"Looks like the fight's over."
Nobunaga exhaled softly, his tone finally relaxed as he watched Uvogin close the distance on Roy.
"All that effort finally paid off. Two knife wounds and he still managed to get in close."
He grinned.
"And getting close… means victory."
In his memory, no one had ever taken Uvogin's Super Destruction Punch head-on and lived to brag about it.
"Oh~"
Shizuku, who was spacing out again due to her ever-convenient amnesia, suddenly remembered something.
Clapping her hands together and cupping them over her lips, she called out:
"Hey, Uvo~ Don't kill him too hard! I still wanna go back and finish One Piece!~"
Uvogin bellowed with laughter, overjoyed.
Finally, the tables had turned. The opportunity was his.
"Don't worry! I'll hold back—worst case, I'll just break a few ribs!"
But opening the champagne before the final whistle is a cardinal sin in battle.
Roy, calm as ever, didn't panic.
He "watched" Uvogin's thunderous fist fly in, wrapped in brutal aura.
And then—
He casually reached out his left hand…
And grabbed it.
Yes.
He caught the Super Destruction Punch.
Barehanded.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
No cracking ground.
Just silence.
Utter silence.
A breeze passed through the exhibition hall.
Time seemed to freeze, as if Medusa herself had stared everyone down.
Uvogin… Nobunaga… Shizuku…
Even Zipponean, who was secretly filming from the shadows, and Silva behind the screen…
All of them stood frozen, completely petrified.
"W-What?"
"Isn't this the part where it's supposed to be over…?"
Nobunaga's jaw dropped.
He blinked, took a step forward, and snapped.
"Uvogin, what the hell was that?!"
"You promised me Super Destruction Punch!
I saw the punch… Where's the Super?! Where's the Destruction?!"
He looked like he'd been personally betrayed.
"Eh~?"
Shizuku adjusted her glasses, thinking she'd misread the situation.
She stared.
Confirmed.
Stared again.
Roy was still holding Uvogin's fist effortlessly.
"Weird… why does your fist feel so soft, Uvo~?"
Pfft~
That teammate-critical hit from Shizuku landed perfectly.
Even Zipponean couldn't help snorting with laughter behind the camera—his glasses shaking along with the footage.
Silva pinched the bridge of his nose.
"…This is your strongest spider?"
Silva glanced sideways at Jeno with half-lidded eyes.
The old man seemed composed, but his twitching foot betrayed his racing heart.
Jeno stroked his beard slowly.
"A spider, huh? Guess that's all it is."
He sighed dramatically.
"Ah~ my son. If you just listened to your father earlier… you wouldn't have had to eat this loss."
Back on the field—
The wind finally passed, and Uvogin snapped out of his daze.
Disbelief contorted his face.
He couldn't fathom it—his Super Destruction Punch, caught with a single hand?!
His face flushed red, and his blood surged with fury.
Eyes wide, veins bulging, he roared:
"Tianwei! What's with that trick?!"
"You nullified my Nen or something, didn't you?!"
"Fight me fair and square!"
So that was it.
The real strength of Uvogin's punch didn't come just from his muscles—it came from his overwhelming Nen output.
If Roy had somehow canceled it, the punch would've lost all its power.
"Wait…" Shizuku's eyes lit up with realization.
"That's why it felt so soft! Like the Nen was just… gone…"
But Nobunaga shook his head solemnly.
"No… that's not it."
"He didn't cancel anything."
His voice dropped, tone grave.
"Roy didn't use En to suppress Uvogin's Nen…
He didn't even coat his hand in Hatsu. There was no blackening—no defensive Nen at all."
"He caught that punch… with raw physical strength."
From the center of the arena, Roy's blind eyes seemed to glance in Nobunaga's direction.
"Oh? Didn't expect anyone here to have a brain.
You're sharper than you look."
He turned back to Uvogin, voice cold, amused.
"Enhancers are always so… simple."
"Who told you that strength means guaranteed victory?"
From the moment Uvogin had stepped out, Roy had already scanned him with his system panel.
170 points in Strength.
160 in Nen capacity.
Not bad.
But compared to Roy?
190 Strength.
A single point shy of transcendence.
His soul had already touched the realm of gods and demons.
"KRRK!"
The grinding sound of bones and pressure rang out.
Roy pressed Uvogin's fist downward—
His fingers still wrapped around it like steel cables.
From a distance, it looked almost comical:
Uvogin's massive body being slowly forced down.
Inch by inch.
By a man who never moved his feet.
The ground beneath them cracked.
Spider-web fractures spread across the floor, unable to bear the monstrous force.
"Boom~!"
With Roy and Uvogin as the epicenter, the entire arena shuddered.
Veins popped along Uvogin's neck.
Blood vessels bulged.
He roared, struggling.
"GET… UP…!"
But his legs betrayed him.
His knees buckled.
His body trembled uncontrollably.
And then—
The knife wounds he'd forcibly sealed with Nen… reopened.
Blood gushed, staining the floor red.
Roy smiled faintly, almost serene.
"You know…"
"It's a blessing not to see the world sometimes."
"Moments like this… I'm truly grateful to be blind."
"Because watching you struggle? That's just… pathetic."
He suddenly clenched his grip—
"Now… KNEEL."
CRACK!
A sickening snap echoed across the arena.
Uvogin's wrist—
Broken.