Blood stained the ground red.
Dozens of corpses, men and women, severed heads... all within a single thought of the young man.
The long sword, wrapped in surging flames, pointed diagonally...
Frank Becki paused while playing with the "Infinite" pistol, held a cigarette in his mouth, and narrowed his eyes... He had just shielded Roy's [En] using "Stability" of mind, but then it wavered, leaking a trace of inner voice.
'What a fast sword!'
In the blink of an eye, the elite squad he had painstakingly assembled was killed. Frank Becki hadn't expected that a randomly encountered "compatriot" would be such a tough nut to crack!
He immediately calmed down, took out a cigarette, and tossed it over. "Friend, it's all a misunderstanding."
Frank Becki exhaled a smoke ring, seemingly indifferent to the death of his subordinates, forcing a smile. "We are all Abandoned People. I'm sure you 'heard' everything just now. It's not easy doing our line of work, we just want a 'Status'..."
He glanced pointedly at the back of Roy's hand. "As the saying goes, no discord, no concord. Let's be friends. Furthermore..."
Frank Becki paused, opening his arms to Roy. "Brother, you don't want to be 'marked' forever, right? It just so happens my men died, and you are alone. Why don't we cooperate? I happen to have some friendship with Lord Benjamin of Maple Leaf Town. With him vouching for you, maybe the 'mark' on your hand can be removed..."
Roy said, "I killed your men."
Frank Becki sneered. "Useless trash dying means nothing. Doesn't the sun still rise every day?"
At that moment, the sun was setting in the west, casting dappled light through the giant forest...
Frank Becki stubbed out the cigarette butt and tossed it away. "If I, the boss, don't care, why should you, brother?"
Roy remained silent... He didn't care about them, he was just... sad...
The corpses of Nelson, Katie, Torre, Muto, Olivia, and others lay quietly before him. Transparent shadows emerged from their bodies—some roaring at the sky... some staring blankly... some hugging their knees and weeping... some looking around with confusion and immense attachment to this familiar yet strange world. A moment later...
They all placed their hands on their chests and bowed to Roy, turning into specks of light, forming streams of "Life Energy" that merged into Roy's body...
In that instant, Roy realized that these spirits were all Abandoned People captured as prey by the "4K Gang" organized by this pot-bellied fat man before him, to be given to the Storm Church... They were either hanged, offered as sacrifices to [Storm], lit as sky lanterns, or used as expendable materials for some dark priests within the church to abuse and satisfy their perverted desires...
Among them, Roy noticed a young girl. Because of her delicate looks, she was specially dressed up by a "beautician" found by Frank Becki that night and sent to the Lord Benjamin he mentioned. Then, the next day, she was found in a trash can...
At that time, the girl was naked, exposed to the sunlight. Her body was nearly pierced through from the bottom up, covered in green and purple bruises. She looked like a discarded doll, her protruding eyes "looking" at the world unwillingly, as if questioning, as if screaming...
"Little Mary," Roy silently recited her name.
"Her..." Frank Becki smiled. "I remember her... She was lucky to be chosen by Lord Benjamin. Her life wasn't lived in vain."
Noticing Roy's indifferent gaze, Frank Becki took out another cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag. "Don't look at me like that. To those big shots, we Abandoned People are truly less than dogs. If they play us to death, we die. What can we do?"
He advised earnestly like an experienced person. "Brother, you feel anger, you feel rage, I completely understand."
"But, precisely because of the anger, because of the unwillingness, we must face reality seriously, right?"
"Only 'Status', only 'Status' can let us return to the embrace of [God] and be treated as a real 'Human'!"
Frank Becki looked at Roy calmly. "This was my original intention when I founded the '4K Gang'."
Roy remained silent. After speaking, Frank Becki smoked quietly, waiting...
A moment later, the young man nodded. "Okay."
Seeing this, Frank Becki laughed loudly. "Brother, congratulations on making the correct choice."
"Same to you... same to you..." Roy opened his arms and moved to hug Frank Becki's open hands...
Perhaps feeling the sincerity wasn't enough, two more arms grew from under his ribs. He immediately activated [Arm Regeneration], forming his palms into knives, and two [Snake Awakens] strikes stabbed viciously toward Frank Becki's heart!
"Bang bang bang..."
