"Damn it!" Esidisi clutched his chest, leaping back to his feet. The muscles near his wounds rippled violently, rapidly closing the damage caused by the Hamon.
He shifted tactics without hesitation. "Fine, then—I'll crush you using my superior body! Once I get close, you'll be helpless!"
With a fierce gust of wind, Esidisi charged at Ray Chu like a linebacker, shielding his torso with both arms. At the last instant, he thrust out his palms, clawing viciously at Ray's head.
Ray Chu's eyes flashed. He advanced rather than retreating, his fingers striking Esidisi's palms with pinpoint accuracy. Hamon surged from his fingertips, sinking into Esidisi's hands as easily as slicing into tofu.
"You fell for it!" Ignoring his pierced palms, Esidisi clenched his fists, trapping Ray Chu's hands inside his grip.
"You've certainly got impressive strength," Esidisi mocked. "But I've swallowed countless Hamon attacks like yours over two thousand years! All I need is one twist to snap your wrists before your Hamon can even flow through!"
Esidisi's arms bulged as he summoned his monstrous strength—and nothing happened.
Despite the legendary strength of a Pillar Man, Ray Chu's arms didn't even budge. Not even a tremor.
Esidisi flexed again, veins popping, straining with all his might—still no reaction.
Ray Chu grinned cheerfully, baring his teeth at Esidisi's stunned face. "Done yet? Then, it's my turn!"
Flipping his wrists, Ray instantly grabbed Esidisi's forearms, wrenching them sharply with overwhelming force.
Crack!
Both of Esidisi's arms twisted around completely, his face contorting grotesquely from the agony.
"Now, take my [OVERDRIVE]!"
In the cathedral's great hall, Ray Chu and Esidisi clashed fiercely. Yet shockingly, it was Ray Chu, the human, who clearly held the advantage.
A torrent of Hamon exploded along Esidisi's twisted arms, rapidly dissolving his flesh and exposing the bone beneath. Once strength was reversed, the Pillar Man's inherent weakness to Hamon was mercilessly revealed.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Esidisi let out an ear-splitting scream. He threw himself backward, ripping his own arms off to escape before the Hamon reached his core.
"How mean! So cruel! It hurts so muuuch!" Esidisi wailed, his face twisting like a tantrum-throwing child. Tears and snot poured from his face as he sobbed uncontrollably.
"Ugh!" Even Ray Chu was briefly stunned, choking down a wave of nausea.
But as a martial artist, he knew better than to let down his guard. Striking decisively at his foe's weakest moment was a principle he always followed.
His foot kicked off the ground sharply, and he flashed in front of Esidisi. A thunderous punch slammed into the Pillar Man's chin, shattering teeth and spraying blood. Esidisi corkscrewed into the air, his tears and snot scattering everywhere.
"Here's more—ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Ray Chu pursued relentlessly, raining countless punches onto Esidisi's body. Each blow surged with Hamon, assaulting his foe again and again without mercy.
BOOM!
After a full minute of bombardment, Esidisi's broken body flew backward, crashing violently into the cathedral wall, embedding itself into the stone.
"Did I get him? Wait—not yet!"
Ray Chu had to admit, the Pillar Man's tenacity was beyond imagination. Even after absorbing enough blows to kill ten elephants, Esidisi still wasn't dead. In fact, he seemed even more fearsome now than before.
Despite his ravaged body—skin melted and flesh torn away—Esidisi's ancient vitality, nurtured by thousands of years feeding on vampires, sustained him.
He rose shakily, countless blood-red veins piercing outward, twisting grotesquely and causing anyone watching to shudder in disgust. A blistering wave of steam radiated outward, forming a deadly barrier. Even from afar, the scorching heat pressed fiercely against Ray Chu's face.
"What a terrifying attack… you almost managed to kill me." Completely different from his earlier childish sobbing, Esidisi's voice was now calm and cold, despite the catastrophic wounds covering his body. "I underestimated you. But after crying, my mind grows calm again. I won't make the same mistake twice."
"Though I hate to admit it, your power and speed already rival the Pillar Men. More importantly, you fight without hesitation. You're even more dangerous than that combat genius Wamuu—perhaps even Lord Kars might not defeat you. So just now, I made a decision."
"Oh? What decision?" Ray Chu regulated his breathing, replenishing his diminished Hamon energy. His previous attack had consumed a considerable amount of his strength.
"Even if I must die—I'll take you down with me!"
Blood vessels sprouted from Esidisi's body, extending like tentacles to latch onto the cathedral walls. They hauled him into the air, suspended grotesquely above the battlefield.
At Esidisi's mental command, those countless blood vessels writhed and twisted, lunging like living serpents toward Ray Chu from every direction.
"[ERRATIC BLAZE KING'S GIANT CARTWHEEL PRISON]!"
"The same trick won't work twice!" Ray Chu clapped his hands, unleashing a stream of iridescent Hamon bubbles. They collided fiercely with the blood vessels, stalemating briefly in midair before dissolving the fragile tissues rapidly.
Until becoming the Ultimate Life Form, all beings had inherent biological limits. How could these mere blood vessels compare to steel?
Esidisi's desperate final strike seemed completely ineffective.
"Then, how about this?!" Esidisi roared.
Suddenly, the countless blood vessels exploded, showering scalding blood—heated beyond 500°C—down toward Ray Chu like deadly rain.
The Pillar Man's blood wasn't just hot; it was viciously corrosive, capable of melting flesh beyond human endurance.
"[WATER BREATHING]!"
A surge of water—impossibly summoned inside the cathedral—erupted around Ray Chu, spinning into a swift, protective whirlpool that blocked the boiling blood. Steam burst forth violently as the two collided.
"How…how is that possible?!" Esidisi's eyes nearly popped from his skull. He'd encountered many Hamon warriors through the ages, but never one capable of wielding water so effortlessly. And this was inside a cathedral—where the hell did that water even come from?!
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T/N: heh you fool! fire is not very effective against water!