Every instinct inside Agon's body was screaming; it was like a primal part of him was warning him of some danger he couldn't comprehend.

What was this?

He stared at the two people sitting on the tree, the pink-haired woman and the caveman-like man. They weren't releasing any Ord or any pressure, but deep in every cell of his body, he knew they were dangerous.

"So our job is to unseal the big snake and test that Abe No Seimei brat, right?" Asked the Warrior as confirmation.

As soon as he said that, Sei’s Ord burst out, and he clenched his teeth. There was a scary look in his eyes, the kind that said he would kill someone. “Who told you that name?”

The barbarian smirked. “Your mother.”

As soon as he said that, Sei created a small mirror and punched it. Then another small mirror manifested just to the right of Roc’s cheek, and Sei landed a punch head-on, pushing the man off the big tree and causing him to fall face-first to the ground.

Agon winced. The man hadn’t even used Ord. Even an exorcist wouldn’t survive a fall that high while going down head-first. Maybe he didn’t know how to use Ord?! There were all kinds of crazy people in the world!

But during this whole time, Pixie only had her chin resting on her palm and watched on with vivid fascination.

“Ugh, that came outta nowhere,” Roc got up and cracked his neck. “I almost felt that one.”

“Dumbass, you’re a warrior. You can use Ord to defend yourself.” Pixie sighed; she seemed done with him.

Roc pouted. “But that makes fights no fun!”

“C’mon, Roc, you don’t wanna disappoint the boss, do you?” Pixie enticed him.

As soon as she mentioned the boss, Roc’s eyes lit up, and he yelled out. “Yeahhh! You’re right!”

He then gathered Ord into his fist, punched downward, and his fist easily sank into the ground.

BOOM!... An explosion rang out, the earth shook, and it felt like they were at the core of an earthquake. There was such power behind the attack that just the wind pushed Agon back until his back touched a tree.

Once the dust cleared out, all that was left was just Roc looking around confused while in the middle of a crater the size of a round swimming pool. “Wait, that was a bad move!”

Sweat rolled down Roc’s face like a waterfall. “I wanted to cause the ground to shake and make them lose balance! Maybe have some rocks fly about and all that! Not just make a big hole!”

The pink-haired girl rubbed her brows and muttered under her breath. “This is why I fucking hate Warriors. Anyone else would have been better than this dumbass!”

But after a few seconds, Pixie seemed to come to her senses and continued smirking at them. “Heh, that wasn’t even him using his special ability! Roc was born with a strong body and a high Warrior affinity! He’s the perfect fighter!”

Despite hearing that, Agon wasn’t discouraged. He had his teammates by his side, and with them, he would never lose! “Bring it on! I will take on all your punches.”

“We have a dumbass of our own,” Anika sighed.

Agon wondered who she was talking about. Sei was pretty smart, and so was she.

Wait, were they calling him dumb?!

He didn’t have the time to think about it too much as Roc imbued his fist with Ord again, and this time he didn’t go for the ground. Instead, he charged at Agon.

As he got closer, Agon realized how big the barbarian-looking man was. He looked three times the size of a normal human being! Also, he was rippling with muscles!

But despite the man’s size, and even though Agon could see him, he realized that his own body was moving slowly. No, he wasn’t moving slow, but Roc was that much faster!

The barbarian was in front of him in less than a second, and Agon knew he couldn't dodge. So he crossed his arms to at least try and defend, already prepared to hear his arms break like twigs.

But the pain never came.

"Huh?" The barbarian looked confused as he stared at the mirror that had materialized before him. Due to the momentum, he didn’t have time to stop his attack as it sunk into the mirror.

Another mirror manifested behind the warrior’s head and his own fist, imbued with a dastardly amount of Ord, rocketed directly at him.

Boom!... Unlike the first time, the ground didn't creak. Roc was sent slamming through dozens of trees, causing them to crash to the ground with earth-shaking force. .

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Hmm, so power attacks don't seem to have an effect on you," Pixie observed Sei. "As expected, Abe No Seimei. It is very dangerous to let you live."

Her arms contorted, and her bones creaked as her upper limbs turned into bat wings. Pixie then jumped down and flapped her wings to reach us even faster. At least that was the plan, as she was left wide-eyed when she was stopped mid-air by an invisible force.

Narrowing his eyes, Agon saw that there were thin strings all around the trees. It was Anika's ability!

"I wouldn't struggle much if I was you. These strings are made out of my Ord, so they're not easy to break. Also, I would suggest you don't move too much as my strings are thin enough to cut you." Anika had a cold look in her eyes. Then she clenched her hand, and the strings tightened.

