"Bruce! You clown who only knows how to fiddle with gadgets!"
Angron could not help but curse furiously. "What the hell do you think a sacred duel is?!"
If those earlier tools had merely struck him as amusing and still within the bounds of tolerance, then the things Bruce was pulling out now were becoming more and more absurd.
First there had been that sticky glue gun. Then there was the electric shock pistol that left his whole body numb. Then something that could briefly rob him of control over his own body and hand it over to the other side.
Am I dueling you, or your damned collection of toys?
You might as well just pull out a bolter and dump a full magazine into me!
"You never said I couldn't use them."
Bruce continued widening the distance, then let loose with an air cannon shot at just the right moment.
This shameless, control-heavy style of fighting might have been disgraceful, but one had to admit it was effective.
And besides, this was still nothing.
Bruce remembered perfectly well that in the original timeline, when Perturabo had wanted to "persuade" Angron to participate in the Siege of Terra, he had simply brought out a whole mass of Iron Circle automata and blasted Angron without mercy.
Compared to that, Bruce's methods were practically gentle.
After all, Perturabo had genuinely been trying to beat Angron half to death.
"I refuse! Absolutely refuse!"
Angron struggled furiously against the effect of the gadget and roared, "I will never accept a defeat like this!"
"Don't be so hypocritical. In terms of raw stats, I was never going to be your match."
"So of course I have to make up the difference somewhere else. Unless you suppress your strength, the moment I try to trade blows with you head-on, I get one-shot."
"..."
Angron gritted his teeth and glared at Bruce.
He really could not refute that.
Bruce was telling the truth.
Without these external tricks to compensate, the duel would have no meaning at all.
And besides, there were countless forms a duel could take. Before the match began, no one had ever said it had to be decided by straightforward weapon-to-weapon combat.
So Bruce's approach was not actually wrong, even if it did involve a bit too much cleverness.
More importantly, Angron knew perfectly well that Bruce had already crossed blades with him directly before. He simply could not win.
There was no honor in an adult swatting away a child.
And yet this "child" had still managed to slap him in the face a good few times.
Crack. Crack.
Bruce, continuing to retreat, suddenly discovered that his glue gun was out of ammunition. He hastily switched to another gun, only to find that one drained of charge too. The next one was empty of energy as well.
In other words, his gadget reserves were completely spent.
And at this point there were still eight minutes left in the duel.
If he could not survive those eight minutes, Angron would be the victor.
He sighed.
"Fine. If that's the case, then I'll give you a proper fight. Time for phase two."
Bruce tossed aside the gun in his hand and removed the red cape.
In its place he fastened a gray-blue cloak bearing the emblem of the Night Lords Legion. The blades of his lightning claws flared white-hot again, crackling with electricity.
At the same time, his expression became more serious than it had ever been before—serious enough that even Angron, who had just broken free of the glue, felt an instinctive trace of caution.
What the hell?
Why was this Astartes suddenly giving off such an overwhelming sense of pressure?
Which one of us is supposed to be the primarch here?
"I was hoping to save five minutes for later, but it seems I'll have to start early."
Bruce stopped bothering with any suspense and drank a transformation potion.
At almost the exact same instant, Angron tore through the last of the sticky glue and, axe in hand, charged forward like a locomotive. At that distance, at that speed, Bruce should not have been able to evade.
And yet Bruce caught the full-force charge of a primarch with both claws.
His body visibly swelled, growing larger and larger in an instant, until he stood at the same height as Angron.
But it was not only his size that changed.
His skin turned pale, his eyes deepened into black pools of shadow, and his whole presence became steeped in cold gloom.
"Konrad... Curze?!"
Angron could scarcely believe what he was seeing.
The figure before him was almost identical to Curze as he remembered him—in appearance, in aura, in bearing.
But the one who had been standing there just moments ago had been Bruce. So how had he become Curze?
"Come on, Angron. If all this comes down to is primarch-level stats, then now I've got them too."
With Curze's eerie, mocking voice, one that seemed to bleed terror into the air all by itself, Bruce warned him in a low tone.
"Now we can really fight."
Bruce had used transformation potions to become a primarch many times before. By now, he could fully wield all of his father's abilities, from those absurdly powerful prophetic instincts to those impossible footwork patterns.
It was just a pity that the number of transformation potions he had left was limited. Otherwise, Bruce would have gladly chugged them from the start of the duel to the very end and gone all-in against Angron.
"You think turning into my brother means you can defeat me? Dream on!"
Angron withdrew his axe and hacked again.
This time, Bruce finally managed to keep up with both the movement and the images shown in his foresight. He slipped behind Angron, drove both claws into his flesh, then hoisted him high and slammed him down.
After that came a rapid series of strikes to the back, sending scalding blood spraying everywhere.
But thanks to a primarch's monstrous regenerative powers, even such vicious attacks failed to inflict any truly meaningful damage. Angron, enduring the agony of having half his upper body nearly torn apart, still managed to grab his axe and whip around with a savage counterblow, smashing Bruce backward.
Yet Bruce, now in possession of a primarch-level body of his own, barely seemed affected. If anything, he only grew more exhilarated. He turned into a streak of blue shadow and rushed back in.
The two collided, separated, then collided again.
At this stage there was hardly any technique left between them. Both were simply trading on brute physical might and weapon skill, hacking at one another until one side finally dropped.
At most, Bruce added the occasional dirty trick—ambushing from an odd angle, landing a vicious cheap shot here and there—but Angron no longer cared about any of that. He took the hits, endured the pain, and waited for the next opening to return something even worse.
Very quickly, the battle reached the two-minute mark.
As the potion's effect began to wear off, Bruce weakened noticeably, and he had no choice but to change tactics.
"I knew it! Borrowing my brother's strength has a time limit!"
Covered in blood, Angron grinned like a beast.
"I won't deny it, but..."
Bruce snatched another transformation potion from his belt and drank it while still locked in close combat. As the effect surged through him again, he once more gained Curze's full strength.
Bruce had long since understood the limitations of these potions. The more power he used, the shorter the duration became.
Still, there was one advantage: the closer he was to the person he transformed into, the longer the effect tended to last.
That was why he had chosen Curze as his main template, rather than Lion or Horus. In terms of compatibility, his own gene-father was obviously the best fit.
As for the Emperor...
Until the outcome was truly decided, Bruce did not want to reveal that final trump card yet.
What if the Emperor-form only lasted one minute under this kind of combat intensity?
That would be a disaster.
There were not many transformation potions left. Bruce absolutely could not accept wasting one of them for a mere minute of glory and then losing everything because of it.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Angron howled in rage and frustration.
Bruce's current style no longer used those bizarre gadgets, yet Angron still felt thoroughly disgusted.
A clown who could only rely on outside power—how the hell was he suppressing me?!
And yet, deep down, Angron had to admit something.
If he himself had not been a primarch, then he might truly have lost to Bruce.
The fact that Bruce, once granted the strength to stand on equal footing, could press him this hard was enough to prove it.
His judgment and combat skill were above Angron's.
But he was only an Astartes.
So why?!
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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