Looking at the syringe filled with glowing silver liquid in Xie Xingchen's hand, Shin's eyes widened in surprise:
— "Where'd you get that?"
Xie Xingchen hurriedly wiped away blood, explaining calmly:
— "Loona creates all kinds of drugs! Before we left, she shoved this into my hand, saying it's just an experimental version that definitely carries severe side effects."
Seijuro narrowed his eyes at the maniacal monster Kagetora ahead, clicking his tongue in admiration:
— "If only Loona were here, that guy would be stuffed full of all kinds of drugs!"
BOOM!
Right at that moment, Kento was single-handedly trading violent blows with Kagetora. Xie Xingchen didn't hesitate, immediately tossing the syringe hard toward Ling Mo, signaling with his eyes: they had to jab this into him no matter what!
Ling Mo caught the syringe mid-air, his body fading as he darted toward Kagetora's blind spot behind his back. However, the monster seemed to have grown sharper. The moment his eyes caught sight of the strange syringe in Ling Mo's hand, Kagetora instantly calculated the trajectory, springing back to flee and dodge!
He threw his head back, roaring madly:
— "YOU BASTARDS THINK IT'S THAT EASY TO INJECT ME?!"
Roxy and Kwon Tae-Joon charged from two directions, trying to restrict his movement range. But Kagetora gave no one a chance to close in. He continuously unleashed supersonic punches, brutally attacking those not holding the syringe to sweep the entire area!
Seijuro grit his teeth upon realizing his speed was increasing:
— "Strange, he's getting faster! Is he forcing us to raise our limiters?"
Kwon Tae-Joon dodged a Sophion-coated punch that caved in a nearby building, shouting aloud:
— "He's constantly escalating!"
Mikami Ren accidentally fell into Kagetora's line of sight. He grabbed Ren's head, violently throwing him through a barrage of rubble far into the distance. Mikami Rei furiously rushed in to rescue him, but was also blasted back by a shockwave from Kagetora's hand!
Shin and Kento looked at each other, nodding decisively. Both unleashed their maximum speed, charging straight into the front lines to draw all the firepower, opening a single window for Ling Mo.
Through the sheer effort and flawless coordination of the entire group: Seijuro swung a master strike that severed one of Kagetora's legs; Roxy lunged forward to tightly choke his neck from behind; Tae-Joon locked down his waist to prevent him from turning; the two brothers Ren and Rei jumped up as soon as they got back on their feet to firmly pin Kagetora's bloody arms!
— "NOW!" Shin bellowed.
Ling Mo materialized, driving the needle deep into the nape of Kagetora's neck, plunging the silver liquid all the way down into his cells!
Seijuro let out a long breath:
— "It succeeded!"
Xie Xingchen smiled coldly:
— "Good, now we just wait for the drug to take effect!"
Just a few seconds later, the effects of the mutated chemical began to manifest. The absurd super-regeneration mechanism across Kagetora's body suddenly stuttered, slowing down visibly. The sword slash wounds no longer spewed out rapid flesh like before.
Kagetora collapsed to his knees, clutching his neck with both hands, letting out gut-wrenching groans of pain:
— "You damn bastards... what the fuck did you inject into me?!"
However, the physical pain was swiftly replaced by terrible devastation within his mind. The drug targeted his central nervous system directly, twisting pain into manic laughter. Kagetora's brain rhythm went completely haywire. Memories, willpower, consciousness, and forgotten gaps from deep within began to materialize crystal clear like a vivid motion picture right before his eyes!
In the hallucinatory vision, Kagetora saw his past self—a small, skinny boy. The present Kagetora frantically rushed over, trying to shake his younger self, but his hands passed helplessly through the air.
The young Kagetora, possessing a pure soul, was happily skipping through the deep forest, holding a string of fresh fish. Suddenly, he halted when he saw a tall figure standing waiting at the exit.
Young Kagetora spoke innocently:
— "Who are you? Did you just move to this town?"
The mysterious figure turned around, curling his lips into a demonic smile:
— "Hello there, kid. Why are you here all alone? What were you doing in the forest?"
Young Kagetora replied innocently:
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— "I went fishing to bring some fish back for my family!"
The mysterious figure sneered:
— "Oh, is that so? I'm Takeru... It seems your parents are going to abandon you today!"
Young Kagetora gasped, the string of fish dropping onto the ground with a thud:
— "Why? My parents love me the most, why would they abandon me?!"
The present Kagetora screamed in utter despair, reaching out to stop it, but the hallucinatory space vibrated violently. The mysterious man named Takeru casually reached into his pocket and pulled out a fresh, blood-dripping head—the severed head of Kagetora's mother!
