Chapter 154: Resolution

Hajime Baitang stood in a daze, having been hurled right next to Kwon Zhixin.

Orchid Orochi’s deafening and thunderous roar of angry questioning still echoed in Hajime’s ears. It was the fury of a martial artist lamenting a kindred spirit’s failure to strive for greatness. Hajime had no doubt that if not for the presence of Julius, he and Orchid Orochi would have traded blows first.

The young man could easily have used logical arguments such as "the economic impact on humanity" and "ongoing civilian casualties" to refute Orchid Orochi’s brutish, martial-centric mindset.

*Do you have any idea how much international finance evaporates for every minute this monster lives? How does this affect the Titan research progress?*

Things of that nature.

But...

The words refused to come out.

Phrases like "international" and "masses" were indeed overly convenient. But searching his own soul, hadn’t he reached this very point precisely because he, as a martial artist, was strong enough? And to counter the future disaster of monsters, wasn't it enough just for him to be strong?

As long as he kept growing stronger! And dragged everyone capable of assisting in the future along with him to grow stronger! And if they were unwilling, he would just keep beating them until they grew stronger!

In all this, as long as he... was strong enough!

Beneath his tousled bangs, Hajime’s gaze gradually shifted. There was determination, serenity, and a trace of... an unyielding, relentless hysteria.

Thinking this far, the young man no longer had any doubts.

"Hmph, I never thought that suddenly acquiring Godzilla’s power and explosive growth would make even someone like me complacent."

Looking down at his own palm, Hajime suddenly let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

Beside him, Kwon Zhixin heard his muttered mockery.

"Oh? I thought you were the kind of martial artist burdened with endless considerations. But a true martial artist... doesn't seem to possess such things."

Half of Kwon Zhixin's face, where gums and bone were exposed, had already regenerated. He sat slumped, lifting his gaze to look at the young man as he spoke.

"Ha! Isn't it normal for a young man to lose his way?"

Hajime chuckled first. Then his voice suddenly turned solemn.

"But now, I have seen the path ahead."

So, this is what you look like when you're truly serious?

Kwon Zhixin felt the aura radiating from the stalwart young man beside him. There was no longer any playfulness in him. Instead, he felt like a red-hot blade just pulled from the forge, radiating a piercing, razor-sharp edge.

—It was scorching hot enough to terrify!

"He has lost."

The young man said suddenly, looking out at the battlefield.

*Swoosh—*

Kwon Zhixin’s eyes couldn't even react in time. The sound of a sharp blade tearing through the void was actually the sound of a human moving through the air. Seeing that Orchid Orochi no longer had any room to counterattack, Hajime abruptly charged forward.

He appeared instantly beside the massive monster. His toe hooked onto the giant foot like a delicate willow branch, the external force disrupting the timing and center of gravity of the stomp. Julius’s body immediately listed to the side. Although its tail whipped about frantically in an attempt to recover its balance, that brief moment was more than enough. Hajime pressed his palm against the beast's abdomen, slammed it straight through the corner of the building behind it, and shoved it dozens of meters away!

*Bang!*

Dust and debris from the structure billowed once more, but Orchid Orochi, lying crumpled on the ground with shattered bones, could feel it. The young man before him had changed fundamentally. It wasn't some superficial thing like physical strength or technique, but a transformation on a much deeper level.

"Hehe, humph... Hahaha!"

Even though every slight twitch sent pain through his entire body like scraping knives, even though he had just come within a hair's breadth of being trampled into a puddle of flesh by a giant foot, the bald giant’s laughter rose wave upon wave. Tears even welled up from his laughter, making his words incoherent.

"I-Isn't this fantastic, brother Baitang!"

"That lazy, self-satisfied, unprogressive attitude of yours... couldn't trap you at all after all! Hahaha!"

Amidst the dust and smoke, heavy, terrifying footsteps sounded once more, growing closer and closer. With a smiling face, Hajime did not look down at Orchid Orochi.

"Although I appreciate your 'wake-up' service, Mr. Orochi. However..."

The young man's foot landed mercilessly on the giant's flaccid chest.

"Retreating when defeated is the rule, you know."

With a *swish*, the giant whose bones were shattered all over was kicked over to Kwon Zhixin's side. The stern-faced Kwon Zhixin exchanged a glance with Orchid Orochi, raised an eyebrow, and with great effort, propped him up against the wall.

Julius, entirely unscathed in appearance, stood before Hajime once more. Even the wound on its palm, pierced by a spear-hand strike, had completely healed. As for Orchid Orochi’s severed hand... judging by the steady chewing motion in the man's mouth, he had likely eaten it.

It did not ignore Hajime this time. Instead, it stared fixedly at the young man, its pupils dilating and contracting as if stimulated, recognizing him only now.

"Bai... Tang! Jing! Baitang!"

It chewed while suddenly speaking in an indistinct mumble. The voice was as raspy and grating as a snake forcefully modulating its vocal cords to speak human language. Any researcher from an institute witnessing this scene would experience a worldview-shattering shock. An individual driven mad by animalistic impulses was actually capable of speech!

"Oh? You still remember me?"

Hajime’s palms instinctively opened and closed, his gaze filled with keen interest as he locked eyes with those yellowish beastly pupils. This was the first talking monster he had ever seen.

Yet this was not Julius Reinhardt.

Hajime was certain of this. The heavily muscled man, though terrifying in appearance like a ferocious beast, was not only courteous outside of combat but also exceptionally gentle. He was completely different from the fellow before him, whose eyes revealed cruelty and tyranny, and whose mouth chewed human flesh!

"Y-You defeated me? No! You once defeated me! Roar roar!"

Its speech was growing more fluent, but by the end, as if amused by its own words, it let out a strange cry. It lowered its head, looking down with utter disdain at the man who, in its fractured memories, had once forced it to acknowledge defeat.

Within those yellowish beastly pupils, the fluctuations and peak values of the purple and blue energy on Hajime's body were laid bare. Though slightly stronger than other altered beasts (human enhancers), it was extremely limited in its own eyes. Such a fragile body. Such weak energy.

"Oh?"

Amidst their locked gazes, the Dragon Blood Internal Energy seemed stirred by the gaze, causing the Nen energy to ripple along with it. Hajime keenly sensed that the opponent had seen through him to a certain degree.

"Are these the eyes of a fully matured Godzilla?"

The young man, with his tousled bangs falling across his face, wore a friendly smile as he looked up and questioned the four-meter-tall monster.

"I... accept flesh and blood with higher activity, and the time for eating... is also longer. You cannot possibly beat me. I will eat you!"

His personality completely shattered, leaving only fragmented memories behind, Julius did not answer the young man's question. The entity before them now was a monster in the truest sense, possessing not an ounce of patience.

A thick, whip-like tail lashed straight forward from behind! The wind-blade carried in its wake was enough to tear open the ground and expose the dirt!

Yet the young man seemed to have anticipated the movement behind him all along. With a light leap, he made the tail-whip miss entirely, landing casually on top of the ferocious tail instead.

The monster stared somewhat blankly at the human standing on its tail. It had never imagined that an attack could be dodged this way.

"So, the overly high activity of Godzilla's flesh is what caused you not to make it through, Julius."

Hajime scrutinized the monster's twisted and terrifying visage, yet he looked at it as if viewing a former rival he had once shared the competition ring with.

Before the next attack arrived, the young man, standing lightly atop the tail, reached out and brushed his scattered bangs backward.

"Let's consider this our second match."

On the young man's face appeared a smile of [gentleness], identical to the one he wore back in the arena.

"——Let's fight!"