Chapter 835: A Sandbag-Sized Fist, Everything is Just One Punch
"You're awfully bold, daring to play parlor tricks right in front of me."
The invisible threads, previously slithering through the void like venomous vipers, abruptly froze in mid-air. The very fabric of space around them seemed to solidify into concrete.
He had been discovered.
"Originally, I was going to be generous and give you the right to choose how you wanted to die," Ren said, his voice dropping to a chilling, casual drawl. "But now? I think I'll take that offer back."
Without waiting for a response, Ren casually raised his hand and slowly closed his fingers into a fist.
"Ugh—!!!"
A sickening crunch echoed through the silent void. The Assimilator's metaphorical throat of destiny was seized by an invisible, inescapable grip that completely transcended the laws of space and time. He thrashed wildly, but the vice-like hold only tightened, cutting off his connection to the surrounding reality.
"Let's see what kind of useful information I can squeeze out of your head," Ren muttered, his eyes flashing with an imposing light.
He ruthlessly tore into the entity's mind, directly browsing through his memories. This time, however, Ren played it smart. He deliberately avoided tracing the guy's core power source. He already knew that the Overlord of Transcendence was backing this pawn. Poking the bear and drawing the attention of such a high-tier entity right now would be an act of sheer stupidity. Ren was pragmatic, not suicidal.
Unfortunately, the memory dive proved to be a massive letdown.
Aside from a few vague impressions of his Lord, the rest of the Assimilator's memories were entirely restricted to the mundane details of this specific world.
"Tsk." Ren clicked his tongue, his face reflecting pure disappointment. "I actually thought you were some grand general serving under the Overlord of Transcendence. Turns out, you're nothing but a disposable small fry."
"You—!!!" The Assimilator's ethereal features contorted, his voice grating with absolute fury and humiliation.
"Quiet down. You're completely useless to me now." Ren's expression smoothed out into a mask of total indifference.
Suddenly, the Assimilator looked down. His formless body was actively dissolving, turning into scattered motes of light that faded into the void. The realization hit him like a physical blow—his death was absolute and imminent.
Knowing that struggling was pointless, he ceased his thrashing. Instead, he glared at the man who had effortlessly bested him. "How... how could the Devouring King possibly have such a terrifyingly powerful subordinate under his command?"
He simply couldn't wrap his head around it. The Devouring King was a defeated opponent of his Lord. Why would a loser possess a vanguard capable of casually crushing him?
Ren let out a dry, amused chuckle. "Heh. I never once claimed to be his subordinate."
"Impossible, you clearly said—"
The Assimilator choked on his own words, his dissolving mind suddenly rewinding the encounter. He remembered it now. Ren had only mentioned the Devouring King's name in passing, a casual name-drop, nothing more.
"Looks like your memory finally caught up." Ren's lips curled into a faint, mocking grin. "As for my actual identity... did it ever cross your mind that I might be a King myself?"
The Assimilator's eyes widened to the point of tearing, absolute disbelief and horror flooding his fading consciousness.
Before he could even form a final syllable, his entire existence was erased, dissolving without a single trace left behind.
[Ding! Detected chaotic doomsday factor. The All-Powerful God Assimilator has been eliminated by Ren, the group leader of the Doomsday Chat Group. The doomsday has ended, and Doomsday Companion has concluded!]
[Note: Previous error corrected and unified. The indeterminate doomsday level of Shuvi's world has been changed from 11 stars to 10 stars! And Doomsday Companion has been changed from a four-person journey to a five-person journey, adding Shuvi as a companion!]
[Ding! Ren has gained 50 billion doomsday points, and Luo Hao and Shuvi have each gained 100 million doomsday points!]
Inside the Doomsday Chat Group, the system notifications triggered an immediate wave of activity.
Stella: "It's over already? Wasn't that supposed to be a ten-star doomsday?"
Shiroyasha: "Tsk, tsk. The facts are right there in front of you, aren't they? With him making a move, there was never going to be a problem."
Rory Takakura: "I know, but... it still feels way too fast."
Aqua: "Let me guess! The enemy was actually a total weakling who got KO'd by Ren with a single punch, right?"
Silver Wolf: "You mean to say he just took advantage of a glitch in the system?"
Aqua: "Exactly! That's exactly what I mean!"
