Before Aaron unleashed his Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist, everything he did was, in fact, setup for that final punch.
Relying on the ice power from the Honkai Beast Meta-Morph Factor, people of the Kaslana clan, after their bloodline awakened to a certain stage, could use that ice power in battle.
And after Aaron unleashed that terrifying power, all of his attacks contained a tiny trace of that ice power.
One punch didn't contain much power, but once the number of attacks piled up, this ice power wreaking havoc inside Bulat's body was no longer a force that could be ignored.
As for why he waited until the last second to use Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist, it was mainly because Aaron considered the System's description: 'This skill's cost is not low, please be mindful.' He didn't want to just spam it like a basic attack.
Orca, the founder of this whale-style martial art, could use this ultimate move like a basic attack, partly because he was its creator and knew how to conserve energy.
The other reason was that he was a "magnetic field master," and their regenerative abilities were extremely strong, so they naturally didn't care about the cost of such a small skill.
But Aaron wasn't Orca, and he certainly wasn't a "magnetic field master." His 'mana bar' for fighting was only so big.
If he had recklessly thrown a few more Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fists earlier, he didn't know if his opponent would be dead, but the probability of him passing out first was quite high.
Rather than waste energy, he was better off setting up for this final blow.
And as it turned out, he succeeded.
The moment his fist landed on Bulat, Aaron used the special power technique of Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist to drive all the ice power he could control into Bulat's body in one go.
Bulat, struck by this blow, not only felt a violent impact in his chest, but also felt the ice power that had been rampaging through his body suddenly go haywire as another, stronger ice power invaded.
The two ice powers resonated and merged, and when this ice power finished merging—this lethally destructive force exploded for a second time inside Bulat's body.
Unable to react at all, Bulat was completely knocked unconscious by this blow.
With his transformation canceled, he naturally couldn't hold on to Incursio's Teigu key.
Looking at Bulat, whose body was completely frozen by the ice power, Aaron picked up the fallen Teigu key, and almost passed out right then and there.
Forcefully using Ittou Shura while his body hadn't recovered, and on top of that, using the Meta-Morph Factor's power... the only reason Aaron didn't pass out immediately was because it still wasn't 'safe'.
Lubbock's combat power in Night Raid wasn't high, but as long as he had his "Realm-Cutting" threads, he still had a chance to kill Kiana and, while he was at it, finish him off.
Until Lubbock was completely gone, Aaron couldn't show a single trace of weakness.
So...
"Hah. Just by touching this Teigu's key, I can feel an unyielding spirit trying to devour me. Interesting. Very interesting."
After pulling off the Honkai Beast carapace mask that was still on his face, Aaron tossed it aside, looked in Lubbock's direction, and revealed an extremely dangerous smile.
"There's still one left, right? In that case..."
"Incursio!"
As he completed the transformation, Aaron instantly felt like he was about to collapse.
Incursio itself placed a huge burden on its user, and Aaron was in terrible shape. If he wasn't forced, he absolutely would not have used this Teigu at this time.
"...Aaaaaah, why did things turn out like this!"
Lubbock, about to have a breakdown, directly manipulated his threads, making them burst from the holes in the ground at Aaron's feet.
During the intense battle between Aaron and Bulat, their attacks had already created dozens of large and small pits in the ground.
Under Lubbock's precise control, he extended his threads in massive numbers from the dirt holes at his feet into those pits.
He then manipulated the majority of these threads to erupt from the ground, forming a net of threads that enveloped Aaron from above.
At the same time, he used some of his threads to pull Bulat's body to his side.
Grabbing his comrade's ice-cold body, Lubbock immediately started using his threads to escape through the forest, running for his life.
This guy is ridiculously strong.
I thought the Teigu user between them was him, but...
Hold on, ice power?
He definitely used ice power at the end. Doesn't that mean...
I have to tell Najenda about this immediately.
If this guy is related to that madwoman, this is a huge deal.
Ugh, what a headache.
A new enemy has appeared, and he's this troublesome...
I hope my guess is wrong. Otherwise, if it's proven he's connected to that madwoman, he'll definitely be on the Empire's side.
And this guy... if he's given more time to grow, he'll become even more terrifying.
Thinking of this, Lubbock didn't dare to follow this train of thought any further.
He didn't want to think about it.
Right now, all he wanted was to get away from this dangerous man immediately and hurry back to the Night Raid base to treat Bulat's wounds.
On the other side, Kiana saw Aaron get caught in the net and immediately rushed to his side, tossing the net away.
Then, she watched as Aaron stood blankly in front of her, and a bad feeling rose in her heart.
"Um, Aaron..."
Before she could finish, she watched as Aaron canceled his transformation, then collapsed to the ground, spurting a large amount of blood.
"Aaaaaaaah! I knew this would happen!!!!"
"That's enough! Can't you take care of yourself just a little bit!!!!"
......