After taunting Puri-Puri Prisoner, Deep Sea King didn't waste another second on the muscle-bound freak.
In the torrential rain he spread his arms wide, savoring everything around him.
''Hm… the human scent is thick in this direction. So the ordinary humans are all hiding—how amusing!''
Sensing the mass of human presence, Deep Sea King's grin turned even more savage as he strode toward the shelter.
Then, in the very next instant, a sharp clang of metal rang out, and the roar of a core engine pierced the storm-lashed night.
''Incineration Cannon!''
A beam of blistering heat vaporized every drop in its path, racing straight for Deep Sea King; the crimson flare ballooned in his pupils.
What?!
Deep Sea King's face twisted; without hesitation he crossed both arms over his chest, the micro-scales on his skin locking together and knitting with his bulging muscles to boost defense.
Incineration Cannon slammed into flesh, the crackle of searing meat filling the air; the impact drove Deep Sea King sliding backward.
''Such power… what is this thing?'' Two deep furrows scraped behind him as the barrage kept pushing, the arms he'd raised already wisping with pale smoke.
His vertical pupils glared ahead, trying to identify the attacker, but all he saw through the rain was a flashing blue core and the glowing muzzle of a cannon.
''Don't look down on me!''
Deep Sea King raged. A king of the sea—humiliated without even seeing his foe's face.
Roar!!
With a deafening bellow he charged straight into the Incineration Cannon, risking injury, and hurled a fist.
The massive punch carved a fierce arc through the air, fierce gales smashing toward Genos.
The old Genos would have ignited his boosters and met the blow head-on.
But now, with only the right-side thruster firing, he simply shifted a hair's breadth to the right and slipped the punch clean.
Before the momentum faded, the lower-right thruster pulsed again, and he ghosted behind Deep Sea King.
At that instant the sea monarch was caught between spent force and new—the perfect window.
Seizing it, Genos raised his left arm; sharp rotary blades snapped out at the wrist and spun up into a whirring chainsaw.
The instant the blades touched flesh they tore it open, green blood and shredded skin spraying across the ground.
At the same moment his right palm clamped over Deep Sea King's inner thigh, and another scorching Incineration Cannon ignited.
''Aaaargh!!''
Burned and carved at once, Deep Sea King screamed, spun his colossal body, and threw a wild backward punch.
He expected the robot to back off, if only for a heartbeat.
But Deep Sea King never imagined the machine would pull a Heaven-Defying stunt.
With a metallic crack his arms detached at the elbows; thrusters flared, rocketing Genos clear of the fist.
And the severed limbs kept hacking and blasting, shredding the king's body.
Impossible!!
A deep-sea dweller who'd never seen such tricks, Deep Sea King froze.
While he gaped, Genos's golden eyes blazed; twin lasers lanced through the Space and bored straight into his eyes.
''Aaaah!! My eyes—damn you, human!!''
The undersea monarch howled in agony and terror; sudden darkness sent him flailing, swinging at empty air.
Seizing the moment, Genos stretched his arms forward; the remote hands halted their assault and snapped back into place.
In less than a minute Deep Sea King had been carved in a dozen places, his most tender flesh scorched, his sight seared away.
Watching his own body perform, Genos stared in awe.
''As expected of KING-sensei—combat experience so terrifying he can pilot an unfamiliar machine like a virtuoso!''
Indeed, every move had been King at the controls. Left to himself, Genos could never have pulled off such stunts.
Take the thrusters: he'd always just rocket straight ahead, wasting energy and losing finesse.
King milked every ounce of output, using micro-bursts to dodge each strike and counter vital points.
He even put every extra function he'd recommended—detachable arms, close-range tools—to textbook use.
Meanwhile, back at the dojo, King held a silver gamepad, thumbs dancing across it.
He looked as focused as any gamer timing a Souls-boss's slow-fast combo.
Yet a subtle grin tugged at his lips.
God-level stand-in, kid!
This time Genos hadn't merely added weapons and systems—he'd installed something more.
Besides himself, King could now pilot the cyborg entirely through this custom pad, sharing vision through Genos's optical sensors.
It meant entrusting his life to another—an act demanding absolute trust and guts.
Yet Genos would trust only two people: the doctor who built him, and the mentor who trained him—KING.