The reaper gang attacked Kurogami effortlessly but couldn't land a clean hit on Kurogami.
The Sword was the most enraged. His hatred ran deep; Kurogami had just killed one of his brothers. And he couldn't even avenge him.
Around them, the ground was shredded, walls cracked, metal melted, scorch marks everywhere. The air shimmered with leftover Chaos energy. The Sniper, crouched far behind, was already running low on ammo. Only a handful of ammo was left. He steadied his rifle, locking in his final aim on Kurogami.
Kurogami stood still. He looked at the four of them, each one pushing themselves to the limit just to kill him. "They really hold me in high regard," he thought with a faint smile.
Then his eyes shifted briefly to the hovering leaderboard.
Kaia and Shin used an alias name, but each had 10 million drakons,the count of survivors, barely thirty.
"Ten more," Kurogami whispered under his breath. "Then the safe zone opens."
He clenched his fist slowly. The air grew heavy. "Let's end this then," he thought, his calm expression fading into something colder.
The Sniper fired two bullets at once, but of energy bullet came with full force breaking sound barriers, a perfect double shot, just pulling the trigger alone was able the shake the ground the sniper was on. Kurogami didn't flinch. He dodged the attack, which was aiming for his head and chest.
Kurogami lowered his strength output, matching their level deliberately, and gave a sharp grin toward the distant Sniper, who was over a thousand meters away, Kurogami's eyes were sharp enough to know his exact spot.
The moment his body shifted forward, Fist reacted first, moving to block him. Kurogami's grin widened. "So you think I'm coming for him?" he pretended to target the sniper but his fist was his main target.
Kurogami changed direction mid-dash, straight toward Fist."Shit, me?!" Fist shouted, trying to reposition but was too slow.
Kurogami was already in his face. His fists blurred, each blow denting the cybernetic arms that were supposed to be indestructible. Bang. Bang. Bang. Every hit shook the air, the ground cracking under their feet. Fist reeled back, blocking with both metallic arms, but Kurogami still kept on with his assault, sparks flying as his armor fist gave way.
Behind them, Net smirked. His hands glowed red, forming a spider-weave laser as one of his ultimate moves. The trap launched, thin crimson threads slicing through the air toward Kurogami's back.
But Kurogami was already gone. He'd used Fist's collapsing frame as a springboard, vanishing from sight. When Net realized it he tried canceling his attack which was heard in G to assault fist, but it was too late; Kurogami was behind him.
A shadow fell over Net's face.
A single grab, then a slam that cracked the arena floor, followed by a storm of punches. The last one shattered his skull like glass. The red net still went on hitting the fist, the net destroyed the Fist cybernetic left hand. Net's body twitched once and went still.
"NO…" Fist muttered, grabbing his broken arm with his right hand. "He's too strong!"
Sword wanted to charge, rage boiling over. But Fist caught his arm, holding him back.
"No. Don't. You'll die, he is too strong for us."
Daich stayed in the VIP, letting out a soft smile. One of his objectives was to witness Kurogami's strength; in the end, he couldn't because he could tell he was holding back.
The two looked up just in time to see Kurogami turning toward Sniper, the only one still standing at a distance. He started walking and immediately dashed towards him
The Sniper's scope trembled as he kept firing. Every shot missed, Kurogami weaving effortlessly. When the rifle clicked empty, Sniper cursed, tossing it aside and slamming his palm against a detonator.
A massive explosion swallowed the direction Kurogami was coming from, fire, dust, and chaos erupting across the arena. Sniper had already planted it as a contingency plan.
"Ohh my god, the fire swallowed him whole, it seems we have a burnt cookie in our hand," the bald dwarf announcer said with a smile. The whole watcher laughed; some of them showed signs of relief, they placed their bet on the reaper gangs of course they wanted them to pull through to the end.
"damn, I would have lost all my money, thank god for Snipe, he is gone now," one of the audience said, clearly showing signs of relief.
"Got him…" the sniper breathed with ease. That explosion was strong, people far stronger than him who'd ever been caught in one never made it out whole. In the blast's aftermath, several fighters were caught in the shockwave, their bodies mangled beyond repair; some even died instantly, raising the sniper's total from 6 million drakons to 7.1 million.
He pulled out a plasma-charged dagger, the other hand smoothly reloading a compact energy-blast pistol. In his ear, a communication device buzzed faintly.
"Sniper, get away from there," Sword barked into the communication device they had.
"Hmm, no need to worry, he was caught right in the middle of it, with no protective device, he's definitely dead," the sniper said with confidence.
"Even still, leave that area, regroup with us," Sword insisted. Both he and Fist were already on the run, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the monster known as White Monkey.
"
"Alright, fine, on my way," the Sniper muttered, surging forward as Chaos Essence coursed through his veins.
But midway through his sprint, a chill crept down his spine, an instinctive dread. Something was wrong.
He turned toward the blazing inferno behind him, the explosion zone still smoldering, flames and smoke swallowing the air across a hundred steps.
Then, through the haze, a silhouette emerged, untouched.
Kurogami stepped out of the fire, smoke curling lazily from his shirt, the strangest part was it didn't seem to burn or stain is white shirt. His eyes glowed faintly, pulsing with a quiet, terrifying Chaos green light.
The Sniper's pupils shrank.
"How… how did you survive that!?"
