" Akame, get down!"
Hearing Seryu's shout, Akame used all her strength to pull the long blade away from Honest's feet. The blade cut a little through the leather, but there seemed to be some kind of metal underneath, and it did not hurt Honest's body at all.
After leaping down, Honest drew his sword from the ground and used it to deflect dozens of musket bullets.
Shell casings lay scattered on the ground, emitting puffs of pungent white smoke. Seryu, facing him amidst the smoke, lowered the muzzle of his gun and, seeing Honest's blank eyes, felt a sense of unease.
Those eyes, seemingly devoid of any emotion, appeared to be the complete opposite of Lin Feng's.
Although Lin Feng's eyes were a strange crimson, they gave Seryu a sense of nonchalant ease, as if he didn't want to make enemies easily.
Although Honest's eyes appeared ordinary, they gave Seryu a sense of boundless cunning and darkness.
" Seryu —watch out!"
The voices of the crowd reached out, and just as the warning was being given, Honest pounced on Seryu without warning, his inhuman claws about to tear Seryu to shreds.
"Laugh----!"
A golden hue drifted past Seryu, its long fur and wild clothing contrasting sharply with the taut muscles around its sharp, long teeth, where beads of sweat were visible.
Leone took the lead and blocked Honest's attack for Seryu.
The stalemate between her and Honest was like a duel between two wild beasts, but Leone knew very well that she was no match for Honest.
'Is this really a human...?'
Having just acquired Lin Feng's Bloodsucking powers, Leone could once shatter rocks with a mere flick of her claws. Now, she was exerting all her strength to wrestle with Honest, but she felt that he wasn't really going all out.
"Not enough! Leo Girl, your power has only just reached Esdeath's level!"
"What did you say..."
Leone, struggling to parry Honest's attacks, was completely bewildered upon hearing those words.
His power in beast form was already top-tier among the ' Night Raid ' techniques. If Esdeath, renowned for her Ice Teigu, could defeat him in mere hand-to-hand combat, what was the point of today's surprise attack?
"Court death!"
Honest pushed forward with both hands, Leone lost his balance. He tried to step back to regain his balance, but the movement was too obvious, and Honest immediately saw through his intentions.
" Leone!"
Everyone turned to look in Leone's direction. The minister suddenly swung his nails, and with a single claw strike, four bloody marks appeared on Leone's chest.
A large amount of blood gushed out, and if Leone were to take another blow, no one knew whether he would live or die.
"Drink it!!"
Behind him, Tatsumi, who was invisible, swung his ' Red-Backed Shrike ' and thrust at Honest, while on the flank, Najenda's humanoid Teigu ' Susanoo ' swung its giant weapon and slammed down.
"Bang--!"
Two loud explosions followed, and a large amount of smoke and dust was followed by a strong wind that blew everyone's hair back for a long time.
Mine and Seryu anxiously dragged Leone away to examine her excessive wounds.
Najenda and Akame waited until the smoke cleared before they saw the wondrous scene before them.
With his left claw gripping the ' Red-Backed Shrike ' that was lunging at him with the Demon Incursion aura, and his right arm barely managing to parry the giant weapon swung by ' Susanoo ', Honest finally showed signs of strain as he faced two opponents, his muscles tensing. Yet, even so, he remained unharmed.
"How could such a monster exist..."
Najenda murmured in disbelief.
Seeing that he could not hold out against the two men for long, Honest leaped high into the air and kicked them in the sides with both feet.
Despite their short, seemingly weak legs, Tatsumi raised his spear and Susanoo raised his giant weapon to parry, yet both were kicked several meters away by this single kick.
Tatsumi, who had been knocked to the ground, coughed up a mouthful of blood, unnoticed by anyone inside his armor.
'How is this possible...'
'Even though he used the Red-Backed Shrike's parry, he still got hurt like this by such a pathetic attack...'
'I, Tatsumi... has all my countless days and nights of training truly come to an end?'
I'm not reconciled.
Resentment and regret filled Tatsumi's entire being. Although he was not yet close to death, he was already experiencing a series of recurring hallucinations.
"What's this?"
Every moment since he joined ' Night Raid ' was replayed before his eyes.
Having only recently joined Night Raid, he participated in the operation to defeat the Zank the Executioner.
However, he was almost killed by Zanku, and Lin Feng's appearance made Tatsumi realize the huge gap in strength between himself and the world's top experts.
He practiced his swordsmanship tirelessly, preparing to avenge his previous defeat in the dueling tournament in Esdeath. However, when he encountered Lin Feng again, he realized that all his efforts were almost worthless.
Afterwards, during the campaign against the Three Beasts, he was knocked unconscious by Wave of the Empire with a single palm strike...
He watched helplessly as his elder brother Bulat was severely injured before his eyes, gifting him the exquisite armor that had once been used to kill a hundred men. Even with such armor, he was still too weak to even exchange two blows with Honest...
" Tatsumi, Tatsumi!"
Tatsumi deactivated his armor, revealing a small young man to Honest.
He clutched his chest, his condition seemingly dire, causing his companions to worry about his safety.
"So it wasn't Bulat after all... Tsk, I didn't see that adventurous spirit in you. Oh, I see..."
Honest glanced at Tatsumi with disdain and walked straight toward him.
Tatsumi had already lost consciousness; in the boundary between sleep and wakefulness, a voice kept calling to him—
" Tatsumi, become one with me."
"That voice is..."
"To gain my power, the price is to give me everything you have! What is your answer—yes, or no?"
"I..."
In his hazy consciousness, a golden light suddenly appeared before Tatsumi's eyes.
Within the golden light, a black and red aura of vengeful spirits exploded and dispersed, the power of which stirred in Tatsumi an unprecedented sense of awe and longing.
"Yes..."
In an instant, Honest stopped in his tracks.
"Oh--? Are there any other variations?"
A massive, dark red energy body continuously poured some substance into Tatsumi, causing his body to slowly rise into the air, greedily absorbing the nutrients from the void sphere like a petri dish.