The Sequence 8 Unwinged Angel stumbled back many steps… before his feet lifted off the ground and he was sent flying, leaving behind trails of poisonous, black fire and blood.
Lemillion and Nejire Chan looked at the scene, aghast.
Their eyes couldn't steer away from the man who had walked out of the black flames and then had punched the Villain with a power that seemed to rival Nejire's earlier attack.
Meanwhile, Gehrman Sparrow hung midair, slowly descending.
The Slow curse that the Monocle had cast upon the massive area was still alive.
Which meant… despite the punch, empowered by the Judge Button's Spell, the Beyonder of the Abyss Pathway had survived.
Which, in turn, meant that there was something wrong with the Beyonder himself.
Otherwise, with Gehrman's raw strength, combined with Judge Button's Death Spell, his punch should have been enough to explode the skull off the Villain, dissipating the Slow curse.
Instead, just as the Monocle crashed on the concrete floor, rolled a few meters, and came to a stop, he stood back up.
Blood had drenched the black cover over his head.
The rope tied around his neck to secure the cover was also stained red.
A stream of blood was trailing down the Monocle's black body, almost bathing him from head to toe.
Yet, he was standing straight, as if it hadn't been him whom Gehrman had punched.
Then, just as the Slow curse began wearing off, the Monocle dashed, blurring past Gehrman, Lemillion, and Nejire Chan, going right for… Trick*Step.
Lemillion's eyes widened, realizing what the Villain was aiming to do. However, his lower half was still slowly descending into the floor. Despite being able to use his Quirk, he couldn't catch up to the Villain even if he wanted to.
Nejire Chan could, theoretically, catch up to the Villain. But not before turning herself around and then using her Surge Quirk at 100%, becoming useless. Regardless, she was already moving slowly to face the Villain, dearly hoping that she wouldn't get to see another bloody picture instead.
Next to them, Gehrman frowned.
His feet slowly landed on the ground, but he noticed that the Unwinged Angel was deliberately avoiding using any Flame Spell.
If the Monocle indeed reached Trick*Step, then, with her being under the effect of the Slow curse, it would take only one blow to finish her off.
Imagining and decrypting the same, Iron Mentor's heart skipped a beat, too.
Time seemed to crawl in all eyes as the Monocle reached only a few feet away from Trick*Step, her head already turning around as she looked at the approaching death over her shoulder.
Then, coincidentally, her eyes landed on the Crazy Adventurer beyond the incoming Villain.
Gehrman looked directly at Trick*Step, summoning a single flame out of thin air next to him.
Getting the cue, just as the Monocle paused behind her and made a fist, lifting his hand, she rubbed the tips of her fingers that were wrapped around the baseball bat together, igniting the Villain's blood-drenched head cover.
And history repeated itself.
Flames burgeoned as Gehrman Sparrow walked out of them, a golden halo surrounding his fist once again.
However, instead of using the same Death Spell to punch the Monocle, he had something else in his mind; something that targeted the unnaturalness that was keeping the Unwinged Angel alive.
Gehrman Sparrow imbued the Judge Button with his Spirituality for one last time and said, "Possession is prohibited here."
And, instantly, the Monocle fell as if he were a puppet and someone had cut his strings.
The Slow curse dissipated simultaneously, the Pros, Apostles, and Villains regaining their original momentum.
However, for once, instead resuming their original motives, all of them together were looking at the same place, at the same figure.
It was a woman with long red hair, black eyes, and an expressionless face. She was wearing a bright blue gown, its ends fluttering and flapping noisily in the wind. And there was a coldness about her that radiated far and wide, reaching even Iron Mentor, Lemillion, and Nejire Chan in the distance.
Then, even as they were looking at her, the woman narrowed her eyes at Gehrman Sparrow and… disappeared, becoming invisible.
"Run…" Gehrman said casually.
Trick*Step had a hundred questions. But, remembering that she was already out of her depth, she took the word as a command and bolted, approaching the Erasure Drug's crates. As the Yakuza members, all still stunned, rushed to confront her, she used Tumble on them before smacking their heads with the baseball bat.
On the other side, Iron Mentor had also punched his way to the Compound Monocle crates.
One moment more, and they would get their hands on a sample of each of the drugs.
It was then that a Shriek drowned the entire shipyard, covering everything.
Gehrman, who had been pouring all his Spirit Points into Spirit Vision, gritted his teeth, a wrenching pain coursing through his Spirit Body. Trick*Step fell, holding her head, screaming. Iron Mentor fell to his knees as well, gasping, the whites of his eyes going red.
Nejire Chan, who had already thrown herself toward the spot where the woman had disappeared, following an intuition, fell from the sky, her eyes rolling back in her head.
Suneater had reverted all his transformations, shaking as he fought through the spiritual pain.
Other than Lemillion, who was nowhere to be seen, all the Yakuza members and robed figures that had come with the ship instantly passed out as well.
Among the chaos, the red-haired woman reappeared, her gaze fixed on Gehrman.
Sensing her gaze and instantly realizing the hesitation behind it, the Crazy Adventurer fought through the pain and lifted his right hand again, casting an illusion of a golden halo around his fist.
"Invisibility is prohibited…"
The woman's eyes shook.
She opened her mouth and let out another Shriek, making Gehrman stumble.
Then, with a quick look around, she tsked and flew away, becoming invisible just as she disappeared into the darkness.