Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Several consecutive rockets exploded against Solomon Grundy, forcing his massive body to stagger backward. His flesh was torn and battered, but strands of new tissue quickly surged forth, rapidly healing his wounds.
Standing only as tall as Solomon Grundy's chest, Black Gold was now running his pneumatic system at full power, charging at Grundy like a heavy tank.
Bang!
A huge, broad hand collided with a black metal fist, whipping up a gust of air.
The two grappled for several seconds before Black Gold, unable to withstand Grundy's overwhelming strength, was forced to retreat. His legs were pressed into the ground by the towering Grundy, leaving two long tracks in the earth.
The metal casing on Black Gold's arms creaked under the strain.
Grundy's strength was more than satisfactory to Hardy.
Taking advantage of Grundy being held back by Black Gold, Hardy once again unleashed his Wind Cutter Technique, pouring all his wind blades onto Solomon Grundy.
Since this creature's regenerative ability was so strong, he decided to use sustained area attacks to slow down its healing.
Mechanical whirring sounded as the White Samurai's hand opened, revealing Hardy's fingers rapidly forming seals.
In the past, ninjutsu had been Hardy's weak point, so he rarely used it in combat. However, now that Wind Release had become his most powerful offensive method thanks to his enhanced airflow manipulation, the situation was different.
"I need to find some suitable materials and redesign the puppet's hand structure so I can form seals inside the puppet," Hardy silently noted to himself. After finishing the seals with his left hand, he quickly swiped his right hand—now with the electric current on the high-voltage sword turned off—across it.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!"
A misty white airflow enveloped the metal longsword. Under the influence of his airflow manipulation, the surrounding air was drawn in and compressed into the sword-shaped current, making it look like a flowing, transparent crystal.
"Breath of Wind, Fifth Form: Cold Autumn Mountain Gale!"
The pneumatic acceleration system and Hardy's own body erupted simultaneously, making the White Samurai incredibly fast as he shot up above Solomon Grundy.
Boom!
Under Hardy's control, Black Gold deliberately released his grip, finally being sent flying into a wall by a punch.
At the same time, Hardy's attack descended.
A massive spinning wind blade, empowered by airflow manipulation and the Vacuum Blade, became a tornado-like cutting machine, far more powerful than when used by his Demon Slayer counterpart.
Roar!
With a furious roar, Solomon Grundy's tough, massive body was instantly sliced layer by layer, but since he was no longer alive, not a drop of blood flowed even as his flesh was hacked away.
"Let me add a little something extra."
Two rockets launched from the White Samurai's shoulders, exploding as they were swept into the wind-blade tornado.
Shards of metal merged into the tornado, further enhancing its cutting power.
Solomon Grundy went berserk, trying to escape the tornado, but within the endless wind blades, his body was continuously shredded. The pressure differential kept pushing him back toward the tornado's center.
If he had stayed in the eye of the storm, he might have been safer, but instead he moved around, trying to smash a path out with his fists and chains.
This only caused his body to weaken even faster, chunks of flesh being sliced off before they could regenerate.
"Looks a bit disgusting," Hardy commented, swinging his sword upward once more.
"Breath of Wind, Ninth Form: Vaiśravaṇa Typhoon!"
Another whirlwind surged forth in the same direction, merging with the wind-blade tornado like a typhoon.
In an instant, the tornado swelled in size, bursting through the roof and even tearing through the entire Iceberg Lounge.
"That should be enough."
Controlling the airflow, Hardy flung Solomon Grundy out of the tornado.
As Grundy hit the ground, not yet fully regenerated, Black Gold pounced from behind. His body broke apart into mechanical pieces that covered Grundy, steel chains snapping out to bind him tightly.
Hardy strode over to Grundy, and with his Vacuum Blade, carved a large hole in Grundy's chest, revealing a heart pulsing with yellow lightning energy.
He yanked the heart out, and Solomon Grundy immediately went still, the lightning-like yellow glow in his eyes gradually dimming.
"Boss!"
Aman, seeing what had happened, brought several Titan-enhanced men over to help, but the fight was already over.
Still, they would come in handy for the aftermath.
Black Gold detached from Grundy's body and reassembled himself.
"Take this guy's body back with us. Also, have you found Mr. Victor yet?" Hardy asked Aman.
"We found him, Boss, but... he came out looking for us on his own."
Hardy raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"How did he get out? Never mind, take me to him."
After Penguin's escape, most of the Iceberg Lounge's members had withdrawn under his radio command.
Anyone who could make it in Gotham's underworld knew the importance of having multiple hideouts.
Even Harvey Dent's Two-Face Gang had plenty of secret bases to help him bounce back from setbacks, so it went without saying that the wealthier Cobblepot would have even more.
However, the Iceberg Lounge still held much of Penguin's wealth, most of which was now being taken over by the Hog Joint Alliance, with guards posted everywhere.
Two minutes later, Hardy found Victor in one of the rooms in the Iceberg Lounge.
At this moment, he was not wearing his low-temperature battle suit—because it had been stolen by the Penguin. Now, he relied on a series of cryogenic cores implanted near his heart, which continuously pumped coolant through his veins to keep his body temperature below zero.
"You're here?"
Victor withdrew his gaze from his wife Nora's face inside the ice coffin and looked at Hardy.
"No battle suit, no freeze gun—how did you get out?"
Hardy asked Mr. Freeze.
"Batman saved me,"
Mr. Freeze replied.
"Do you remember the Arkham Asylum riot last year? In the end, Joker injected himself with Titan formula, but was defeated by Batman. However, the residual Titan in his body mutated after combining with an unknown virus inside Joker, creating an even more powerful virus. Joker is now terminally ill and doesn't have long to live."