Not Some Mere Drone

The unexpected strike failed to achieve its goal.

Having to pierce through the suddenly manifested protective energy slowed it down, resulting in only a slight wound on the cheek rather than crushing the face as intended.

But even that was enough to strike Bruce’s nerves.

As Bruce’s eyebrows twisted in anger, the ten swords floating nearby each unleashed their own sword techniques, shooting toward vital points across the entire body.

However, none of them managed to touch Yuseong.

“Is that all you’ve got!”

In Yuseong’s mind, enhanced by near-precognitive prediction, the paths the ten swords would take were crystal clear.

Trapped within the sword formation created by the ten blades, Yuseong blocked, deflected, and dodged countless sword shadows.

“…Unbelievable.”

Bruce clicked his tongue.

The sword techniques he was currently displaying were all sublime martial arts worthy of being called peerless sword skills.

Moreover, since spirit swords weren’t held by hand, they could move unrestrained by physical limitations, making them far more complex and difficult to deal with.

Yet he was dodging them so easily.

‘He really is an apostle of the Outer God.’

When he had seen the future through Universal Vision, it was impossible to believe, but facing him directly changed his mind.

He knew Yuseong was strong, but he hadn’t expected this level.

This wasn’t a realm that someone who had been a user for just over a year could reach, regardless of talent.

‘I must kill him.’

Something indescribably ominous that appeared through dimensional rifts.

Recalling what it had done on Earth, Bruce gritted his teeth.

A world where normal becomes abnormal and abnormal becomes normal, where the living envy the dead, and where everything descends into chaos making monster-caused extinction seem trivial by comparison.

Even seeing it briefly had made him retch for quite a while – it was that horrific.

To avoid that future, he could do worse things than joining hands with Changwei.

Woong!

Judging that ten swords weren’t enough to subdue Yuseong, Bruce called back the two swords that had been blown away in the explosion.

‘Now!’

Yuseong didn’t miss that momentary gap created by the dissonance as the sword formation was newly arranged.

Gravity Shoes had a gravity control time limit of 10 seconds.

Even using it in segments, staying airborne for long was difficult.

So Yuseong used the spirit swords as handles and foothold.

“Hmm.”

Though startled by the unconventional movement of grabbing energy-imbued swords barehanded and using them as springboards to throw punches, Bruce calmly moved his hand to block Yuseong’s attack.

Or rather, tried to block it.

Crunch!

“Kuhk!”

With the sound of bones shattering, Bruce’s right arm lost strength and drooped downward.

Bruce knew about Yuseong’s strength and had made all sorts of preparations.

But a punch thrown with strength exceeding 5,000 points after adding item options easily crushed through a body enhanced with power techniques, external martial arts, and internal energy, completely pulverizing Bruce’s arm.

“…!”

Yuseong wasn’t unscathed either.

At the moment their fists clashed, the dark energy and Infiltration Path that traveled through caused internal injuries.

It was powerful enough to instantly kill most experts, but unfortunately, he faced the wrong opponent.

The attack, greatly weakened after passing through Tyrant’s arms, could only cause minor internal injuries, and even those were perfectly healed within a few breaths thanks to the nanomachines’ effects.

Babababang!

Realizing Yuseong’s strength far exceeded his predictions, Bruce used his uninjured left hand to deflect and redirect attacks.

Dozens of exchanges occurred in the blink of an eye as red energy and colorless energy violently clashed.

Yuseong dodged a kick coming from a bizarre angle but had to release Gravity Shoes’ ability and drop down when he sensed swords shooting from behind.

“Think you can escape!”

As Bruce waved his hand, hundreds and thousands of palm shadows surged forward like a tidal wave.

After tightly compressing Cloud Mist around his entire body and forcefully breaking through, a sword wreathed in black energy appeared right before him.

He hurriedly deployed Iron Plate Bridge to dodge, but eleven swords came flying after, and above, Bruce descended with a face twisted like a malevolent spirit.

Yuseong kicked off the ground while lying down to send himself backward while simultaneously scattering clones in all directions using Nine Phases Manifestation.

‘He really is strong.’

Seeing Bruce instantly pierce through his clones with spirit swords and track his position, Yuseong frowned.

He tried firing arrows with Elemental Bow but couldn’t even scratch the protective energy.

The title MartialGod wasn’t earned through gambling.

Even after disabling one arm with an unexpected strike, he couldn’t gain the upper hand in exchanges.

If he hadn’t made great progress in martial arts through Hae Cheongyeong’s teachings, his head would have been severed or heart pierced within ten seconds.

‘Should I go all out?’

Blessing’s Absolute Protection.

Energy exceeding 10,000 points.

Dragon’s Claw’s Dimensional Slash.

Without using every skill and item he had, there was absolutely no solution.

The problem was that going that far would turn this from a battle of suppression into a battle of slaughter.

‘Even going all out, I’m not sure I could win…’

Like himself, Bruce was likely hiding his true abilities as well.

Showing your hand first being disadvantageous is an eternal truth that applies everywhere.

He couldn’t move carelessly.

Yuseong held out as long as possible using near-precognitive prediction, Nine Phases Manifestation, Cloud Mist, and other abilities.

