B-002-Crimson Demon Talent

"Shadow Scorpion" Aberk used every trick he had, yet none of them seemed able to do anything to "Red Demon" Golon.

Suren could tell as well. If this dragged on, Aberk—the phantom-like figure on the arena stage—would definitely be the one at a disadvantage.

The outcome of the match suddenly became impossible to predict.

And clearly, this Grade A Fugitive with countless crimes to his name realized that too.

At that moment, he abruptly pulled back, opening some distance between them. Then, with one leg, he instantly drew a hexagram alchemy array on the ground. At the same time, the hand seals in his hands changed rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he completed the Conversion Ritual and shouted, "Implant: Release!"

The gamblers below the stage grew excited again at Aberk's actions.

"Look, Aberk's getting serious!"

"That's his Alchemical Implant, the Blue Steel Scorpion Tail. Legend says it was forged from Mithril Blue Steel, one of the toughest known alloys. Nothing can break it!"

"Heh, that big guy actually forced him to use his signature move. He's in trouble now. I saw this guy use that scorpion tail to easily kill an entire fully equipped security patrol."

"..."

Suren had not expected him to complete the implant release in such a brief instant.

He remembered that back at Storm Manor, even Bald Ivan had seemed to take several seconds.

But Aberk had taken only 1.3 seconds.

The instant the alchemy array dispersed, Aberk's clothes suddenly tore apart. His body crouched low like a scorpion, and a nearly three-meter-long metal scorpion tail appeared behind him.

The augmented scorpion tail was assembled from segments of blue steel armor. Its lines were graceful, yet the metal construction possessed extraordinary flexibility. It twisted at bizarre angles, as though it were alive. At its tip was a sharp triangular blade, resembling a king cobra with its neck raised.

Even from far away, it gave off an intensely dangerous aura.

With his Augment Armor released, Aberk gave his opponent no chance to react. He still chose to strike first.

The Blue Steel Scorpion Tail moved, making strange, fine metallic clicking sounds.

This time, Aberk abandoned his previous hit-and-run fighting style and charged straight ahead.

That metal scorpion tail was more like the head of a hunting snake as it shot out!

"It can extend and retract too?"

Suren watched the scorpion tail suddenly stretch out like a spring and was somewhat astonished.

To achieve that, the construction of this metal implant had to be a hundred times more complex than he had imagined. It was not merely mechanically complex; it was also covered in dense, profound runes.

It looked like a frontal assault, but it was actually still a sneak attack.

The suddenly launched scorpion tail stabbed toward Golon's chest at lightning speed.

Sure enough, once the implant was released, Aberk's combat power increased severalfold. Golon could no longer stand motionless, and the short blade in his hand could not block the menacing scorpion tail at all.

With a sharp clang, sparks flew everywhere.

The piercing screech of metal scraping against metal announced that the two had exchanged a round.

Holding his short blade, Golon rapidly retreated. Looking closely, there was a smooth cut across the chest of his white shirt. No blood could be seen, but that strike had been extraordinarily dangerous.

Aberk's offensive clearly did not end there. When the first strike failed, the Blue Steel Scorpion Tail behind him, capable of launching, extending, and retracting at will, shot out again.

The sound of tearing air was endless, afterimages overlapping one another.

In an open area, Golon would probably have had enough room to evade. But on the arena stage, especially one confined by a Blast Shield, the space available for him to move had been strictly limited.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The short blade and scorpion tail collided hundreds of times in an incredibly brief span, leaving everyone dazzled.

No one had expected Golon, who looked so broad-shouldered and burly, to possess such nimble footwork.

Though the suited bodyguard looked bedraggled, he still showed no sign of defeat.

"So strong!"

Suren was completely stunned.

The fighting skills of these two had utterly exceeded his understanding. In his previous life, no matter how formidable a Fighter was, they could never perform such exaggerated moves and footwork.

Whether in stamina, strength, speed, or neural reaction, both had reached an unimaginable height.

