The newborn Demon charging toward the woman was drawn to the sound and stopped.
The woman's legs gave way in fright, and she collapsed onto the ground.
A few of the braver villagers nearby grabbed her and hurried away.
They had realized—
These aliens really would kill them!
Clang~~~
Clang~~~
Clang~~~
Deep, resonant metallic clangs rang out again and again.
Like the tolling of a temple bell.
"Oh? Something unexpected seems to have appeared in this village."
Morgana stood in the middle of a road in Huang Village.
With her hands in her pockets, she turned sideways.
Her dark-purple contact lenses glinted as she looked toward the source of the sound.
"Queen, it seems to be that Earth bug I knocked flying earlier. He appears to be a Super Gene Carrier, probably a native Super Soldier of Earth," Sword Demon Ato said, looking toward the sound.
Boom!!!
Suddenly,
a gust of wind swept away the thick dust billowing from the direction of the sound.
Ye Yang's figure appeared before Morgana and the others.
At that moment, Ye Yang—
White steam rising from his evaporating sweat curled around his arms and shoulders like auspicious clouds and rainbows, resembling the ribbons worn by an immortal.
Dark-red Armament Haki covered his chest and arms.
His torso had become spherical, and demonic spiral patterns marked the area near his collarbones.
Ye Yang held his dark-red Armament Haki-coated arms in a repelling stance.
His knees were slightly bent.
His feet were poised on their toes.
But he couldn't stand steadily on the ground.
Every time his feet struck the earth, they rang out with a deep metallic clang.
His giant, ball-shaped body bounced along with them.
This was a powerful combat form used by the protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, in a classic anime from Ye Yang's previous life.
"Probably a Super Soldier trained by the Earth Super Seminary, some kind of soldier.
"You've just been revived.
"Go stretch your limbs.
"The Queen's going to try to understand human society by studying its lowest levels. We're leaving."
Morgana glanced in Ye Yang's direction.
She seemed to have conducted some kind of analysis in secret.
Then she lost interest in him.
Smiling, she turned and stepped into a Void Wormhole, disappearing.
After seeing her off, Ato looked at Ye Yang with calm, murderous eyes.
He assessed him disdainfully:
"Are you joking? You got that big, so I thought your inflated body had some kind of trick up its sleeve. Try taking this a little seriously. This might be your last fight, after all."
"Your body's recoil is keeping you from standing steadily."
"Can you even still fight?"
Then,
Ato casually ordered a newborn Demon nearby:
"Recruit, go kill him."
The newborn Demon was fearless, like a calf that had never known a tiger.
It beat its flesh-colored wings and flew quickly toward Ye Yang.
Drool sprayed from its long tongue.
But in the next instant,
Ye Yang's suspended dark-red toes suddenly pressed hard against the ground.
The moment they touched down,
BOOM!!!
The street seemed to have been hit by a high-explosive grenade.
Before the thick dust and stones could spread,
Whoosh!
Ye Yang became a dark-red streak of lightning, moving faster than the Demon could see with the naked eye.
He drove a right hook forward.
The newborn Demon charging straight at him had its head instantly blown into a cloud of blood.
The powerful blow also changed the course of its flight.
Its body shot across the rooftops of Huang Village's many self-built houses, flying toward the distant sky thousands of meters away.
Almost at the same time,
the ground where Ye Yang had first pushed off caved in with a crash.
Thick dust and shattered stones sprayed everywhere, each fragment as deadly as a bullet!
Fortunately, the villagers had already fled, and no one was hurt.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Ye Yang stopped.
He stood less than five meters from Sword Demon Ato.
His body continued bouncing on its toes.
"Hey, where's Yu Baosheng? Where did that woman from earlier go?" Ye Yang asked coldly.
Ye Yang was usually laid-back and didn't care much about anything.
But anyone who knew him could tell—
When Ye Yang wore that cold expression,
he was already thoroughly annoyed.
Ato began to take him a little more seriously.
He raised his armored right hand and clenched it in midair.
A Flame-grade Broadsword glowing red appeared from a Void Wormhole.
He gripped it tightly.
"I admit it. I underestimated you, Super Soldier of the Super Seminary. You probably haven't heard of me."
"I've had many names: Ancient Sword Demon, Butcher, Demon God of War."
"But the title I most like people to call me is Demon Sergeant Major of the Demon Civilization."
Ato looked at the broadsword in his hand,
as though reuniting with an old friend and reminiscing.
"Are you sick? Why are you spouting all this useless crap?"
"You've got two options. One: I beat you until you give in, then you tell me where Yu Baosheng is. Two: I beat you until you give in, you take me to that woman, and then you hand over Yu Baosheng," Ye Yang said.
Ato had been a veteran following Morgana for eight thousand years.
He wouldn't lose his reason over such a simple taunt.
"Dare to shout at a Demon? Even if you're a Super Soldier of the Earth Super Seminary, you'll still die."
With that,
Ato lunged forward and thrust his sword straight at Ye Yang's chest.
This simple strike contained eight thousand years of combat experience!
Even a sword master would be so shaken by it that he'd lose control of his blade.
But Ye Yang simply swung his right arm, covered in dark-red Armament Haki.
He slapped the sword away.
CLANG!!!
The Flame-grade Broadsword was sent flying with a single slap.
It spun toward the distant clouds and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Ato stood motionless,
still holding his sword-thrusting pose.
His eyes stared in shock at his empty hand.
How could this be?!
I must have let my guard down!
Gagagagaga!!!
Suddenly,
a harsh sound like a metal spring being wound tighter and tighter rang beside Ato's ears.
Looking closely,
he saw Ye Yang's huge dark-red fists retracting farther and farther into his wrists.
"King Kong!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In an instant,
two red iron fists blasted toward the armor on Ato's chest, almost as if propelled by jets.
The scene seemed to play out in slow motion.
Ato's upright body gradually doubled over.
Stomach acid burst from his mouth.
His eyes bulged outward.
Then,
his body instantly became a streak of light.
He smashed through row after row of self-built houses in Huang Village,
then plowed through a vast stretch of farmland and a few-hundred-meter-wide forest,
before finally crashing into an uninhabited hill several kilometers away.
And yet, it all happened in just three seconds.
At the bottom of a crater in the soil,
Ato lay sprawled.
His iron-gray face was full of anger.
"What a powerful body. But against my Third Generation Demon Body, unless I'm killed by a Flame-grade Weapon, ordinary hand-to-hand damage can't kill me."
With that,
Ato raised one hand and clenched it in midair.
The Flame-grade Broadsword Ye Yang had slapped away appeared in his hand again.
Whoosh!
The blood-red membranous wings on his back, broad as banners, beat once.
His massive body rose into the sky without a scratch.
Hovering five hundred meters above the ground, Ato looked toward Huang Village.
Below him,
a clearly visible trail cut through the brush, farmland, and houses.
It stretched seven or eight kilometers.
"Damn it."
Pfft~
Pfft~
Pfft~
Suddenly,
the enraged Ato heard a series of sharp, rapidly approaching jets from the distant sky.
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