"I thought you were going to let her live?" Agon was confused.

Anika didn't answer even as her strings started turning into a ball of sharpened blades. But throughout that, Pixie slithered out like a snake that had no bones in her body. She secreted a greasy substance from her skin, slipped out of the entanglement, and she landed on the ground. “Sorry honey, but I’m not the kind of woman who can be tied down so easily. Also, Roc, it’s about time you get up and stop playing around!”

“Ugh, you think it’s easy taking one of my punches head-on? I didn’t even have any Ord there to defend myself,” Roc complained, but he still got up and cracked his neck. He smiled and touched his cheek, and checked if he was bleeding. There was not even a scratch on him.

Then his smile widened as he stared at Agon. Suddenly Roc kicked off the ground, causing the ground to crack with each step he took.

When he saw that, Agon almost felt his heart jump out of his throat. Not only was his opponent strong, but he was fast too!

Roc gathered Ord into his hand and sucked light around it into his fist.

Agon bent his knees, had one hand over his fist, and imbued it with all the Ord he could muster.

“C’mon!” Agon yelled out. Once the opponent was within arm’s length, he punched at Roc with every ounce of power he had, and their fists met.

“{Mountain Crusher!}”

“{Super Impact!}”

An unimaginable pain passed through Agon’s arm. The next thing he felt was his back charring like hell, and he was left staring at the sky.

“Huh?” His brain had shut down for a second there.

Agon tried raising his head, and it felt like a monumental task. His whole body was in pain; he looked at his arm, which was folded all the way to his elbow. His fingers and elbow were mashed together, becoming congestion in his hand and arm.

Then he looked around; there was no one there except a line of dozens, maybe even hundreds of giant broken trees showing why his back felt like it was made of sand.

He realized what had happened. Roc had beaten him to a pulp with one punch. Agon used his arm to cover his eyes; he didn’t want the world to see his tears. “What the hell… I have been training all this time. So why the fuck does it feel like I haven’t gotten any stronger?!”

He felt like he was about to pass out when a strange purplish energy started rushing out of every pore in his body. It felt like his skin was being burned by poisonous energy.

Agon clenched his right fist in pain.

Huh? He looked at his right arm, which was supposed to have been destroyed, and now it was all healed up.

Then he grew sleepier. What was happening?

***

I heard the explosion in the distance, and I stopped. My team and Miku did the same.

"What was that?" Gem asked.

I tugged at the three different colored ribbons on my arm and threw them at Bets. "Take care of these and go into hiding."

The time had come for me to finally use Perfect Me. I didn't leave much time for my team to ask anything. I wouldn't like to lie to them. That was the kind of thing that would ruin the team spirit. When you couldn't face your problems head-on, the solution was to run away from them.

"Do not get involved, no matter what happens," I warned them.

Whether it was Bets, Gem, and Miku, they all had amazing potential. But they weren't at a stage where they could stand with the world's greatest. That was something they would only be able to do at their peak.

Carpy followed as I started running toward where the sounds came from. I stopped and looked at the fish. "What're you doing? You're not coming either."

There was no doubt that Carpy was strong. But I was going to fight against an opponent that could kill him with one punch.

Carpy dying would be like losing my only lifeline. If this were a calculated risk, I would let him come. But there was a high chance of my opponent splattering Carpy's brains in one attack.

The fish opened his mouth but closed it again and said nothing. He floated back toward the team.

He was probably disheartened, but this was the unfortunate reality. "Keep the others safe, and make sure you don't get hurt."

I then took off as fast as I could to where the explosion came from.

It was a simple site with a couple of broken trees. By the time I had arrived, Agon and Roc were clashing, and of course, the protagonist was sent flying. His arm folded as if someone was pushing down on slime.

But what stopped me from entering the fight wasn't Roc. But the pink-haired woman who wasn't attacking anyone and just observing the battle.

She shouldn't be here! Pixie was even more of a troublesome opponent than Roc, who was already a disaster-level threat to deal with!

"Hey! Go easy on the kid. You're not supposed to kill him!" Pixie yelled out.

"I am going easy on him," Roc grumbled.

Suddenly a heavy and malicious purple energy burst out in the distance.

The monster inside Agon had awakened. That brought a chill down my heart. Slowly but surely, the seal on Yamata No Orochi was breaking. Though I had slowed down that break somewhat, it was only a matter of time.

The only choice to stop a disaster from happening was to have Agon become even stronger. But even he was slowly approaching the crux of his natural growth.

Fwish!... Within an instant, Agon was in front of Roc. He had closed the distance of hundreds of meters within an instant and was about to punch him in the stomach!