This technique's power was more than double what it had been at the underground arena!
In the courtyard, Mai and Yuri's hearts leaped into their throats!
Yet facing this terrifying attack capable of melting steel, Cloud merely shook his head in disdain.
"Playing with fire?"
A mocking curve formed at the corner of his lips.
"Playing with fire in front of me—the godfather of arson himself?"
"Isn't that the textbook definition of teaching your grandmother to suck eggs?"
With that, he slowly raised his right hand.
No earth-shaking display of power. No flashy technique.
He simply... snapped his fingers.
Snap.
A crisp sound.
The next second, a golden flame—noble and domineering, seeming to blend divinity with sovereign might—appeared from thin air, hovering at his fingertip.
Though that flame was only the size of a candle, the searing aura it radiated—as if capable of incinerating all creation—caused the temperature in the entire medicine shop to spike several degrees!
Billy's raging fire tornado, before this tiny golden flame, seemed to cower like a subject before its king. Its burning intensity instantly diminished by half, even emitting a "whooshing" sound that resembled a "whimper"!
"What... what kind of flame is this?!"
Billy's eyes nearly popped from their sockets, his face filled with disbelief!
His pride, the power personally "bestowed" by Lord Geese... was afraid?!
"Ignorant frog at the bottom of a well."
Cloud's voice was cold as ice from the Nine Hells, devoid of emotion.
"Let me show you what real flames look like."
He flicked his finger.
That golden Battle God Golden Flame, as if possessing life of its own, transformed into a streak of golden light and shot silently toward the raging fire tornado.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only consumption.
The golden flame, like a hungry beast, the instant it contacted the red fire tornado, began to devour, absorb, and assimilate it with unreasonable speed!
In barely one second, that fierce fire tornado was completely consumed by the tiny golden flame—eaten clean!
And after swallowing its opponent's power, the golden flame's size multiplied several times over, transforming into a golden fire serpent that coiled and danced through the air, letting out a joyful hiss—like a child who'd just eaten its fill.
Dead silence fell over the entire scene.
Everyone was completely stupefied by this borderline "magical" spectacle.
Billy's mouth hung open wide enough to stuff an egg inside, his mind blank.
He felt the worldview he'd built over twenty-some years shatter completely in this moment, then get thrown on the ground and trampled dozens of times.
His "cheat code"... had just been... instantly countered by his opponent's "cheat code"?!
"Now it's your turn."
Cloud's icy voice, like a death god's sentence, snapped Billy out of his shock.
He looked at the terrifying fire serpent now facing him, its golden tongue flickering, and was so frightened his soul nearly fled his body. He spun around to run!
But it was too late.
"Heavenscorch Scripture—Style 100: Oniyaki!"
Cloud's figure vanished from where he stood!
The next instant, he appeared before Billy!
A fist wreathed in golden flames, carrying the domineering will to incinerate everything, drove upward from below and slammed into Billy's chin!
BOOM—!!!
A pillar of golden fire shot skyward, blasting a massive hole straight through the already-rickety roof of the Hundred Herbs Hall!
And Billy Kane, the self-proclaimed "Staff King," screamed as he rocketed into the air like a kite with its string cut, transformed into a bright "shooting star" against the night sky, ultimately vanishing somewhere at the far end of Chinatown...
As for his underlings, the moment they saw their boss get "One-Punch-Man'd," they'd already scattered in terror, throwing away their weapons and fleeing without a trace.
The front hall of the medicine shop returned to silence once more.
All that remained was the ceiling with its new skylight, and the figure slowly lowering his fist—golden flames still dancing faintly around him like a god or demon incarnate.
In the courtyard.
Terry, Andy, Mai, and Yuri—all four of them—had gone completely numb.
Jaws hanging open, eyes bulging, they stood like four statues that had been struck by lightning, unable to speak for the longest time.
They knew Cloud was strong, but...
This was way too freaking strong!
That was a fighter who'd also awakened Absolute Domain!
And the result...
He just got... punched into the sky?! Without even a chance to fight back?!
"What the hell has this kid been through since winning KOF?" Terry swallowed hard, feeling like his title of "Legendary Wolf" was more like "Husky" compared to Cloud.
Meanwhile, Cloud slowly exhaled a breath tinged with faint golden light, dusted off his hands, as if he'd just done something utterly trivial.
He turned to face the four "statues" in the courtyard and flashed them a brilliant smile.
"Done."
"Now then, shall we sit down and have a proper discussion about how to... twist that old bastard Geese's head off?"
...
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