"What an arrogant human... I am the overlord of the deep sea... the deep—"
"Machine Gun Blows."
While the Deep Sea King was still introducing himself, Genos suddenly closed in, taking advantage of the opening with blinding speed.
He unleashed a barrage of punches like a machine gun, a storm of fist shadows slamming into the Deep Sea King's body.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The Deep Sea King didn't seem to have any way to counter; he took hundreds of Genos's machine gun punches directly, each impact making a dull thud against his flesh.
"Your rapid strikes... are useless..." The Deep Sea King's gloomy voice fell as a massive fist, carrying extreme wind pressure, smashed toward Genos.
But Genos seemed prepared. He leaned his body to dodge the punch. As he tilted, his mechanical arm followed the trajectory of the Deep Sea King's incoming arm, suddenly grabbing the veins on his limb.
Power surged.
In an instant...
The Deep Sea King's massive frame was lifted by Genos's mechanical hand and then hurled toward the offshore reefs.
"Boom!"
The reef shattered instantly upon impact with the Deep Sea King's body.
In that brief exchange, the Deep Sea King appeared to be on the defensive.
"'Demon Cyborg'! Kill all these ugly monsters!"
"Drive them back into the sea!!"
The human side was filled with excitement.
However, there wasn't a hint of relief on Genos's face.
He knew all too well that the blows he just landed had dealt zero damage.
"If this is all you've got... then you can just die." The Deep Sea King slowly stood up from the water, seawater cascading down his body. His expression and tone were thick with contempt.
"Incinerate."
Genos brought his palms together as several mechanical cannons emerged from his body. He locked onto the Deep Sea King. Thunder crackled as violent energy gathered, ready to erupt.
"I told you... if it's only this much..." In the next heartbeat, the Deep Sea King appeared beside Genos like a specter.
*This speed...*
The moment the target vanished, Genos realized something was wrong.
"Now die." As the Deep Sea King finished his mocking words, his massive palm grabbed Genos's head, interrupting the energy charge, and slammed him violently into the sand.
"Cough..."
Genos was smashed into a large crater in the sand, coughing from the impact.
Sparks flew from his body, signaling mechanical failures.
Suddenly, it was Genos who was being overwhelmed.
In the original story, Genos and the Deep Sea King were quite evenly matched at this point...
In fact, Genos could have held the upper hand against a dehydrated Deep Sea King or fought a peak-form one to a draw without external interference.
But the current situation was entirely different.
Judging by his appearance, the Deep Sea King was currently in his dehydrated state, meaning his power should be weakened.
Yet Genos, who was significantly stronger than in the original timeline after training with Smoker and receiving equipment upgrades from Dr. Kuseno, was struggling against this dehydrated Deep Sea King.
This meant... compared to the original story...
Not only was Genos different, but the Deep Sea King was as well.
And the change was clearly substantial.
If the original Deep Sea King was only at the Demon-level, then the current one undoubtedly possessed Dragon-level strength.
"Plasma Thunder!" Smashed into the sand pit, Genos pushed his power core to the limit. Electricity crackled across his body. He pushed off the ground with one hand, spinning in mid-air and delivering a thunderous kick toward the Deep Sea King's head.
"Zzzzt..."
Streams of plasma thunder combined with the physical force of the kick surged into the Deep Sea King's head, turning his entire body into a silhouette of electric light.
"Ugh...!"
The Deep Sea King let out a muffled groan.
Genos pressed his advantage. As he landed, steam billowed from his body, and his power core whirred at its maximum capacity.
"Burst Fire!!!"
He pressed both hands against the Deep Sea King's chest, energy surging wildly.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Intense energy blasts erupted from his palms, hammering into the Deep Sea King's frame.
Explosions rang out one after another, and a thick cloud of smoke instantly enveloped the Deep Sea King.
Such a high-intensity attack at point-blank range was Genos's maximum output!
"Just this... isn't nearly enough..." The Deep Sea King's sharp, mocking voice drifted out from the smoke.
*He's fine?*
Genos watched in disbelief as the smoke cleared, revealing a Deep Sea King without a single scratch on him.
*I clearly used maximum power... yet the attack seemed completely ineffective...*
*It doesn't make sense... Based on my sensor data, this monster shouldn't be this strong...*
"What are you thinking about?" While Genos was lost in thought, the Deep Sea King's cold face suddenly loomed inches from his own.
*What?!*
Genos reacted instantly, leaping back to open some distance.
But in that split second of retreat, the Deep Sea King's massive hand had already snatched Genos by the leg.
*Crap... he caught me...*
*I shouldn't have let my mind wander during a fight...*
Genos was filled with regret.
But the Deep Sea King gave him no second chances. With a flick of his arm, he launched Genos high into the sky.
*No, I have to recover my posture.*
Genos struggled to find an opportunity to counter.
The Deep Sea King had already leaped into the air. "Let me smash you into a pile of scrap metal!!"
His already eerie face twisted into a ferocious grin, looking even more terrifying.
A punch packed with immense power swung toward Genos.
If this hit landed, Genos would surely end up exactly as the king said: a heap of scrap metal.
"Don't you dare bully this cute boy!!!!"
A deep, gravelly voice suddenly echoed across the beach. Following it was a burly man with curly hair dressed in a prison uniform.
The man leaped into the air. With one arm, he pulled Genos into a protective embrace before the Deep Sea King's fist could connect, while with the other, he threw a desperate punch to meet the King's attack.
However, his strength was clearly no match for the Deep Sea King's. Upon impact, the newcomer's arm twisted at an odd angle—a clear fracture—and his entire body was sent hurtling into a distant building.
Fortunately, the citizens had mostly fled by then, so no one else was hit.
"Are you alright... cute boy...?" In the ruins of the building, the man in the prison uniform, with a ball and chain still attached to his leg, ignored his broken arm and asked Genos with a face full of tender concern.
"'S-Class hero Puri-Puri Prisoner...?'" Genos easily identified him based on the hero registry. "Thank you for saving me, but this opponent is beyond our level. We should leave this to someone stronger."
Based on Puri-Puri Prisoner's rank at the bottom of S-Class being similar to his own, and the fact that the man's arm had just broken from one clash, Genos made a cold, rational judgment that they were no match even together.
*I need to contact Mr. Lexon and Saitama-sensei as soon as possible...*
In his eyes, only Mr. Lexon and the even stronger Saitama-sensei he spoke of could possibly stand against this foe.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]