The golden "sun" left his hand.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
All saw, clearly, the golden orb crash into Deep Sea King's giant fist.
There was no sound.
At contact, a glare consumed all.
Then a tide of annihilating energy swallowed Deep Sea King whole— unstoppably.
The golden column didn't fade—it bored through Deep Sea King and roared down the shattered street behind him!
Every car and slab of ruin touched by the beam powdered instantly.
In the end the cataclysmic blast speared the sky.
It tore open the thick rain clouds over J City, punching a massive circular hole in the gloomy heavens!
Sunlight, through that hole, poured down.
A golden shaft fell just so upon Lin Mo, gilding him with a sacred sheen.
The world went dead silent.
——
Lin Mo stood quietly, one hand in his pocket; the other lowered slowly, palm still warm with power.
Deep Sea King was gone, not even ash left.
Where he had stood lay a vitrified pit, melted by heat and quickly cooled.
On a building ahead yawned a circular hole more than ten meters across.
Looking up one could even see the scrubbed-clean streets beyond— and that forcibly sunlit sky.
In the shelter, absolute silence held for over ten seconds.
Minds blanked; they couldn't process what they saw.
Punching a monster away—they could imagine.
Burning one to a crisp—they could imagine.
But… using a beam to vaporize the enemy along with the entire street behind him— and even blast a hole in the clouds—
What power was this?
Was it power a human could wield?
"Mom… the rain… stopped…" a child's voice piped up, breaking the suffocating stillness.
A little girl pointed at the screen, eyes full of innocent curiosity: "Did the golden uncle do that?"
Like a fuse for powder, the words detonated pent-up emotion in the shelter.
"It stopped… the rain really stopped!"
"We won… we… we're saved!!"
"OOOOOOHHHH!!!"
A mountain-wave of cheers exploded; fear and despair turned to tears of joy.
People hugged and wept as if reborn.
Again and again they cried the name that, until now, was a figure in news and legend.
"It's KING! The legendary KING!"
"He saved us! He alone saved us all!"
"So strong… This is… this is a real hero! Humanity's strongest hero!"
The smug mockery of Unlicensed Rider had long been replaced by respect and awe.
Lin Mo knew none of the clamor.
He stepped to Unlicensed Rider, crouched, and checked his breath.
Steady. Under the Super Stamina Potion's power, his broken bones and battered organs were healing at super-speed.
He was out simply from body and mind pushed past limits.
"You're the real hero," Lin Mo murmured, eyes filled with genuine respect.
——
At the same time, the Association HQ was in chaos.
"The energy reading in J City's disaster zone… vanished!" a monitor tech yanked off his headset and shouted, face disbelieving.
"Vanished? Meaning? Defeated?" Sitch frowned deeply, striding to the main screen.
"N… not just defeated!" the tech's voice shook; he pulled up the energy chart.
"Just now, a terrifying energy source appeared in central J City! It lasted only 0.8 seconds before disappearing— but along with it vanished the life signal of Deep Sea King!"
A sharp satellite cloud image filled the main screen.
When they saw the thick cloud bank with a huge, perfect circular hole, silence fell over the command room.
"W-what… is that?"
A staffer muttered, "An eye of a typhoon? No… the edge is too neat, like… like something carved a chunk out…"
"Confirm at once— at that time and coordinates— which heroes were present!" Sitch snapped.
Soon the answer came.
"Report! Based on GPS, the heroes present were… were C-Class No. 1 Unlicensed Rider… and… and S-Class No. 6 KING!"
At the name, doubts found their answer.
Sitch's pupils shrank. He stared at the unbelievable cloud hole, then at the energy graph; his Adam's apple bobbed.
He'd always known KING was strong—the Association's last trump.
But he hadn't imagined KING's strength had reached such terror.
"Creak—"
The heavy metal doors of the shelter swung open to a roar of cheers.
The first man out froze at the sight outside.
Then more and more poured out.
The ecstasy on their faces, at the vitrified ground and the flattened street, slowly turned into deep awe and shock.
Lifting their eyes, they saw KING, standing gleaming in the beam.
Sunlight gilded him as if a statue.
"It's… Lord KING…"
At the first voice, the crowd boiled again, cheers and thanks rolling like surf.
Lin Mo looked at the sea of humans and felt slightly unwell.
He disliked this feeling.
He turned away; without acknowledging the kneeling crowd, in his calm, low voice, he said one sentence:
"The danger is gone."
-------
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