Ch'en: "Do you honestly think that's possible? Would the Chat Group really assign a 10-star doomsday rating to a weakling?"
Erza: "I highly doubt it. The system doesn't make those kinds of errors."
Saeko Busujima: "I agree. The Chat Group wouldn't make such a fundamental mistake."
Ren: "The Chat Group definitely didn't make a mistake. But surprisingly, Aqua is actually half-correct."
Ren: "The truth is, the Assimilator himself was incredibly weak. He didn't even possess a true physical form to begin with."
Aqua: "See?! See?! What did I tell you guys!"
March 7th: "Uh... why do I get the sneaking suspicion that Ren is only telling us half the story?"
Tingyun: "Everything has a price, little one. This enemy sounds weak on paper, but there must be something uniquely dangerous about him to warrant that rating."
Nami: "Assimilator... that title reminds me of the Reincarnators. Have we ever run into anything similar during the Doomsday Companion missions before?"
Exusiai: "Let me think! I remember from the past logs, Doomsday Companion has featured Transcenders, Overlords, Reincarnators, Transformers, Destroyers, Devourers, Trialists, and Time-Thieves. I'm pretty sure that's the whole list!"
Esdeath: "Are those the various factions belonging to the candidate kings you mentioned before, Ren?"
Emilia: "Now that you point it out, the naming conventions do match up."
Ren: "Spot on. This Assimilator was a subordinate belonging to one of those candidate kings."
Ren: "However, his true danger came entirely from his unique ability."
Ren: "The Assimilator's power originates from a subordinate of the absolute strongest candidate I currently know of—the Overlord of Transcendence."
Ren: "His ability is incredibly bizarre, perfectly matching his title. It's a power that allows him to assimilate matter and energy in a completely invisible, undetectable way."
Shiroyasha: "Assimilate matter?"
Ren: "To put it simply: if you were standing right in front of him, he could assimilate your very existence without you even noticing. He would turn you into him, thereby allowing his formless, invisible body to steal your life and power."
Shiroyasha: "?"
Shiroyasha: "Wait, let me get this straight. You're saying he's pitifully weak on his own, yet he has the capacity to assimilate powers that are infinitely stronger than his base form?"
Ren: "Exactly."
Stella: "Hiss... that's absolutely disgusting."
Kushina: "Just hearing about it makes my skin crawl."
Kiana: "So, did he manage to get stronger later on? What exactly did he assimilate to reach a 10-star threat level?"
Ren: "An all-powerful power capable of freely creating entire universes."
Shiroyasha: "all-powerful?!"
Ren: "Heh heh. And I don't mean the so-called 'omnipotence'and'omni-authority' you deal with back in Hakoniwa. The divine essence of this specific omnipotence operated on a true multiversal scale."
Shiroyasha: "..."
Silver Wolf: "Are you kidding me? He can assimilate something that broken?"
Ren: "Mm. He successfully became the all-powerful God. The guy even tried to smash me over the head with an entire universe."
Hellish Blizzard: "Hiss! And then?! What happened then?!"
Fubuki was practically vibrating with impatience behind her screen. She was intensely curious about what kind of apocalyptic, grand spectacle such a clash would entail. Smashing someone with a literal universe? That level of sheer destructive scale was far more impressive than anything her monstrous older sister could ever pull off!
Ren: "Then I instantly killed him with one punch."
Hellish Blizzard: "Huh?"
Durandal: "This..."
Misaka Mikoto: "Emmm... that is clearly a ridiculously exaggerated, reality-breaking event! Why do you make it sound as trivial as swatting a mosquito?!"
Ren: "It is what it is. Did you want me to write out a ten-page essay exaggerating the details?"
Ren: [Image]
He uploaded a picture directly to the chat—a simple, close-up shot of his clenched fist.
Misaka Mikoto: "What is this supposed to be?"
Ren: "A sandbag-sized fist. One punch is all it takes."
Misaka Mikoto: "Uh..."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "My, my. It seems Ren isn't joking in the slightest."
Tsunade: "With his track record, does he ever need to joke about his strength?"
Sylvia: "It's not really about whether he's joking or not. It's just that this massive Doomsday Companion crisis feels like it was... so casually resolved."
Emma: "I have to agree. I feel the exact same way."
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