Asura's broadsword flushed crimson as he swung it horizontally, aiming straight for Kai Heinemann's neck. It was a slash packing enough raw power to lay waste to the entire area, yet Kai deflected it with his wooden stick, using a smooth, effortless motion devoid of any wasted movement. With his blade parried upward, Asura's midsection was left wide open. Kai drove his left fist deep into Asura's gut, lifting his entire frame off the ground. As Asura hung suspended in the air, Kai spun like a top and slammed a clean roundhouse kick right into him.
Biting down hard on his lower lip, Asura barely kept his fading consciousness tethered. He stabbed his broadsword into the earth to brace himself and hold his ground.
When he looked up, Zenki and Goki were already descending upon Kai Heinemann. Kai ducked under Zenki's club while simultaneously bringing his wooden stick down across Zenki's back. As Zenki bounced across the ground, gouging furrows into the stone, Kai thrust the wooden stick behind him at Goki without even turning around. The tip caught Goki square in the throat, sending him spinning through the air before he tumbled across the floor.
Bleeding from the head, Zenki sluggishly pushed himself back up, while Goki sprang to his feet with a beastly roar to pump himself up.
Kai Heinemann silently regarded Zenki, Goki, and then Asura.
"Five points. Utterly worthless."
He delivered his cold critique.
"Lord Asura, let's do that!"
Zenki lowered his center of gravity, resting his club on his shoulder as his eyeballs flushed a violent red.
"Ain't got no choice now, do we?!"
Goki ran his tongue across his lower lip, his eyes and claws bleeding into the same shade of crimson.
Indeed, half-baked attacks would never work on a monster like this anyway. With Asura's ultimate spell, evasion was impossible. If it connected cleanly, it should at least be able to leave a scratch.
"Zenki! Goki! I'm counting on you!"
Right!
The two roared in unison and charged at Kai Heinemann, unleashing a ferocious assault that blew their previous attempts out of the water.
Even under normal circumstances, Zenki and Goki were in a completely different league compared to the Subordinate Kings serving under the other Six Great Generals. While Asura had spent his time indulging in meaningless amusements, they were fierce gods who had relentlessly polished their martial prowess and tempered their bodies. What was more, the two were currently utilizing their Great Fierce God Transformation. In a sense, the Great Fierce God Transformation was a form of doping that sacrificed their very lifespans. Physical strength, divine power, and magic power all skyrocketed. This was an all-out, desperate onslaught staking their very lives. Even one of the Six Great Generals like Asura would never be able to dodge it. It was bound to inflict substantial damage. And yet—
"Damn it all!"
Every single strike was casually parried by a mere stick. And then—Kai's piece of wood nudged Zenki's club off course, unnaturally redirecting its trajectory.
"Whoa?!"
Carrying several times the momentum with which it had been brought down on Kai, Zenki's club hurtled straight toward Goki.
"Gwah?!"
The impact sent Goki hurtling violently into the far wall.
"..."
Seizing the split-second opening when Zenki's eyes flickered toward Goki, Kai Heinemann slipped inside his guard and drove a left knee into his abdomen. Zenki's body folded in half, and as his frame floated upward, Kai whipped around and slammed a heavy, centrifugal-loaded right roundhouse kick into him. Zenki went hurtling in a dead-straight line, spinning at high speed until he crashed into a broken pillar, obliterating it to dust.
Just then, Asura finished his incantation. Countless needles crackling with lightning materialized, encircling Kai on all sides.
"Demon Lightning Needles!!"
With Asura's command, the needles surged forward, their tips converging on Kai Heinemann.
"Did we... get him?"
"Nope. Not even close."
Hearing the voice materialize right behind him, Asura felt a jolt of panic bubble up inside his chest. He whipped around and swung his broadsword with every ounce of strength he could muster.
"Y-You monster!"
Standing atop the flat of the broadsword that had sliced only empty air was Kai Heinemann. Asura couldn't help but shout the painfully cliché line.