Behind Takeru, Kagetora's entire hometown appeared wrapped in towering flames. Houses were burnt to ash, dozens of corpses littered the streets. Even more horrifyingly, rows of human heads were impaled on long wooden stakes along both sides of the road; corpses severed in half at the lower body bled profusely, turning the concrete road into a deep red river of blood!
Takeru held the bloody head before the boy who had fallen to his knees in sheer terror:
— "Let me guess, this must be your mother, right?"
The present Kagetora fell to his knees, tears mixed with blood running down his insane face. Takeru reached out, gently patting the young boy's head, his voice cold as ice:
— "You will be my next weapon!"
REALITY.
Kagetora clutched his head, throwing his head back toward the sky as he erupted into spine-chilling, psychotic laughter. His mind was entirely shattered! In his bloodshot eyes, every object and every person around him transformed into the silhouette of Takeru—the demon who slaughtered his family and turned him into the monster he was today!
Unleashing a state of peak madness, he charged into attacks regardless of anything. The entire Zero Horizon squad immediately had to scatter to both sides.
Shin grit his teeth:
— "He's completely lost his mind!"
Xie Xingchen backed away, his face turning pale:
— "He's gone full psychopath now!"
Seijuro delivered a slash that split his shoulder in two, Roxy clawed open Kagetora's chest, but Kagetora could no longer distinguish reality from hallucination. In his eyes, there was only one goal: DESTRUCTION!
Violent Sophion energy tore through space, erupting outward from his body into continuous explosive shockwaves. The entire Central District faced terrifying seismic quakes equivalent to a magnitude 8 earthquake. Multiple high-rise buildings collapsed completely into thick dust clouds.
Like a crazed biological tank, Kagetora swept across the city at speeds far exceeding sound. He turned to brutally attack the surrounding residents. From humans to fleeing alien races, anyone in his path was savagely torn apart like scrap paper! Fresh blood and human bodies splattered across every street corner.
Kento panicked:
— "It's out of control! We have to stop him!"
Tae-Joon narrowed his eyes, observing:
— "His wound regeneration has slowed, but the wounded areas are mutating!"
Xie Xingchen yelled:
— "His cells are mutating!"
All the shredded flesh across Kagetora's body began sprouting tumorous grey meat lumps, hard as steel and grotesquely deformed. Losing all humanity, he crashed through buildings, slaughtering any living being in his path.
Shin realized the situation had reached catastrophe levels, immediately roaring an order:
— "EVERYONE SWITCH TARGETS! WE MUST RESCUE THE RESIDENTS FROM HERE!"
Without a second of hesitation, the Zero Horizon members dispersed in all directions, swiftly rescuing surviving citizens and digging out trapped victims beneath the rubble.
Shin himself unleashed maximum speed, tailing right behind Kagetora to keep him in check. Shin lunged to snatch a young girl from Kagetora's deadly clutch, tossing her to Ling Mo before entering a life-or-death brawl with the monster!
Both punched and killed madly, blood splattering all over the street. Kagetora's furious growls echoed like an ancient beast:
— "YOU CRAZY PSYCHOPATH, STOP THE FUCK RIGHT THERE!" Shin roared, smashing one side of his temple into pieces.
The entire city was submerged in towering smoke, fire, and catastrophic ruins. Engaged in the life-or-death clash, Shin was completely unaware that up in the sky, dozens of armored combat warships and hundreds of upgraded military helicopters had arrived, covering the clouds!
At the outer boundary of the city, the Central District police force was broadcasting urgent announcements via high-power loudspeakers: Evacuate all residents to neighboring cities! This was the largest scale evacuation ever recorded in Central District history—a disaster caused by individuals possessing Sophion beyond control thresholds.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The regular army of the Central District had officially been deployed. Hundreds of heavy armored vehicles and modernized tanks roared into position. Thousands of soldiers armed to the teeth with heavy Sophion guns poured out, forming a fortified firepower barrier.
Shin, having just punched Kagetora far away, whipped his head around in surprise:
— "Huh? Why are there so many people here?!"
By now, Kagetora had lost all consciousness. His body was completely mangled: his arms exposed white bone, half his face was ulcerated and missing a massive chunk of flesh to reveal his teeth, and his torn abdomen spilled mutated, black organs. He was like a crippled yet bloodthirsty zombie, limping straight toward the military barricade.
Shin was about to charge forward to stop Kagetora when the commanding General stepped out from behind an armored vehicle, pointing a gun at Shin and shouting through a megaphone:
— "YOU THERE, STOP! THE MILITARY HAS SURROUNDED THIS AREA!"
Kagetora completely ignored the warning, continuing to drag his mutated body forward while growling.
