki, roared. He had already neutralized several Worm grunts, but the sheer volume of attackers seemed endless.
"The situation is highly disadvantageous. They are fully armed, and we are not," the Thai God of War, Gaolang Wongsawat, observed calmly, standing back-to-back with Wakatsuki and flawlessly dismantling any operative that came within his striking range.
Although the Worm operatives were heavily armed, the Kengan gladiators weren't ordinary men. By banding together, they were just barely managing to hold the chokepoints and secure the main entrances.
However, a deeply unsettling realization began to dawn on the more observant fighters. The combat capacity of the Worm grunts attacking the arena was completely underwhelming. None of them possessed the terrifying, apocalyptic strength of the elite hit squad that the Fang of Metsudo, Lu Li, had slaughtered in the blink of an eye just moments ago.
It felt exactly as if the Worm had simply dumped a massive wave of disposable trash mobs into the arena specifically to trap and stall the Kengan fighters, preventing them from assisting elsewhere.
Up in the VIP suite, Metsudo Katahara's ancient brow was furrowed so deeply it looked like it was carved from stone. "It appears the Worm's primary objective isn't the political or corporate VIPs in the audience at all. They are merely using these grunts to completely paralyze our main fighting force, isolating their true targets outside the arena."
A rare flicker of profound worry flashed through his predatory eyes. Erioh... don't you dare die out there.
BOOM—!
Out in the grand corridor circling the exterior of the stadium, a figure was violently blasted backward, embedding deeply into the reinforced concrete wall. It was Hollis Kure, the "Crying Demon" of the Kure Clan.
Standing dead center in the corridor, completely unfazed despite being surrounded by elite assassins, was a massive, heavily muscled man. He had slicked-back blonde hair, wore dark sunglasses indoors, and casually chewed on an unlit Cuban cigar.
Facing a fully coordinated ambush from the absolute deadliest assassination syndicate in Japan, the man simply flashed a condescending, deeply mocking grin. He casually pulled out a lighter and leisurely lit his cigar.
He glanced at Hollis Kure and Reichi Kure, both unconscious and severely injured, slumped against the cracked walls. His gaze then shifted to Erioh Kure and Raian Kure, both of whom were bleeding heavily and breathing raggedly.
"I truly don't understand the cognitive dissonance. You are nothing more than obsolete, decaying garbage. What exactly gave you the delusion that you could successfully ambush me?"
"Hah?! Who the fuck said they were helping me?! I'm going to butcher you all by myself!" Raian Kure roared. Even while fully submerged in the purple-black state of Removal, completely covered in his own blood, his psychotic battle-lust hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"Edward. You are undeniably powerful. You are very nearly as strong as I was in my prime," Erioh Kure rasped. His emaciated, fragile frame stood in stark, almost pitiful contrast to Edward's towering physique.
Erioh was tightly gripping a traditional katana. Yet, even with a lethal weapon in hand, he had completely failed to gain even a microsecond of advantage during their initial clash.
For the first time in a very long time, Erioh truly felt the agonizing weight of his advanced age. Time is the only undefeated enemy.
"Are you truly that blind, old man? Your clan has stagnated in this pathetic little island, clinging to obsolete traditions. The Westward Faction are the true pioneers. Over the past thousand years, we have continuously evolved. We exist on a completely different dimensional plane of existence," Edward Wu drawled, slowly exhaling a thick plume of cigar smoke. "Now, stay down like good dogs, and I might just spare your pathetic lives. Do not interfere with my actual business here."
"The Worm and the Westward Faction mobilizing an entire army just to annihilate the Kengan Association?" Erioh sneered, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Your boundless ambition will be your grave."
"The Kengan Association? Hah!" Edward's face twisted in profound mockery. "Annihilating your little underground fight club is nothing more than a convenient side objective. Frankly, I couldn't care less whether any of you live or die. My sole primary objective today is to execute Lu Li and protect this world."
Hearing this, both Erioh and Raian froze, their eyes widening in genuine shock.
A moment later, Raian threw his head back and burst into hysterical, manic laughter. "Protect the world?! Are you fucking kidding me?! I'm literally crying laughing! The leader of the psychotic Westward Faction just said he wants to protect the world?!"
His laughter abruptly died. His expression shifted into a mask of pure, absolute sadism. "Stop spouting delusional bullshit. We are a family of assassins. There is only death."
