Chapter Seventy-Five: Ultimate Electricity

The colossal metallic figure slowly lowered itself to the ground. Xie Liu turned with a smile, watching as the giant finally halted less than three hundred meters from the edge of the Hokkaido branch’s streets.

“Why did you do this?” Snake Fang seemed able to move within the metallic body; he emerged from the mass of metal, appearing almost fused with it. From the wound Xie Liu had pierced in his chest, metallic petals had begun to grow.

“If you hadn’t used this so-called ‘external armor,’ no matter what mistakes you made, you would still be a citizen of the metropolis. But you chose a path of no return.”

“Once you used it, reconciliation was impossible. Between us, there can only be enmity.” Xie Liu tossed his curled short blade onto the ground. “As you are now, you’re a modified human of the Special Alliance, an enemy we must eliminate. There are no reasons, no forgiveness.”

“Is your hunting team always so overbearing?” Snake Fang paused for a moment after Xie Liu’s reply, recalling his comrades who had been killed by Wendy and the others. His expression twisted with grief and anger. “You always care only for the interests of your superpowered kind. Have you ever considered us?”

“We once tried so hard to live!”

The sea breeze lifted Xie Liu’s black coat. In that instant, time seemed to freeze, even the distant flames of battle failed to stir the heart. The world was reduced to a single metallic giant sprawled on the ground, and a man in a black coat.

After a long silence, Xie Liu spoke.

“Everyone has their own hardships. We fail to truly understand each other, and so we clash, even resort to war. What’s missing between us has always been mutual understanding.” Xie Liu raised his hand, pointing behind him. “Fifteen thousand people live in this city. Many of them, like you, struggle to survive—men, women, the elderly, children, all of them living. To be born is easy, to exist is easy, but to live is not.”

“Will you let your rage cause tens of thousands to die with you?”

“You say we’re overbearing, but aren’t your actions now equally tyrannical? Yes, we are forceful, because we must use our blades to guard the hard-won peace.”

Xie Liu’s gaze was cold, disdainful as he stared at Snake Fang. “But what are you? Why should I acknowledge you?”

A guttural roar erupted from Snake Fang, as if Xie Liu had pierced his deepest pain. “Acknowledge? Why do I need your acknowledgment?” With those words, the metal giant suddenly rose, charging toward Xie Liu.

“Damn!” Xie Liu hadn’t expected him to be able to get up again. Wendy cursed from behind, “Xie Liu, you idiot, why did you provoke him?”

“I just spoke the truth!”

“Truth? Stop talking nonsense! Stop him!” Wendy staggered to her feet, clutching her abdomen, blood seeping between her fingers—a sign of her severe injuries.

“How am I supposed to stop it?” Xie Liu swore, watching the metal giant rush at him. He gritted his teeth, reaching for his blade—then froze.

“My blade is broken!” He was at a loss, and as Snake Fang, with a twisted face, drove the metal giant right up to him, Xie Liu bit his lip, trying to trigger the steel wire at his waist—only to realize, during the earlier battle, the wire had snapped.

“I—” Xie Liu’s heart sank as the sweeping metal arm struck him!

The sound of bone breaking was unmistakable. Xie Liu felt himself uncontrollably hurled through the air, losing all sense of direction.

The sea was upside down, the moon beneath his feet, the city spinning, and from afar, Wendy’s anguished cry. “What’s happening to me?” Everything slowed, becoming strangely tranquil, but in the next moment, a deafening roar pierced his ears, pain stabbing his mind.

“Brother Xie Liu!” Angela’s voice carried from afar, desperate and tinged with hopelessness. She descended rapidly from the sky, nearly struck by the swinging metal arm. Both she and her flying device crashed onto the sand; she groaned, tumbling and crawling, kicking up sand.

Struggling, she crawled to Xie Liu’s side, trembling hands cradling him in her arms. Seeing his bloody body, Angela burst into tears.

“You’ll be alright…” She pressed her delicate hand to Xie Liu’s chest, green light slowly seeping in.

Xie Liu barely opened his eyes. “Leave here,” he whispered, as if death were imminent. Angela nodded, not daring to move him carelessly. She tried to carry him, but even with her enhanced body, Angela, frail by nature, could barely lift Xie Liu, who was half a head taller. Xie Liu spat blood. “Don’t worry. I won’t die yet.”

Angela stubbornly shook her head. After a moment’s thought, she hoisted Xie Liu onto her back, staggering toward the city’s edge.

“Brother Xie Liu, you’ll be alright… You have to be alright…” Angela sobbed softly, her petite frame bearing Xie Liu’s weight, sand clinging to her pale face, tears streaked with determination.

“You have to be alright.”

…

After delivering the blow that sent Xie Liu flying, Snake Fang seemed to have spent the last of his strength. The metal giant halted, reaching forward, but unable to move its feet.

The city he hated was right before him; he could even see the panicked people running in the streets. Flames, lightning, wind blades—innumerable powers unleashed, all directed at him.

Everything was so detestable.

