Kenji dusted his clothes off as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and he stood up. Okay, he had his fun. He now understood precisely where he stood.
He could say, without false modesty, that he was good. More than good. Most of his combat skills had leveled up quite a bit since he came to this world, and now he didn't have to feel inadequate about them. He summoned a healing potion and drank it. Wounds sealed, flesh knitting smooth, the stinging pain in his muscles and joints vanishing instantly.
Conama (Blue) watched the wound on Kenji's face close up as if it had never existed, and a cold wave of dread washed over him.
This man was better than they had expected. He wasn't just good, he was on a different level entirely. The Ma Brothers had a reputation, a fearsome one, and for this man to have taken their attacks and then healed himself with a .....potion? Like nothing... that was an insult.
A mockery of their power. The Ma Brothers tensed, and the air around them went from agitated to positively charged, the silence of their fear a tangible presence.
It felt worse to them than attacking outright, watching him prepare seemed to take a lifetime.
Kenji cracked his neck, stretched his arms, and felt the last dull ache fade.
'Time to stop playing'
He immediately redistributed his stats back into their normal order. The change was instantaneous, a familiar rush of power as his body went back to its proper power.
The shift felt like pieces of a puzzle clicking back into place, it was like feeling a rank up again, the raw, unrestricted power of his original build returning to his body. With that, he made his move.
In an instant, he appeared in front of Conama, returning the punch that had earlier sent him flying. Conama just managed to block, but Kenji felt the man's bones protest under the impact.
He heard a sickening crunch, the sound of bone giving way, and the reinforced blow sent the Ma Brother flying several meters away. The others scattered instinctively, creating space, their faces now etched with dawning fear as they barely got a glimpse of him when he moved.
Conama landed with a heavy thud, his arm hanging at an unnatural angle, the pain a searing fire.
More than the pain, however, was the terror, the petrifying realization that his full power had been utterly nullified by a single strike.
The giant ape came crashing down, its instincts screaming at it to protect its master, its fists aiming to smash Kenji into paste. Yellow's beast was on him in an instant.
Kenji adjusted his stats again, a subtle mental tweak that prioritized strength, caught the primate's massive hand, and twisted. A wet, tearing crack echoed through the room.
The ape howled, a desperate, pained sound of a beast being broken. Kenji yanked it by the arm and flung it into Tonama (Red), who was making his way toward him.
The worm erupted from the floor to intercept, but Kenji felt the ground turning soft and treacherous under his feet, a quick-witted attempt by Bonama (Green) to trap and hold him. Kenji jumped into the air, avoiding the trap.
Nonama (Yellow) took the opportunity to send the giant worm straight at him. In the split second the beast got close, Kenji summoned his sword, twisting in the air and adjusting his stats once more. This time, it was his speed he adjusted, stepping on a piece of debris. He launched himself at the worm, accelerating and cutting the beast into pieces as he landed.
The blade bit deep, slicing through the Nen-infused flesh. Nonama watched, his eyes wide with a personal horror, as his Nen beast, an extension of his soul, was sliced apart.
The worm's bulk collapsed in a spray of gore, and Kenji landed in a shower of blood, swinging his sword to clear the crimson liquid from the blade. Nonama flinched back as he felt the pain from his conjured beast's death in that instant.
Conama appeared behind Kenji, a new surge of panic lending him temporary strength as he aimed a crushing fist with his other arm. Kenji adjusted his stats again, bringing strength and speed into a perfect balance. He raised his sword to meet the blow with the flat side of the sword, catching the fist and stopping the strike, while his other hand shot forward and snagged a red, glowing scythe arcing toward him.
The scythe grunted under his grip as Tonama struggled to force it down, only it would not budge. The frustration and fear on his face were clear, they were being outclassed, and he knew it.
Rocks speared from the wall, but Kenji was already moving. He shoved Conama away, grabbed Tonama by the scythe haft, and flung him into a stone spear that had erupted near the ceiling.
A yellow bird came screeching, swooping down to swallow him. Kenji spun, caught the beak, and with a single brutal wrench, snapped the beak clean off. He heaved the bird into Nonama's chest, the impact and the pain from the death of his beast sent the man crashing into the marble and out cold.
The others hesitated for the length of a heartbeat, that was all Kenji needed. He launched himself and brought his blade down on Tonama. The scythe snapped in two beneath the pressure; the sword slashed through Tonama's chest. Blood sprayed. Tonama hit the floor.
"Brother!" Bonama and Conama screamed in unison as their coordinated attacks crumbled from their panic.
