53. OVERWHELMING WITH FINESSE

The woman skipped her steps as she reached Zachery's side in an instant and whispered close to his ear. "Why don't I look after your wife, dear?"

Her grin widened even more as she saw the young emperor's face stiffen and Nessa's bloodlust reach her.

"Don't be concerned, I'll make-"

*WHIP*

*SMASH*

*CRACK*

The entire battlefield came to a halt for a split second as not even the wind dared to make a sound.

Zachery's hand was a blur as it whirled around like a whip... The female fighter was standing upright one second, but the next, her half-body was stuck inside the ground, her legs twitching at times and eventually lost her life.

"Who's next?" The attack was so quick and powerful that even the four Rank 2s were left gaping.

But as Zachery reminded them that they were still inside the fight, their hearts raced. When they realized they were in a life-or-death battle, their hearts plummeted.

But Zachery had heard their plea and had delivered them from mortal bonds and worries.

Zachery moved, slightly crouching, like a predator about to pounce on his victim.

His leg stiffened as he leaped towards the soldiers like a spring. He caught two Rank 2s in his hand like a chicken about to be slaughtered.

As he gripped his hand, he bathed it in aura, blasting the heads into oblivion like a watermelon. His hand was coated with blood and brain matter as he smiled at the other two Mutant Warriors.

Zachery's two hands were still wrapped in aura, but this time it was different. Zachery's aura-covered hands used to be like a lion's paw poised to break your bones with its sheer strength and speed. It was how he crushed the skulls of the previous two.

But now, it appeared like Zachery's hand was like a sword, with the golden aura ending at Zachery's hand and its tip resembling the point of a sword. The golden aura became sharper with Zachery's hand shaped like a karate chop.

Zachery moved effortlessly as he dodged assaults from the last two Mutant Warriors. Even though the lion spirit's and Leon's blood was boiling after their first ever intense combat.

Zachery was growing increasingly bored.

That was no surprise since when Zachery fought, he was always on his toes, expecting his opponent to take a 1,000-foot hammer and bash him with it. Because there was a real risk of it happening in the Axis.

But Zachery enjoyed being bored during a battle. It meant that he could afford to be bored, which meant that his opponent would only behave predictably because Mutant powers were confined to augmenting strength and a single skill of their own spirits.

Zachery ducked the impending sword blow as he closed the gap. An arrow was attempting to embed itself in his eye as he was going to slash with his fist. Zachery glanced at the arrow, and the arrow was chopped into bits the next thing it knew.

During the break, the sword user, a female, flew back like a butterfly. But, by the time the butterfly returned, it was too late.

Zachery ignored the sword user in favor of focusing on the male arrow user, who was more of a nuisance than anything else in this combat.

His speed was too fast for the butterfly woman to catch up. The arrow user's life ended with a detached sword aura.

Zachery spun around in an instant to end the life of the final combatant.

But when Zachery peered behind him, he noticed the butterfly woman fleeing. He caught up with her within seconds as he grasped the backside of her head and slammed it into the floor.

Zachery straightened up from his hunched position and looked about at everyone who was staring at him as if he didn't belong in this world.

'Well, they're right.' As Zachery gazed at the old general, he saw his sword attempting to slash his neck.

Zachery clenched his fist and surrounded it with a golden glow. His eyes became cold as he stared at the blue surging aura that acted like a tsunami threatening to engulf him.

Zachery had foreseen that the final battle would be between him and this general. He planned all of this trial and so on so that when their envoy arrived, he would have the upper hand in the discussions.

He struck out at the sword while covering his fist with his refined fist intent.

*CLANG*

A metallic clang boomed over the background as if two swords had collided and been deflected. Zachery had anticipated this when he devoured the sword spirit.

Zachery actually didn't have any talent for any kind of weapons, but he was always at ease with his fists. As a result, he devised a number of techniques for making one's fist as powerful as a sword or a spear.

One of them was in the process of reawakening a weapon spirit.

When he devoured one, he gained the ability to imbue a sharp sword aura in anything he desired. So, his fist intent was not just his pure will, but it also contained the will of the sword!

This made Zachery even more dangerous. Zachery utilized this because he was getting serious. He was now a superior <<F >> rank. And this general was likewise of superior <<F >> rank.

So they were equal in rank, but that was it. The same rank did not necessarily imply the same status. It also mattered how you applied it. Zachery curled his fist and moved forward like a cheetah, his upper body tightened and pulled back as a whole, only shooting forward with an overhand that seemed to be a death sentence.

His strong muscles coiled as his fist, aura, and intent collided with the general's body, crashing the old man to the ground.

But Zachery looked a little disappointed because as his fist contacted the general's body, he was certain that the general had blocked it with his sword, which was coated with his blue aura.

Zachery's eyes widened as he glanced at the general, who was gritting his teeth and receiving the brunt of the huge velocity that crashed into him. The blue aura grew stronger as the old guy tried to push Zachery to the side, which worked.

Zachery even levitated as he was thrown whirling with a tiny momentum by the old man's sword. Zachery smirked as he enveloped his body in aura and increased his spinning momentum in the fraction of a second it took him to levitate.

The torque increased two-fold as Zachery spun like a beyblade mid-air. His aura was ensuring that his torque remained at the desired level as Zachery spun. 

Too much would be detrimental, and too little would be ineffective. It was at this time that he showed that he had the finesse of a veteran. 

As Zachery's hand snapped back like an arrow, his body gained enough momentum. His muscles strained as they bulged slightly, and then...

*BOOM*

He punched the general in the same spot that he had punched earlier, and this time it was a solid hit. The general vomited blood as he seemed to sink deeper into the ground due to the momentum that hit him.

The general passed out as he sprawled in the rubble, while Zachery rose up and stared up at the sky and...

*RRROOOOAAAAARRRRR*

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