"You possess the bloodline of the Dragon Clan, yet you lack the power of Yanling."
The dust settling over the pulverized street parted, revealing Hebe Shikai standing in the center of the deep crater.
"You... are not from this world."
Among those watching the battle—whether it was Coulson's trio on the nearby rooftop or the politicians in the secure bunkers of Washington—no one had genuinely believed Sebas could defeat the Dragon Servant with a single punch.
Yet, looking at the satellite feed, a collective chill ran down their spines. The mere shockwave of their physical clash had shattered the facade of an entire office building. Yet, the two combatants standing at the epicenter barely even had dust on their clothes.
Sebas floated down from the sky, landing lightly at the edge of the pit. The distance between them was less than ten meters.
This time, the Iron Butler did not remain silent.
"I am a Dragonoid," Sebas corrected calmly, adjusting his cuffs. "The bloodlines flowing within us have been entirely different from the very beginning."
Sebas didn't wait for Hebe's reaction.
His polished dress shoes cracked the asphalt. He erupted from the edge of the pit, moving so fast he left a localized vacuum and a fading afterimage in his wake.
"The fight's starting again!" Hawkeye warned, raising his binoculars.
Inside the crater, Sebas's figure rapidly expanded in Hebe's vision. The sheer air pressure preceding the punch made the ancient warrior's eyes narrow.
Hebe knew better than to underestimate the butler now. The opponent's close-quarters combat ability was terrifyingly superior to his own. As a being who relied on Yanling and elemental manipulation, having a pure martial artist close the distance was a death sentence.
Hebe immediately erected dozens of compressed air shields between himself and Sebas. At the same time, he manipulated the atmospheric pressure to push violently outward.
CRASH.
The sound of shattering glass echoed across Manhattan.
The hyper-compressed air walls, meant to repel a close-range blitz, only slowed Sebas down by a fraction of a second. Sebas's fist, wrapped in a howling vortex of kinetic energy, punched clean through the final barrier and slammed squarely into Hebe's chest plate.
Hebe was sent flying backward like a cannonball.
He crashed through the ground-floor pillars of a bank, his body plowing through steel, concrete, and drywall, leaving a trench of destruction in his wake.
But Sebas did not give him a second to breathe.
While Hebe was still airborne, tumbling through the ruins of the building, Sebas blurred and appeared directly above him. A relentless rain of fists battered against the ancient bronze armor.
At this moment, the proud guard of the King of Sky and Wind was being juggled like a ragdoll.
The two figures darted back and forth through the avenues. Building after building groaned and partially collapsed as they were used as backdrops for the brutal exchange of blows.
"I'm not sure who's going to win this fight," Coulson muttered, watching a skyscraper shed its glass exterior blocks away. "But I am certain of one thing... New York's insurance companies are going to go bankrupt today. And Damage Control is going to make a fortune."
Hawkeye and Natasha slowly turned their heads, giving Coulson a deadpan, speechless stare.
At a time when the fate of the city hung in the balance, he still had the nerve to make a dry bureaucratic joke.
Coulson offered a sheepish, apologetic smile and cleared his throat. The three turned their attention back to the battlefield.
Under Sebas's pinpoint, devastating strikes, Hebe was being pummeled into the pavement.
The two figures launched back into the sky. But compared to Hebe's previous majestic composure, he was now completely powerless to block Sebas's relentless martial arts.
Sebas flashed above Hebe, interlocking his hands. With a charged, double-fisted hammer strike, he sent Hebe hurtling back down to the earth.
BOOM.
A new, massive crater opened up on 6th Avenue.
High above, an exhausted Sebas panted heavily. That continuous, high-speed combination had cost him a significant amount of stamina. He hovered in mid-air, his eagle-like gaze locked onto the dust cloud below.
The smoke cleared. Hebe Shikai lay miserably at the bottom of the pit. Dark blood seeped from the deep cracks in his bronze armor, pooling on the shattered asphalt.
"Do you still wish to continue fighting?" Sebas asked, descending to the ground and speaking with his usual polite indifference.
"Fight?" Hebe coughed, blood spattering his visor. "Of course."
Hebe struggled to his feet. His posture was weak, his armor ruined. Yet, he did not take an offensive stance.
He reached up with both hands and unlatched his helmet.
He tossed it aside. Smooth, liquid-silver hair spilled out, dancing in the wind. A striking, androgynous face with flawlessly pale skin was revealed.
Sebas's heart did not waver at the warrior's appearance. An enemy was an enemy.
"You paused your attack," Hebe said, his handsome face devoid of emotion, his silver eyes cold and indifferent. "You missed your last chance."
Despite being brutally beaten, Hebe radiated no sense of defeat. He looked down at his blood-soaked gloves, then gripped the cracked chest plate of his armor. With a violent tearing motion, he ripped the ancient bronze armor completely off his body, letting the heavy metal crash to the ground.
Freed from his restraints, Hebe looked up at Sebas.
[First-Order Blood Rage]
[Second-Order Blood Rage]
[Third-Order Blood Rage]
[Fourth-Order Blood Rage]
"Fourth-Order Blood Rage," Hebe whispered, his voice vibrating with a terrifying, inhuman frequency. "This is the absolute limit I can control. If I push any higher, I will lose my mind."
Deep inside the pit, Hebe suppressed the agonizing pain of his broken bones.
"You are the strongest martial artist I have ever faced," Hebe declared. "I will use my ultimate state to bury you."
Thick, jagged dragon scales erupted violently from beneath Hebe's pale skin, coating his arms and neck. Bulging, glowing, vessel-like patterns spider-webbed across his face. His silver eyes flooded with blood, emitting a soul-piercing, predatory crimson light.
BANG.
The ground at the bottom of the pit simply ceased to exist.
Sebas had no time to react.
Before his eyes could even track the movement, a force like a freight train slammed into his abdomen. Sebas was launched backward at supersonic speed, the sheer velocity tearing the asphalt beneath him into a trench.
It wasn't until a fraction of a second later that the agonizing pain in his stomach finally registered in his brain.
While Sebas was still flying backward through the air, completely out of control, a hand covered in razor-sharp dragon scales materialized directly in front of him, clamping brutally over his face.
'How is this possible?' Sebas thought, his eyes widening in shock beneath the crushing grip. 'How could his speed have increased this much?!'
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