CRASH!
The sound was deafening. Huang Wen narrowly avoided a colossal stone fist that tore through the drywall next to his head, sending gypsum dust and shredded metal studs flying. He briefly registered the thought: If that was a high-rise, we'd be falling right now.
The walls of the conference room were being systematically obliterated. The Goren Gang clerks on the fourth floor, paralyzed by fear and the sheer noise, knew better than to investigate. They knew the terrifying power of Fist Stone.
"This is ridiculous. If power-type Mutants are this durable, how am I ever supposed to handle major threats like the Hulk or Abomination?" Huang Wen mentally complained, weaving through the chaos. His initial vengeance had turned into an unpredictable, high-level survival exercise.
Seizing a split-second when the mutant was slightly off-balance after a massive swing, Huang Wen executed a low, powerful Wing Chun sweep-kick to Fist Stone's ankle, which was still mostly fleshy.
The attack was unexpected. Fist Stone, rigid from the stone armor and heavy from his mutation, crashed to the floor with the sound of a small avalanche.
However, the mutant's instincts were still sharp. Even as he fell, he used his free, petrified hand to brace himself, roaring and attempting to heave his massive weight back up.
Huang Wen saw his opening. He swiftly bypassed the flailing stone limbs, spun around, and used the full momentum of his waist and stance to press down onto Fist Stone's back. He then unleashed a relentless, hyper-fast barrage of Sun-shaped Punches aimed precisely at the only truly unprotected vital area left: the back of the mutant's neck, where the spine met the skull.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The series of blows was like a heavy hammer against concrete. Even with the thin layer of emerging stone skin, the speed and focused power overwhelmed the mutant's ability to defend the area. Fist Stone's roar choked off. His movements became sluggish; he lay stunned, his thinking momentarily disconnected by the barrage.
PING!
Just as Huang Wen was about to press the attack, a sharp sound echoed off his back. A bullet!
The bullet, fired from the group of huddled gangsters, deflected harmlessly off the Tuxedo's collar, but the kinetic force was enough to momentarily halt Huang Wen's concentration. Before he could recover, a massive heave came from below. Fist Stone, regaining his strength, violently threw his body upward, sending Huang Wen flying off his back and tumbling across the room.
"YOU WILL DIE!" Fist Stone shrieked, his voice vibrating with pure, unfettered rage.
The stone skin on his body visibly began to change texture. It thickened, condensing into dense, jagged plates. He was no longer covered in a sheath; he was transforming into a genuine, silver-gray Stone Golem—reminiscent, perhaps, of some of the creatures Huang Wen had seen in cosmic comic books. His strength was rising exponentially with his anger.
"Great. The classic Hulk principle," Huang Wen muttered, wiping dust from his coat. "My first mutant is a rage-powered tank. Fantastic."
He pivoted, his eyes locking onto Goren, who had fired the shot. The Goren Gang leader was using the chaos to hide and attack.
"Since you value your life so little, you first!" Huang Wen declared, surging toward the terrified Goren.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Goren emptied his pistol. The bullets once again struck the Tuxedo, which didn't even ripple. Huang Wen instinctively utilized his Wing Chun footwork, dodging three of the six shots out of pure habit and efficiency, arriving in front of Goren faster than the man could blink.
Goren was desperate. He threw his empty pistol aside, and a small, sharpened short sword suddenly dropped from his sleeve into his hand—a hidden executive weapon. With a final, vicious cry, he lunged, plunging the blade straight toward Huang Wen's chest.
CRACK!
It was a pathetic effort. The blade merely scraped the Tuxedo's fabric, but Huang Wen, moving with impossible speed, seized Goren's arm. With a brutal snap, he broke the leader's wrist, twisting the short sword 180 degrees.
Goren's own weapon sliced across his throat.
The gang leader collapsed, gurgling, his eyes wide with disbelief as his life force drained onto the expensive carpet.
Huang Wen turned to finish the remaining cowering gang members, but a thunderous sense of danger slammed into his consciousness.
He instinctively executed a rapid rolling evasive maneuver, diving away from the spot where he had just stood.
BOOM!
Fist Stone, now fully transformed into a staggering, hulking stone monster, brought his massive fist down where Huang Wen had been standing. The floor shattered explosively. The shockwave and flying debris violently slammed into the remaining, already terrified Goren Gang members, pulverizing them instantly. Goren's dying body was caught in the blast and mangled beyond recognition.
"Out of control," Huang Wen observed, his eyes gleaming. The mutant's rage had successfully severed his tactical intelligence. He was now operating on one base command: Kill the source of pain.
He decided to use this to his advantage. He filled his lungs and unleashed a powerful, focused Lion's Roar—an old, seldom-used technique of the Sifu, designed to focus an opponent's attention and briefly shatter their mental concentration.
"HEY, BIG GUY! I'M RIGHT HERE! COME GET ME!"
The roar sliced through the noise. Fist Stone's massive, rock-covered head snapped toward the sound. Even though his eyes were now featureless stone pits, his entire focus narrowed on Huang Wen. He roared back, a sound of pure fury, and charged.
The transformation was now complete, but the trade-off was stark: his power was immense, but his movements were ponderous and predictable.
Huang Wen became a phantom, dancing around the heavy, sweeping attacks. He deliberately maneuvered near the last remaining structural support columns in the room.
He's completely unbreakable, but I don't need to break him, Huang Wen realized, checking his slightly aching fist again—he had punched the stone and drawn his own blood from the impact. I need to contain him.
The clerks outside were panicking, and one, driven by desperation and a faint sense of civic duty, was foolishly trying to call the police. The countdown had started.
"What to do? I can't leave this raging brick wall here to regain his senses and identify me later..." Huang Wen dodged a punch that pulverized the wall he had just been leaning on.
I need a way to neutralize him permanently, or at least incapacitate him so thoroughly that the police will find a monster, not an enemy.
A sudden, brilliant, and incredibly risky idea flashed into his mind.