Day Five.
A helicopter roared past overhead.
Hiding in a muddy puddle, a certain Purgator let out a sigh of relief.
Ever since arriving in this world, nothing had gone his way thanks to Death's interference.
Right at the start, he got slammed by a derailed train.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, he was blamed for causing the derailment in the first place.
And so began his journey on the run.
It had taken considerable effort, but he had finally managed to escape from Texas, beaten and battered.
He made it all the way to New York!
In his mind, an international metropolis like New York might have more military presence, but it also offered countless places to hide.
More importantly, with so many civilians around, the authorities couldn't just unleash their heavy firepower as they pleased.
For Purgators, that was absolutely vital.
Even the weakest Purgator could become a close-quarters monster after surviving a few worlds.
What he didn't know, however, was that on a hill about a kilometer away...
A small sniper team had him in their crosshairs.
Through the scopes of their sniper rifles, they tracked his every move.
A cold voice crackled in their earpieces:
"Be advised—target possesses supernatural abilities.
If he manages to slip into the city, the consequences will be catastrophic. You must kill him in one shot. Do not give him any chance to resist!"
"Understood!"
After the order was issued and the comm line went dead, the squad leader calmly gave his instructions:
"Scorpion and Tiger, aim for the head. Venom, Python, and Wolf, target the chest. I'll count down from five. Fire together!"
"Yes, sir!"
After a few curt replies, the countdown began: "5… 4… 3… 2… 1!"
BANG!
Five gunshots rang out in perfect unison!
Five armor-piercing rounds screamed out of the heavy sniper rifles.
At that moment, even the speed of sound couldn't keep up with the bullets.
Just as the Purgator was about to crawl out of the muddy puddle, a massive shockwave slammed into his body before he could react.
In an instant, the protective charm he had carefully kept on his person shattered.
The charm had absorbed most of the rounds' force, and the bullets veered off trajectory mid-flight.
Only one bullet hit its mark.
Even so, the remaining power behind it shattered one of his arms completely!
"AAAHHH!!"
A blood-curdling scream tore through the air as the Purgator bolted.
At a speed far beyond a cheetah's, he became a mere blur to the naked eye.
Seeing this, the sniper team's leader couldn't help but mutter under his breath:
"Damn it…"
Then he gave the next order without hesitation:
"Free fire!. Don't let him reach the city!"
Gunfire erupted again…
---
The Imperial Orchid Hotel.
A few days earlier, the middle-aged man who had ordered an investigation into Orsaga's background had just stepped out of his private car.
After a quick glance at the pedestrians around the hotel, he entered with his assistant and two personal bodyguards.
They headed straight for Orsaga's suite.
"That lowlife bastard. He's done nothing but indulge himself these past few days! Not a single thing accomplished!
What the hell kind of excuse did he use to get two hundred million dollars from my father?"
Inside the elevator, he muttered darkly:
"Does he have any idea just how much trouble he's caused…"
His assistant and the bodyguards remained stone-faced, pretending they hadn't heard a word.
This kind of mess was far beyond their pay grade.
Before long, they reached Orsaga's room.
Just as the assistant raised his hand to knock, he noticed the door was slightly ajar.
The reason? The electronic lock was broken.
"Huh?"
"What's with the locks in this hotel?"
"Isn't this supposed to be the presidential suite?"
Muttering in confusion, the middle-aged man shrugged it off and pushed the door open.
What greeted him was a man lounging lazily on a large bed, clad in a pristine white suit, sipping red wine.
Scattered around the bed were piles of cash, tossed about like garbage.
From the man's appearance, the middle-aged man immediately confirmed it was indeed Orsaga.
His expression turned furious as he stormed in and demanded:
"Who the hell are you?!. Why would my father give you that kind of money?!"
As he barked his questions, the two bodyguards took a step forward, clearly trying to intimidate.
But Orsaga didn't even glance their way.
He simply lifted one slender finger and drew a lazy line through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged man, his assistant, and the bodyguards all exploded into a fine mist of blood.
"So noisy…"
Setting down his wine glass, Orsaga frowned, clearly annoyed.
Just as he was about to take another sip—
BANG!
A stray armor-piercing bullet shattered the wine glass in his hand, sending red wine and shards of glass flying across the room—and all over his white suit.
"..."
A two-second silence fell.
Then Orsaga scratched his head, visibly irritated.
He stood up and looked out the window, toward the direction the bullet had come from.
Two kilometers away, a few snipers were engaged in an operation.
The bullet that had shattered his wine glass was merely a stray.
"Son of a bitch… I'm two kilometers away and you still hit me?"
Before he even finished the sentence, another round came whistling through the air!
This time, it was aimed squarely at Orsaga's forehead.
But just as the bullet was about to strike—
A blinding, radiant golden light flared around him, and turbulent air began to swirl.
A massive form appeared instantly.
Like a towering god, it reached out with two enormous fingers and plucked the tiny bullet from midair as if it were nothing.
Orsaga stepped forward and climbed into the cockpit of Aeon, grumbling:
"Now I'm pissed off. Waking me up is one thing. But breaking my wine glass while I'm drinking?. Who the hell gave you that kind of courage???. Aeon, go ahead and devour this world…"
At his command, the wings of Aeon began to beat.
The sheer force of the wind pressure flattened the entire hotel structure in an instant.
Rising slowly into the air, the 70-meter-tall mech-like entity hovered in the sky like a divine being, casting its gaze down upon the world.
_____
T/N:
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