"Are you tickling me, S-Class Hero Puri Puri Prisoner?"
Deep Sea King slowly straightened his body. The dented muscles on his chest expanded again as if nothing had happened. He casually brushed his chest as though wiping away dust, then raised his head and stared at Puri Puri Prisoner with a cold and ferocious grin.
"You actually managed to withstand my Angel Rush."
Puri Puri Prisoner's expression became serious. He drew in a deep breath and struck another elegant battle stance, refusing to back down.
"It's raining."
Deep Sea King looked up at the sky. The dark clouds had grown heavier, and the rain was falling harder by the second.
Then he moved.
Whoosh!
Too fast.
Puri Puri Prisoner's pupils shrank. His entire body reacted instinctively, but he was already too late.
His body shot upward into the air.
Crack!
His jaw shattered instantly, teeth and blood spraying from his mouth.
"You like combos, do you?"
Deep Sea King appeared above him almost instantly. The muscles in his right leg swelled violently as he unleashed a devastating horizontal kick.
The air exploded with a sonic boom.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Puri Puri Prisoner's body was sent flying through the air like a ball, battered again and again before he could even regain control. Each strike was merciless, humiliating him completely.
Below them, heroes and civilians looked up in horror.
Their mouths hung open as they stared at the sky.
Even an S-Class hero was being toyed with.
A tearing sound ripped through the air.
Puri Puri Prisoner's body plunged diagonally toward the ground and smashed into the street.
Boom!
The steel reinforced road shattered instantly. Concrete and asphalt burst apart as a massive trench was carved through the city.
Puri Puri Prisoner lay inside the long gully, his body drenched in blood. He struggled to rise several times but failed.
Deep Sea King landed heavily nearby.
Cracks spread across the ground like spiderwebs.
"Your endurance is far too weak."
He looked around at the terrified humans and began laughing arrogantly.
"Humans, none of you can fight me."
"Remember my name."
"I am the Deep Sea King."
"I will eliminate you humans and make the survivors our slaves. Fear me. Tremble before me. Beg for mercy."
Deep Sea King spread his arms proudly, enjoying the attention like a theatrical villain.
He loved the fear in human eyes.
He loved the feeling of controlling life and death.
However, after his short display, he noticed something strange.
The civilians hiding behind the ruins were not screaming in fear.
Instead, they were staring at him strangely.
Or rather, they were staring behind him.
Even the surviving heroes had strange expressions on their faces.
Shock.
Disbelief.
And something close to worship.
"What the hell…"
"Is this real?"
"I didn't see wrong, right?"
"That's exactly the same as the photo from the Hero Association."
"But this is J City…"
"Why would someone like him appear here?"
Some heroes swallowed nervously.
Their eyes were filled with awe.
Deep Sea King frowned and slowly turned around.
Three feet behind him, a figure was floating calmly in midair.
Lucien stood there silently.
His tall frame looked almost thin compared to the massive monsters around him. At 193 centimeters, he was tall for a human, yet in front of the Deep Sea King he appeared strangely slender.
His amethyst colored eyes stared calmly at the monster.
Deep Sea King's pupils shrank slightly.
When had this person appeared?
He had not sensed him at all.
"Another human coming to die."
Although he had been startled for a moment, Deep Sea King quickly regained his confidence.
To him, this man looked like a bamboo pole.
Skinny.
Fragile.
He could shatter him with a single kick.
The monster leaped into the air immediately.
With a savage grin, his massive leg swept downward like a falling mountain.
The power behind the kick created a violent sonic blast.
Boom!
The impact created a shockwave that spread across the ground.
Cracks tore through the concrete as the surrounding streets collapsed within hundreds of meters.
Deep Sea King's grin slowly froze.
Then it vanished completely.
Shock replaced it.
Because Lucien had not moved.
Not even a step.
His body remained completely still.
Only one finger was raised.
Lucien's index finger was pressed against the monster's kick.
Just one finger had stopped the attack.
Silence filled the battlefield.
"One finger…"
A hero whispered in disbelief.
"He blocked that kick with a single finger."
Deep Sea King felt a cold chill run through his entire body.
It started from the red shorts around his waist and climbed straight to the top of his head.
His hair stood on end.
"What did you say your name was… King?"
Lucien spoke calmly.
His voice carried faint amusement.
"I once knew a man who wanted to become the Pirate King."
Deep Sea King froze.
His eyes crossed slightly as he stared at the finger pressing against his forehead.
He swallowed instinctively.
