The dust and smoke from the Russian giant's terrifying landing gradually cleared. Facing the wild, surging Sophion pressure bearing down on him, Kento remained standing tall. His bare hands hung loosely at his sides, completely devoid of any weapons. He looked straight at the titan, who stood over two meters tall, smirked slightly, and dropped a fiercely arrogant remark:
— "At least it should be like this... Things are finally getting a little spicy!"
Maximilian Orlov cracked his neck loudly, the bones grinding together like colliding boulders. He glared intently at Kento with bloodshot eyes and growled:
— "You're the only punk in this place that actually interests me! Let me introduce myself: I am the champion here, and also the master of this black market!"
With that, Orlov threw his head back and laughed maniacally. The primal Beast-attribute Sophion aura on his body erupted, forming the hazy silhouette of a giant grizzly bear behind his back. He roared in a thick Russian accent:
— "Сейчас я официально покажу тебе, какова на вкус крепкая водка!"
(Now I will officially show you what strong Vodka tastes like!)
Chaos in the Market
Meanwhile, in the slave trading area outside the arena, the bustling atmosphere suddenly froze. A fat, alien-race merchant was loudly auctioning off a chain of slaves when, completely unannounced, a tall figure appeared right behind him.
Shin leaned in close to the merchant's ear, flashing a remarkably friendly yet utterly lethal smile:
— "Hello there, boss. I'll shoot straight with you: I'm not here to buy slaves, I'm here to free them... And now, please excuse me while I snap your neck!"
CRACK!!!
A hollow snap rang out. Before the merchant could utter another word, Shin used both hands to twist the man's head 180 degrees backward. The fat alien crumpled to the ground, dead on the spot, to the absolute horror of his surrounding lackeys.
— "Hey!!! We've got an intruder! Kill him!" The armed black-market guards shouted, immediately swarming Shin.
Shin cracked his knuckles, laughing with pure amusement:
— "Come at me, boys! Let's tear this market apart!"
— "Get out of the way, Shin!" Ling Mo's cold voice echoed from behind.
HISS... BOOM!!!
An energy grenade was tossed directly into the center of the guards by Ling Mo, the explosion blasting five or six of them away. Ling Mo glided through the smoke, speaking apathetically:
— "There are some toys for you. As for the people locked up here, I will rescue them."
Shin glanced around the newly demolished stalls, his eyes suddenly lighting up when he spotted crates of heavy military-grade weapons openly displayed:
— "Hahaha! This market has way too many toys! These scumbags are selling bombs, explosives, and even shoulder-fired missiles?! Oh man... Looks like there's going to be a huge fireworks show tonight!"
With that, Shin didn't hesitate to grab the pre-primed bombs, maniacally hurling them at the guards and the surrounding illicit stalls. A chain of explosions erupted, turning the bustling black market into instant chaos. People ran in all directions, as screams and cries filled the air.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
— "Ling Mo! You focus on saving the slaves, leave these guards to me!" Shin yelled.
Instantly, Shin spread his ten fingers. His unique Sophion aura violently erupted in the form of a technique: "Myriad Soul-Binding Threads."
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Thousands of Sophion threads, so incredibly thin they were completely invisible to the naked eye, shot out from Shin's fingertips, piercing and latching directly onto the nervous systems of the charging guards.
In the blink of an eye, the guards froze. Their eyes widened in terror as they completely lost control of their bodies. A brutal, mutual massacre officially began, solely directed by Shin. The guards wielding blades hacked at their own comrades; those holding guns unloaded clips into their own allies.
— "Aaaargh! My leg! Stop hacking at me, you bastard!" one guard screamed in sheer helplessness.
— "I can't control my body! Please stop!!!" another sobbed as the blade in his own hand plunged into his stomach.
Shin made the threads dance like a puppeteer, laughing uproariously with delight:
— "How's that? Keep dancing, I'm the director here!"
Lethal Precision and the Big Boom
In the opposite direction, Ling Mo was exerting his internal energy to shatter the iron chains and energy locks, freeing the alien-race slaves. He tore open the iron cage holding the avian-race girl from earlier, urging her in a low voice:
— "Go! Run quickly, all of you get out of here!"
The avian girl teared up, bowing her head as she trembled:
— "Thank... thank you, benefactor..."
— "Now is not the time for thanks. Run!" Ling Mo cut her off.
Right at that moment, another massive wave of black-market thugs swarmed in like ants to provide backup. The market was now a complete madhouse.
— "Kill that bastard!!!" The heavily armed thugs roared, charging straight at Ling Mo.
— "..."
Ling Mo didn't say a word, his eyes flashing with a cold, piercing light. With horrifying speed, his figure swept through the crowd like a toxic phantom wind. The speed was so absolute that the thugs' eyes couldn't even process his afterimage.
