"Nolan, are you okay?" Liana called out.

Nolan nodded and walked over to meet them. "Yes. Yes I am," he affirmed.

"Where did you run off to?" Cedric asked.

"And I believe you told Miss Captain here, something that was related to what happened?" Selena added.

Liana turned to Selena with a slight frown. "Ha…ha…ha…haaa. Miss Captain? So funny I almost laughed out my eyeballs."

Selena rolled her eyes and returned her focus to Nolan. "How did you know something was going to happen?"

"I was just so observant enough to see that something wasn't right," replied Nolan, casually.

"Mm? That's vague," Selena said.

"He was acting fishy and I noticed."

"Not to brag, but I'm quite a good observer. I've been keeping an eye on everyone and no one was acting odd—well, not until you disappeared and Captain called Snake to stand bedside her. What did you notice that I didn't?" Selena pressed on.

SNAP!

Nolan heard something snap behind them, but he was then hit with another question, taking away his focus from the sound.

"And where did you suddenly disappear to? You look badly beaten. Did you come across a bunch of low-grades?" Kayra asked.

'Low-grades. Right. Definitely low-grades,' Nolan thought. He opened his mouth to speak when a sudden wave of oppressing pressure hit them.

"It's a good thing you let the man die."

The voice came from behind. Familiar, but with a new tone.

They all slowly turned around to find the "dead" Maximus standing—skin pale, eyes completely red, the symbol in his hand glowing a deep crimson and a smile that was too wide for a human mouth.

The team quickly drew their weapons.

The resurrected Maximus looked at the place where his right hand was supposed to be, now bleeding profusely.

"A very weak body though," he muttered. "He was always a slow witted one after all. Didn't even use his corruption techniques."

"Hm?" Maximus's eyes flicked to the right and in a blink, he held Selena's dagger that came for his face

She had repositioned herself and went for the attack, but it seemed futile against that left arm of his. It was now clawed, filled with thick veins as the symbol continued to glow.

"Kuuu, that was disrespectful," he said with a low chuckle.

Nolan didn't have to look too much to know this new Maximus was stronger than the last by a vast margin. He knew very well that this was a threat neither him, nor Selena could handle.

In a blink, Maximus moved. The next thing Selena felt was a fist driven into her stomach. She coughed out blood and went down on her knees.

Then Maximus vanished again.

Nolan suddenly felt his presence beside him, but when he turned, there was no one there. Just Liana, Alexander and Kayra.

There was nothing for a beat, but then blood sprayed from the torsos of the three and they fell down.

Nolan felt it again on the other side and when he turned, Cedric and Finn were going to the ground with claw gashes on their backs.

"Where are you looking, Chained Regressor?"

Nolan suddenly looked back ahead of him and there was a punch coming for his chest. One he couldn't block in time, and soon it connected.

Nolan slammed into a tree, and before he could even fall, Maximus was in front of him again with another punch, then another, and another.

He fed Nolan a flurry of punches, then he grabbed Nolan's head and threw him across into another tree.

Nolan hit the tree and slowly slid down, bleeding badly.

"Kuuu, you look so bad," Maximus said as he slowly approached Nolan. "A moment ago, you looked like you had all the power in the world."

Nolan's head lolled down, but then Maximus was surprised by what he heard next.

A chuckle?

Why was Nolan laughing? He just got immensely beaten up, so what exactly could be funny to him in such a state.

"I almost forgot what you sounded like, you bald one-eyed bastard," Nolan said.

Maximus's smile faltered for a few seconds before returning. "You can tell who I am? Magnificent. I thought it was a joke when they said you have lived on and on again, naming you the Chained Regressor, but I have firsthand experience now."

Nolan raised his head slowly. "I'll kill you both. You and that Kraxus bastard."

"Will you live that long? Or is this in the next life?" Maximus said, continuing his walk towards Nolan, but then… he suddenly spat out blood, his vision getting blurry. "Wh-what is this?"

A small, almost imperceptible smile appeared on Nolan's face.

"I'm surprised how you managed to fight both of them so far," Selena's voice came from behind him. "You didn't think I was stupid enough to just throw my precious dagger at you, right?"

Maximus gritted, his body feeling heavy and a pain started erupting from his very being.

"You must have been able to ignore the Punisher pins, but with due time, you'll fall to it and the poisoning on the dagger you held," Selena said, cleaning blood from her mouth.

This was all Nolan's plan. Just when the body stood again, Nolan told her to use a poison if she had one, for they didn't know how strong he would be now.

"Aaaarghhh!" Maximus roared, sending a shockwave of dark energy across the entire place. The roar forced out the Punisher pins from Maximus's neck, but the poison's effect was still intact and growing.

The poison effect had made his face start melting slowly from the side. However, all this wasn't enough to put him in place.

He lunged, claws stretched out reaching for Nolan's face. "Is that all?! Then I'll kill you before this body—"

FZZT!

A sizzling sound was heard and Maximus's head soon fell cleanly off his body.

"Now that's all," Nolan said.

"We'll meet again then. This body was trash anyways," Maximus said, even though his head was separated from the body, then his eyes sealed shut.

Nolan scoffed, his vision blurring, barely catching the form of Lady Eva and some other Cerulean Guardians' members, before he passed out.

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