"Too weak..."
'I am pathetically weak compared to my sister...'
At this moment, Fubuki felt that Lexon's words were far more devastating to her soul than the blade held against her neck.
Her body trembled slightly, and her snow-white neck inadvertently brushed against the sharp edge of Lexon's Nichirin Sword. A few beads of blood welled up and slid down the azure blade.
What Lexon said was the absolute truth. The power gap between Fubuki and Tatsumaki was like comparing a tiny spark to the radiant moon.
There was simply no ground for comparison.
They shared the same ability and were flesh and blood sisters, yet the difference between them was absurdly vast.
This was precisely why those words struck her with such crushing force.
She understood this gap better than anyone—it was a chasm. That was why she focused on gathering subordinates and building her group's strength, desperate to close the distance between herself and her sister.
But now, seeing her full power have zero effect on the man before her and hearing him voice the one reality she dreaded most, Fubuki couldn't help but feel utterly defeated.
For a moment, she even had the dark thought of letting the blade simply slide through her throat.
After all... no matter what she did, she would never catch up to her sister...
Maybe I went a bit too far with the psychological blow.
Lexon thought to himself, observing Fubuki's vacant, soul-crushed expression.
Tatsumaki truly is her Achilles' heel, he realized.
Since Lexon considered himself a kind and gentle soul, he naturally wouldn't go any further.
After all, Fubuki was still a righteous hero who genuinely wanted to protect the citizens.
Therefore, he harbored no real killing intent toward her.
Lexon lowered his Nichirin Sword, moving the edge away from her neck.
This was a precautionary measure.
He didn't want her to suddenly do something impulsive and use his blade to commit suicide.
If she died by his hand like that, how could he keep teasing her about Tatsumaki in the future? He'd lose out on so much fun.
A mischievous, slightly dark thought surfaced in Lexon's mind.
As for why he was being so petty... he hadn't forgotten that she had threatened to end his hero career just because he refused to join the Blizzard Group.
"Lady Fubuki!" Seeing the blade move away from her neck, the members of the Blizzard Group cried out in concern. They surged forward again, desperate to save their leader and take down the man in front of them.
"Don't..." Fubuki, snapping out of her daze because of her subordinates' reckless move, immediately tried to stop them.
In that brief exchange, she had come to a profound realization.
This man, who had risen to the top of B-Class without any visible contributions... was on an entirely different level from them.
Fubuki was confident in her own strength; she knew she was at the top of A-Class in terms of combat power. Yet, her maximum output hadn't affected him in the slightest.
His sword hadn't even budged a millimeter.
In her mind, this man possessed strength equivalent to an S-Class hero.
If even she, the strongest of the Blizzard Group, was so helpless, what hope did her subordinates have?
If they actually fought, wouldn't he just cut them down one by one like grass?
She didn't want to lose her group, so she tried to shout a command.
However, before Fubuki could finish, she heard a cold, indifferent voice from the Mist Swordsman.
"Intimidation."
In an instant, a massive wave of oppressive aura erupted from Lexon's body.
It swept through every living being in the vicinity.
Every member of the Blizzard Group felt a sudden shock to their psyche. A feeling of pure dread welled up in their hearts as if a terrifying entity had appeared right before their eyes. The sheer pressure of that presence hammered their minds and senses. Their vision went black, they lost control of their bodies, and their consciousness sank into silence.
Thud... Thud... Thud...
The sounds of bodies hitting the ground rang out in rapid succession.
One by one, nearly every member of the Blizzard Group collapsed into unconsciousness.
The only one who remained conscious was the leader herself—Fubuki.
However, the statuesque woman was clearly not in a good state.
She had collapsed into a W-sit on the ground, her pale face completely devoid of focus.
Did I break the poor girl?
Lexon tapped Fubuki's head with the back of his sword and asked bluntly, "You still in there? Or did you go stupid?"
Fubuki just stared blankly at him, offering no response to his question.
She really might have gone stupid, Lexon thought.
"What's going on out here?" At that moment, Saitama walked out of the apartment.
Seeing a dazed woman sitting on the ground and a pile of guys in suits knocked out, he looked at Lexon with suspicion. "What did you do, Lexon?"
"Nothing much. Just teaching some rude people a lesson in manners," Lexon said, waving it off as he stored the Nichirin Sword back into his spatial ring.
"Oh." Saitama didn't seem to care much. "Should we toss these guys further away? They're blocking the hallway."
"I'll handle them in a bit," Lexon replied.
"Fine—" Saitama drawled, heading back inside to watch TV and play games.
Now, what to do with this lot...
Lexon pondered as he looked at the group.
"Can you snap out of it? Otherwise, I'm tossing you all at the dump," Lexon said, squatting down to look Fubuki in the eye.
"You... why are you so strong..." After a long silence, Fubuki finally spoke in a hollow voice.
"Luck," Lexon replied casually.
"..." Fubuki was speechless.
She was envious... she envied that overwhelming power.
A faint hope even flickered in her heart.
If only... if only this man would join the Blizzard Group...
"Are you awake now? If you're awake, leave and take your subordinates with you," Lexon issued a direct eviction notice.
"Okay..." Fubuki responded weakly.
Clearly, Lexon's wide-range intimidation skill had a significant impact even on a psychic like her who specialized in mental energy.
She stood up unsteadily and raised her hand, attempting to use her psychokinesis to lift her subordinates and carry them away.
But in her weakened state, she barely lifted them half a meter before her control snapped, and they crashed back to the floor.
Well... I guess I'll let her rest for a moment before she leaves.
Lexon was about to head back into the room with that thought.
But in the next heartbeat, his head snapped toward a specific direction.
Hmm?
Just as he felt a ping of suspicion, a massive beam of energy suddenly roared toward them.
The energy pillar surged forward with a thunderous boom, aiming to engulf Fubuki, Lexon, and the apartment behind them.
The sheer amount of energy contained within it made Fubuki shiver with dread.
She felt the cold breath of death.
With her psychokinesis currently failing her, she couldn't run...
"Where did this guy come from?" Lexon grumbled. He reached out his arm and made a pulling motion with his fingers in mid-air.
Instantly, a zipper-like rift was pulled open in the empty air.
"Expand."
As his calm voice fell, Lexon swung his arm.
The zipper opening surged in size, widening enough to encompass the incoming light pillar within its boundaries.
In the blink of an eye, the energy beam shot straight into the void of the rift and was completely swallowed, vanishing without a trace.
Then, Lexon waved his arm again.
The massive rift zipped shut and smoothed over as if it had never existed.
"This..." Witnessing this, Fubuki could not suppress her sheer astonishment.
Wasn't he supposed to be the Mist Swordsman? What did this terrifying ability have to do with mist or swords?
Fubuki found it impossible to comprehend.
"Let's see what we're dealing with," Lexon said. He curiously activated his Tomoe Tenseigan, directing his gaze toward the source of the attack.
Peering through all obstacles in his path, Lexon's vision locked onto a hilltop dozens of kilometers away.
Standing on that hilltop was a massive, majestic-looking lion and a gorilla covered head-to-toe in high-tech armor... along with several other animal monsters that were clearly minor lackeys.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]