Bonama raged out as his nen spread out, the room erupted, walls rippled, floors buckled, ceilings compressed, and vomited shards of marble and metal like a thunderstorm of shrapnel.
Bonama hurled everything he had at Kenji, his terror and rage fueling a final, desperate burst of Nen. The transformed environment lashed at him, spears, blades, elastic walls, hardened droplets of metal. It was beautiful in a way for Kenji when he looked at it, but ultimately it was entirely meaningless.
Kenji vanished and reappeared at Bonama's side in a heartbeat, barely a blink of an eye, and he appeared in front of him.
Grabbing his face with one hand, he slammed him into the stone wall until consciousness fled. The room quaked as Bonama was smashed down into the floor, creating a crater.
The room stopped screaming. Conama looked at the monster in front of him and tried to back away before he fell backwards, his broken body and shattered Nen leaving him utterly helpless.
He looked at the monster in front of him, and all he could see was a dark silhouette with bright golden eyes heading towards him.
He faced the shadow moving toward him. He tried to back away, his arms hung useless and broken. The thing squatted down, cold golden eyes boring into him. Conama's mind went blank with primal terror as he watched the inevitable come, then his face hit the floor, and the world went black.
Silence followed.
Kenji stood among four sprawled bodies. He had beaten them but had not killed them, that would have after all been wasteful and unnecessary, they were good and he may have use for them in the future.
He summoned his Contract Chains and bound them where they lay, the black tattooed links pulsing as the chains anchored the men to his will. He splashed a low-tier healing potion on them and over Tonama's wound, enough to stop the bleeding and keep him alive. They would be useful later.
Only one more remained. He pushed through the final door.
The room hit him with perfume and fog. Pink mist curled through gilt columns. Candles burned without flame. The air smelled of roses and something sweet that made his jaw loosen. A pressure pressed on his mind like warm foam. Everything in the room conspired to make him feel safe, content, soft, and hmmmmm, pliant.
And in the middle of it, Lady Fortuna smiled.
She watched him relax, watched his shoulders drop, watched his pupils gloss over. 'I knew it would work,' she thought, arrogant, but she won't deny the feeling of uncertainty she felt at first. 'No matter how strong you are, you cannot beat me.'
She signaled him to come. He walked toward her like a man in a dream, eyes vacant. Fortuna's triumph bloomed. He reached the couch where she lounged and raised a hand.
The couch split beneath the impact of a blade as a steel arc sliced through it. Luckily, Fortuna leapt out of the way, landing in a cat-like roll. Her eyes flashed white with fury. "How—?" she hissed.
Kenji's smile was slow. "Do you think that kind of trick will work on me?" he said, his voice flat. He had allowed her to think she got him, but things like mind control don't really work on a gamer.
She shrieked and lunged. Skin rippled as her entire body turned pink, horns pushed through her hairline, and a long tail lashed out. This must be her Nen ability, it was like seeing her body being twisted into a succubus-like nightmare. Claws raked, a kick slammed into Kenji's ribs.
He blocked, rolling back, the scent of her around her was making it somewhat hard to focus, even when the gamer's mind was blocking the effects.
She seemed to be using all she had, a blend of seduction and parasitic draw, trying to drag him under the pink haze.
Kenji planted his sword tip in the marble, heel braced, and flipped the blade so the tip pointed down. He pressed both palms to the hilt and shouted a single command: "LAW—NO NEN ALLOWED!"
A gold field snapped into being from the blade's tip, a shimmering dome that expanded like spilled ink until it flooded most of the room. The effect was instantaneous.
Fortuna's transformation stuttered, then froze. Her horns collapsed, her tail shrank, and the pink mist thinned. Then, baam, she was back to normal.
"Wha—what did you do?" she screamed, her voice cracking, her mind unable to comprehend the impossible. That should not have been possible, should it.
He had just turned off nen, she knew it, she could feel her nen beneath her skin, but it was like on mute, how was that possible.
She hadn't been powerless like this for a long time, and truth be told, she was afraid.
Her entire rise to where she was was because of her ability, her reputation was built on her Nen, and to think someone could just turn it off was frightening. To have it ripped away was like losing a limb.
Kenji walked forward inside the dome, watching her closely. "Stop. Get away from me," she spat, her voice now a desperate, pathetic croak as she scrabbled around.
He closed the distance, and when he was near enough, he punched her. Hard. Her head smashed into the wall, the force embedding her in the marble. She slumped, out cold.
Kenji canceled the field and stepped back. He dusted his hands.
"Guess it's over now," he said.
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