The moves on the stage that appeared not to have caused any injuries were fatal to ordinary people, and even to official Professionals. Any tiny mistake could lead to instant death.

This deadly battle opened the door to a new world for Suren.

What was surprising was that, faced with such sharp attacks from his opponent, Golon still only used his short blade to block. Even though his suit was already riddled with holes and stained with blood, he showed no intention of using some ultimate move.

Logically, since both were Tier 2 Professionals, could it be that this bodyguard did not even have an Alchemical Implant?

Or was there no time?

"Why hasn't this guy released his own implant? What is he waiting for?"

Suren's eyes shifted, and he vaguely guessed that things were not so simple.

And just then, exactly as he expected, something happened.

Perhaps because the fight on the stage had remained deadlocked for so long, a pane of one-way glass slowly lowered from one of the mysterious private rooms on the second floor of the Gladiatorial Arena. A slightly plump, middle-aged man with a gold-rimmed monocle and a mustache hanging in the shape of the character eight looked down at the underground arena with a grim expression and called out in a deep voice, "Kill him, and I'll give you back your freedom!"

That mustached man had placed a huge bet on this match.

It was clearly a guaranteed win. He could not watch it end in a "draw," or let that lowly bodyguard deliberately lose and cost him a fortune.

His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to possess some kind of magic.

Everyone looked over.

Someone recognized the mustached man and murmured, "That's Mendesai Batarov, the big boss of Batarov Wine Group!"

Old Lindun lacked clean water sources and did not have enough grain to brew alcohol, yet demand was enormous. The wine trade, a hugely profitable business, had created one gold-devouring tycoon after another, and Mendesai Batarov was one of the top magnates of the Inner City.

At that moment, Suren immediately understood what Golon had been waiting for.

"Hmph!"

The instant that mustached man appeared, a cold snort rang out from the stage.

"Red Demon" Golon's entire aura changed abruptly. Like a lion awakening from sleep, the calm numbness in his eyes vanished, and for the first time, he erupted with killing intent so tangible it seemed real.

Naturally, Aberk on the stage felt it most strongly.

When this Grade A Fugitive, who had murdered countless people, saw Golon's aura suddenly surge, alarm screamed in his heart. That terrifying gaze was like needles, truly piercing into his body.

Originally, he had planned to hold back some of his methods and look for a chance to "break out of prison."

But now, he abandoned the idea of conserving his strength. He suddenly opened his mouth, and his jaw dislocated to an exaggerated extent, revealing a tube that gleamed with metallic luster.

Before anyone else could even see what had happened, dense purple poison gas erupted from it, instantly sweeping across the entire Gladiatorial Arena.

That massive Blast Shield instead became the ideal barrier for the poison gas to spread. In only a few seconds, the whole stage was obscured from view.

"What happened?"

"Looks like Aberk sprayed poison gas."

"This is bad. We can't see anything, and the air is poisonous. That big guy is probably in danger."

"This arena is way too favorable for an Assassin Class Professional like Aberk. Damn it, my bet on Red Demon is probably going down the drain. I heard rumors that he was really powerful too."

"..."

Purple poison gas blanketed the entire stage. With nothing to watch, the gamblers began complaining.

But matches like this were cruel. Killing was the ultimate goal. Everyone accepted only the result, not the process.

Suren frowned deeply as he watched.

Poison gas that Aberk treated as a trump card could not possibly be simple.

The stage was completely sealed. There was nowhere to escape.

Even if Golon was powerful, the best possible outcome would probably be mutual destruction.

"Looks like I'm going to lose a thousand."

Suren muttered to himself, but he did not find losing money much of a pity.

At least, having watched such an incredible battle between Professionals, the ticket price had been worth it.

At the same time, as he looked at the poisonous fog, his expression turned somewhat strange. If that guy had unleashed this when he first stepped onto the stage, wouldn't everyone in this casino have been buried with him?

