"Your power is amazing, but it still lacks something."

Arlong grinned, showing his rocky tooth as he punched Ken on the chest with so much force that it was enough to cause cracks in his armor.

Bang! Thud!

Ken's body flew back like a cannonball and struck a large tower of ice before coming to a stop. He crashed on the ground and spat out some blood.

Arlong rushed forward, but before he could close the gap, a layer of ice suddenly emerged from the ground and started freezing him.

Crack! Crack! Bang!

The next moment, the ice started cracking and broke into pieces. Arlong walked out of it with no damage to his stone body.

"It lacks strength."

He grinned as the ice underneath its foot exploded. Before Ken could even react, Arlong appeared above him and punched down.

This time, Ken managed to sense the attack coming and instinctively moved to the side by rolling on the ice.

Crack! Bang! Thud!

The ice broke into pieces, and a massive shockwave sent Ken's body flying to the side.

While in mid-air, he stabilized himself and found Arlong coming his way. He clenched his fist, and ice powers emerged from the knuckle of his hand.

[Ice Gloves]

Creating a pair of hardened ice gloves, he launched a right hook towards Arlong.

Arlong had already arrived in front of him. His fist was coming his way, and the only way to evade it was to fight back.

Bang!

Their fists collided. The impact created by their collision was enough to shatter the ice and destabilize the air.

The hardness of the ice was enough to block the stone for a moment, but it couldn't stop the power behind the stone.

Arlong's grin only got wider as he channeled even more Qi into his fist, enlarging his fist.

Crack! Crack!

The ice started crackling. Ken's eyes turned grim. He knew that the ice gloves were gonna break any moment.

But without these, he wouldn't be able to fight this guy on equal terms.

'How? How is he doing this? It's not just about weight. I can't feel its weight increase.'

'It's just that by increasing the size of his fist, he can suddenly increase the power, without increasing its weight.'

'It doesn't even make sense.'

Ken thought, trying to infuse more Ice Qi into his gloves, to keep them stable, but the cracks kept growing.

Even in the newly formed ice, the cracks didn't stop.

Crack! Bang!

Even with all of his efforts, Ken couldn't stop Arlong.

His ice gloves cracked, and Arlong's fist reached his chest, slamming him to the ground so hard that several more cracks appeared on the armor.

Splash!

Despite the armor taking most of the damage, Ken couldn't stop spatting out blood.

He could feel the pain and cracks in his chest bone. It was overwhelming.

Not the pain but the disparity in strength! He could feel that Arlong wasn't even truly trying everything.

But even with that, he was able to crush him.

'Our strength is two realms apart. Can I truly not fight someone like him?'

He struggled to come up with a positive answer. He desperately wanted a positive answer, but his armor could only tank two more punches.

After that, it would be destroyed.

And, Arlong wanted exactly that. The moment he fell on the ground and suffered, Arlong quickly dashed forward.

Each step crossed dozens of meters, reaching Ken in an instant.

His five rocky fingers clenched into a rocky fist. He curled down and punched down.

Bang!

The fist crashed against his stomach, creating a powerful shockwave enough to destroy the ice underneath Ken.

Crack!

Several more cracks appeared on the armor, and Arlong grinned. He raised his fist, held his hands together, and slammed them down.

Bang!

"Argh!"

Ken felt like a sledgehammer striking his body. It was heavy and powerful. He didn't have the strength to block it, and the armor started breaking apart.

One more tap and it would disappear.

But at this moment, he heard a scream from Alice.

When he heard that scream, he opened his eyes with anger. It reflected his power as the ice emerged from him like a flood.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Before Arlong could even react, his entire body was frozen inside a five-meter-thick ice.

Ken released his Human Flame and started healing his wounds. This helped him quickly recover.

Crack! Crack!

His expression turned grim when he saw the cracks appearing on the ice. He knew this much ice wasn't enough to hold him back.

But he needed to go and help Alice.

He quickly got up. Despite the pain in his chest, he rushed towards the direction of the scream and noticed Alice heading straight into a fire stream.

That fire stream was coming her way, burning hr body, but she didn't back down.

Not only did she not back down, but she also continued to move forward and destroyed those rock creatures.

He just watched.

Looking at her every movement as she utilized her brain and Willpower to destroy those rock creatures before her Qi ran out.

When he heard that scream, he thought Alice needed help. He was ready to help her despite his injuries, which were in the middle of recovery.

After she collapsed, his eyes turned towards Julia and Elaine. Seeing their moves, he couldn't utter a single word.

Their battle wasn't as difficult as his.

But that's only because his opponent was stronger than theirs.

In terms of difficulty, it wasn't that big.

Even Elaine managed to find a way to destroy her enemy before she ran out of Qi.

It was clear that three of them were only lacking in Qi, not in strength.

That was the limitation of their realm.

And, he also had that limitation, more so than them.

Every single Innate Ability, Secret Art, Martial Art, or even Bloodline Ability was extremely Qi-consuming.

So, even though he had more Qi than they, his consumption was also higher.

Crack! Bang!

The ice behind him broke into pieces, and Arlong came out of it, with several scratches over his body.

This time, he managed to do some damage, but those scratches quickly disappeared.

They were just scratches after all.

Seeing Ken distracted, Arlong realized he could finish this battle once and for all.

Then, he could get those three women for himself. He could sense that they hadn't died.

Somehow, they had managed to defeat his creations.

He didn't care about the death of his creations. They were just pawns he created out of boredom.

Although those women for quite strong, they weren't strong enough to change anything.

As long as he could finish Ken, he could easily force them.

Thinking about it, he ran.

His speed increased while running as he approached Ken from behind.

But suddenly, Ken turned back.

He had heard the sound of ice breaking apart. He could sense Arlong rushing towards him.

Unlike before, he wasn't just going to stand here and let him attack.

Seeing Alice, Julia, and Elaine's effort, he realized something.

He didn't have to be a genius or a cheater to win.

He shouldn't fight this battle with the intention of stalling for time for his girlfriends to recover.

He should intend to win this battle.

Before this, he never understood why those protagonists always tried to face enemies stronger than them without any doubt of failure.

At this moment, he realized the answer.

It wasn't the doubt of failure that they didn't have.

It was an ember of determination to save their friends and family.

With great talent comes great responsibility!

His talent and cheats were just the medium for him to win, not the reason.

His reason to win was for the protection of his girlfriends.

He realized that when this guy teased his girlfriend, he only got angry for a moment and forgot about him.

Was it because he didn't love her?

Of course not! He just didn't see Arlong as an opponent to beat. He just saw him as an enemy to escape from.

'But if I escape today, how can I face them tomorrow? I told myself that I must defeat him to face a stronger enemy.'

'So, why am I still hesitating? This is not a battle where I can win with my strength.'

'This is a battle where I can only win with my courage and wits.'

'Creativity is my forte. I will not lose to my girlfriends in terms of creativity.'

He grinned as he faced the coming punch from Arlong.

His five fingers clenched together, forming a fist.

The Golden Armor around his body slowly changed, pulling the pieces from his face and legs into his right arm.

Arlong didn't see it coming. He had already thrown a punch when the golden armor on Ken's body changed into a cone on his right arm.

"Yes, I don't have the strength to defeat you."

Ken muttered as his attack collided with Arlong's fist. The cone on his hand started spinning on the surface of Arlong's fist as it tore apart the stone.

Crack! Crack!

"But I have the inspiration of a million brilliant minds."

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