"Well, well. It seems another piece of stray garbage has wandered into my domain," Kenji sneered, resting his glowing katana casually on his shoulder. "Do you have any idea where you are, beggar? You stand before Kenji, the Crimson Blade! Ruler of the Ash Wastes and soon-to-be Demigod of this server!"

Sebastian stopped thirty feet from the platform. He shoved his hands into his pockets and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Are you done?" Sebastian asked flatly.

Kenji blinked, his smile faltering for a second.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked if you were done," Sebastian repeated, his voice completely devoid of fear or respect. It was the tone of a man dealing with a broken vending machine. "Because I’m on a really tight schedule. I need the lake.

You’re standing in front of the lake. So, if you could just wrap up the whole ’I’m a badass samurai’ speech and jump in, that would save us both a lot of time."

The terrified refugees in the cages gasped.

The guards stared at Sebastian like he had completely lost his mind.

Kenji’s face flushed a violent shade of red.

The fiery aura around his katana flared, matching his sudden, explosive anger.

"You dare mock me?!" Kenji roared, taking a dramatic, wide-stanced step forward. He pointed the tip of his glowing blade directly at Sebastian’s chest. "I am a Level 75 Blademaster! I have farmed thousands of souls to forge this blade! I possess the conceptual speed of the wind! I will cut you into a thousand pieces before your pathetic brain even registers the pain!"

Kenji lowered his stance, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. He was clearly preparing to unleash a massive, high-tier dash attack.

"Prepare to witness true power, you filthy glitch!" Kenji screamed, his eyes wide with fanatical rage. "CRIMSON FLASH—!"

Sebastian didn’t even let him finish the spell name. He was entirely done playing along.

He just tapped into his localized Ethereal mana pool and activated the conceptual law of spatial displacement.

[Skill Activated: Heavenly Steps]

Fzzt.

He simply ceased to exist on the ash-covered ground and instantly materialized directly inside the Blademaster’s guard. The distance of thirty feet was bypassed in a fraction of a microsecond.

Kenji’s eyes bulged. His katana was raised high above his head, the fiery aura at its absolute peak, but he was completely frozen mid-swing. The arrogant Warlord didn’t even have the time to process that his target was suddenly standing six inches in front of him.

"You talk way too fucking much," Sebastian deadpanned.

He just shot both of his black-gloved hands forward.

His thirty-percent physical synchronization flared. His muscles, dense as biological titanium, coiled with terrifying, unstoppable kinetic force. His left hand clamped down onto the top of Kenji’s pristine, customized helmet. His right hand locked under the Warlord’s jaw in a vice grip.

Kenji’s eyes snapped down to look at him.

Pure, unadulterated terror finally broke through the arrogant samurai facade.

Sebastian didn’t hesitate. He pulled his hands in opposite directions with the raw, brutal torque of a collapsing star.

CRUNCH! SQUELCH!

The sound was nauseatingly wet and incredibly loud in the dead canyon.

The heavy, high-tier crimson armor didn’t offer a single ounce of protection. Sebastian’s synchronized strength completely bypassed the item stats. The lower half of Kenji’s jaw was violently ripped clean off his skull.

"GURK!"

Blood sprayed like a ruptured fire hydrant.

Thick, glowing red pixels mixed with digital bone fragments and exploded outward. Kenji couldn’t scream. His vocal cords were completely severed, hanging loosely from the ruined stump of his neck.

Sebastian held the severed lower jaw in his right hand. He looked at the Warlord’s health bar. It didn’t tick down. It instantly deleted itself from the server registry. Catastrophic biological failure.

[Target Eliminated. EXP Gained.] [Loot Dropped: Crimson Katana (Epic), Samurai Plate (Epic), 500 Gold Coins.]

The headless, twitching corpse of the Level 75 Blademaster stood there for a split second, blood fountaining from the neck.

Sebastian casually raised his heavy boot and kicked the corpse squarely in the chest.

THUD.

The ruined body flew backward off the polished black stone platform. It sailed through the air and crashed directly into the bubbling, glowing red fluid of the massive reservoir.

SPLASH!

Kenji’s body hit the Blood Lake. The highly concentrated, liquefied Source Code instantly assimilated the dead Warlord. The epic armor and the remaining digital flesh melted in less than a second, turning into a burst of bright red light before being swallowed completely by the violently churning pool.

Sebastian tossed the severed jaw onto the ground. It bounced once and dissolved into gray ash.

Absolute, horrifying silence fell over the shoreline.

The two brutish, heavily armored guards standing near the edge of the platform froze.

They stared at the empty space where their invincible Guild Master had been standing just two seconds ago. Their brains entirely failed to process the math. A ragged guy in a dirty coat had just ripped a Level 75 boss apart with his bare hands.

"What the fuck?!" one of the guards shrieked, his voice cracking. He panicked and raised his heavy kinetic rifle, aiming it blindly at Sebastian’s chest. "Kill him! Kill the glitch!"

Sebastian slowly turned his head. His silver-tinged eyes locked onto the guard.

"I really hate loud noises," Sebastian sighed.

He didn’t use a spell. He just stepped forward.

BANG! BANG!

The guard pulled the trigger in a blind panic.

Two heavy armor-piercing slugs tore through the air.

Sebastian didn’t dodge. He just raised his left arm.

The bullets hit the dense, kinetic-dampening polymer of his black tactical suit. They flattened instantly against his biological steel muscles and dropped harmlessly to the floor like discarded pennies.

"My turn," Sebastian muttered.

He closed the distance in a single stride. He reached out and grabbed the scorching hot barrel of the kinetic rifle. He squeezed.

CRACK.

The thick steel barrel crumpled like cheap tin foil under his grip. The guard gasped, trying to yank the weapon back, but it was like trying to pull a toy from a hydraulic press.