"Huh?" Hearing a voice so close, Smoker was startled. He spun around, only to see the opponent who should have been battered by attacks looking completely unfazed.
He was standing right behind him!
Not just him—the suit-clad youth and Power Woman witnessed the scene as well.
'Did we miss...?'
'Or did it hit but have no effect...?'
'Maybe some tool or ability?'
Several thoughts flashed through the minds of Smoker and his companions, but they didn't dwell on these questions for long.
After all, Smoker and the others were still in the middle of a tense battle.
And so...
"Smoke Tool Manipulation." Smoker leaped backward. In mid-air, he took a deep breath, his cheeks bulging as the cigarette dangling from his lips suddenly burned down by half.
"Whoosh!!"
Thick white smoke erupted from Smoker's mouth along with his heavy exhale.
However, the thick white smoke did not remain in a normal cloud after being exhaled. Instead, it suddenly burst apart, transforming into countless lines of smoke, with the tips of these lines condensing into various weapons.
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds...
Every variety imaginable!
There were so many... at least thousands!
Using smoke as thread, and turning smoke into weapons.
The smoke threads pulled the smoke weapons, and under Smoker's control, they suddenly lunged at Lexon.
From all directions, covering the sky and the earth!
The fierce assault left no blind spots and offered no possibility of escape!
'Why does this look so much like the skill of that certain Golden King who was always calling people mongrels?'
'Gate of Babylon?'
Despite being under the attack of thousands of weapons, Lexon acted like an unconcerned outsider, even having the presence of mind to let his thoughts wander elsewhere.
"Die," Smoker murmured.
The thousands of smoke weapons accelerated, striking at Lexon with even greater force, determined to turn him into a sieve and mince him into meat.
'It's an interesting ability. I'll keep him alive for a bit.'
At the moment the smoke weapons were about to touch his body, Lexon's eyes suddenly transformed into purple orbs with rippling patterns.
[SYSTEM: ALMIGHTY PUSH]
Extreme ocular power transformed into an invisible, terrifying force that erupted outward from Lexon's body as its center.
In an instant, all the incoming smoke weapons were sent flying backward.
"Dangerous! Get back!" Smoker, being the closest, immediately realized the immense power of the opponent's skill and hurriedly called out for his teammates to move away.
While warning his teammates, he also understood that his own speed was insufficient to escape the range of that invisible force in time. Thus, in a flash, he pulled a talisman from his spatial accessory.
With a flick of his fingers, the talisman was instantly torn.
The moment the talisman was shredded, Smoker's body vanished completely.
A few seconds passed, and Lexon stopped the output of his ocular power.
At this moment, no trace of the factory remained in the surrounding area.
It had been completely leveled by the repulsive force of Almighty Push.
As for... that injured Crane Lady, she wasn't dead yet.
Earlier, when the others hadn't noticed, Lexon had given her a quick heal and sent her into the Kamui space.
"Cough..." Dozens of meters away, the suit-clad youth's face was pale as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Several of the smoke weapons that had been sent flying were now lodged in his body.
Although he could turn into lightning, Smoker's smoke ability was specialized, possessing a unique attack property against elementalized opponents that could directly disrupt and cause damage even in that state.
Beside the youth, Power Woman was in good condition, having not been hit by the flying smoke weapons.
"Are you okay...?" Suddenly, a hole opened in the ground next to them, and Smoker stepped out from it.
"Hurry up and release your things," the youth said, glancing at Smoker.
"Fine." The moment Smoker responded, the smoke weapons in the youth's body suddenly dissipated into white smoke.
"That man... is powerful..." Power Woman stared with a deep frown at the figure standing calmly in the distance.
"He's at least much stronger than I am... Just that one skill from earlier could completely suppress my abilities." Smoker's heart was uneasy.
For him, a repulsive invisible force like Almighty Push was a total counter to his physical white smoke.
"Tsk... This is clearly the Blade Demon's business... yet we have to be the ones to clean up the mess..." The youth's tone was clearly annoyed.
"It can't be helped. We might have a chance of survival against a strong opponent, but if we don't listen to that fickle Blade Demon, he might just cut us down in one strike," Smoker said with a hint of helplessness.
"Is he that terrifying? Well then... can you tell me what kind of person this 'Blade Demon' you're talking about is?" Before they knew it, Lexon was standing in front of them, speaking as if he were just having a casual chat.
'This speed... damn it...'
Smoker and Power Woman were startled, their hearts trembling.
The opponent's ghost-like speed, combined with the powerful ability he just used, established that his strength was definitely far above their own.
But the opponent actually didn't know who the Blade Demon was?
Smoker and Power Woman looked at each other, confusion showing in their eyes.
The Blade Demon's name was legendary within the circles of third and fourth-stage Reincarnators...
"Not talking? If you don't talk, I'll forcibly intrude into your minds. Just a friendly tip—you'll turn into a total vegetable," Lexon spoke again.
If possible, he didn't want to do that.
After all, if they became idiots, it might cause problems for his sign-in.
Regardless, the abilities of these three Reincarnators were all quite interesting to him.
Even if he was going to do it, he would have to wait until after the sign-in was complete...
'A memory-probing ability?'
The thought arose in the minds of the Reincarnators as they heard Lexon's words.
"Don't be so arrogant..." It seemed that Lexon's words and attitude were too dismissive. The suit-clad youth couldn't take it anymore. In an instant, lightning flickered around him, and his body transformed into streaks of electricity.
He turned himself entirely into a man of lightning!
"If you want to compare speed... I won't lose!" As a master of lightning, the youth didn't believe he would be inferior to anyone in terms of speed, which was why he hadn't been overly shocked by Lexon's speed earlier.
After all, the speed of lightning... was second to none!
Full power!
A thunderclap roared, and a bolt of lightning shot out like a spear, hurtling toward Lexon.
At the same time, Smoker and Power Woman shared a glance.
The rapport they had built over many missions allowed them to make a decision simultaneously.
If their teammate could distract the opponent with speed, their own abilities would have a chance to come into play.
'Why couldn't you just be cooperative...?'
Lexon thought to himself as he watched the oncoming lightning.
'If you won't listen... then...'
"Truth-Seeking Orb: Curtain."
Even without entering Six Paths Mode, a pitch-black Truth-Seeking Orb appeared at Lexon's side with just a thought.
Without the slightest pause or hesitation.
In the blink of an eye, Lexon touched the Truth-Seeking Orb with his finger and pulled it outward.
The Truth-Seeking Orb stretched like soft clay, instantly forming a wide black curtain that enveloped the incoming lightning before the opponent could even react.
Close.
Immediately, the pitch-black curtain condensed back into a black sphere under Lexon's control, settling into the palm of his hand.
Then...
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Vaguely, a piercing scream could be heard coming from within the sphere.
"..."
Seeing the youth, who had elementalized and boosted his speed to the limit, captured and crushed in an instant like a piglet, Smoker and Power Woman lost their fighting spirit immediately.
The strength of the three was roughly similar.
But since one of them could be crushed so easily...
It meant that any remaining resistance was entirely meaningless.
If he could crush one... crushing two or three would definitely not be an issue.
"So tell me about this 'Blade Demon'," Lexon said with a smile, holding the Truth-Seeking Orb that was still emitting muffled sounds while looking at Smoker and the woman.
Even though they couldn't feel any aura emanating from him, Smoker and Power Woman felt their hearts sink as an inexplicable sense of intimidation washed over them.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]