Even the audience and announcer were dumbstruck. Daichi, grin widened, tho he wasn't able to actually gauge Kurogami's strength, he definitely knew that that attack wasn't enough to take him down. Shin and Kaia, who were busily fending off other players, still kept a watchful eye. Seeing Kurogami coming out of the attack made them shiver. If they were caught in that, the couldn't survive.
Snipe was stunned as Kurogami walked out of the fire; the flames didn't even touch him. Snipe's eyes widened. "What kind of technique is that? Some kind of defensive art?"
He clenched his jaw, raising his gun again, and fired. The energy bullets streaked through the smoke, but before they could hit, a faint shimmer appeared around Kurogami, a green force ; it was more like a smoke, a light green smoke; it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. To see this field, one has to use the khaos essence in the eye. The bullets froze mid-air, suspended just two steps away, vibrating but unable to move forward. The energy began to bend backward. Kurogami stretched his hand, and the faint smoky energy covered his hand.
We waved is hands, deflecting the bullet away, and it hit the ground
"Ohhh, I see," Daichi thought. He immediately had an understanding of Kurogami's defense technique
"How did he do that?" The lady attendant beside Daichi was startled, seeing kurogani evading the attack that way.
Daichi smiled, "It's like a force that properly any object backward, making him untouchable. The force has layers; the closer the attack gets, the stronger it pushes the attack away."
"How can one break that defense?" the attendant gazed at Daichi as she asked. Are end goal was to get information from.
Daichi knew the answer but didn't say a thing. "Firstly, that defense art will cost a lot of khaos essence to hold, and this defense can only be broken with the same amount of strength or khaos power," Daichi thought to himself. What even amazed him was that this defensive art was something he had never seen before.
Snipe's stomach turned cold. "I can't even hit him..."
Still, he refused to give up. With a desperate snarl, he removed the thought of escaping and dashed forward.
"What, why is he going towards him instead of escaping?" one of the audience said in surprise, feeling this was a very stupid thing to do. Why fight a battle you have zero chance of winning?
"Ahhhhhh, my money," another screamed out in tears.
Most of the audience could not understand why the sniper made this decision, but the den overseerer understood why.
Kurogami was way faster than him, so instead of leading him closer to his team, he decided to use himself as a meat shield to protect his friend.
"Snip NO," sword screamed out loud on the communication device, but the sniper didn't stop pushing towards Kurogami
The snip dashed, spinning for a reverse slash aimed straight at Kurogami's neck.
The blade met the invisible barrier and stopped. No spark, just a push sound, properly him backward but he stomped his right foot on the ground, pushing the dagger deeper with all is strength; he was even able to move a hitch deep.
Kurogami didn't move. He simply watched, his expression calm, almost curious.
"Hmm," he muttered. "This field… only costs me one third of 1% per five seconds. of my Chaos energy?" He glanced at his palm, surprised. Normally, such a technique would drain at least 5% per five seconds of an A-grade cultivator's core. Yet for him, it barely made a dent . His energy was dense, raw, pure Chaos, far stronger than the refined kind most Sentinels wielded.
This realization made Kurogami smile slightly. He could tell he had some advantage
Snipe could see Kurogami's face clearly. Kurogami's calm wasn't arrogance. It was control. And that realization terrified him.
Kurogami smiled faintly."Let's test something else."
Within fifteen steps of him, the air itself seemed to hum, a barely visible dome of distortion forming around him. Those sensitive to energy could sense it instantly: a new force field appeared, and the defense force field seemed to weaken as the sniper blade moved closer.
Snipe's instincts screamed, powering all his khaos energy into his dagger. He wasn't the strength type, but he was still as strong as 13 full-grown men. As he screamed out, wind blew around, the light-barrer green force propelled backward towards his eyes, but he still kept pushing, and soon he was rewarded. The Kurogami defense art broke.
Sniper smiled his blade was about to pierce Kurogami when instantly, dozens of invisible slashes cut through his body. Flesh, metal, fiber, everything shredded at once. His limbs were severed, blood spurting, but his head remained intact. Kurogami had done it deliberately.
The audience and announcer were all webt silent. Kurogami didn't move at all, and Snipe received such cuts all over his body. How is this possible? Cold sweat started pouring out from the audience's back; this was a frightening thing to see. Daichi could also hide his curious gaze; he was always looking for an opportunity to see Kurogami fight, most importantly, he had always been looking forward to seeing Kurogami's techniques.
Snipe fell to his knees, coughing out a mouthful of blood; his right eye was cut, blood pouring out, half his cybernetic arms were torn apart." How…" he whispered, his voice trembling.
Sword and Fist, watching from afar, roared in fury.
Sword's voice cracked with grief, his closest comrade had fallen right before his eyes, unable to even fight back.
"You humans never fail to amaze me," Kurogami said coldly, his gaze locked on the dying sniper. "You slaughter others without hesitation, yet when it's your turn to die, you suddenly paint me as the villain."
0
"Everyone here understood the rules. We came to kill and be killed. But when the edge of death brushes close, even the most willing still reach for life." Kurogami thought as he looked at the sniper.
Though sword and fist were far away, Kurogami could hear their screams, the fear in their voices as they watched the sniper about to die. He couldn't understand it. Why were humans like this?
Snipe looked up weakly, eyes trembling. Kurogami raised his hand and performed a horizontal slash downwards towards Snipe's head, through the air.
No one saw any blade light. Just, space itself bending.
Then Snipe's body split apart. His head flew upward, blood arcing, before crashing lifelessly to the ground.