"Not bad! You actually managed to block seventy percent of my strength!"
Golden Sage King's voice was confident, yet his eyes carried a hint of solemnity.
"Try taking another punch!" he roared, lunging forward with another strike.
"Boom!"
The force behind his fist split the air apart, followed by a deafening sonic boom. This time, Golden Sage King was no longer holding back—he was going all out.
Fenric, however, remained calm.
He raised his fist.
And punched.
Fenric knew he couldn't match the Golden Sage King in raw strength, so this time, he activated Savage Charge.
The skill not only granted him five seconds of invincibility but also instantly tripled his strength.
"Boom!!"
Their fists collided once more.
"!!"
Golden Sage King's expression changed drastically. It felt as though he hadn't struck a man at all, but an immovable mountain.
In the next moment, an overwhelming force surged from Fenric's fist.
Golden Sage King's entire body was hurled away like a cannonball.
"Crash!!"
He smashed through a streetlamp, snapping it in half, before tumbling into the roadside greenery, rolling to a stop.
Though he possessed a body of steel—a weakened version, but still formidable—Fenric's blow left him reeling, blood surging within his chest.
Fenric narrowed his eyes, watching as the so-called superhero rose to his feet again.
This guy's strength… it's no joke. Probably one of the strongest I've faced so far.
(What Fenric didn't yet know was that his opponent was among the top 100 on the global ranking list.)
"You've angered me!" Golden Sage King roared. His eyes glowed crimson, and suddenly, Fenric felt a chilling wave of imminent death wash over him.
His face darkened.
Damn it, don't tell me…!
The next instant, twin beams of searing red energy shot from Golden Sage King's eyes—his heat vision.
A speed-of-light attack.
Fenric had no time to dodge.
"Zzzz!!"
The rays slammed into him, burning through his Armament Haki and scorching his skin.
"Hiss—!"
The pain was excruciating. Fenric gritted his teeth. The temperature had to be at least 2,000 degrees Celsius—hotter than the nuclear shockwave he had once endured in another trial.
At such temperatures, steel itself would melt into liquid. And yet, Fenric's body, reinforced with Armament Haki, was being burned alive.
His left arm blocked the beams, while his right hand opened into a palm. With a surge of power, he thrust it forward.
"Boom!!"
Golden Sage King was blasted away, his vision going dark as a massive golden palmprint engulfed him.
Buddha's Palm!
For the first time, Fenric unleashed the technique in actual combat.
His current physical attribute sat at 345 points, while his mental attribute reached 690 points—over 1,000 in total. And the Buddha's Palm amplified that combined strength a hundredfold.
That strike carried over 100 tons of force.
"Boom!!"
A nearby office building shuddered as its load-bearing walls gave way.
"Run!!"
Citizens screamed in panic. Dust and smoke billowed as the structure collapsed, debris crashing like an apocalyptic landslide.
With a single palm, Fenric had reduced a building to rubble.
Onlookers stared at him in shock and fear.
A monster…!
Just like the Golden Sage King, this mysterious man was at least an A-class Samsara.
Fenric ignored their terrified gazes. His mask concealed his identity, and it would last for hours yet.
Still, he frowned. Burns marked his arms and body from the earlier heat vision.
Super strength, super speed, steel body, and heat vision…
This man was undeniably a weakened version of Superman.
From the ruins came a crash.
"Crack—"
Golden Sage King staggered out, covered in dust, his clothes torn, his expression grim.
Despite the blow, his steel body had absorbed most of the damage. Internally, he was shaken, but far from defeated.
"That palm… was it the Tathagata's Palm?" Golden Sage King's eyes sharpened. "Are you Shura?"
Fenric blinked, caught off guard by his sharp deduction. Then he smirked beneath his mask and answered without hesitation.
"Yes. I am."
The words detonated like thunder among the crowd.
"What?! He's Shura?!"
"Impossible! Didn't Shura just clear the 10th floor of the Samsara Tower?"
"And now he's fighting the Golden Sage King to a standstill?! He's a monster!"
"Shura Oppa! Oppa, you're so handsome! I want to date Shura Oppa!!"
"Who's Shura?"
"You don't follow Samsara news, old man! He's a legend already!"
"Old man? How dare you! I'm only 51! I'm still in my prime!"
The chaos in the crowd only grew, voices overlapping in hysteria.
Reporters were already dialing their editors with trembling hands:
"Chief! Breaking news! Hurry—get the news van to XX Road, near the Heqiu Hotel!"