Several gunshots rang out, firing Nen bullets that forced Roy back... Frank Becki spat out his cigarette, pointed his gun at Roy, and said with a dark face, "You fucking betrayed me!"
"Ding... ding... ding..."
The Short-hilt reappeared, held in Roy's hand. With a few casual slashes, he shattered the Nen bullets. Looking at Frank Becki again, the boy's eyes were indifferent, as if looking at a dead man... "Don't make it sound so ugly. You betrayed yourself."
Sending "compatriots" to their deaths, defecting to [Storm], the behavior of a traitor was clearly revealed... Roy ran his fingers lightly over the Short-hilt, remembering Little Mary's bright and delicate face, stripped naked and thrown into the trash, despairing, unwilling, painful, numb...
He murmured softly, "Rest in peace, I am here to avenge you."
Then, a suddenly extending [Divine Spear] broke through the limitations of space, piercing Frank Becki's heart with a single thrust, pinning him to a tall tree not far away!
[Shoot to kill, Divine Spear!]
The hundred-meter-long blade was inconspicuous compared to the towering tree, but to Frank Becki, this stab hurt so much!
Unfortunately, it wasn't... physical pain, but heart pain...
"I gave you a chance, you didn't appreciate it yourself." A ghostly voice suddenly drilled into Roy's ears.
Frank Becki, pinned to the tree, tilted his head and stopped breathing... But Roy frowned, sensing a warning sign. In a flash, he retracted the Short-hilt and slashed behind him without looking back!
"Boom... boom... boom..."
The flying slash was suddenly met with continuous "artillery fire" and was instantly nullified!
The dust cleared...
Roy turned his head. Behind him, a "small" Frank Becki had circled around at some point and whispered, "Bunker · Deploy!"
"Rumble..."
The bunker door opened, and a row of "Mini Tanks!" drove out.
They expanded in the wind, crushing the shrubs...
Long barrels aimed straight at Roy, wantonly emitting gunpowder smoke...
The dark muzzles seemed capable of sucking in one's gaze...
[Bunker]: Not only could it store others, but it could also store Frank Becki himself. So... the "big" Frank Becki who just breathed his last was nothing more than a "Rampart Nen Beast" he created using his Nen ability!
The real him had been hiding inside the mini [Bunker] all along!
Quietly watching everything...
Roy understood clearly. Through [En], he captured Frank Becki standing on a "mini armored vehicle" arranging his troops. The ground beneath his feet turned into a swamp; entering the earth like a fish entering water, he went straight for Frank Becki behind the tanks.
Frank Becki, cigarette in mouth, smiled coldly. He also used [En] to capture Roy's position. At a certain moment, his eyes narrowed, and he drew his gun and fired!
Relying on the pistol enhanced by "Divine Script", which in his hand was essentially a Gatling gun spitting tongues of fire, and the "Radar" formed by [En], he pinpointed the location five meters in front of him. He poured out "bullets" madly while driving the armored vehicle to retreat while firing, making enough space for the tanks to blast a few rounds!
The surface was blown through, soil flew, and in an apocalyptic scene, Roy was buried on the spot. A single person commanding an army; relying on the [Bunker] to store weapons, this person could actually achieve the effect of a small-scale hot war. Even in terms of "unmanned" and "integrated" aspects, he was more intelligent than Botobai who had [One Man Army]. It must be admitted...
His ability to form a gang and be supported by Nelson, Katie, and others did indeed show extraordinary skill.
But, as Father said, battles between Nen users, excluding "specific mechanisms", ultimately come down to a contest of "values" and the Nen user's own understanding of "Shape Transformation" and "Nature Transformation" of Nen...
"One person controlling an army group" and "One person with one sword"—the "Aura Output" consumed is on completely different levels!
"Dadada..."
Facing Frank Becki's suppressive fire, Roy did not choose to resist head-on... Instead, he lingered underground, using the rock layers to withstand the shelling. Occasionally, he manipulated magnetism to control the Short-hilt wrapped in his Nen to act as a "decoy" to deceive Frank Becki, playing guerrilla warfare with him... Gradually, Frank Becki began to pant, realizing something was wrong!
This kid was as slippery as a loach; couldn't catch him, couldn't hit him. If this continued...
The first one to collapse would be... him!
Thoughts racing, Frank Becki stopped firing randomly. He held up his palm, commanding the chariots and tanks to stop in unison. Maintaining only [En] to track Roy's position, he narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Bunker Transformation!"
