Buck’s words were like jagged blades, stabbing deep into Crag’s heart.

  "ROAR—!"

  Crag unleashed a beastial howl that shook the very ruins.

  His eyes were instantly flooded with a bloody light. The shallow white scars on his body suddenly split open, and a "blood" as thick and scorching as molten lava began to seep out. Under the influence of extreme rage, his hardened stone skin deepened in hue, rapidly transitioning from mere rock to the texture of obsidian.

  [ Obsidian Skin ]!

  This was the power inherent in the very depths of the Stoneborn bloodline, a strength every tribesman was born with.

  "Oh? Still got some spark in you."

  Beside Buck, "Chainsaw" Morris gave a predatory grin, running his tongue over his cracked lips. The chainsaw mounted on his shoulder emitted an even more piercing whine.

  "Boss, leave the big guy to me. I love the sound of tough bones screaming as they’re sawn apart."

  "Just you?"

  A cool, detached voice abruptly drifted down from above.

  Every gaze was drawn toward the source. At the peak of the gantry crane, twisted out of shape by the explosion's shockwave, Kane’s silhouette emerged from the shadows.

  He was in no rush to descend. Dropping to one knee, he leveled The Cyclone once more, aiming directly at Buck below.

  Buck’s pupils constricted slightly. His attention wasn't on Kane himself, but on that peculiarly shaped firearm. The source of that world-ending explosion earlier must have been this very gun.

  "A Stoneborn savage and a brat who doesn't know the meaning of death."

  Buck flexed his massive metallic fist. The joints ground together, producing a heart-stopping screech of compressing metal.

  "Perfect. The worms in the mines haven't been eating well lately. I'll chop you both up and feed them."

  Kane ignored the bluster. He pulled the trigger.

  Whiz!

  A highly compressed air-slug tore through the atmosphere, streaking straight for the space between Buck's eyebrows!

  Buck didn't even flinch. He casually raised his massive iron fist to block his face.

  Clang!

  A crisp metallic ring.

  The air-slug, powerful enough to punch through steel plating, was deflected by an invisible forcefield half an inch from the iron fist’s surface. The bullet hissed past his cheek.

  Kane’s eyes narrowed instantly.

  An energy shield? Or some kind of repulsor field?

  The sniper shot was ineffective.

  "Too much talk."

  Kane leapt from the heights. His body unfurled in the air like a night owl, landing noiselessly upon a sheet of warped steel. He glanced sideways at Crag, who was teetering on the edge of a berserk state.

  His voice carried clearly across the ruins.

  "The one with the saw looks like he needs a beating. He's yours."

  "Fine!"

  Crag squeezed the word out through gritted teeth. He didn't wait for Morris to approach. Slamming his feet into the ground, he transformed into an out-of-control heavy tank, charging straight at Morris!

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  "Come and get it!"

  A bloodthirsty fervor flashed in Morris's eyes.

  He roared as he charged to meet the strike.

  The searing-hot chainsaw in his hand carved a lethal arc, hacking savagely toward Crag’s skull!

  Clang—!

  A piercing shriek exploded instantly, sending a jolting pain through the eardrums!

  The high-speed rotating teeth of the saw left nothing but a scorched white mark on Crag’s hardened cranium. The erupting sparks were so violent they even singed Morris's own eyebrows.

  Morris’s expression shifted drastically.

  He had never encountered flesh this indestructible!

  In that split second of hesitation, Crag’s fist—the size of a heavy mallet—slammed into his chest with the momentum of a mountain giving way.

  Thump!

  The makeshift armor on Morris’s torso shattered into fragments. He was sent flying like he’d been struck by a siege ram, crashing violently into a broken wall and coughing up a massive spray of blood mixed with visceral chunks.

  Crag pressed the advantage, closing the distance immediately. He gave his opponent no room to breathe.

  But Morris was no amateur. He shed the momentum with a roll and scrambled to his feet. The chainsaw’s engine let out a feral scream, blurring into an impenetrable curtain of light.

  He and Crag locked into a primal, bloody melee. For a time, the screeching friction of the saw against obsidian skin and the dull thuds of fists hitting meat echoed throughout the ruins.

  On the other side, the battlefield was naturally split in two.

  Kane and "Iron Fist" Buck stood facing each other from a distance.