With a roar, Raian charged forward, unleashing the absolute pinnacle of the Kure Clan's lethal, close-quarters assassination techniques.
But Edward Wu evaded the entire barrage with the casual, effortless grace of a man taking a stroll through a park. Finding a microscopic opening in Raian's frenzy, Edward casually threw a single punch, violently blasting Raian all the way down to the far end of the corridor.
Seizing the opening, Erioh lunged from behind, thrusting his katana directly toward Edward's spine.
But it was as if Edward had eyes in the back of his head. He seamlessly pivoted his massive torso just enough for the razor-sharp blade to slide harmlessly into the narrow gap between his arm and his ribcage. In the very next microsecond, Edward violently twisted his entire upper body. The sheer, catastrophic kinetic torque instantly snapped the forged steel katana in half.
Riding the rotational momentum of the snap, Edward brought his hand around in a devastating knife-hand strike (shuto), burying it directly into Erioh's neck. The ancient Patriarch was violently launched through the air, crashing heavily onto the floor, completely unresponsive.
"Enough. Trash should behave like trash and stay out of the way. Stop interfering with my mission. If you genuinely possess a death wish, I'll gladly grant it next time," Edward muttered, turning his back on the broken Kure Clan and beginning to walk toward the arena.
He had a sinking feeling that White Niko's disciples were highly unreliable and likely couldn't execute Lu Li. He knew he would ultimately have to step in and finish the job himself.
When he said he was "protecting the world," he wasn't joking. The Tiger's Vessel had been assassinated. Even though the Connector hadn't officially reacted yet, Edward knew Shen Wulong was undoubtedly furious.
And if the Connector was truly angry, the entire world was in genuine, catastrophic danger.
At least, that was Xia Yan's terrified assessment of the situation. Edward personally didn't care either way; he just didn't want to get caught in the collateral damage of the Connector's bad mood.
Ohma Tokita's death meant Shen Wulong's grand cloning project had to be delayed by at least another twenty years. Even though the Connector had lived for over five millennia, in his current incarnation, he was growing incredibly impatient and desperate to fight "himself."
This desperation was exactly why the Worm had agreed to collaborate with that bizarre, anomalous researcher ('The Aberration'). If that freak could actually successfully complete the psychological "partitioning" of Shen Wulong—separating the "Dragon" and the "Tiger" personas and implanting them into two separate host bodies—then everything they were doing right now was profoundly meaningful.
"Don't you dare... run away..."
A ragged, heavy voice echoed down the corridor. Raian Kure slowly, unsteadily pushed himself back to his feet. He was completely bathed in his own blood, yet his combat aura burned hotter and more violently than ever. He absolutely refused to accept back-to-back humiliating defeats.
He was supposed to be the undisputed, invincible prodigy of the Kure Clan! Yet, he had never once managed to defeat Lu Li. And now, the sworn mortal enemy of his entire lineage was standing right in front of him, casually dismissing him as trash and explicitly stating he was going to kill Lu Li instead!
"Lu Li... Lu Li... Lu Li... Every single one of you bastards won't shut the fuck up about Lu Li..."
Fully submerged in Removal, Raian spread his arms wide, his face contorted into a mask of pure, absolute madness. "That bastard... is mine to kill!"
Edward Wu stopped dead in his tracks. Thick, pulsating veins instantly erupted across his forehead. "Did you just accuse me... of running away?"
He slowly turned around. For the very first time in this entire conflict, Edward Wu activated his Removal (Guihun). Up until this point, he hadn't even needed to trigger his transformation to completely dismantle the absolute strongest elites of the Kure Clan. His activation proved he was genuinely, deeply infuriated.
His face was contorted in absolute rage. The very microsecond he shifted his weight, the reinforced concrete floor beneath his feet violently caved in. "You little shit... Who the fuck do you think is running?!"
Edward Wu's colossal, hyper-muscled frame closed the massive distance in an instant. Leaping into the air, he brought his leg down in a devastating, apocalyptic axe kick aimed directly at Raian's skull.
Raian's psychotic grin didn't falter for a single microsecond. He instantly raised both arms in a cross-guard to absorb the catastrophic impact, already shifting his weight to launch a lethal counter-kick directly into Edward's groin the moment the axe kick landed.