The commander stepped aside, waving his hand to order without the slightest hesitation:
— "OPEN FIRE!!!"
ROAR — BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Instantly, a rain of ultimate destructive firepower erupted!
Hundreds of heavy Sophion gun barrels unleashed rounds at rates of thousands of bullets per minute. The barrels glowed bright red! Tanks fired thermobaric shells continuously, shaking the atmosphere. From above, attack warships and armed helicopters rained down hundreds of guided missiles!
BOOM! BOOM! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The entire area where Kagetora stood was enveloped in a colossal ring of fire and blinding dust. A deluge of bullets and missiles slammed relentlessly into a single target like a meteor shower! Shredded flesh, shattered bones, and flowing blood were incinerated in mid-air by the extreme heat. The sky-shattering explosions roared nonstop for five continuous minutes, blasting the stone ground into a deep, hundreds-of-meters-wide crater!
Shin stood a short distance away, frozen in place as he witnessed a mangled body enduring the most horrific barrage of damage from the regular military.
After over five minutes of continuous firing that illuminated the sky, the commanding General raised his hand:
— "CEASE FIRE!"
The dense dust clouds from the horrific bombardment slowly cleared. The eyes of thousands of soldiers focused on the deep crater filled with the acrid stench of explosives and charred human flesh.
Yet, from the very center of the ruins where no living soul should have survived, a sickening rustling sound echoed.
SIZZLE... SIZZLE…
Kagetora's mangled, charred, and shattered corpse—despite having lost almost its entire human form—was still twitching. The charred, mutated flesh oozed slimy fluids, brutally dragging itself inch by inch along the cracked stone. He had no eyes, no intact face, but a demonic bloodlust forced that ruined corpse to crawl forward!
Seeing that repulsive sight, the commanding General's face twisted in horror and utter disgust. He couldn't believe the creature before him was a living being.
Without a moment's delay, he grit his teeth and screamed until his voice went hoarse:
— "OPEN FIRE!! SECOND ATTACK WAVE! BLAST IT TO DUST!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! ROAR!
Instantly, a second wave of firepower erupted with even more frantic, brutal devastation than the first!
Thousands of heavy armor-piercing Sophion rounds rained down like a glowing red meteor storm. Upgraded tanks unleashed thermobaric shells whose blast force warped the surrounding air. From above, combat warships and armed helicopters dumped their entire payloads of heavy armored missiles, turning Kagetora's sector into a furiously blazing furnace of purgatory.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The storm of bullets and missiles plowed through, grinding down every fiber of flesh and shattering every remaining bone fragment of the monster. The extreme temperature turned freshly spilled blood into deep crimson steam. Continuous deafening explosions reverberated as the ground sank dozens of meters deeper, the shockwaves causing nearby stone structures to collapse.
When the final barrage ceased and the explosions faded, a deadly silence enveloped the battlefield.
The crater was now reduced to pitch-black ash and meat sludge. Shiraishi Kagetora—the monster who once reigned supreme—no longer retained any human form whatsoever. Both his legs were gone without a trace, his head destroyed completely from his neck by the destructive power, leaving behind a charred black stump. His entire body was reduced to a mangled, bloody heap connected to a single intact, crippled arm.
He had completely collapsed, showing no signs of life or regeneration.
Seeing their main target ground to meat sludge, the commanding General immediately waved his hand. In an instant, thousands of soldiers, tanks, and overhead warships simultaneously turned, pointing all heavy Sophion-infused gun barrels straight at Shin—the sole individual still standing among the ruins!
The commander raised his megaphone, speaking in a cold, threatening tone:
— "YOU THERE, SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY! OTHERWISE WE WILL BE FORCED TO ATTACK!!"
Shin narrowed his eyes, standing amid thousands of glowing gun barrels preparing to fire. The surrounding pressure was so tense that even a small sound could trigger a new wave of apocalyptic gunfire.
However, as every soldier tensed up with fingers on their triggers waiting for the execution order, slow, casual footsteps sounded from behind the lineup of heavy armored vehicles. A graceful figure radiating an overwhelming pressure stepped forward.
Seeing this person appear, the commanding General startled, hastily lowering his megaphone, bowing respectfully, and waving his hands to signal the entire force to lower their weapons:
— "Lower your guns! Everyone lower your weapons right now!"
The commander bowed, speaking with profound respect:
— "Reporting, Ma'am, the target has been completely eliminated! All that remains is that young man..."
The mysterious woman stepped out from the smoke. Her sharp eyes swept across Kagetora's remains, then rested on Shin. She curled her lips slightly, speaking casually yet with absolute authority:
— "Very well, leave him to me. I need to take care of him!"
(To be continued)