“So this is the place where everybody gathered.”
Everyone was surprised and turned around to look at the intruder. Even Zero and Brain, who could not afford to take their eyes off each other, did so. An old man was standing there, it was Sebas. Someone Zero would’ve never expected to be here had appeared.
“What? What happened? The Six Arms should be taking care of you… Did you sneak past them?”
Sebas shook his head.
“No. All your comrades has been defeated.”
“…Don’t speak nonsense. They might be weaker than me, but they’re still the Six Arms. There’s no way you can come here unscathed after facing them.”
“Surprise often accompanies the truth.”
“Sebas-sama! The Tsuare here was a fake! It was Succulent disguising himself with an illusion. We need to rescue her now!”
“Ah, thank you for worrying about her, Climb, but there is no need to be concerned. I already rescued her. She was in a different part of the building.”
Sebas looked over his shoulder and Climb followed his gaze to find a woman covered in a blanket near the entrance.
“Ah!”
Climb quickly looked down at Succulent. His maid clothing was ripped in places and soaked in blood. There was no way to hand that over, nor would the receiving party want it.
“There’s no need to worry about it, Climb. It’s just regular maid dress, so it’s disposable.”
Climb felt relief and Sebas who was smiling bitterly.
“Oi, oi, oi. To just chatter on while ignoring me… You sure are gutsy.”
Zero, who couldn’t move carelessly due to Brain in front of him barely moved from his spot to look at Sebas with a hate filled expression.
“Old man, I’ll ask again. What happened to my subordinates?”
“—I killed them all.”
It was a casual tone, as if one was picking a flower, but it was also filled with coldness.
“N, no way! You think I’ll believe you?”
Sebas smiled at Zero’s scream. Sebas’ laugh without a single hint of hostility felt only truthful.
“…Brain Unglaus. We’ll postpone our match a little bit. I need to show this old man the power of Six Arms.”
“Alright. Just try not to get destroyed so fast. Well, not that I’ll have my turn anyways.”
“Shut up!..Old man, you’ll pay for your lies with your life.”
Sebas smiled bitterly, but the man who proclaimed himself as the strongest couldn’t stand that smile Zero’s tattoos gave off a faint glow.
The head of the Security branch and leader of the Six Arms, “Battle Demon” Zero.
If men like Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus fought with him unarmed, they would die in an instant. Even if they were armed, the outcome of the match would be unclear.
One of the classes he had attained was “Shamanic Adept”. This class borrowed the strength of animal spirits and enhanced one’s physical abilities. There was a limit to how often one could use this skill a day, but it raised the user’s abilities to that of a beast. For a physically superior animal to use a human being’s martial arts, it was a truly fearsome combination.
Zero activated his skills. Usually he only activated one to conserve his strength, but he realized that Sebas was quite a strong opponent.
Though he didn’t really believe that Sebas defeated four of the Six Arms by himself, considering that he had broken through the front, there was bound to be someone else with him. Most likely Blue Rose. Until he could gather more detailed information, all he could do was destroy Sebas with all his strength and postpone his duel with Brain Unglaus.
He would need to show overwhelming strength to the onlookers before taking off. He determined this would be the best course of action and prepared his strongest skill accordingly.
Panther on the legs, falcon on the back, rhino on the arms, buffalo on the chest, lion on the head; he activated them all. He felt explosive power surging through him. He was almost worried about his body swelling up and exploding.
“Gyyyyaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
Shouting out the power building in him, he took a step forward.
The attack of strongest of the Six Arms, Zero. It was a straightforward punch. No feints, no tricks, just a pure, straight punch. But the strength behind it was immense. Not only his skills as a Shamanic Adept, but also his other skills as Monk, as well as his magic items enhanced the strength and destructiveness of his fist.
It was so fast that even Zero had a hard time controlling it. The fact it was a straightforward punch with all his strength made it a usable skill. He had no hesitation in showing his ultimate strike. This skill was simple, but invincible.
He had confidence that no trickery could stop it. Zero felt a sensation of superiority above others as he rapidly stepped forward with a sensation of being pulled back.
“Watc—”
Somebody shouted.
But it was too late.
In a blink of an eye, the fist carrying extreme power and weight had already arrived in front of Sebas and still kept propelling itself forward. Zero could only laugh at Sebas who was still standing there stiffly. He would regret fighting the strongest of the Six Arms.
“—Hrmph.”
The fist found its mark on Sebas’ undefended stomach. It was a perfect strike.
With an explosive aftershock, Sebas body flew back like a ragdoll. He hit the floor, but the strike was powerful enough to make his body keep bouncing back on the floor. It was an immediate death. No, it would only be natural for it to be so.
All of his internal organs would have turned into a liquid by now. The outside was the only thing that kept its semblance of a human. This was Zero’s strongest skill. A demonic skill that was true embodiment of phrase, “single strike kill”.
Or at least that’s what was supposed to happen.
Sebas stood his ground and did not budge even a bit. He had taken Zero’s fist, with all the strength in it, with just the muscles in his abdomen. It was an unbelievable sight to anyone; a scene defying all common sense.
The difference of strength between their appearances was absolute, but the result was the complete opposite.
The one who could not believe this the most was Zero. There was no creature that could receive his ultimate attack and survive. This had been the case so far. However, with a result like this, he did not even realise that something black had passed right in front of his eyes.
Sebas’ leg rose high into the sky. It passed by Zero’s nose with fluid motion. Then the leg came crashing down.
A heel drop kick.
That was the name of the skill, but the speed and strength behind the kick was abnormal.
“…Who are you.”
Zero murmured and Sebas’ lips curled at the edge.
Terrifying crunching and cracking sounds spread everywhere. Zero’s head was smashed, his neck and spine broke as if he had been crushed by an object weighing several hundreds of kilograms, and Zero’s body kneeled.
The hallway was wrapped in silence.
The atmosphere could only be described as “stupor”. Sebas moved his feet as if avoiding blood from Zero’s smashed head and dusted the place where Zero’s fist had struck.
He was lying! What warning?
The three men, and perhaps Tsuare as well, did not speak out loud, but all shouted that in their minds.
“I survived, thanks to you, Climb-kun.”
“—ouh… Ah, yes…”
Climb who could only mouth the last words of “watch out” received Sebas’ thanks rigidly. He did not know what to say due to the mental shock.
“It seems I was just a tiny bit stronger.”
Sebas showed a tiny bit of space between two fingers. He probably meant the distance between the fingers was the difference between him and Zero, but there was no one who would agree.