  "That gun is mine now."

  Buck stared at The Cyclone in Kane’s hand, his eyes filled with unabashed greed.

  "Hand it over, and I might give you a quick end."

  Kane’s response was a sudden, explosive charge.

  [ Kinetic Boost ]!

  Kane dropped his center of gravity. He became a dark-green blur hugging the ground, leaving a series of flickering afterimages as he threaded through the complex wreckage.

  "Decent speed, but not enough to impress me!"

  Buck snorted. He slammed his massive iron fist into the earth.

  Boom!

  A visible shockwave radiated outward from his fist. The ground fissured, sending countless shards of stone ricocheting in every direction.

  Kane leaped vertically a fraction of a second before the shockwave reached him. Mid-air, he twisted his body, leveling The Cyclone at Buck’s head.

  Whiz—Thwip!

  Armor-Piercing Mode!

  The bullet, carrying the kinetic energy of his sprint, let out a sharp whistle.

  Buck’s reaction was startlingly fast. He didn't even bother to dodge; he simply raised that massive iron fist again to shield his face. The bullet hit the invisible forcefield and was deflected once more.

  "Useless," Buck snarled.

  The energy circuits on his arm suddenly flared with a crimson light.

  "Let me show you the meaning of true power!"

  Before the words had even fully left his mouth, the massive iron fist actually detached from his arm like a fired projectile. Carrying a shriek that tore through the air, it rocketed toward Kane in mid-air!

  Rocket Flying Fist!

  Kane’s pupils constricted.

  This was entirely outside his calculations. Seeing the flying fist about to collide with him, he twisted his body violently in mid-air and slammed his right foot against the empty void!

  [ Aerial Step ]!

  Bang!

  A surge of violent propulsion exploded beneath his feet. His body carved an improbable trajectory through the air, narrowly evading the lethal strike.

  The flying fist hissed past him and slammed into a metal tower crane behind him, instantly detonating the multi-ton structure into a rain of scrap parts.

  Before Kane could even catch his breath, the flying fist looped in the air, pulling a U-turn to strike at his back once more. At the same time, Buck was already charging from the ground with a savage grin, several sharp alloy bone-blades extending from the interface of his severed arm.

  A pincer attack! A death trap!

  Kane felt a chill. Buck’s tenacity far exceeded his expectations.

  He glanced at the other side of the battlefield out of the corner of his eye. The situation there was equally grim. Though Crag was ferocious and [ Unyielding Bastion ] had massively boosted his defense, Morris was a veteran combatant.

  The chainsaw in Morris's hands acted like a venomous serpent, constantly finding the most awkward angles to strike at the weak points of Crag’s defense—joints and previously injured areas. By now, Crag was covered in saw marks of varying depths, and his movements were growing sluggish.

  "DIE!"

  Morris seized a flaw in Crag’s stance. He roared as he lunged, driving the chainsaw violently toward Crag’s shoulder.

  The screeching friction erupted as the high-speed rotating teeth bit inch by inch through Crag’s hardened skin and muscle, grinding closer toward the carotid artery in his neck.

  Yet, Crag ignored the lethal assault entirely.

  A flash of resolve crossed his eyes. He actually used his wounded shoulder to wedge the chainsaw tight!

  "What?!" Morris’s expression twisted in shock. He tried to yank the weapon free, only to find the chainsaw clamped immovably by Crag's bone and muscle.

  Now!

  Crag abandoned all defense. He channeled every ounce of his strength into his right fist and smashed it down toward Morris’s head!

  This punch was for vengeance. It was a final, desperate strike!

  Meanwhile, facing the pincer attack, the corner of Kane’s mouth hooked into a frigid arc. He spun around, ignoring the rocket fist chasing his back, and instead lunged toward Buck on the ground.

  In his palm, the Five-Star Soul Seal began to burn.

  [ Phase Burrow ]!

  At the exact moment Buck and the flying fist were about to converge, Kane’s figure vanished into thin air.

  Thanks for reading!

  RATINGS and REVIEWS are super important for visibility. If you enjoy the story so far, please take 10 seconds to leave a 5-star rating! It helps more than you know. Thanks!

  Want to read ahead?

  30 Advance Chapters right now on my Patreon!