While Bulat was putting all his strength into fending off his storm of blood, General Liver took out his enhancer and drove the injection hard into the vein in his neck.
Without it, his physical strength alone could not so much as scratch Bulat in his armored state.
In an instant, Liver's physical strength rose a full three tiers. Now he could finally clash head-on with Bulat.
"Bulat!"
"Liver!"
Bulat threw his head back with a shudder, and the needle-sharp rain of blood became soft, powerless drizzle, thin as autumn sand. It pattered onto the bar's wooden floorboards and seeped into the cracks between them.
The scents of blood and red wine entwined as they entered the nose. Whether it was noble and elegant or sinister and eerie was hard to say; in any case, it was a scent Lin Feng would have liked.
Roaring at Liver, Bulat turned and swung his red spear in a wide arc. The muscles in his arms bulged, and the wound on his chest nearly tore open, but he did not care.
Veins also bulged one after another on Liver's body. He poured all his strength into this blow to clash with the incomparable, heaven-defying might of Bulat's Demon Incursion.
Boom-!!!!
Immense energy rippled through that lightning-fast exchange. Demon Incursion truly was a powerful Teigu forged from a dragon-class Danger Beast; the power it contained was simply beyond what a forbidden drug could match.
The instant Liver's longsword struck the red spear, he sensed the enormous gap between their strengths.
With just a little force from Bulat, Liver's arms began to tremble uncontrollably. When Bulat exerted his full strength, Liver's hands were knocked away. A light flick of the spear sliced off both arms as easily as peeling potatoes.
Blood gushed out in torrents, and this was precisely the moment Liver had been waiting for.
"Water Dragon Possession!"
This toxin-laced blood was Liver's final move, but Bulat had anticipated it. His wound split open as his arms worked wildly to either side,
His spearplay was like an azure dragon charging into battle, scattering every drop of blood without letting any touch him. Even Liver, his enemy, could only marvel at such superb technique.
Bulat aimed the spearhead at Liver's chest and said calmly-
"Do you have any last words, sir?"
At last, Liver laughed in satisfaction.
"Heh heh heh... Bulat, you've grown a great deal. But after this battle, cough, cough, cough, cough..."
"I'm afraid you'll never be able to bear Demon Incursion's burden again!"
Liver's words truly struck Bulat where it hurt.
Demon Incursion was an armor-type Teigu that demanded an extremely high level of physical fitness from its wearer. An ordinary person would die immediately upon putting it on, and even a muscular powerhouse like Bulat suffered an enormous physical burden from wearing it.
It was said that in the final stages of wearing Demon Incursion, every activation brought the body one step closer to becoming a dragon.
And Liver had done everything he could to drain Bulat's stamina. Now he could already see dragon scales appearing along Bulat's jaw.
"Put that armor on one more time, and you'll die on the spot. You look so strong, but your actual bodily functions are probably little different from mine now, are they, Bulat?"
"Stop talking..."
Bulat's expression became deeply sorrowful.
He had wanted, in the final moments of Liver's life, to hear them speak of their years of friendship and reveal their true feelings. He had never expected Liver to devote his life to Esdeath to the very end, leaving not even a few words for someone who had once been so close to him.
"This is my choice."
"Then let me rest easy, Bulat."
With that, Liver closed his eyes naturally, and Bulat closed his eyes as well-
After thrusting the Red-Backed Shrike into Liver's chest.
Indeed, his body's dragonification was already a warning from Demon Incursion. It meant he could no longer use this Teigu from now on, or the consequences would be unthinkable.
As he looked at the bodies of the Three Beasts, Bulat's eyes were filled with unwillingness to accept it.
"To think that I, Bulat... had to rely on an outsider's strength to finish my last battle. How utterly shameful."
Yet Lin Feng's uncanny strength had planted itself in Bulat's heart like a nightmare.
Before dwelling on it much longer, Bulat prepared to carry Lubbock out on his back, only to see another man appear outside the door.
From earlier until now, nearly all the patrons who had entered had been immobilized by Nyau's music. New arrivals had fled one after another upon seeing the carnage inside, seeking safety and avoiding danger.
Yet this man strolled along leisurely, as though none of it had anything to do with him. Had Bulat not known him, he really would have thought he was merely an idle drinker.
"Wave..."
The blue-haired young man, Wave, had originally been a country boy. He had trained in martial arts from childhood and joined the Imperial Guard. Later, his diligence, focus, nature, and exceptional talent for combat had led the imperial palace to select him for special classified missions.
In truth, however, Wave also possessed an extremely strong sense of justice, and he could not stand the Empire's conduct either. Within the Empire, he appeared to be a diplomatic figure on Minister Honest's side, yet away from the Empire, his sympathies leaned more toward Night Raid. That was Wave.
Even his trip to District Thirteen, where he temporarily concealed his strength and served under Captain Ogre, had been Minister Honest's idea,
Partly to monitor Ogre's movements and the extent of his loyalty, and partly to investigate how much profit had been squeezed out of District Thirteen.
"I won't kill you. I only came to take a look at the situation."
Knowing that Wave never lied, Bulat lowered his guard at those words.
"Bulat... you actually ended up this badly hurt. Honestly, I really didn't expect it."
Bulat felt nothing but shame.
Indeed, by Wave's judgment, with the power of his armor-type Teigu, Bulat could have killed all of the Three Beasts without suffering so much as a scratch.
But Bulat's strength was already far below what it had been back then. Demon Incursion was, after all, a Teigu with a limited lifespan.
Looking at the Three Beasts' bodies, Wave paid the most attention to the chunks of flesh nearest the doorway, which could no longer even be called Nyau's corpse.
"You weren't the one who killed him, were you...?"
"No... to be honest, I don't know who did it. He left very soon afterward."
Seeing the gruesome state of those remains, Wave also vaguely arrived at an answer in his heart.
"In any case, none of this has much to do with me. I'll head back to the palace, then."
Wave was about to leave when he seemed to remember something. He stepped outside for a while, then dragged in a soundly sleeping boy.
"This boy ambushed me on my way here. Is he one of yours?"
"That's... Tatsumi?!"
"So he really is... Fine, I'll give him back to you. But in return, I'll have to put him on record."
"Thank you, truly..."
Bulat let out a deep breath. Though Wave's attitude as both enemy and friend left him deeply conflicted, for now he had to regard this man as a companion.