Then Lucien flicked his finger.
Bang!
Deep Sea King's head exploded instantly.
Blood burst into the air like a crimson firework.
The terrifying finger force did not stop there.
A violent shockwave tore forward across the city. Buildings shattered as the energy ripped through them, carving a straight path that stretched all the way toward the city center.
The entire world fell silent.
Everyone stared at the newly created road in disbelief.
Lucien looked at the headless corpse calmly.
"Too weak. You couldn't even survive one hit."
He sounded slightly disappointed.
His hand moved forward.
A strange power covered his palm as he grabbed the corpse.
A struggling soul was forcibly dragged out of the body and absorbed into Lucien's hand.
Then he turned his gaze toward the ruins.
Puri Puri Prisoner was still lying there, barely conscious.
Lucien raised a finger and pointed toward him.
The air twisted violently.
A massive shockwave erupted forward.
Boom!
The explosion created a mushroom cloud as the ground within a hundred meter radius collapsed inward.
A gigantic crater appeared where Puri Puri Prisoner had been.
Lucien's eyes then shifted toward a distant building.
Speed o Sound Sonic was standing there.
The ninja had witnessed everything.
His mind had gone blank.
When Lucien's amethyst eyes met his, Sonic felt his entire soul fall into an icy abyss.
"Sonic the Speed o Sound."
Lucien spoke softly.
"A minor supporting character."
Those were the last words Sonic heard.
His consciousness disappeared instantly.
Lucien was already standing in front of him.
The ninja's soul was ripped out effortlessly and captured within Lucien's hand.
Floating quietly in the air, Lucien turned his attention toward the ocean.
The remaining Deep Sea Clan monsters were fleeing.
Their king had been killed instantly.
To them, the land had suddenly become the most terrifying place in the world.
They desperately rushed toward the sea.
But Lucien slowly lifted his leg.
Then he kicked forward.
The earth trembled violently.
A colossal crescent shaped shockwave tore across the ground, ripping through the coastline with unstoppable destructive force.
The attack traveled for thousands of meters.
Everything in its path vanished.
When the blinding light faded, an enormous ocean trench had formed.
It stretched from the city far into the sea, cutting through the ocean like a massive scar.
Water rushed violently into the newly created abyss.
Thousands of Deep Sea Clan corpses floated on both sides of the trench.
The ocean slowly turned red with blood.
Lucien crossed thousands of meters instantly and appeared above the trench.
He looked down at the endless monster corpses with satisfaction.
Then he casually grabbed several massive creatures.
A fifty meter giant octopus.
A thirty meter sea turtle.
And many other sea monsters.
Carrying the mountain of seafood, Lucien shot into the sky and disappeared above J City.
The coastline continued rumbling as seawater flooded back into the trench.
On the ruined shore, heroes and civilians stood frozen.
None of them had recovered yet.
They simply stared at the abyss that had split the sea apart.
A B-Class hero slowly collapsed onto the ground.
His voice trembled.
"Is that… a god?"
"How could someone be that strong…"
Many civilians believed they had witnessed a new hero.
But none of them had ever seen someone this powerful before.
Inside the Hero Association headquarters, the director and several staff members stared at a large screen.
The image displayed the divided ocean.
"Deep Sea King was killed with a finger flick."
"And S-Class Hero Puri Puri Prisoner was also eliminated."
"One attack created an ocean trench nearly five hundred kilometers long."
The room fell silent.
Someone finally spoke.
"I still don't understand why he killed Puri Puri Prisoner as well."
Meanwhile, Lucien had already returned elsewhere.
He held the seafood in one hand and opened a glowing system screen.
To his surprise, Deep Sea King was only considered a minor villain, and Speed o Sound Sonic was only a minor supporting character.
Yet both had granted him a dice roll opportunity.
It was an unexpected bonus.
As for Puri Puri Prisoner, he had not even triggered any reward.
Lucien closed the screen calmly.
---
D City.
Cars moved through the streets as usual.
Pedestrians walked across busy sidewalks.
At a traffic light intersection, a strange five colored light suddenly flashed.
Then it vanished.
A figure appeared silently above the traffic signal.
He wore golden armor.
His hair was fiery and spiked upward. His sharp plum colored eyes scanned the surroundings as his sword shaped golden eyebrows lifted slightly.
His presence radiated power and dominance.
"Is Darkness in this world?"
He murmured to himself.
"I hope the Daughter of the Sun and Diga Ultraman haven't arrived yet."