"Huu...!"
Violent currents of air swirled into a vortex, sending waves of pressure surging through the atmosphere. Sharp whistles tore through the air, painfully assaulting the ears.
By now, the two figures in midair had blurred into afterimages as they clashed in a fierce battle.
'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'
The sound of their collisions erupted like fireworks in rapid succession. The two figures seemed to split into countless copies, moving at a terrifying speed far beyond what the naked eye could follow. It almost looked as though the two fighters were appearing in every corner of the battlefield at once.
The air shook violently. Vortices rose and collapsed endlessly, and the road below shattered under invisible shockwaves, sending stone fragments flying like dust.
Watching the battle unfold, Puri-Puri Prisoner managed only a strained smile as cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
"They're both incredibly strong…"
The battle before him made one thing crystal clear: he had no chance against either of them.
That didn't mean Puri-Puri Prisoner was weak. As an S-Class Hero, he possessed genuine strength and was fully capable of fighting Demon-level Mysterious Beings on his own, placing him far above A-Class Heroes.
But that was where the gap lay. Even as one of the lower-ranked S-Class heroes, Puri-Puri Prisoner's strength had reached the Third Rank. Yet even among people of the same Rank, the difference could be enormous.
Attributes, Skills, combat techniques, all of these factors determined a fighter's true strength.
In Puri-Puri Prisoner's case, although his Attributes had reached the Third Rank, that was basically all he had going for him. He possessed neither particularly powerful Skills nor sophisticated combat techniques; he was essentially a pure power-type Warrior. Against speed-specialists like Fang Li and Sonic, someone like him could only be toyed with.
And it wasn't just those two. Wu Xiaofei, with his astonishing martial arts and mastery of various Seisenjutsu, was already approaching the Third Rank. He might even be able to fight Puri-Puri Prisoner on equal terms.
Puri-Puri Prisoner finally understood. "I still have a long way to go…"
Just as that thought crossed his mind, something else caught his attention.
"That's…" Puri-Puri Prisoner narrowed his eyes.
High above, the two figures afterimaging through the air unleashed their most powerful attacks yet.
"BOOM......!"
A heavy collision like the ringing of a giant bell shook the battlefield as two kicks carrying tremendous force clashed, sending out destructive shockwaves.
"BANG!"
With a heavy impact, one of them was blasted away, spinning through the air several times before regaining his balance just before hitting the ground. He twisted mid-fall and landed on one knee.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
Sonic knelt on the ground, one hand braced against the pavement as he breathed heavily, staring fixedly ahead.
"Can't go on?"
Fang Li touched down lightly as well. He looked at Sonic with a faint, amused smile. His body was completely unharmed, and his breathing hadn't even shifted.
The outcome was obvious.
"Damn…!" Sonic's expression turned hideously twisted.
He wouldn't have minded losing in some other area, but this was different. Fang Li was crushing him in the very domain he took the most pride in. It was pure humiliation.
The battle might have appeared evenly matched to an outsider, but Sonic knew the truth: he was being completely suppressed.
Whenever Sonic attacked, Fang Li was already counter-attacking. Whenever Sonic tried to evade, Fang Li caught up with terrifying speed. Sonic was barely keeping up.
That's right, barely.
"How can this be…!" Sonic clenched his teeth so hard that blood vessels threatened to burst in his eyes.
As much as he hated to admit it, he understood perfectly well: Fang Li wasn't just faster than him, his techniques were superior, too.
Even if they had the exact same speed, Fang Li would still beat him to the mark. Fang Li could accelerate from zero to top speed in an instant, while Sonic couldn't. Fang Li could move freely in any direction without being bound by inertia, while Sonic couldn't.
Unpredictability and unnatural movement were precisely what the Nanaya Assassination Arts excelled at. Sonic had honed his techniques to an incredible level, enough to rival an S-Class Hero, but when it came to pure movement, he couldn't match the perfected Nanaya style Fang Li had forged using his Innate Skills.
Worse yet, Fang Li was fighting with effortless ease. It was obvious he hadn't even used his full strength.
That realization hit Sonic harder than anything else. Not only was he being outclassed in his own specialty, but his opponent wasn't even taking him seriously.
No, it wasn't holding back. The man standing before him, radiating a terrifying murderous aura, wasn't the type to show mercy. He was simply playing with him.
Sonic had been thrown in prison and wanted revenge on Sylvia, but if Sylvia had been targeted by Sonic, why wouldn't Fang Li want payback of his own? That was why Fang Li was playing with him.
"What's wrong? Come on," Fang Li said calmly. "Don't worry, I'll restrict myself to your speed. You can use whatever advanced techniques you want. Maybe then you'll be able to keep up."
The mocking words hit Sonic like a slap in the face.
"You bastard…!" Sonic forced himself to his feet, staring at Fang Li with eyes full of sheer madness.
Sylvia was completely forgotten now. If he couldn't defeat the man in front of him, revenge was meaningless. Personal grudges? Compared to having his pride ground into the dirt, they didn't mean a thing.
"You're the one person I'll kill no matter what!"
Thunder rumbled in response to Sonic's roar as rain began to fall, but even the sudden downpour couldn't extinguish the rage burning inside him.
Fang Li merely offered a faint smile and gave him a single answer. "Come on then. I'll give you a one-second head start."
That was all it took to set Sonic off.
'Pah!'
His foot slammed into the wet pavement, followed immediately by the explosive crack of breaking the sound barrier. Sonic went all out, launching himself at Fang Li like a rocket. He moved so fast that the falling raindrops shattered into fine mist as he tore through them.
Facing the murderous charge, Fang Li only let out a cold laugh. But just as he was about to move, his Enemy Detection Skill flashed a frantic warning.
"BOOM......!"
An explosion erupted from the shattered wall nearby. A massive shadow burst through the rubble, plowing through the debris with terrifying force.
"......!"
Both Fang Li and Sonic aborted their attacks instantly, leaping backward.
"BOOM!"
With a thunderous roar, the enormous black figure crashed into the ground right between them.
(End Of This Chapter)
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