Kaito rose and looked out, only to see a colossal object at the edge of his vision, enveloped in a sky full of dust, crushing its way forward like a moving mountain.
The approaching figure was as tall as a three-story villa, its entire body covered in thick chitinous armor that shimmered with a cold metallic gleam.
On its ferocious head, four crimson vertical pupils scanned the crowd like searchlights, and each step it took caused the ground to tremble violently.
This was none other than Hero, the champion of the first martial arts tournament, after his monsterization!
"Hoh… hoh…" Suiryu gasped with difficulty, his swollen fingers tightly gripping Kaito's pant leg.
This martial arts champion, once so full of vigor, was now covered in blood, his left arm twisted at a strange angle, and his right eye swollen to a mere slit.
Kaito looked down at the disheveled young man.
Hero's strength, compared to that arrogant "Dragon Scum" Fuhrer Ugly from earlier, was simply a world apart—a solid Dragon-level-plus combatant!
In the original work, Hero, relying solely on his aura and power, had crushed Suiryu's proud heart.
Hmm, it seemed that in this timeline, Suiryu still couldn't escape this fated blow; he was unlucky enough to encounter Hero again and had his fighting spirit shattered.
Blood continuously overflowed from Suiryu's trembling lips, his voice choked: "Run… it's not something humans can fight… don't make any more pointless sacrifices… hurry and go!!"
Once upon a time, Suiryu looked down on professional heroes; in his eyes, these guys in strange outfits were all opportunists seeking fame, merely putting on a show to gain renown.
Until today, he was coerced by Hero: either eat the monster cells, or be brutally killed. Just at this critical moment, the S-Class Hero he had once scorned—Child Emperor, the genius child inventor—appeared like a divine soldier descending from the heavens.
Even when torn to pieces, Child Emperor still used his broken body to shield Suiryu, a mere civilian, ensuring his safety.
What a "ridiculous" sense of justice!
Suiryu's heart was filled with guilt, believing that Child Emperor shouldn't sacrifice himself for a "small-minded person" like him, who had once mocked them!
This pain and regret suffocated him more than his physical injuries.
"Alright." Kaito's warm palm rested on Suiryu's shoulder, the pulsation of the Emperor Engine transmitting through his palm, calming his disordered breathing.
"Leave the rest to me."
As Kaito turned to walk towards Hero, Suiryu struggled to prop up his upper body.
Through his blood-tinged vision, he saw that tall figure cast a long shadow in the moonlight.
The vast difference in their sizes made his heart clench again… that monster, over ten meters tall, its fist alone bigger than Kaito's entire body!
"Kaito?" Hero's voice rumbled like muffled thunder, "Are you here to surrender to me?"
The explosive increase in strength after monsterization had inflated Hero's confidence; he felt that even "the strongest man on Earth," Kaito, could be defeated with a single move.
Kaito crossed his arms, tilting his head as he observed this former human martial arts champion.
His perfected Kenbunshoku Haki allowed him to clearly perceive the surging monster energy within the opponent; it was indeed several grades stronger than a weakling like Fuhrer Ugly.
Hero extended his massive palm and casually pulled out a few monster cells, pulsating slightly like living creatures, from a special pouch at his waist, tossing them in front of Kaito.
"Eat it, join the Monster Association, and the great Do S-sama might grant you a position second only to mine. Otherwise…"
Hero jabbed his huge chin towards Suiryu's direction and said fiercely, "I'll beat you into the same state as that piece of trash!"
"My apologies." Kaito showed a brilliant smile, "I'm a bit picky about my food; I don't like eating raw. How about you cook it for me first?"
Hero's chitin instantly glowed a dangerous dark red, and all four of his eyes widened in rage!
Without warning, his giant fist, comparable to a truck's cab, tore through the air, heading straight for Kaito's face with a deafening roar!
Suiryu closed his eyes in despair, unable to watch.
"Bang!"
A soft sound.
Hearing the noise, Suiryu couldn't help but open his eyes to a slit.
Immediately after, his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, frozen in shock!
Kaito had actually blocked that direct punch, capable of collapsing a skyscraper, with just one index finger!
Even more terrifying, the ground beneath his feet didn't have a single crack, indicating that all the impact force had been perfectly neutralized.
"Wh-…?!" Hero's compound eyes trembled violently.
Although he had only used seventy percent of his strength in that punch, it was enough to turn a tank into scrap metal!
Kaito's index finger curved slightly, and the yielding force of the perfected Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist spread from the point of contact.
Hero suddenly discovered, to his horror, that his fist was stuck as if in viscous glue; no matter how much force he exerted, he couldn't pull it back!
"Is that all the strength you have?" Kaito shook his head in disappointment, flicking his index finger lightly.
"Boom—!!!"
Hero's massive body was sent flying backward as if hit by a train, crashing through three buildings before finally coming to a halt.
Amidst the swirling dust, a bowl-sized indentation clearly appeared on his chitin-covered chest!
"Cough ah!" Hero coughed up a mouthful of dark green blood, and all four of his eyes became bloodshot.
An unprecedented sense of crisis made him directly enter his second transformation state!
His already exaggerated muscles swelled further, high-temperature steam spewed from the gaps in his chitin, and his entire body grew another two meters taller!
"Ah ah ah! You bastard!! I'll crush you into a meat paste!!!"
Amidst the furious roars, Hero transformed into a black hurricane and charged.
This time, he held nothing back, his two arms forming an impenetrable screen of fists, each blow carrying the might to shatter mountains and crack stones!
Kaito, however, still kept one hand behind his back, not even activating the Emperor Engine, using only his right hand to draw mysterious trajectories in front of him.
The Tai Chi energy field of the perfected Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist fully expanded, turning the air within a ten-zhang radius into a viscous force field.
Hero's lightning-fast fist shadows, once they entered this domain, became like flies caught in a spiderweb, their speed plummeting tenfold!
"Bang!"
"Slap!"
"Thud!"
Kaito's fingertips were like dragonflies skimming water, moving leisurely amidst Hero's torrential assault.
Each light touch precisely landed on the weak points of the opponent's force exertion, returning the violent fist force intact.
Gradually, Hero discovered with horror that every punch he threw inexplicably ended up hitting himself!
"Crack!"
The chitin on his left arm suddenly cracked.
"Pfft!"
Green blood spurted from his right shoulder.
When Kaito's fingertip touched Hero's elbow joint for the seventh time, Hero clearly heard a groaning sound from his spine, unable to bear the weight.
His martial arts skills, which he had always been so proud of, were as childish as an infant's in front of Kaito.
"Done fighting?" Kaito suddenly leaned close to his ear, his voice as calm as still water. "Then… it's my turn."
Only then did Hero realize, to his shock, that he had already knelt on one knee at some point.
His entire body's chitin was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and both his arms hung limply, completely dislocated.
"No… impossible… how could this be… This… what kind of power is this…"
Hero barely managed to support his body, preventing himself from collapsing.
However, the mad rage in his eyes had long been replaced by boundless fear and an incomprehensible bewilderment.
The clear moonlight cast a silver edge on Kaito.
In those calm eyes, Hero seemed to see the scene of stars being extinguished.
How could such a powerful man exist in this world?
As Kaito's hand-chop fell, this scene became Hero's last thought before his consciousness was extinguished.