"What? You want Lu Li's corpse? Don't push your luck. The cloning technology you provided hasn't even been fully verified yet!"
"The corpses of the other fighters in the arena are fine, but what exactly do you need them for? That has absolutely nothing to do with your research, does it?"
After exchanging a few more tense sentences, Xia Yan hung up the phone, his face sinking into a dark scowl.
"Well?" Edward Wu asked.
"That sneaky, repulsive freak wants Lu Li's corpse. He claims that as soon as he gets his hands on it, he will begin the physical division process for the Connector," Xia Yan replied, frowning deeply.
He didn't trust that anomalous researcher—code-named 'The Aberration'—in the slightest, but the man had undeniably demonstrated miraculous capabilities. Now that the Tiger's Vessel had been destroyed, if the Connector didn't want to wait several more decades to cultivate a new vessel, they had no choice but to entertain the freak's proposal.
In Xia Yan's eyes, if the Connector grew displeased, the entire world would be at risk of annihilation.
Amidst a deafening, tidal wave of cheers, Lu Li stepped out of the fighter's tunnel and locked eyes with the man standing in the center of the ring—a man whose physical prime seemed entirely untouched by his age.
Today was the final day of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. The semi-finals had just concluded. This was the grand finale.
In the semi-finals, without any suspense, Lu Li had utterly crushed Raian Kure. On the other side of the bracket, the Devil Lance, Kuroki Gensai, had systematically dismantled the Wild Tiger, Takeshi Wakatsuki.
The absolute strength Kuroki Gensai had displayed throughout this tournament was visibly, terrifyingly higher than his canonical counterpart. Under the ambient influence of the Origin Seed, his martial evolution had accelerated. During his match against the superhuman Takeshi Wakatsuki, Kuroki hadn't sustained a single scratch.
To the audience, Kuroki's match felt exactly like Lu Li's match against Raian: absolute, suffocating dominance.
Wakatsuki possessed a mutant, superhuman constitution. Even with Kuroki's accelerated evolution, the Karate Master's raw physical output couldn't match Wakatsuki's. But Kuroki never once attempted to match him in raw strength. He utilized absolute, transcendent technique to completely neutralize and dismantle Wakatsuki's brute force, leaving the Wild Tiger utterly helpless.
After the match, even Wakatsuki had to admit with profound awe that the middle-aged Grandmaster was terrifyingly strong.
Currently, the myriad of elite fighters Kuroki had defeated were all shouting from the stands, passionately cheering for the Devil Lance. Due to inherent bias, the fighters instinctively viewed the Fang of Metsudo as the "Final Boss" of the Kengan Association. And Lu Li had certainly lived up to that apocalyptic reputation.
The devastating power Lu Li had displayed in his previous match against Fei Wangfang had left the entire roster of gladiators trembling in fear. It was an absolute, flawless synthesis of raw Power and supreme Martial Arts. They literally couldn't spot a single weakness in Lu Li's armor.
"I've been looking forward to this, Senior Kuroki," Lu Li said, staring deeply into Kuroki's eyes.
In this singular moment, Sayaka Katahara's booming commentary, the deafening roar of the crowd, and the passionate shouts of the other fighters completely faded from Lu Li's perception. The only thing that existed in his world was the opponent standing before him.
Kuroki Gensai slowly dropped into his signature Sanchin stance. "You are strong. Stronger than I am..."
Kuroki's blunt admission sent massive shockwaves through the audience and the VIP suites. No one expected the seemingly invincible Grandmaster to openly concede that Lu Li was superior before the fight even started.
What does this mean?! Is Kuroki forfeiting?!
Just as absolute confusion gripped the stadium, Kuroki continued, "...But in this world, there is no absolute strength or weakness. The victor in a clash of martial artists is ultimately decided by the final result."
Hearing this, the corners of Lu Li's mouth curled up uncontrollably, eventually pulling back into a feral, blindingly white grin. "Then please... allow me to witness the terrifying majesty of the Devil Lance."
The absolute microsecond the words left Lu Li's lips, both men moved simultaneously. Two blurred silhouettes violently crashed into the center of the ring.
But just as the spectators braced themselves for the deafening, bone-shattering sound of an apocalyptic collision, the referee standing nearby let out a gasp of utter bewilderment.
"What in the world is happening?! Both fighters are launching rapid-fire strikes, but absolutely nothing is connecting!" Sayaka Katahara screamed into her microphone in absolute shock.
Inside the ring, Lu Li and Kuroki Gensai were unleashing a torrential hurricane of lethal strikes, yet they were both seamlessly, effortlessly evading every single punch and kick thrown by the other.
"Terrifying... They are both absolute Grandmasters of [Pre-Initiative]. They are simultaneously reading the inception of the other's intent and evading before the strike is even physically launched. That is why every single attack is hitting empty air."
Up in the VIP suite, Agito Kanoh stared at the two blurs with intense, unblinking focus. Although he was loath to admit it, he finally realized a brutal truth: if Chairman Metsudo hadn't replaced him with Lu Li, the Kengan Association would have genuinely lost its Emperor today.
"Damn it! So that bastard was completely holding back when he fought me?!" Raian Kure roared furiously, his face twisted in deep annoyance. Every single time Raian thought he had finally managed to close the gap, he discovered Lu Li was standing on an even higher, more unreachable peak.
The man was a bottomless abyss of martial arts.
