That afternoon, the sky was a leaden sheet.
Lin Mo was at the supermarket with a basket, picking a week's worth of special-deal meals, enjoying the long-lost feeling of blending into the crowd.
His senses were now razor sharp; from dozens of meters through chatter he could pick out the cashier aunties grousing about vegetable prices.
He held a basket laden with drinks and snacks, over thirty kilos, in one hand as if weightless.
The mastery of his own power put him in a good mood.
But the calm shattered quickly.
A heavy thunder roll rumbled across the sky.
Then fat raindrops fell without warning, drumming on the supermarket glass doors, merging at once into a heavy water curtain.
The world looked filmed through a gray filter.
"Emergency alarm! Emergency alarm!"
A shrill klaxon sliced the rain and rang throughout the city.
Shoppers and staff stopped and stared at the TV on the wall.
"Disaster alert issued! Unidentified monsters have appeared in J City coastal areas. Disaster level: 'Demon'!"
"The monsters are moving toward downtown! All citizens stop going out and proceed to the nearest official shelter at once! Repeating, disaster level is 'Demon'…"
The store fell into panic.
People dropped what they were holding and bolted for the door, screaming, trying to find safety.
Lin Mo frowned.
He felt fear spreading through the air, and an old thread of tension stirred.
But it was quickly soothed by the power surging within.
He was no longer the ordinary man whose legs went weak at alarms.
He flowed with the crowd out the store; cold rain soaked his hoodie in an instant.
Pulling up his hood, he slipped through the press with speed and strength far beyond human, and reached a nearby underground public shelter.
The shelter was already packed; the damp air was thick with unease and fear.
All eyes were glued to a giant live feed on the wall, broadcasting the frontline in real time.
Onscreen, J City's streets were a flood.
Strange fish-like "Seafolk" ravaged through standing water, their power and speed far beyond humans; the police couldn't stop them.
At their center strode a towering figure with a crown and a dark-red cape, walking like a king.
He was the source of the catastrophe— the Deep Sea King.
"Look! An S-Class hero!" Shouts of joy rose.
The camera cut to a hulking, absurdly muscular man in prison stripes, who leapt into the fray.
It was the S-Class hero who had just rushed from prison— Sexy Prisoner.
"Feel my fist of love!"
He roared and unleashed "Angel Rush," muscles bulging, phantom white wings flaring, smashing toward the Deep Sea King.
Deep Sea King didn't dodge— he took the full brunt, muscles of his arms denting.
But with a small laugh, his injuries healed almost at once.
"H…how…?" Sexy Prisoner stared in disbelief.
"Too slow. Too weak," Deep Sea King sneered, and drove a fist forward.
It slammed deep into Sexy Prisoner's gut; his body bowed like a shrimp and spurted blood.
He flew like a kite with cut string, smashing through several walls and vanishing in rubble, life or death unknown.
Hope that had sparked in the shelter was doused like ice water.
Everyone sucked in cold breath; despair etched every face.
One-shot… An S-Class hero, down in a single blow!
Lin Mo's pupils tightened; his heart kicked harder, involuntary.
"Thump… thump-thump… thump-thump-thump…"
The familiar King Engine began to rumble low inside him.
But this time, what accompanied it wasn't fear, but a strange blend of gravity and fighting spirit.
He clenched his fist, analyzing the footage at high speed.
"Fast… absurdly strong. In rain his power probably surpasses normal Demon level— at the Dragon threshold."
Just then, a spear of golden light tore the rain, casting new hope on the field.
"It's the 'Demonic Cyborg' Genos!" Cheers rose again.
S-Class hero Genos dropped from the sky, arm cannons already aimed; without a moment's doubt he fired searing beams.
"Incineration Cannon!"
Flame met downpour, geysering white steam.
Deep Sea King's figure flickered within; arms crossed to guard, he took the blast head-on.
Black scorch marks appeared on his skin, but the rain washed them away at visible speed.
"A cyborg? A boring toy," Deep Sea King said with a cruel smile.
"Let me tear you into scrap!"
He vanished midword.
The battle became a shocking high-speed duel.
Genos, at full fire, rained down "Machine-Gun Blows" like meteors, each strike with a small explosion.
Deep Sea King, empowered by rain, dodged and countered with extreme speed and brutal recovery.
Gold and green streaks flashed across the storm-shrouded city; buildings and streets crumbled in their path.
In the shelter people held their breath.
They couldn't follow the details—only gold and green blurs and the thunder of blasts.
Lin Mo, though, saw clearer than anyone.
Boosted to 90 in speed and telekinesis, his dynamic vision and reaction were inhuman.
In his eyes, every motion slowed.
Genos's attacks were fierce, but most were dodged or tanked; with rain, the wounds vanished.
Genos, by contrast, gained cracks and damage at each collision.
"At this rate, Genos will lose," Lin Mo concluded.
Genos's energy was finite; Deep Sea King in rain seemed inexhaustible.
-------
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