BOOM—!
To the absolute shock of both fighters, Edward's guaranteed-kill axe kick never connected with Raian. Furthermore, Raian was completely unable to launch his counter-kick, because a silhouette had abruptly materialized directly in the microscopic space between them, completely severing their kinetic trajectories.
With a deafening, concussive blast, the reinforced concrete floor completely shattered, sending jagged shrapnel flying into the air.
Standing in the epicenter of the destruction, the violent shockwave violently whipping his hair around, was a man with deep, purple-black eyes practically glowing with the ecstatic joy of a predator who had just found premium prey.
Utilizing the rebounding kinetic force of his intercepted kick, Edward Wu instinctively backflipped away, landing heavily on his feet. His eyes narrowed intensely as he stared at the man who had just violently intruded upon his battlefield.
"Yo, Raian. Getting your ass brutally kicked again, huh?"
Hearing that deeply infuriating, familiar voice, Raian exploded with rage. "Who the fuck asked you to interfere?! I was literally half a second away from kicking his balls into his throat!"
Lu Li glanced sideways at Raian's forearms. Noticing a faint, almost imperceptible dark, metallic luster coating the Kure prodigy's skin, Lu Li raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise before smiling approvingly. "I suppose if you managed to deploy the Haki foundation I taught you in that exact microsecond, his kick wouldn't have killed you. But it still would have shattered both your arms."
Without giving Raian a single second to argue, Lu Li took a firm step forward, completely shielding Raian with his body. "Grab your Patriarch and the rest of your clan and get the hell out of here. His head belongs to me."
Raian's blood boiled with absolute fury, but he wasn't a complete idiot. He knew his body had sustained critical structural damage and his combat effectiveness was severely compromised. Furthermore, if he didn't get the old man to an emergency trauma team immediately, Erioh was genuinely going to die.
Swallowing his pride with a vicious snarl, Raian rapidly moved down the corridor, hoisting the unconscious bodies of his Patriarch and clansmen over his shoulders before disappearing down a stairwell.
"Hahahaha! To think you would actually deliver yourself directly to me! It seems White Niko's pathetic disciples really are completely useless trash!" Edward Wu threw his head back and laughed uproariously.
However, his eyes remained sharp. He keenly observed that Lu Li didn't have a single drop of blood or a speck of dust on his clothes. That meant Fei Wangfang and the elite hit squad hadn't even managed to graze him before they died.
Lu Li held Qiu Mo loosely at his side, his eyes carefully evaluating Edward Wu's towering physique. "Although I stepped in prematurely to save Raian... I absolutely could have severed one of your legs when I intercepted that kick. Are you seriously not going to draw a weapon against me?"
Edward Wu lowered his center of gravity into a wide, aggressive stance. He extended both hands forward like a starving tiger preparing to pounce. "I am the ultimate weapon."
Lu Li slowly shook his head and let out a genuine, disappointed sigh. "I'd love to praise your absolute arrogance... but you simply don't possess the strength to back it up. Is 'Tokita Niko' here? What about Xia Yan?"
Thick veins violently bulged across Edward's forehead. "Brat. Don't delude yourself into thinking you're stronger just because you managed to block a single one of my kicks! I am nothing like the pathetic trash you've fought so far. I'm going to violently tear all four of your limbs off! After all... That Guy never specified your corpse had to be fully intact!"
"Oh? 'That Guy'? It sounds like someone very specific is taking a deep interest in me," Lu Li bared his teeth, flashing a terrifying, feral grin. "Care to tell me who it is?"
"There's no need. You'll be meeting him very soon... as a mangled corpse!"
Edward roared, violently launching himself forward. Operating at 100% Removal (Guihun), his raw kinetic output and speed were exponentially higher than the current Raian Kure. He was the absolute, undisputed zenith of the Wu lineage's Power and Technique!
The two monsters closed the distance instantly.
As they crossed paths in a microsecond blur... the catastrophic kinetic wind generated by Edward's punch merely ruffled Lu Li's hair.
But a massive, heavily muscled arm was violently launched high into the air.
Lu Li slowly turned around, looking at the violent fountain of blood erupting from Edward Wu's severed shoulder.
"You aren't very durable, are you? I thought you said your body was the ultimate weapon?"
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