The important figures in the second-floor private rooms might have been able to escape, but ordinary gamblers like them probably would not have had many survivors.

Tsk, tsk. This world was dangerous.

Suren felt that without supernatural strength, one could suddenly drop dead from an accident anytime, anywhere.

The poison gas spread, blocking all sight.

The enormous gambling hall fell silent, broken only occasionally by the whispered conversations of gamblers.

Was it over?

The gamblers had prepared themselves mentally and waited for the results of the match to be revealed.

But then, suddenly!

A strange sound drew everyone's attention.

With a thunderous boom,

Something seemed to slam heavily into the Blast Shield.

Then—

Another brutal boom sounded from a different direction. They vaguely saw a shadow crash against the glass barrier, then vanish again in an instant.

"It's not over yet? What's happening in there?"

In an instant, the huge casino fell utterly silent.

Every gambler stared into the poisonous haze, trying to figure out what was happening.

Then, suddenly, a roar rang out.

"Roar!"

The sound was like a terrifying monster raging. Even through the glass barrier, it made everyone's heads spin.

Then came dense boom boom sounds, like hammers pounding the ground. The entire gambling hall shook along with them.

Before long, the sounds vanished.

Everything returned to silence.

Before them was still the Blast Shield filled with poison gas.

The gamblers throughout the hall looked utterly bewildered.

They looked at one another, as though their eyes all carried the same question: What exactly had happened?

"The match is over. Red Side wins!"

Amid the bewildered expressions of the gamblers, the organizers suddenly announced the result.

Apparently, the casino had some special means of confirming that Blue Side's gladiator had died.

At that moment, the automatic ventilation system beneath the stage activated, and the dense purple poison gas was sucked underground in the blink of an eye.

As the poisonous fog dispersed and visibility gradually returned, everyone finally saw what had happened.

On the stage stood a gigantic red-skinned monster, brimming with killing intent.

"Is that... Hellboy?"

Suren's eye twitched as he looked at the red-skinned, muscular monster.

But clearly, it was not. This guy did not have horns on his head.

On the ground lay a mass of scarlet flesh, no longer even humanoid. The indestructible Blue Steel Scorpion Tail had also been shattered into section after section of metal fragments.

The entire stage was a complete mess.

Clearly, the corpse on the ground was "Shadow Scorpion" Aberk.

Then that red-skinned muscular monster had to be "Red Demon" Golon.

As though time had frozen for several seconds, someone finally cried out, "My god... I thought it was only a nickname. I never imagined that the talent he awakened was truly Grade B, B-002-Crimson Demon, one of the strongest close-combat talents!"

A legendary super close-combat talent, whose fighting power was said to surpass even most Grade A talents!

Beside the stage, as Suren looked at that imposing, Haki-filled red-skinned "Hellboy," an emotion that made his scalp tingle surged up from within him.

He had guessed that "Red Demon" Golon was strong, but he had never expected him to be strong in such a brutally overwhelming way!

Once his ultimate move was activated, it had been a complete crushing victory.

The gap between the two was unbelievably vast.

Why was even a random bodyguard from the Inner City so strong?

Was it merely because of talent?

Doubt rose in Suren's heart.

Then, when he looked at the ball of Gray Mist over the corpse on the ground, he grew even more expectant.

At some unknown point, Captain Kai had also squeezed his way to the side of the stage.

Looking at the scene on the stage, this newly promoted Professional sighed to himself, "The Inner City gathers more than ninety percent of Old Lindun's alchemy resources. It contains the highest-grade Cursed Objects, the most job-change sequences, alchemy blueprints, and rare talent holders. That's why so many powerful people desperately want to enter the Inner City."

P.S. This isn't filler. He's a supporting character with a role in the plot. Brothers, send in those votes~

Thanks to 'Zero Desire, Hidden Memories' for 4,000 coins, and to 'Fuck Your Mother' and 'I Have a Library.' Thank you to all three for your support and tips.