"You…"
Helena didn't know what to say.
Because according to the morals and values of this world, they weren't actually wrong.
In this world, due to the existence of powerful martial artists, many moral standards and values were different from other worlds.
Here, as a martial artist, you could act domineeringly and you could even assassinate others for the sake of your business.
But you couldn't arbitrarily kill or harm ordinary citizens.
Because martial artists were not invincible.
Most martial artists weren't even at the level of Mai or Chun-Li. And even for fighters like them, if they were caught off guard and ambushed in an alley by several gunmen firing indiscriminately, they would still die.
Even someone like Akuma couldn't defend against bullets with his physical body alone.
Of course, defending with "qi" was another matter.
But in reality, martial artists who could develop qi were less than one in ten thousand.
Female martial artists can still die just as easily in dangerous situations. And if you devote yourself entirely to martial arts, although your body becomes stronger and your senses sharper, your time for academic study is drastically reduced. Most fighters don't have impressive educational backgrounds; many are high school dropouts. Unless you're a professional athlete or a full-time martial artist, it's nearly impossible for an average family to support that level of intense training.
Even so, martial artists are still quite numerous in this world and they play many roles in society's development.
Stories of righteous martial artists stopping evil martial artists are quite common.
In earlier times, evil martial artists didn't care about morality or ethics. In the era of cold weapons, they were essentially invincible on the battlefield, easily crushing ordinary people.
But as civilian casualties mounted and society fell into chaos, every stable government came to the same conclusion:
Martial artists could fight and kill each other as much as they wanted; die in the mountains, no one would report it, no one would care. Injuries in dojos weren't taken too seriously either.
But if you harmed ordinary civilians...
You would be hunted down by official forces. No government organization would tolerate a powerful martial artist slaughtering ordinary people at will.
Even martial artists in the underworld wouldn't personally attack small vendors; they'd just send low-level thugs with some basic training to handle it.
So, Helena's earlier words were already quite polite, no, they could even be described as quite responsible. In the ears of any martial artist in this world, there was nothing unreasonable about them.
But...
Ryuji didn't even have an identity in this world. And honestly, he was getting annoyed.
"You should've already realized that guy had the power of a martial artist, yet you're still clinging to rules and appearances. It seems I'll have to show you that anyone who can escape from my hands is no ordinary person."
He raised his hand and in an instant, crimson dragon fire enveloped Kyo and Iori, making them feel its scorching heat.
Both of them were shocked. Even if it looked like a sneak attack, they had been fully on guard.
Yet they hadn't seen Ryuji's move at all, nor had they been able to defend against it.
But as the flames burned around them, the two quickly realized something...
Their injuries were being healed by Ryuji's flames. And despite the intense heat, the flames caused them no harm whatsoever.
"What are you doing...?"
Kyo's eyes widened. He no longer wanted to fight, but Ryuji sneered.
"Healing you, so you don't say I won unfairly."
Ryuji crossed his arms over his chest, gesturing with his chin toward the four martial artists.
"I'll give you three seconds. If you don't attack me, I'll attack you."
His words carried overwhelming killing intent. Iori felt his heart begin to pound violently. Especially the blood on the ground, it seemed to exert some strange pull. Just smelling it made the Orochi blood within him and his purple flames surge uncontrollably!
"One."
Ryuji closed his eyes.
"Two."
"Sir, we are just following the rules and regulations!"
Helena frowned. She had a feeling that something about Ryuji felt wrong.
He is too domineering and impulsive. And what was with this killing intent?
She could feel it pressing down on her, making it hard to even breathe. Forget fighting; just standing in front of him made it feel like her body could be pierced at any moment.
"Three."
The moment the count ended, all four martial artists saw the same scene at the same time: Ryuji charging at them and punching straight through their bodies.
All four froze instantly.
It was an illusion formed by killing intent, but it locked their bodies in place. If not for their martial artist's physical control and courage, an ordinary person wouldn't just be unable to move but some of their organs might even shut down.
Heart. Bladder. Even bodily control, everything would fail.
The instant they broke free from that illusion of being killed, Kyo and Iori instinctively gathered flames in their hands and charged at Ryuji together.
It was a full-power response born from truly experiencing the fear of death. And driven by their momentum, Helena and Marie Rose also subconsciously launched attacks toward Ryuji.
But...
"Weak."
Ryuji raised a single finger and his figure vanished instantly.
"Shun Goku Satsu."
The four of them felt countless fist shadows striking from all directions, bombarding their entire bodies. They couldn't see anything, no movements, no attacks and were instantly knocked to the ground.
The gap… was far too great.
To bystanders, Ryuji had only vanished for a moment and the four martial artists who had stepped forward for justice were already lying on the ground. If this were a match, it would definitely be called rigged.
But only Kyo and Iori, who had faced Ryuji's attack directly, understood that if Ryuji had intended to kill them, they would have died in that instant.
The difference in strength was that overwhelming.
~~~~~~~~~~
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