Bang!

“W-what’s that? A portal? Monster attack?”

“Ability users are fighting! Wait! Aren’t those MartialGod Bruce and Shooting Star Han Yuseong?”

“Are you still drunk? Why would those two be fighting?”

“Look! Over there!”

“…Huh?”

This wasn’t Kang Changseok’s Shadow World – there was no way people wouldn’t notice such a flashy battle in broad daylight in the middle of Seoul.

Seeing the growing crowd and Bruce’s troubled expression, Yuseong thought the fight might end here.

It seemed unlikely the fight would continue with so many people watching.

However, Yuseong had underestimated the current situation.

Woooong!

Energy gathering in the sword battle.

It was clearly a force sphere, called the crystallization of energy techniques.

That wasn’t all.

The sheer amount of energy gathering in the dark force in Bruce’s left hand was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

“Are you insane?”

With that much internal energy and force quality, at minimum a third of Seoul would be obliterated.

Considering Seoul’s population density, it would be an unprecedented catastrophe.

“No, I’m perfectly sane.”

“Someone sane wouldn’t unleash something like that in the middle of Seoul.”

“I’m doing this because I’m sane.”

Bruce stared directly at Yuseong as he spoke.

Though his voice was level, Yuseong could read the fear in his eyes.

“I saw the future you’ll bring. A future that hasn’t happened yet but will definitely come – a hellish otherworldly realm where even calling it hell feels tepid. I’ll do anything to prevent that future.”

“Even if tens or hundreds of thousands die?”

“Even if thousands or billions die, it’s the same. Rather than face a future where people can’t even die and suffer as something not even human anymore, perhaps it would be better to kill all of humanity beforehand.”

“…You’re completely mad.”

“I’ll say it again. I am sane.”

The future he had seen ended with an Outer God appearing through dimensional rifts.

At this point, Yuseong was curious what exactly happened afterward to drive Bruce this insane.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to use Universal Vision to see the future himself.

Though he thought he could overcome the Outer God’s thoughts now, if something went wrong and he saw the Outer God’s form one more time, this time he truly wouldn’t be able to endure and would be consumed by madness.

‘First, change locations!’

No matter how lacking in empathy or able to sacrifice others he might be, this was on a different level entirely.

If there was even a slight benefit it would be one thing.

But letting hundreds of thousands die for absolutely no gain made him nothing more or less than a madman.

Yuseong enveloped his entire body in a gravity field using Gravity Shoes, then kicked off the ground with all his might to leap upward.

Kwaaaa!

The ground rapidly falls away with a terrifying speed that tears through the atmosphere.

The moment he entered the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere, a brilliant light flashed from below.

Yuseong immediately changed the gravity field’s direction and kicked off a gravity platform to throw himself sideways.

“What kind of martial art is this!”

Though it wasn’t the time for it, he couldn’t help but exclaim.

A dark beam hundreds of meters in diameter.

This wasn’t martial arts but magic.

No, even magic probably couldn’t do something like this.

He understood how the extras in martial arts novels felt when they shouted about black magic.

But whether martial arts, magic, or black magic, Bruce’s attacks weren’t over yet.

Seeing twelve swords and thousands of force spheres flying as follow-up attacks, Yuseong operated Infinite Origin Force at full power to convert it to magic power and spirit power, then swung his fist to fire force bullets.

Bam!

Force fragments scatter through the void as force bullets and spheres collide.

In that moment when countless force spheres were intercepted and Eye of Truth was blurred by irregular waves created by massive energy, a cold voice came from behind.

“Farewell.”

Thud!

He couldn’t understand what had happened.

All he knew was that with a heavy sound his chest was pierced and an unknown impact swept through his entire body.

He couldn’t move a finger or toe, not even an eyebrow, and his internal energy boiled like lava trying to break free of control.

‘At this rate I’ll die.’

Even in time slowed by Asura Perception Way, seeing Bruce’s fist rapidly approaching his face, Yuseong sensed death.

His body wouldn’t move.

The only thing he could move now was internal energy.

Barely grasping the out-of-control internal energy using Infinite Origin Force, Eye of Truth, and wisdom stats that transcended limits, Yuseong immediately deployed the Thorny Vine skill.

Swish!

“…Not bad.”

In that critical moment, Yuseong wrapped his entire body in Thorny Vine then moved his body like controlling a puppet to dodge the attack.

Though Bruce had no intention of letting Yuseong live, he couldn’t help but admire the will that refused to give up until the end.

‘But this is the end.’

It merely delayed death by a few seconds.

Bruce aimed his fist at the abdomen to ensure there would be no escape this time.

However, Bruce didn’t know.

The fact that those few seconds were exactly what Yuseong had been aiming for.

Swoosh!

“What?!”

The swords flying around suddenly shot toward Bruce’s head at tremendous speed.

A shocked Bruce hurriedly twisted his fist to deflect the sword, but the attacks didn’t end there.

Seeing the wave of swords flying toward him, Bruce finally realized what had happened.

‘The control was stolen?’

“…How is this even possible?!”

Not some mere drone – how could the control of spirit swords connected through spiritual links be stolen?