Less than two seconds later, Ling Mo came to a halt on the other side. One by one, the severed heads of the entire squad slid off their necks and plummeted to the floor. The truly terrifying part was that their headless bodies unconsciously ran a few more steps due to sheer momentum before collapsing into pools of blood.
From a distance, Shin ran while eyeing a massive warehouse at the far end of the market. He cheered:
— "Looks like I just found the big toys!"
Right before his eyes was an enormous munitions depot packed with hundreds of heavy missiles, thousands of explosives, and countless weapons of mass destruction waiting to be sold. Without beating around the bush, Shin kicked over a nearby barrel of gasoline, doused the area, lit a flame, and immediately turned tail, running for his life.
KABOOOOOOOM!!!
An earth-shattering, apocalyptic explosion detonated. The entire armory went up in a chain reaction, blowing away half of the black market's underground infrastructure. The area was instantly transformed into a towering sea of fire. Boulders collapsed, and people in the market ran wildly, desperately seeking a way out.
Shin was grinning smugly, admiring the spectacular "fireworks" display he had just created, when suddenly…
BOOOM!!!
A massive crash erupted from the wall separating the market from the underground arena. Hundreds of concrete fragments flew in all directions as a figure was blasted clean through the thick wall, skidding across the dusty ground. The person who had just been sent flying was none other than Kento!
The Standoff
Amidst the smoke, dust, and flames of the collapsing arena, spectators and fighters were trampling each other in a desperate stampede to escape. Ling Mo glided over to Shin's side. Both of them were stunned to see the black-haired teenager scrambling up from the rubble.
Shin's eyes bugged out as he yelled:
— "Kento?! Why the hell are you in this godforsaken place?!"
Kento stood up straight, dusting the debris off his black jacket, his bare, vein-bulging fists still tightly clenched. His dead eyes looked at his older brother as he replied flatly:
— "I came to win the prize money. But judging by... the current situation, it looks like I'm getting stiffed."
CRASH!!!
A huge chunk of the wall was kicked away. Stepping out of the arena's ruins was the walking mountain of muscle known as GEN—PRIMAL Maximilian Orlov. Seeing that his beloved black market had been reduced to a burning, desolate wasteland, the blue veins on his forehead pulsed wildly as he roared in utter madness:
— "YOU DESTROYED MY ENTIRE MARKET!!! YOU'VE GOT NERVE... YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF NERVE!!!"
He locked his murderous gaze onto the trio—Shin, Ling Mo, and Kento—who were now standing together, bellowing in Russian:
— "Вы ребята знаете друг друга?! Ладно, сегодня я содеру кожу с вас троих!"
(You brats know each other?! Fine, today I will skin all three of you alive!)
Kento lightly rolled his neck, raising his bare hands into a Kyokushin Karate stance. He turned to Shin, asking in a voice that was cold yet brimming with excitement:
— "Are we doing this, Shin? That's our enemy right there."
Shin threw his head back and laughed wildly, the Sophion aura on his body beginning to flare up once more:
— "Hahaha! Let's fight, what's there to be afraid of?! The three of us together—let's see if this Russian bear is heavy enough to act as a warm-up!"
Ling Mo said nothing, but his hands silently gathered kinetic force, his eyes as sharp as daggers locked dead onto Orlov. Three figures facing off against an underworld monster—an earth-shattering battle was about to ignite in the midst of a sea of fire.
Nostalgia Under the Stars
While the subterranean underworld was being turned upside down in blood and fire, up on the surface, the rented apartment remained submerged in the quiet stillness of the late night.
CLICK.
The bedroom door clicked open. Loona, having woken up thirsty, stepped out. Her sleepy eyes scanned the room. Shin's bed was completely empty, and there wasn't a single shadow in Ling Mo's or Kento's corners of the room.
Loona stood bewildered, muttering to herself:
— "Where did those guys run off to in the middle of the night... Did something happen?"
Loona walked over to the fridge, poured herself a glass of water, drank it clean, and then slowly ambled over to the living room sofa and sat down. From her pocket, she quietly pulled out a photograph. It was the group photo they had taken on the day they left the orphanage for the capital.
In the picture, Sister Clara stood dead center, wearing a gentle, angelic smile. Loona stood beside her, her arm hooked tightly around the nun's arm in a display of deep affection. Shin stood right next to her, his posture ramrod straight, radiating a stalwart and unwavering presence. Ling Mo and Kento stood shoulder to shoulder, both wearing their trademark stoic expressions.
Looking at the photo, a deep, aching wave of nostalgia for Sister Clara and the peaceful days at the orphanage washed over Loona. She hugged the picture to her chest, sighing softly as she looked out the window at the starry night sky of the capital:
— "I hope you guys are okay..."
END OF CHAPTER 26