"Click, click, click..."
Chariots and tanks dismantled, transformed, reassembled, and flew together... In just an instant, using Frank Becki as the "Drive Core", they formed a steel Gundam with a propeller on its head!
"Boom!" Palms and soles opened up, spraying "Nen" tail flames...
The propeller on top spun rapidly, shredding the air...
Frank Becki immediately took to the sky, soaring high. After pondering for just two seconds and realizing Roy was difficult to deal with, he immediately changed his strategy—run!
Without even leaving a harsh parting word, he turned tail and ran, with speed that was jaw-dropping!
"Buzz..." The roar of the machine drifted further away...
The surface mudflat reappeared. Roy showed himself, looking up at the sky. Beyond the trees, the sun remained, the sunset red...
Watching the Gundam rush toward the horizon, turning into a black dot, he spread his legs into a bow stance, held the Short-hilt backhand, and assumed an "Iaido" posture. At a certain moment, he drew his sword and slashed toward the sky!
[Gravity Blade · Rising Dragon!]
Nen turned into magnetism... Magnetic force surged, spiraling upward into the sky, transforming into a purple dragon in mid-air!
Antlers like a deer, head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, neck like a snake, belly like a clam, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, palms like a tiger, ears like an ox... It let out a sky-shaking roar!
Under Frank Becki's horrified gaze, it bit the Gundam and dragged it back to the ground!
"So heavy!"
"Get the fuck away from me!"
"Boom!" The "Nen" tail flames were maxed out!
Frank Becki drove the Gundam to struggle madly... A dragon and a Gundam were thus entangled in mid-air... Then, a cold glint appeared!
Roy stomped on the ground, shooting into the sky like a cannonball!
Brushing past the Gundam, a move wrapped in [Ken]—"Wind Breathing · Fifth Form · Cold Autumn Mountain Wind"—struck Frank Becki from below...
"Crack..." Several crisp sounds!
The Gundam was slashed one hundred and seventy-four times in an instant and disintegrated on the spot!
"Rustle... rustle..." Countless parts fell like rain, revealing Frank Becki's main body within...
The pot-bellied Frank Becki felt a chill on his chest. He subconsciously reached out to touch it, and "Pfft" his chest split open in an X shape, spurting two lines of blood...
"Ah—" A miserable scream exploded!
He hadn't felt pain for many years, and it hurt him to death. Roy grabbed him by the collar, stepped on the wind vortex, and landed, throwing him onto the ground like a dead dog!
He who commits sins against heaven may still live; he who commits sins against himself shall not live... Rolling, thrashing, revealing his ugly state...
Roy watched coldly, quietly watching him lose blood little by little... Occasionally, he added two cuts to make the blood loss faster and more violent... No matter how Frank Becki knelt and begged for mercy, hugging his thighs and wailing, he remained unmoved...
"I want to spare you, but Little Mary doesn't spare you, and the Abandoned compatriots you hunted as prey don't spare you..."
The young man kicked him over, then crouched down, quietly watching his consciousness slip into coma bit by bit, listening to his heart go from despair to unwillingness, to pain, until numbness... finally turning into a hysterical roar: "Lord Benjamin, save me!"
"Bang!"
He stomped on that dirty, ugly, unbearable head, exploding it!
Standing quietly in the mudflat paved with red and white for a moment, he received the prompt from the panel in time...
[Prompt: Life Energy +57!]
57!
Roy's heart went cold. In his two lives, apart from his own sister killed by Meritonio who released fifty points of Life Energy due to deep resentment... the highest was Frank Becki!
"What do you take life for?"
A gust of wind blew, swaying the "Hanafuda earrings". Roy remembered Yoriichi Tsugikuni asking Muzan angrily in that bamboo forest when they first met... Silently watching the spirits emerge from Frank Becki's headless corpse, suddenly, alarm bells rang in his heart, and he abruptly realized—
The spirits that should have rewarded him with "Life Energy" for avenging them were looking angrily to the side...
At some point, among the spirits, a blurred figure wearing a red robe had mixed in...
He chanted the name of [Storm], lifted a corner of his hood, revealing the face beneath. It was exactly... the Lord Benjamin that Roy had seen deep in Frank Becki's heart through [En]!
"[Storm] is above. Blasphemer, you shall be executed!"