An instant later, Kai's wooden stick cracked down onto the crown of Asura's head, sending him diving face-first into the dirt. The ground buckled violently, forming a massive crater centered around Asura's face.
"Thirty points. Simply throwing more attacks out isn't the answer. Unless you can pin my movements down, your prized projectile has no chance of hitting. Haven't I been telling you this all along? Give meaning to each and every strike."
Asura understood what Kai meant all too well. Ever since the fight began, he had thrown himself at Kai Heinemann only to be systematically dismantled at every turn. Yet with each clash, the searing, instinctual terror he had initially harbored toward Kai gradually receded. Right now, the aura coming off the man felt no more threatening than that of a low-ranking officer in the Evil Army.
Of course, that didn't mean Asura had gotten stronger. Kai had simply dialed his own power down to a level that wouldn't kill them with a single blow.
In other words, being as strong as a mere non-commissioned officer was more than enough for Kai to completely overwhelm Asura.
"Dammit..."
Kai Heinemann was treating Asura and his men like toddlers through pure martial skill alone. Up until now, the strength Asura had believed in was defined by physical prowess, magical might, and the miracles of this world that only the chosen gods could wield: Transcendental Divine Techniques. But in the face of true mastery, every single one of them was nothing more than useless garbage.
"Dammit! Dammit all!"
He had already been beaten to a pulp by Kai Heinemann and was practically covered in wounds from head to toe. Yet in stark contrast to his battered body, a fierce emotion welled up from the core of his being. It was a feeling Asura had discarded long ago: a sense of his own pathetic inadequacy, so overwhelming he could barely hold himself together.
Why am I so damn weak?!
Here he was, fighting the greatest opponent of his entire life, yet far from forcing the man to get serious, he couldn't land a single scratch even while his opponent held back. It was infuriating beyond words, and utterly humiliating.
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammiiiiiiit!!"
Howling at the top of his lungs, Asura raised his broadsword.
"Hm. To still harbor such frustration despite this vast difference in skill... I must admit, your type is a first for me."
Seeing this disgraceful display, so unbecoming of one of the Six Great Generals of the Evil Army, Kai Heinemann pointed the tip of his wooden stick toward Asura.
"The next exchange is the last. Come at me with everything you've got."
Kai's demeanor shifted completely. An overwhelming pressure washed over the area, like a gargantuan beast baring its gaping maw, sending goosebumps rippling across Asura's entire body. But why? Strangely enough, fear was the one thing he didn't feel.
Lowering his center of gravity, Asura drew his beloved blade back with all his might. This was the very first technique he had ever learned. Simple as it was, it was a move he had forged and polished up to this very second.
Kicking off the ground with everything he had left—
"Demon Slash!"
He brought his blade crashing down toward Kai Heinemann with all his might. But what was undoubtedly the greatest slash of his life was effortlessly deflected aside. And then—
"Seven Fangs."
Kai Heinemann's wooden stick drove into seven of Asura's vital points in rapid succession—the crown, the temple, the philtrum, the solar plexus, the abdomen, the groin, and the flank. Asura slowly toppled backward onto the earth.
"Did I... lose?"
To Asura's muttered concession of defeat—
"Yes. You lost."
Kai Heinemann quietly confirmed it.
"Damn it!"
Hot tears welled up and spilled over.
"Damn it! Damn it all! I should've been able to do more! I was supposed to have a battle that got my blood boiling hotter than this!"
His vision blurred, and amid his fading consciousness, Asura screamed out in shameless frustration.
"Impossible. As you are now, you are far too weak."
Kai Heinemann flatly shut down his words.
"Daaaaammiiiiit!!"
Covering his face with his right palm—the only part of his body that would still respond—Asura screamed until his throat felt ready to tear apart.
"Disgraceful. A display utterly unworthy of a warrior. As I thought, you are still not ready to shoulder your companions' feelings. Therefore—"
With Kai Heinemann's final murmur, Asura's consciousness faded into darkness.