They smelled a terrifying aura emanating from that man.
Suspended high in the blood-red sky, the four God Hand demon kings who looked down upon all living things showed the emotion of surprise on their eternal, unchanging faces for the very first time.
They could not understand it.
They could not comprehend where the power suddenly erupting from the insignificant human below originated.
It was not any kind of magic from this world.
Nor was it the dark power they had bestowed.
It was a purer, more frenzied, and utterly unreasonable tyrannical force.
After a brief silence came an even more maddening wave.
Driven by the cold will of the demon kings, more and stronger Apostles surged toward Guts from all directions, carrying the fury of being provoked.
They intended to use their most primal fangs, claws, and brute strength to completely crush this daring anomaly into dust.
However, just a moment before this destructive wave could drown Guts.
A few cunning Apostles bypassed the frontal battlefield where Guts stood.
Their targets were the survivors of the Band of the Hawk in the rear, who had almost entirely lost their ability to resist.
Especially Casca.
"Casca! Stand behind me!"
A loyal, scar-faced veteran who had fought alongside the Band of the Hawk for years let out a hoarse roar.
Mustering the last of his courage, he raised his broken sword and stood in front of an Apostle that resembled a giant lizard.
The Apostle sent the sword flying with a single swipe of its claw, then lowered its head and opened its gaping maw, which was lined with row upon row of razor-sharp teeth.
Crunch!
A crisp, teeth-aching sound of shattering bones rang out.
The veteran's battle-hardened body, along with his battered armor, was bitten clean in half by the giant beast.
Blood and chunks of internal organs spewed from the corners of the beast's mouth.
Then, as if disgusted, the Apostle spat him out.
After his upper half hit the ground, his eyes remained fixed in Casca's direction, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
"Run... run away..."
Guts saw this scene with absolute clarity.
Boom! Guts's rationality completely snapped.
Something deeper and more scorching violently detonated from the very depths of his soul.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"
Guts threw his head back and roared at the sky.
The agony and fury contained within that voice caused visible ripples in the surrounding air.
The endless negative emotions transformed into fuel for his power in this moment.
He wanted to protect her.
He wanted to protect his comrades.
This compassionate mercy and desire to protect, along with the murderous rage to destroy everything in sight, frantically intertwined, collided, and fused within his heart.
Ultimately, forging an even more indestructible and mighty power.
'Not enough!'
'It's still not enough!'
'A mere 100,000 Horsepower is nowhere near enough!'
'I need more power!'
'I need the power to protect everything and destroy all enemies!'
Crackle!
An even more frenzied magnetic field power flashed wildly across his body.
Under his will, the magnetic field of the entire space underwent an even more violent distortion and rotation!
150,000 Horsepower!
180,000 Horsepower!
200,000 Horsepower!
The barrier of that power was forcefully shattered by his raging will.
"Magnetic Field Rotation 200,000 Horsepower—Killer Whale Overlord Punch!"
Accompanied by a low, angry roar, Guts's figure instantly vanished from his spot.
A split second later, he appeared directly in the center of the group of Apostles surrounding Casca.
Time seemed to have been put on slow motion at this moment.
He could see the hideous smiles on those monsters' faces.
He could see Casca's pupils, hollowed out from extreme terror.
Then.
He threw his punch.
In the next instant, an invisible, absolute, and pure force formed an ever-expanding plane of impact centered on his fist.
Boom!
The massive Apostles surrounding Casca instantly froze.
The next second.
Their entire bodies, from the inside out, were shattered by that irresistible force.
A thick, warm mist of blood mixed with minced meat violently exploded.
A rain of blood drenched Casca from head to toe.
Guts slowly walked up to her.
He reached out his bloodstained hand and gently picked up Casca's trembling body, her eyes so vacant it seemed as though her soul had been drained away.
He felt the faint breathing and heartbeat in his arms.
The agony and fury in his heart made him more lucid than ever before.
Only power.
Only stronger, absolute power could protect everything he wanted to protect.
Seeing this, the four demon kings in the distance showed no signs of anger whatsoever.
Instead, they revealed expressions of great interest.
It was as if, while watching a boring play, they had suddenly discovered an unexpectedly amusing character.
A bug had actually acquired the power to threaten their chess pieces.
This game seemed to have become much more interesting.
"Not a bad power."
A cold voice with a slimy texture sounded behind Guts without any warning.
"But now, it is time to end this."
Guts spun around abruptly.
He saw a high-ranking Apostle resembling an octopus, possessing countless thick tentacles, that had silently appeared less than five meters behind him at some unknown point.
This Octopus Apostle was precisely the chess piece the demon kings had specifically chosen to test Guts, this amusing bug.
It possessed a terrifying strength far exceeding that of the previous grunts.
More importantly, it possessed an incredibly powerful, near-immortal regenerative ability.
Guts carefully handed the unconscious Casca over to a few nearby comrades.
"Take her away," he said in a low, unquestionable tone.
Then, he turned around and faced the giant Octopus Apostle alone.
The 200,000 Horsepower of Magnetic Field Rotation was pushed to its absolute limit without any reservation.
Boom!
He threw another punch.
This punch landed solidly on the Octopus Apostle's massive, soft body.
The terrifying force instantly erupted, blasting half of its body into flying flesh and blood.
Countless foul-smelling, dark green liquids and chunks of meat splattered everywhere.
However.
The Octopus Apostle did not let out a single scream.
Under Guts's cold gaze, its shattered half frantically writhed and multiplied at a visible rate.
Severed tentacles regrew.
Torn wounds rapidly healed.
In just a few breaths, it was fully restored, as if that strike had merely been a scratch.
And just as Guts was firmly pinned down by this troublesome monster.
The demon kings dispatched a second, more elite batch of Apostles.
They bypassed this small battlefield and charged toward the last few remnants of the Band of the Hawk.
"Ahhh!"
"Help!"
"No!"
Heart-wrenching screams rang out one after another.
Those comrades who had been alive just moments ago were brutally slaughtered and devoured one by one.
Their screams pierced Guts's heart like a sharp knife.
Casca, who had been in a daze, seemed to be awakened by these sounds.
She slowly opened her eyes, only to see a hellish portrait of her companions being massacred.
She saw the betrayal of Griffith, who had transformed into a demon king.
And she saw the violent power radiating from Guts, which made her feel incredibly terrified and unfamiliar.
Finally, her mind broke once again.
Tears silently slid from her hollowed eyes.
Her world completely lost all its color.
"No!"
Guts was burning with anxiety.
He wanted to go save them, but he was tightly entangled by the Octopus Apostle's endless tentacles.
No matter how many times he blasted those tentacles to pieces, they would regrow the very next second.
He frantically pushed the power within his body, attempting to break through once more.
But he found that his power seemed to have reached a bottleneck.
No matter how angry he got or how loud he roared, that power could not increase by even a single fraction.
He felt as though an invisible, indestructible wall stood before him, firmly blocking his path forward.
'Why!'
'My fury!'
'My agony!'
'My regret!'
'Are they still not enough?!'