"Go, Lu Li! You can do it!" Karla Kure cheered enthusiastically from the stands.
Hearing her, Erioh Kure scowled deeply. He tore his gaze away from the match and silently turned to leave the VIP suite.
Before the finals commenced, Lu Li had discreetly warned him that the Worm was about to make their move. Even without Lu Li's warning, Metsudo's private Bodyguard force had already detected highly suspicious anomalies around the perimeter. Erioh's own peerless assassin intuition told him that several highly detestable individuals had just infiltrated the island.
"Edward Wu. It's time to settle our blood debt," Erioh muttered, his expression terrifyingly dark.
He didn't call out to Karla as he left the suite, but the elite assassins of the Kure Clan—including Raian—silently peeled away from the crowd and followed their Patriarch into the shadows.
The hunting hour had arrived.
BOOM—!
A deafening explosion of kinetic force rocked the arena. The phantom evasion game had finally ended; the two Grandmasters had genuinely collided.
Lu Li remained rooted in place, his extended fist coated in a dense, dark metallic luster. Kuroki Gensai, however, had been violently blasted across the ring, crashing heavily into the arena boundary wall and leaving a massive crater in the concrete.
Lu Li slowly retracted his fist, feeling a sharp, throbbing ache in his knuckles. He had finally found an opening and clashed his fist directly against Kuroki's Devil Lance. Even with the absolute defense of [Armament Haki], his hand had nearly been crippled.
"It's far harder than the Niko Style's Indestructible... This doesn't seem to be a technique that manipulates muscle and bone density. Have you tapped into something... profound?"
Kuroki stepped out of the billowing dust. The fingers on his right hand—his literal Devil Lance—were visibly swollen, having been violently fractured in the clash. He had casually, instantly snapped the broken bones back into place.
Completely unfazed by the agonizing pain of shattered fingers, Kuroki's eyes burned with a blinding, fanatical light as he stared at Lu Li. "...The ultimate zenith of Martial Arts!"
Lu Li bared his teeth in a savage grin. "To borrow your own words, Senior: In the realm of martial arts, there is no pinnacle. How can there be an ultimate zenith?"
As their invisible, suffocating auras violently clashed again, Lu Li prepared to launch a full-scale offensive.
But suddenly, a catastrophic explosion violently shook the entire stadium, instantly interrupting their duel.
BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!
A rapid-fire series of massive detonations echoed through the facility. Concrete dust rained down from the vaulted ceiling. The blinding stadium spotlights violently flickered and died as a total blackout consumed the arena.
Panic instantly erupted. The audience devolved into a screaming, chaotic mob, while the proxy fighters in the stands looked around in sheer shock.
Up in the premier VIP suite, Metsudo Katahara's expression turned terrifyingly dark. He had fully anticipated that Katsumasa Hayami of Toyo Electric wouldn't quietly accept his defeat and would likely stage a violent coup. He also knew the Worm had set their sights on the island.
But he never imagined they possessed the operational capacity to bypass his elite Bodyguard perimeter and plant high-yield explosives directly inside the core infrastructure of the stadium!
The Worm's mobilized forces were vastly superior to his initial estimates. Hayami was nothing more than a pathetic, disposable clown. The real crisis was the audience. Because of the sheer economic magnitude of this tournament, countless global political dignitaries, royalty, and mega-corporate CEOs were present in the stadium. The audience was filled with individuals of "incalculable global worth."
If the security perimeter fully collapsed and those VIPs were slaughtered, it would plunge the entire global geopolitical landscape into absolute chaos!
Down in the dark, dusty arena, Lu Li sighed. "It seems playtime is over..." His tone carried a mix of genuine disappointment and dark anticipation. He had genuinely wanted to cross fists with Kuroki for a little while longer.
"Hahahaha! That's right, brat! The friendly little martial arts spar is officially over. From now on, I will be the one playing with you..."
From the dark, dusty fighter's tunnel directly behind Lu Li, a towering silhouette emerged.
The man held a massive, heavy broadsword in each hand, his face twisted into a sadistic, psychotic grin.
Kuroki frowned deeply as he recognized the man emerging from the smoke. "Purgatory's Lu Tian..."
Lu Tian's skin had shifted into a necrotic, deep purple-black. Bulging, serpentine veins crawled across his entire body. He had already fully activated the Removal.
"...In a game of absolute slaughter," Lu Tian finished, his voice dripping with bloodlust.
With an explosive burst of speed, Lu Tian launched himself forward. Empowered by Removal, his dual broadswords cleaved through the air, aimed directly at Lu Li's neck.
"Watch out!" Kuroki shouted, preparing to intercept.
But what the Devil Lance witnessed next completely defied his comprehension.
Lu Li's footwork suddenly became impossibly ethereal, like drifting mist. He flawlessly slipped through the microscopic gap between the two descending broadswords. As he phased past Lu Tian, a single, blindingly cold flash of steel tore through the dusty air, painting a perfect, crimson crescent moon in the dark.
Lu Tian's decapitated head spun violently through the air. As it hit the sand, his eyes were still wide with sadistic, uncomprehending excitement.
Lu Li slowly lowered his pitch-black blade, casually flicking the blood from the steel (chiburi). He looked past the falling corpse toward the other Worm operatives slowly emerging from the dark tunnel, a terrifying, ecstatic smile spreading across his face.
"Just as you said. The killing game... has begun."
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