The Demon King Fears Not the Hero, but the Holy Sword "Pink Fluffy Rabbit" in the Hero's Hand

[Captain America: native protagonist template. The Template Blueprint is one of the controllable protagonists, "Steve Rogers," from Captain's Orders/Captain America and the Avengers. One of the core heroes of the Marvel Universe, he often served as the backbone of his team. His physical capabilities were nearly at the limits of human potential, and he was exceptionally skilled at using shield-type armaments.

When you chose to load the "Captain America" template--

You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive armament, "Captain America's Shield."

You would simultaneously obtain the template-exclusive skills "Shield Master," "Flash Charge," "Cyclone Leap," and "Blazing Oil."

Loading and uninstalling this character template both had a 25-minute cooldown.]

Yes, Captain America. That was the protagonist template loaded onto Cheng Tian.

Loading a Marvel Universe template in the DC Universe was its own kind of NTR, wasn't it?

The fighter instinctively withdrew his swollen red fist, but before he could realize what had happened, his jaw took a heavy upward blow from the shield. His dislocated jawbone and flying shards of teeth instantly left him dazed.

The tavern immediately erupted into commotion. No matter what, they had never imagined that a scrawny Asian yellow-skinned monkey like Cheng Tian would actually dare to resist under such circumstances. But as gang enforcers and fighters, they were not slow to react. Several had already pulled pistols from their clothes and waistbands.

However, Cheng Tian, who had launched the counterattack, was even faster. He grabbed the edge of the shield and hurled it forward like a discus!

The shield flew faster than some of them could draw and aim their guns. Its whistling, high-speed spinning edge displayed blade-like sharpness, effortlessly slicing through one gang member's pistol along with his index finger and thumb before embedding itself in the bridge of his nose.

Yet the shield's momentum did not disappear. Instead, as if it possessed tremendous elasticity, it ricocheted toward another gunman nearby. This time, it struck from the side, splitting the man's ear in half down the middle. The shield's edge remained lodged in his skull.

[Shield Master: template skill, composite skill. Captain America's shield techniques had reached a superb realm that seemed to defy the laws of physics. He could use a shield to perform any unimaginable maneuver.

While holding a shield--

You could throw the shield at a target. The shield's flight speed increased by 100%, dealing full Strength Attribute + Shield Bash damage. During flight, the shield would receive a certain degree of Shield Guidance based on the target's movements. If it successfully struck the first time, the shield would ricochet toward the next most threatening Enemy Unit within a range of Strength Attribute * 1 meter. If the shield missed the first time and there were obstacles nearby, it would rebound off an obstacle and fly toward the target again.

Your shield ricochet damage would not suffer Power Decay.

All shield performance would double, while the Durability Consumption Rate would be halved.

Your connection and coordination with shields would become closer.

Once every 30 seconds, you could use a special gesture to actively retrieve shield equipment personally thrown by you and scattered within a range of Strength Attribute * 1 meter.]

Blood stained the bar's floor red. The grunts' wails wiped away the arrogance and conceit clouding some people's eyes. Those who had stopped their charge looked at Cheng Tian with uncertain, suspicious gazes, two terms surfacing in their minds—

Superhero or Supervillain!?

Precisely because their own boss was a Supervillain, they understood even more clearly just how terrifying Supervillains could be.

However, among this group of people who could only make it as gang enforcers, those with sluggish minds clearly made up the greater portion. Cheng Tian's resistance was like pouring oil on a fire. Not only did they fail to shrink back at their companions' miserable state, they instantly exploded in fury, flipping over the nearby tables and chairs before surging toward Cheng Tian.

That yellow-skinned monkey's inexplicably summoned shield was gone. Now was the best time to attack!

Temporarily deprived of Captain America's Shield, Cheng Tian took half a step back with one leg and calmly raised his other empty arm. The next second, the ugly, enormous head of a one-eyed, one-horned monster appeared in front of him. Its lifelike, bloodshot eye stared fixedly at the nearest person.

Even viewed as a piece of art, that thing was far too terrifying. Humanity's instinct to avoid danger made the grunt slam on the brakes... but Cheng Tian ducked half his body into the monster head, lowered himself, and directly launched into a charge!

Like a race car suddenly accelerating with the pedal floored, in the briefest instant of disorientation, the gang grunt had not even had time to feel pain before his chest was pierced by the sharp horn. Then his entire body was sent flying on the spot.

Going by the black guy's earlier assessment in the alley that it felt like being hit by a van going forty miles an hour, this pierced grunt's assessment would probably be that it felt like being hit by a pickup going seventy or eighty.

And this was still an enhancement brought by Shield Master.

At this moment, Cheng Tian was actually equipped with two shields at once. He had not stacked the template armament Captain America's Shield with the Cyclops Head through enchantment. Instead, he held them separately, allowing him to receive the bonuses from both.

The Ogre Head was ugly, strange, and even a little smelly, but it was still a genuine Magic Shield. Cheng Tian had no aesthetic obsession when it came to equipment. He only cared about the stats, not the appearance.

He was the type who would use a weapon called "Pink Fluffy Rabbit" to kill the "Demon King."

And under Shield Master's enhancement, the Cyclops Head naturally received the effect of doubled performance across the board.

The shield's original Strength Bonus +4 directly became Strength Bonus +8, abruptly raising Cheng Tian's Strength Attribute to 24 points. Compared with the Cyclops itself that he had killed earlier, he was only five points behind.

Although racial differences meant that Cheng Tian, a purebred Earth human, could not unleash strength equal to that of a Cyclops, 24 points of strength were already enough to let him rampage through Grunt Units.

Incidentally, doubling the Strength Bonus came with a not-insignificant price. The original Charisma -2 became -4, dropping Cheng Tian's Charisma attribute to 5.

No wonder the gang members collectively found him irritating. With Charisma at 5, enough to sit at the same table as the Red Devil, combined with racial discrimination and their master's mission, the fact that they had endured until the bartender gave the word before attacking was already rather restrained—or rather, proof that they had been disciplined by gang rules.

With a piercing Flash Charge, Cheng Tian forcibly broke through the encirclement while carrying a corpse, charging from the Bar Counter all the way to the bar's entrance.

"Get him! He's scared! Don't let him run!"

At the same time, the bartender, clearly growing flustered and angry, shouted out orders. Yet he himself looked as though he wanted to shrink behind the Bar Counter.

But just as everyone thought Cheng Tian was about to break through the doors and flee up the long staircase leading to the surface, they saw him shake off the corpse hanging from the ogre horn and turn to face them.

"I am indeed afraid."

As Cheng Tian spoke, he gave his empty right arm a spring-like shake.

Then they saw him reveal a terrifying grin, his gums nearly exposed, as he gathered his breath and squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth that sent an involuntary chill through the gang members' bodies.

"...I'm afraid you'll run away!"

With a clang, the bloodstained Captain America's Shield that the grunts had thrown onto the ground suddenly shot back onto Cheng Tian's right arm.