The Devourer stood atop a building, watching the sea of fire blazing below and listening to the crowd’s screams. The world was truly wonderful.
"Luke, just how much stronger can you make me?"
He extended his long tongue and licked his cheek, greed written across his face.
Watching the figure advancing through the flames, he felt that this was the perfect creation of his ability. This Shen Wulong, remade from Shen Luohan, was practically his ideal specimen.
He was no longer as emotionless and desireless as the original Shen Wulong. Instead, his evil and desires had been amplified severalfold, making him more human—and even stronger.
He had fulfilled Shen Luohan’s wish and completed the fusion of three personalities. Shen Wulong had been reborn.
The current Shen Wulong possessed the Dragon’s cold ruthlessness, the Tiger’s urge to destroy, and Shen Luohan’s mind. He was the perfect ultimate life-form.
However, because Shen Wulong possessed over five thousand years of memories, Shen Luohan’s memories had become mere grains of sand during the fusion. He had been the one absorbed, though part of his thought patterns and personality remained behind.
The current Shen Wulong could grow angry over the death of his friend Xavier, slaughter because of the Tiger’s destructive urges, and become more wicked and adaptable through Shen Luohan’s way of thinking. He was no longer so dull.
The original Shen Wulong had been powerful, but far too dull. There had still been a chance to scheme him to death. But now, Shen Wulong was practically flawless, because he had gained Shen Luohan’s brain.
Shen Luohan acted cautiously. Although his desire for revenge compelled him to come for Luke, he had made preparations.
As the world’s largest underground arms dealer, he possessed enough military power to conquer a small country. It was unlikely to come to that, but if the battle went badly, he would have submarines off Japan’s coast launch missiles and turn Kure Village, this coastal city, into scorched earth.
He had also stationed several armed helicopters within the country, ready to extract him at any moment.
"What a cautious man. You’re only here to kill Luke. I’d rather you got it over with cleanly."
The Devourer murmured as he watched Shen Wulong below. Still, he appreciated that caution. No matter how strong someone was, failing to use their brain could get them killed one day. Shen Wulong’s steadiness made victory feel certain.
By his usual standards, he would not even have needed to come today. But he wanted Luke’s fresh corpse. That would grant him the greatest improvement.
If he absorbed an Arbiter as powerful as Luke immediately after death, he might gain five attribute points—no, perhaps even ten!
He had only discovered this useful application of his ability by accident. The resources Endspace used to enhance Explorers were not fully fused and absorbed by them immediately. They needed time to integrate gradually.
Put simply, for a period after an Explorer used free attribute points, those points still remained attached to them. He could use his ability to extract and absorb them.
Perhaps Endspace reclaimed certain resources from dead Explorers’ bodies. He had actually received a violation warning for absorbing Explorer corpses this way.
So what? Who cared? What did breaking the rules matter? Was there any faster way to grow stronger?
He would keep absorbing them until he became the strongest existence—and crush every Arbiter who dared come after him beneath his feet.
Boom—
Amid the explosion, Shen Wulong emerged from the blazing flames. No one could see what he had done at the instant the grenade detonated, but when he stepped out of the fire, he appeared completely unscathed.
Members of the Kure Clan evacuated the crowd while trying to delay Shen Wulong. They threw every hot and cold weapon they had at him, yet nothing could inflict any meaningful damage.
"Damn it! You came for Mr. Luke, didn’t you? Then why hurt innocent people?"
A member of the Kure patrol shouted furiously. Shen Wulong’s sudden arrival had already harmed quite a few civilians.
"The Kure Clan contributed to that battle, did they not? You were accomplices in Xavier’s death. And these people are sheltered by those accomplices. As far as I am concerned, no one here is innocent."
An unsettling smile rested on Shen Wulong’s face as he stood atop a car and spread his arms. "And today, I have come to finish what I failed to do thirteen hundred years ago. The Kure Clan only needs to leave behind the Westward Faction that follows me."
He raised a hand and struck to the side, sending Raian—who had charged him with Removal activated—flying. "What wonderful power. Why had I been bored and lonely before?"
"Because being invincible is boring in itself."
A voice answered him.
Shen Wulong turned toward its source. A handsome man in a black trench coat, a longsword hanging at his waist, was weaving through the fleeing crowd. He crossed the ruins and flames before arriving at the center of the street.
The man patted the patrol member on the shoulder. "Clear everyone off this street. Leave this to me."
Then he looked at Shen Wulong, his expression dark. "You really have exceeded my expectations. I never thought you’d start a massacre right in the street."
Shen Wulong, his hair tied in a single ponytail, met Luke’s gaze. The wicked smile on his face twisted for a moment before turning into fury. "You’re the one who killed my friend, aren’t you?"
"It seems your friend meant a great deal to you..."
Luke nodded. "But did you ever consider that your friend hurt many people? He deserved to die."
The Worm was a terrorist organization operating worldwide. Xavier usually looked like a helpless caretaker, but that did not change the fact that he was one of the most brutal terrorist leaders in the world.
Countless children had been abducted by the Worm for experiments, and countless families had been torn apart. That was why Luke had not hesitated for even a moment when he beheaded Xavier.
"What does that have to do with me? I only care about my friends. Nothing else matters."
Shen Wulong’s face gradually calmed, and he spoke in an even tone.
Luke sighed. He could tell those were Shen Wulong’s true feelings. The man had lived too long and lost any awareness of being human. Naturally, he possessed no capacity for empathy.
Shen Wulong cared about almost nothing. He only cared about the friends he acknowledged. His world was empty.
"How pitiful..."
Luke said, "You pitiful weakling."
Shen Wulong, who had been about to move in for the kill, froze. He had existed in this world since humanity’s birth. In all his memories spanning more than ten thousand years, no one had ever called him weak.
"Weak? You’re calling me weak?"
For the first time, Shen Wulong’s curiosity overpowered his rage and desire for revenge.
Luke rested one hand on his sword hilt and met Shen Wulong’s eyes. "You claim not to possess a superhuman body, yet you have a physique like an immortal’s, flesh vastly stronger than that of ordinary humans. You possess supreme combat skill and call it ‘principles.’ Along your path, no one has ever been able to defeat you..."
Luke paused there, and Shen Wulong asked in confusion, "Then why do you call me weak?"
"Because you have no conviction. The principles you speak of are nothing but simple violence, not some ultimate realm of martial arts."
Luke said, "Because there is nothing but emptiness in your heart, no matter how powerful your shell is, it cannot conceal your weakness."
"Are you trying to confuse me with words? Sadly, no matter how eloquently you speak, your words will not make me weaker, nor will they make you stronger."
Mockery appeared on Shen Wulong’s face. Shen Luohan’s personality was influencing him.
Luke shook his head. "Words will not make me stronger. But my heart will. And you have no heart."
As he spoke, he slowly drew Prison Demon. As the blade emerged, hollow blood grooves appeared along it, while purple-black chains wrapped around his arm like vines.
Amid swirling purple-black mist, Luke’s aura spread outward in ripples, making even the flames lining the street sway.
His eyes met Shen Wulong’s, carrying a touch of pity and disappointment. "What immortal? You are plainly just a pitiful man who has lost his heart. Let me cut it short..."
With those words, and the shriek of something tearing through the air, the flames bent low. A purple-black flash of sword light seemed to split apart the sunset at the horizon.
Golden hair scattered through the air like snow. Luke spun in midair like a falling snowflake, and only after he landed did his voice echo through the street.
"...your long and empty life."
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