What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

The woman walked up to Randall. After a brief hesitation, she raised her hand and thrust the knife at him.

But just then, Randall suddenly turned his head and met her eyes.

Startled, the woman took a step back.

Her grip slipped, and the knife fell.

It landed with a clang.

Randall stared into the woman's eyes, but his words were directed at Texas:

"You got one thing wrong.

I'm not one of those softhearted doves."

Texas froze. What did he mean?

Then Randall suddenly took a step forward.

The woman flinched and said in a trembling voice:

"W-what are you doing?"

Randall ignored her entirely.

He raised his hand and reached for her neck.

Her face drained of color, and she tried to flee.

But even in Randall's weakened state, escaping him was beyond an ordinary person.

The world spun around her.

By the time she came to her senses, her neck was already in Randall's hand.

Randall's eyes were now icy cold.

His murderous intent poured out unchecked, making everyone feel as though they had plunged into an ice cellar.

The woman trembled all over.

She wanted to beg for mercy.

But before she could speak, Randall tightened his fingers without hesitation.

With a crack, he snapped her neck.

Blood spilled from her mouth. She wanted to say something, but thick blood clogged her throat.

Randall casually tossed her corpse aside as though throwing away trash.

Only then did he look at Texas and say flatly:

"You shouldn't have done that."

In the crowd's eyes, Randall was now completely different from before.

He was a demon god bathed in blood!

Those who had dared to curse Randall earlier now stood in yellow puddles.

Texas was a little surprised.

He hadn't expected Randall to act so decisively.

A Marine, killing a civilian.

He smiled and said:

"You really surprised me.

In that case, I really can't threaten you anymore.

But do you still have any strength left?"

Randall smiled too and said:

"I wonder if you've ever heard this saying.

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

Thanks for giving me so much time!"

The moment he finished speaking, white vapor rose from every wound on his body.

In the blink of an eye, all his wounds healed.

Even the wound in his belly that had exposed his organs no longer hindered his movements.

At the same time, a surge of transparent Qi erupted from his body.

It rose around him like liquid flame.

His aura climbed higher and higher.

At that moment, Randall was like a sun that had fallen to earth.

The Qi around him was like streams flowing outward from its corona.

As his aura erupted, the surrounding pebbles slowly floated into the air, trembling.

The ground trembled too.

The townspeople shook even harder beneath the crushing pressure, as though a mountain were falling on them from the sky.

Texas's expression turned grave.

As far as he could sense, Randall's aura was now far stronger than it had been before their battle!

Was this guy really human?!

Randall paid no more attention to the civilians.

Not because he intended to spare them.

Randall didn't consider himself a forgiving man.

If he repaid malice with kindness, how would he repay kindness?!

Malice had to be repaid with justice!

Since these people wanted to kill him, he would repay them in kind.

But for now, his priority was to finish Texas.

The moment Randall's gaze landed on him, Texas felt a mountain's worth of pressure.

A second later, Randall vanished from his sight.

Alarm bells rang in his mind, and he hurriedly turned the surrounding air into a swarm of chainsaws.

Immediately afterward, he heard a teeth-grating screech.

Randall's pitch-black hand forced its way through the swarm of air saws with brute strength and seized his neck.

His fingers tightened. Randall yanked Texas out and slammed him hard into the ground.

Texas felt the world turn upside down, the impact leaving his head spinning.

Before he could recover, he dimly felt his body lift again.

Once, twice, again and again.

"Here's your art!"

"This is for threatening me!"

"Here's your pleasure!"

"This is for your arrogance! Come on, you fucking bastard, act arrogant now!"

Randall gripped Texas by the neck and smashed him into the ground over and over.

Before long, Texas-shaped craters covered the ground.

Randall put everything into the final slam.

The ground within a ten-meter radius sank several centimeters.

He wasn't finished yet.

Armament: Iron Fist: Impact Steel!

Randall drove a punch into Texas's stomach.

With a thunderous boom, Texas's entire body folded into a U.

He spat blood, his eyes rolling back.

He was badly injured.

But Texas hadn't survived this long only to lose his ability to fight from that.

After that brutal beating, he knew he could either perish in silence or erupt from it.

He chose to erupt.

In an instant, sharp saw blades sprouted all over his body and began spinning wildly.

A violent storm of metal tore madly at everything around him.

Faced with such a deadly attack, even Randall had to retreat for the moment.

He tentatively launched several Tempest Kick: Storm Cutter slashes.

But those slashes, powerful enough to cut through steel, were shredded when they came within three meters of Texas.

A few seconds later, the metal storm subsided.

Texas stared darkly at Randall, his face deathly pale.

This was the most humiliating day he'd had since setting out to sea.

And the young Marine before him was responsible for it all.

"It seems I really did make a mistake.

I should have killed you outright back then!"

Instead of helping you erase your weakness.

He spoke that last sentence only in his mind.

Randall neither agreed nor disagreed.

Earlier, although he'd lacked the strength to keep fighting, he could still have escaped.

As for the civilians...

He would save them when it was within his power.

But with his own life at stake, he knew he wasn't selfless enough to sacrifice himself for them.

"Unfortunately, you're the one who's going to die now!"

As he spoke, Randall brought his hands together at his waist again, making the gesture that filled Texas with dread.

Texas jolted. That feeling of being locked onto had returned.

He gritted his teeth, reached behind his neck, and gripped his own spine.

Then he pulled hard, ripping his entire spinal column out.

No, that wasn't a spine, but an incredibly sharp saw blade.

By then, Randall had finished gathering power.

The dazzling sphere of energy appeared once more.

"Qi Wave!"

Facing the beam of energy shooting toward him, Texas's face twitched, and he held the saw blade in front of himself.