The black bio-armor was like a living thing, with its surface muscle fibers writhing wildly and spewing out purple steam.
The old man, who was originally hunched over like a withered tree, was forcibly pulled up by this exoskeleton, his bones making a teeth-grinding "crack" sound, and his body was forcibly stretched to 2.5 meters tall.
"I'm going to extract every single one of your bones and make them into the finest specimens for my collection!"
The Earl's voice was no longer hoarse; it charged straight at Yasuo with enough kinetic energy to smash a tank.
Hector was about to step forward to help when he noticed a gentle breeze stirring around him.
"Just watch, big cat."
Yasuo's voice still echoed in the same spot, but he had vanished.
The Earl's heavily armored Iron Fist, capable of crushing Rock, slammed down on the spot where Yasuo had been standing.
"Boom!"
The steel deck was smashed, creating a crater two meters in diameter, and the shockwave deformed the surrounding railings.
Smoke and dust billowed, and debris flew everywhere.
"Did you hit him?" Hector squinted, trying to see through the smoke and dust.
"Too slow."
Two light, airy words came from above the Earl's head.
Yasuo stepped on the Earl's thick mechanical arm as casually as if it were his own doorstep.
The longsword was drawn half an inch from its sheath, and the hilt struck the Earl's helmet.
"When!"
With a sharp crack, the Earl felt as if he had been kicked on the head by an elephant, and staggered back a few steps.
"You bastard! How dare you humiliate me!"
The Earl roared, his voice filled with the shame and indignation of being slighted.
The armor on his back suddenly split open, and four mechanical arms resembling octopus tentacles shot out.
The tip of each tentacle flashed a chilling red light; a high-energy laser was charging.
"Die, you rat in the gutter!"
Four laser beams blocked all escape routes.
Yasuo swayed slightly, using the force against him, his body moving with the wind.
A blue afterimage darted through the laser net, so fast that even the visual nerves couldn't catch it.
"Zzzzz--"
The laser shredded the air and scorched the deck, but it didn't even touch the hem of Yasuo's tattered clothes.
On the contrary, with each afterimage that flashed by, a deep, bone-revealing sword wound would appear on the Earl's armor.
Is that all you've got?
Yasuo's figure solidified again, standing less than three meters away from the Earl.
He held the sword in one hand, the tip pointing diagonally at the ground, not a single drop of blood on it.
The Earl looked at his armor, which he was so proud of, with its exposed metal cuts and pipes flowing with green coolant.
Fear finally crept into the Earl's heart.
"I don't believe it! I am God's chosen one!"
The Earl roared hysterically. The armor plate on his chest suddenly burst open, revealing a pulsating purple core.
The surrounding air temperature dropped sharply.
"Die! At this distance, no one can dodge!"
A thick beam of purple light erupted, engulfing Yasuo's figure with an aura of annihilation.
The Earl burst into the Batman Who Laughs.
No one can withstand this blow head-on, not even Homelander.
But the laughter quickly caught in her throat.
The purple beam of light did not penetrate the target; instead, it struck an invisible wall two meters ahead.
It was a barrier formed by the compression of countless air currents.
The wind howled, forming an absolute defensive zone.
The purple Venom frantically corroded the surface of the Wind Wall, but it could not advance any further.
" Wind Wall."
The calm voice pierced through the roar of the Riptide energy.
Yasuo stood behind the Wind Wall, even taking the time to tidy up his bangs that had been ruffled by the wind.
The long-awaited sword was finally drawn.
There are no fancy lighting effects, only extreme speed.
A sliver of cold light pierced through the space.
The Earl felt a chill run down his spine.
He looked down and saw that the ancient longsword had pierced through the core of the bio-armor, the blade embedded in his chest, with only the hilt sticking out.
"Duh!"
The Earl was firmly nailed to the massive mainmast.
The bio-armor, having lost its energy supply, dimmed and hung like a pile of scrap metal on the old man's body.
Yasuo stared at the Earl's wound, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
Something's not right.
"What?"
"His blood." Yasuo stretched out his finger and touched a little of the fluid flowing from the wound.
It wasn't red, but a thick, black liquid.
"Only Deadman's blood is this cold, and..." Yasuo leaned closer to sniff, "... it smells like rotten eggs that've been sitting out for three months."
Just then, the Earl, who was nailed to the mast, suddenly began to convulse violently.
"Giggle giggle..."
A chilling, eerie laugh escaped from the Earl's throat.
His eyes rolled back, his mouth opened to an exaggerated angle, and his jawbone made a cracking sound.
"This physical body... this physical body is ruined..."
The voice was high-pitched and shrill, clearly not human.
What is he saying?
Hector instinctively took a half step back, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
"Step back!"
Yasuo shouted and tried to draw his sword, but found that the blade was stuck to something and wouldn't budge.
"Tear--!"
The Earl's chest suddenly shattered.
The shriveled human skin slipped off, revealing what was underneath.
It was a tiny monster, only half a meter tall.
Its entire body was blood red, its skin was covered with bumps like a toad, and it had a pair of tattered bat wings on its back.
Its head was very large, taking up half of its body, with two yellow eyes that darted around, and its mouth full of tiny, sharp teeth.
It had been curled up inside the old man's body the whole time, manipulating the shell like a mecha.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
The little red monster screamed, a sound loud enough to shatter eardrums.
It forcefully pulled the longsword from its chest, and green blood splattered.
"I am the demon Avarish! The great king of greed! I am immortal!"
The little monster flapped its wings and flew into the air, looking down at the two people on the deck with eyes full of resentment.
"You ruined my disguise! You destroyed my long-term meal ticket in this world! Do you know how much effort I've put into maintaining this body?!"
Yasuo looked at the ugly little thing with a strange expression on his face.
The aura emanating from this thing reminded him of the deepest nightmares of the Shadow Isles.
"I think you're not the King of Greed, you're the King of Ugliness!" Yasuo retrieved his weapon, vigorously shaking off the black blood as if it were stained with something dirty. "Being so uniquely shaped is a kind of talent."
Yasuo retrieved his weapon and shook off the black blood.
Avarish opened his massive, fang-filled mouth and took a deep breath.
The corpses of the surrounding monsters suddenly began to melt, turning into streams of blood-red energy that it absorbed into its belly.
Its body began to swell, its originally short stature increasing several times in size with each breath.
"Your souls smell delicious..." Avarish licked his lips, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "Perfect for repairing my new body."
Just as Yasuo was about to swing his sword, he felt the deck beneath his feet begin to shake violently.
"Boom!"
A loud crash came from the bottom of the cruise ship, and the entire ship began to list to the right.