"...Did he just teleport?"
"...It certainly seems that way, Sona-sama."
Sona Sitri turned her head, looking blankly at the empty leather seat where Finn had been lounging just a second ago. She then slowly turned her gaze back to the ruined battlefield below.
Finn had materialized directly in front of Ravel and stopped Issei's ultimate, armor-clad punch—a strike carrying the multiplied, apocalyptic power of the Red Dragon Emperor—with his bare palm.
"...The Balam House," Sona muttered, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers.
According to Devil lore, the innate bloodline trait of the Balam Pillar was simply 'supernatural strength' and 'high magic resistance.' While impressive on paper, could mere physical strength match the blazing, mythical wrath of a Heavenly Dragon?
No. Finn hadn't just matched the Red Dragon Emperor's might; he had casually humiliated it, proving that the so-called legendary dragon was nowhere near as invincible as history claimed.
To Finn, Ddraig wasn't an awe-inspiring deity. The Welsh Dragon originated from a tiny island nation in the mortal world. If the entirety of Great Britain still worshipped the dragon, it might possess genuine divine power. But since the modern world was dominated by Christianity, Ddraig's mythical influence was heavily diluted. Furthermore, the dragon's output was strictly bottlenecked by its current host: a hopelessly weak, perverted human teenager.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
"Have you finally calmed down?"
The dust settled, revealing Finn completely unharmed. He held Issei's crimson gauntlet tightly in his grip. The entire arena—Riser, Ravel, Sona, and the aristocratic audience—stared in sheer, breathless shock.
"...D-did he just catch that barehanded?"
"...Am I dreaming?"
"Pinch me."
"Pinch yourself, you idiot!"
The reality was undeniable. The heir of the Balam House had just caught a mountain-shattering punch without even flinching.
"As expected of the Balam Pillar!"
"His physical strength is monstrous!"
"Ah~..."
"...What is wrong with you?"
The collective attention of the Underworld elite instantly shifted away from Issei and locked entirely onto Finn. While Issei beating Riser had been shocking, Finn casually halting the boy's rampage protected the fragile egos of the High-Class Devils. It proved that pureblood Nobles still reigned supreme.
For Issei, however, Finn's effortless block was the ultimate insult.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Issei screamed, his face twisting in rage beneath his helmet.
"..."
Finn stared down at the struggling boy for a long moment before speaking, his voice dripping with cold authority. "Did you already forget the man who forced you to your knees like a whimpering dog just a few minutes ago?"
"....."
The crowd went dead silent.
In the heat of the brawl, they had almost forgotten that before Issei challenged Riser, Finn had completely crushed the boy's bravado with nothing but his aura. Reminding Issei of that public humiliation pushed the teenager over the edge.
"YOU BASTARD!"
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Issei wrenched his fist free and unleashed a frantic, full-power barrage. His crimson fists rained down on Finn like meteor strikes. Yet, Finn remained perfectly calm. He didn't even bother to dodge; he simply caught or deflected every single blow with lazy sweeps of his palms.
It feels like a deep-tissue massage, Finn noted internally.
Compared to the supersonic, bone-shattering strikes of Sairaorg, Issei's wild punches were pathetically sloppy. Furthermore, thanks to the Self-Made adaptation skill Finn had synthesized using his immense Demonic Power, his body was actively analyzing the kinetic force. Unless Issei exponentially increased his power output, Finn was already entirely immune to the boy's current strength.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"
Issei's aura exploded, bathing the arena in a blinding emerald light. His power doubled, and doubled again, soaring to terrifying new heights as the essence of the dragon consumed him. The overwhelming pressure made several lower-class Devils in the stands tremble in genuine fear.
Sirzechs Lucifer watched from the VIP balcony, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He knew a massive, potentially lethal clash was coming. But...
Let him learn that there are walls in this world he simply cannot break, Sirzechs thought.
In the face of absolute, overwhelming power, Issei's righteous ideals meant nothing.
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Issei charged forward, putting every ounce of his multiplied strength into a devastating right hook.
Finn, however, was tired of playing the training dummy. Issei had explicitly threatened to kill him. A corporate raider never showed mercy to a hostile competitor.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Issei threw the punch—but only his wrist made contact. Finn's hand clamped down over the thick armor of the gauntlet like an iron vice.
"LET GO, BASTA—"
CRACK!
Finn squeezed. The legendary Red Dragon Armor crumpled like cheap tin, and the horrifying sound of Issei's bones snapping echoed loudly across the silent arena.
"...."
"ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Issei shrieked in absolute agony, dropping to his knees. He desperately swung his unbroken hand, trying to force Finn to let go, but Finn's grip was immovable. The sickening crunch of grinding bone continued. In front of Finn's supernatural strength, the divine armor was as useless as wet paper!
"SHITTTTT!"
Desperate, Issei pulled out his last vial of blessed Holy Water. Using the Boosted Gear, he multiplied its divine potency and threw the searing liquid directly at Finn's face!
"FINN-SAMA!" Ravel screamed in horror, covering her mouth.
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Issei roared.
Yet—
"Are you quite done?"
Finn didn't even blink. He casually swatted the vial out of the air. The highly concentrated Holy Water splashed back, sizzling violently against Issei's shattered helmet!
"ARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Issei screamed, clawing at his burning face.
"It seems you desperately need to be educated," Finn said coldly, looking down at the writhing boy.
Finn knew exactly why Issei was so obnoxiously arrogant: he believed the Heavenly Dragon residing within him made him invincible. But Finn knew the absolute truth of this world. If the Heavenly Dragons were truly that powerful, they wouldn't have been killed and turned into glorified magical tools for humans to play with.
"Get up. Come at me again," Finn said, releasing Issei's shattered wrist.
The blatant dismissal enraged Issei beyond reason.
"YOU BASTARD!!!!"
"BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"
The emerald jewels on Issei's gauntlet wailed as his power multiplied past his body's safe limits. Refusing to stay down, Issei squared his footing and unleashed a wild, desperate haymaker with his good arm. The punch carried enough kinetic force to level a small mountain.
Finn didn't retreat a single inch. He stood his ground, lazily weaving his head to the side, letting the blazing crimson fist breeze past his ear. He looked less like he was fighting a legendary dragon and more like he was swatting a mildly annoying fly.
"ARRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!"
As Issei desperately pulled his arm back for another strike, the Balam Devil let out a heavy, disappointed sigh.
"You have spirit," Finn murmured, his golden eyes flashing dangerously. "But your technique is absolute garbage."
Finn suddenly dropped his center of gravity. His leading foot slammed into the shattered marble floor with a deafening crack—a flawless Bajiquan Zhen Jiao stomp that sent a violent tremor straight through the arena. In a fraction of a second, Finn stepped entirely inside Issei's guard, pressing himself practically chest-to-chest with the Red Dragon Emperor.
There was no flashy windup. No screaming of attack names.
Using the massive kinetic energy generated from the ground up, Finn's hips snapped, and he drove a devastating, open-palm strike directly into the dead center of Issei's chest plate.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
The impact sounded like a cannon detonating underwater. The raw, concussive shockwave ripped straight through Issei's body, blowing the stone debris behind him into fine dust.
Issei's eyes rolled into the back of his head instantly, every single ounce of air violently expelled from his lungs. The emerald light of the Boosted Gear flickered and died, the majestic dragon armor dissolving back into a normal, badly broken human arm as Issei collapsed into the dirt, completely out cold.
Thud.
Finn slowly stood back up, casually adjusting his tailored cuffs while the entire aristocratic viewing room watched in absolute, terrified silence.