"Vajra Indestructibility!"
Four Arms flexed every muscle in his massive frame, and his crimson body was instantly sheathed in brilliant golden light. The defensive aura wrapped around him like an impenetrable bell, radiating a weight and solidity that seemed to warp the air itself.
"What kind of trick is this?" Hex's expression turned wary, his grip tightening on his staff as he prepared for whatever aggressive technique this might unleash.
CLANG!
The Death specter's scythe descended on Four Arms' shoulder, and bounced off. The metallic ring that echoed through the museum sounded like a hammer striking an anvil, crisp and clear and utterly dismissive of the attack.
"How can his body be this resilient?!" Horror bloomed across Hex's skull-painted face. He couldn't sense any magical aura from that golden barrier. It didn't look like any protective spell he'd ever encountered, not even the highest-tier defensive enchantments.
He couldn't have imagined the truth.
It wasn't magic at all.
It was martial arts. A supreme technique from another world entirely.
BOOM!
Hex channeled his remaining power through the Staff of Ages, and the blast slammed into Four Arms with enough force to lift the Tetramand's massive frame. Four Arms skidded backward, his feet gouging twin trenches through the marble floor until his back hit the museum wall. The stone cracked in a spider-web pattern from the impact, and only then did his body finally stop.
"Yes! Did it work?!" Hex's heart hammered against his ribs. "The power of my supreme magic, surely that was enough!"
The golden light dimmed, then faded, sinking back into Four Arms' body.
And the Tetramand stood there, completely unharmed.
Not a scratch. Not a bruise. For Four Arms, that devastating magical assault hadn't even qualified as damage, it was utterly ineffective.
"Well." Four Arms cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders. "I think it's my turn now."
He raised all four fists and settled into a boxer's stance, his burning eyes locking onto the Death specter with predatory focus.
First, I deal with this thing.
BOOM!
The skeletal specter's expressionless face somehow conveyed shock as it stumbled backward. For a moment, it seemed uncertain which of them was supposed to be the harbinger of death, itself, or the crimson titan bearing down on it.
"Eight Extremities Collapse!"
Four Arms exploded forward. His legs drove into the ground like pistons, and his enormous body launched through the air with the velocity of a cannonball. In an instant, he was directly in front of the Death specter.
WHOOSH!
One massive fist carved through the air toward the specter's chest. The sheer force behind the punch compressed the atmosphere around his arm, creating a visible shockwave that wrapped his entire limb in distorted air.
The walls on either side trembled. The entire museum groaned and shuddered as if caught in an earthquake.
"What, how powerful is this thing?!" Hex felt the vibrations through the floor, and his horror deepened.
The Death specter desperately swung its scythe to intercept, blade meeting fist in a final desperate defense.
CRACK!
It wasn't enough.
The moment the scythe touched the fist empowered by Eight Extremities, the weapon began to vibrate violently. It held for perhaps a second, maybe two, before the blade shattered in a crushing display of overwhelming force.
The punch didn't slow. It drove straight through and hammered into the specter's chest.
BOOM!
The impact hit like a cannon shell. The Death specter's robes disintegrated instantly, revealing the skeletal frame beneath, which promptly exploded into fragments. Bones, cloth, and dark magic scattered in every direction.
But the devastation didn't stop there.
Four Arms' fist continued forward into empty air, the momentum carrying through where the specter had been standing. The sheer pressure wave from the blow screamed through the museum with a deafening sonic crack, and the wall directly ahead of Four Arms simply collapsed, crumbling outward as the terrifying shockwave poured through it.
The force flooded into every corner of the building like a tsunami of pure kinetic energy.
"Asher, that punch is way too much!" Ben's power armor spun wildly as it struggled to maintain balance against the buffeting winds. His demon gargoyle opponent tumbled away in the same chaotic spiral.
Gwen pressed herself against a pillar, the Charm of Luck pulsing with purple light as it bent probability to keep her anchored. As for the second demon, the shockwave had blasted it clear out of sight.
The civilians on the ceiling, still pinned by the remnants of Hex's levitation spell, felt the waves hammer into them, their bodies aching from the phantom impacts.
Ten seconds passed before the chaos finally subsided.
Four Arms slowly exhaled and lowered his earth-shattering fists. One more punch like that and he might have brought down the entire museum.
The Death specter was gone. Annihilated in a single blow.
This was absolute power.
Hex stared at the destruction in stunned silence. Then, like a man possessed, he began frantically launching attack after attack at Four Arms, light waves, energy bolts, everything he had left in his depleted reserves.
His form was deteriorating. Each spell cost him more than the last. But he threw magic with reckless abandon, desperation and killing intent warring in his expression.
The power Four Arms had displayed had broken something in Hex's mind. This wasn't an enemy he could simply defeat.
If he didn't kill the Tetramand here and now, he would never sleep soundly again.
"Today, I'll teach you something important." Four Arms' voice echoed through the ruined museum, calm and utterly certain. "Absolute power crushes everything, fancy magic, advanced technology, superior bloodlines. None of it matters when you're outclassed this badly."
He watched the storm of magical attacks sweeping toward him. He didn't dodge. He didn't even bother to activate Vajra Indestructibility again.
Instead, he raised all four fists and started punching.
Straight punches. Jabs. Uppercuts. The most basic moves in any boxer's arsenal, delivered one after another in a relentless rhythm.
Theoretically, against someone like Hex, a master magician armed with the Staff of Ages and the Archamada Book of Spells, such simple techniques should have been worthless. All brute force, no finesse.
But that assumed the brute force wasn't overwhelming.
Every single punch Four Arms threw shattered Hex's magical attacks like they were made of glass. Each impact disintegrated the energy before it could touch him, the raw physical power simply greater than the magical force behind the spells.
One punch was worth a dozen of Hex's attacks.
It was like watching a tireless war machine at work. Four Arms' fists rose and fell, sweat gleaming on his crimson hide, an endless barrage of destruction that accepted no defeat.
"Why..." Hex's eyes widened until they were pinpricks of shock. "Why won't you fall?!"
The terror in his heart had reached its absolute peak.
How do I beat this monster?
He's not even using weapons. He's not using magic. He's just... punching. And those punches are crushing everything I throw at him!
How strong does someone have to be to do that?!
FWOOM.
Without warning, the Staff of Ages flickered and went dark. Hex stumbled backward, his entire body drenched in sweat, and he felt his legs nearly give out beneath him.
His magical reserves were empty.
He couldn't even cast the simplest spell anymore.
The civilians who had been trapped on the ceiling suddenly dropped as the levitation spell failed, landing in heaps on the floor. None of them dared to move. None of them dared to breathe too loudly.
Because the hero who had saved them looked even more terrifying than the villain who had attacked them.
Four Arms radiated danger in waves. His presence filled the room like a physical weight.
"Done already?"
Four Arms slowly unclenched all four fists. Heat radiated from his body in visible waves, turning to steam where it met the cool museum air. His expression was one of deep, almost disappointed satisfaction.
"That fight just now? That was a warm-up. A nice stretch to get the blood flowing."
He rolled his shoulders, joints popping.
"My body was just starting to heat up. I hadn't even begun to push myself yet."
He fixed Hex with a look of genuine confusion.
"So tell me, why did you fall down?"