Snake Fang gritted his teeth, watching as his body slowly transformed further into metal. He knew his time was short. With a final roar, he summoned all his strength, standing once more. This time, no one could stop him.

“Snake Fang…” Xie Liu lay on Angela’s back, despairing at the sight. He wanted to shout, but only a hoarse whisper escaped. “You can’t…”

He never finished, blood surging from his chest, staining Angela’s clothes. Angela cried out, lowering Xie Liu and finding a rock to prop him against. “You’re badly hurt, don’t speak,” she said, eyes reddened as she stared at him. Xie Liu didn’t notice her expression, only biting his lip, glaring at Snake Fang and the metal giant advancing toward the city.

He had failed to stop it; the Hokkaido branch was about to become a living hell.

Snake Fang’s face twisted with madness as he laughed to the heavens. “Destroy it all! Let everything be destroyed!”

The nearly hundred-meter-tall giant raised its arm, aiming for the barrier wall, preparing to smash it. Once that wall was breached, nothing could stop him.

Snake Fang imagined the destruction of the city, laughing wildly, raising his metal fist—and then…

The laughter abruptly ceased!

He had thought everyone had fled, but on the barren city wall, the silhouette of a young man appeared, alone, hands in his pockets, standing quietly before him.

Against the hundred-meter giant, the youth was insignificant, like an ant challenging an elephant.

“Who are you?” Snake Fang demanded. The youth looked up, dressed in a pale blue casual suit, his handsome face solemn, tea-colored hair nearly covering his eyes.

He was at most twenty, squinting until he saw Snake Fang, then opening his eyes—eyes crackling with electric light.

“Who are you?” For reasons unknown, a sliver of fear emerged in Snake Fang’s heart. This seemingly ordinary youth exerted a pressure even greater than Ace had.

“You want to pass here? I’m afraid that’s impossible. Turn back now, and I’ll spare your life,” the youth said.

“Who do you think you are!” Snake Fang roared, smashing his giant fist down. The massive blow threatened to engulf the youth.

The youth shook his head, not dodging, simply raising his hand and gently tapping the metal arm.

The dozens-of-meters-long arm, several meters thick, was sent flying, turning into a streak of light as it vanished into the distance!

“Huh?” Snake Fang stared in disbelief at his missing right arm. The youth returned his hand to his pocket. “I was just wandering about and stumbled onto this mess. Really, what is that old woman Franny up to?”

Wendy and the others did not hear these words.

“I don’t know how you became like this, but to toy with metal before me—you must be tired of living.” The youth looked up at Snake Fang atop the metal giant. Blue currents began to rise from his feet, lifting him upward, enveloping him in electric light until he hovered at Snake Fang’s eye level.

“Who are you!” To hover using the power between currents and the earth’s magnetic field required immense energy. Snake Fang didn’t fully understand, but realized it was nearly impossible.

“Did you bully my sister?” the youth asked calmly. At that moment, Miyuki Tenwa awoke from her coma, seeing the man confronting the metal giant in the sky, her large eyes filled with tears.

“Big brother, you’re finally here.”

“Big brother?” Wendy, holding her abdomen, moved to steady Miyuki, turning in surprise to the man Miyuki called brother. “He’s your brother, the ‘Divine Judgment’ captain of the Judgment Squad, Chiba Tenwa?”

“He’s a level ten electromagnetism wielder! The pinnacle of electromagnetism!” Wendy finally realized who he was. Even she was moved to tears, “Our level ten superpowered has finally appeared!”

Though Zhao Yu and Uehara Shuichi were also level ten, Wendy felt only someone like Chiba Tenwa truly embodied absolute strength and invincibility.

“Level ten!” Ace’s body trembled slightly, catching Wendy’s words even from afar. For the first time, Ace truly saw a level ten superpowered.

“No matter who you are, you won’t stop me today!” After a brief shock, Snake Fang continued his charge. Chiba Tenwa frowned, “If that’s so, I’ll have to stop you by force.”

He did nothing, merely gazed at the giant. Suddenly, a blue lightning bolt fell from the sky, illuminating the coast as if it were noon.

“Receive divine judgment!”

Chiba Tenwa opened his mouth slightly, and the massive lightning, like a coiled dragon, encircled him, then roared toward Snake Fang and the metal giant.

“This can’t be!” Snake Fang cried, but the blue electricity exploded, instantly engulfing him!

The powerful current disturbed the weather; droplets danced above the sea, electricity crackled through the air. Chiba Tenwa’s pupils reflected endless electric light, his lips curled in a faint smile.

“So this is a level ten superpowered?” Ace gazed on in shock, a sense of helplessness flooding him. Such power—no longer human, almost divine!

The blinding light came and went swiftly. When it faded, the giant was gone, leaving only scattered metal debris. Melted metal covered the beach in a metallic sheen. Once more, clarity returned to the world.

Chiba Tenwa slowly descended, hands still in his pockets. “How boring. Time to go home.”

With that, he vanished above the city wall.