Early in the morning, just as the sun barely rose in the east, hurried knocks echoed outside Neo’s door.

​Knock! Knock! Knock!

​Neo woke up with a jolt. "Who is knocking so early in the morning?"

​When he opened the door, he saw the fiery golden-haired woman, Zestia, standing there with her companions.

All of them looked furious.

​"What’s wrong? Why are you all here?"

​Zestia immediately grabbed his collar, glaring at Neo with wrathful eyes. "Why did you do it?"

​The atmosphere immediately became tense.

​"Did what?" Neo asked, genuinely confused. He noticed the slime family was nowhere to be seen.

​Zestia manifested a golden saber near his throat and snapped furiously, "You revealed the location of the Pureblooded Titanium Sloth to the world, and now everyone is rushing toward it! Not only that, but the Titanium Sloth had disappeared by the time we entered that cave."

​She tightened her grip. "I thought you were a man of integrity, but... Not only did you broke my expectation, but you betrayed my trust right in front of my crew! I’m going to kill you."

The saber’s edge drew closer, the cold steel threatening to bite into his skin.

​Neo didn’t hesitate. He instantly activated his [Titanium Tempest Body]. As he did, his internal "tempest flow" erupted through his veins.

The sudden burst of kinetic pressure forced Zestia to lose her grip, and he broke free with a violent, fluid motion.

​Zestia was momentarily stunned by the sudden increase in his power, but her shock was quickly eclipsed by a fresh wave of rage.

Seeing their leader defied, her teammates also moved in unison, surrounding Neo and raising their weapons to strike.

Zestia’s "wannabe boyfriend" Leo was the most eager of all, his laser sword itching to land a killing blow.

​But the rest waited for only one command from Zestia to tear him apart.

​But before she could utter a word, a deep, metallic hum echoed through the air.

​Clang! Clang! Clang!

​Exactly 9 silver blades, now sporting dark glossy titanium shades, erupted from Neo’s body.

They then began to spin dangerously behind him in an eerie synchronized dance of death.

​Zestia and her seven teammates froze, and their eyes widened as saucers.

Why did the Spirit Blades look different, as if they were forged from solid titanium?

And why did the air around them suddenly feel so chilling, as if a localized storm was brewing within him?

​This definitely hadn’t happened the last time they faced him.

"You took the Titanium Sloth’s core, didn’t you?" Zestia asked, her eyelids trembling.

​"Of course he did, Zestia," Leo growled. "Why else would he have titanium blades now? He must have obtained a Unique Talent as well. This guy is scum. You trusted the wrong person."

​Zestia was now convinced. The golden saber clutched in her hand was shaking with murderous rage. "How could you do this? How?"

​"I don’t know what you all are talking about," Neo replied coldly. "And stop acting as if we’re so close. If you had so much concern regarding this secret of yours, you shouldn’t have trusted a stranger at all. And now you blame me for things I have never done? Ridiculous!"

​Zestia’s lips trembled as she mumbled, "We were strangers, yes, but not after what we have been through, Neo."

​"Wait, how do you know my name? I don’t think I ever told you that," Neo asked, becoming suspicious.

​Leo scowled beside her: "You didn’t, you bastard. But your little pet slime was screaming, ’I will protect Master Neo! I will never let you harm him blah blah’. Good riddance. It’s dead now."

As soon as Neo heard this, his heart froze as if it had fallen into the abyss.

​"You killed him?" he asked, his voice turning deep and devilish.

​"Hehe, not just him. We killed his entire family. Those two blue slimes were quite a nuisance as well, claiming their guest was a God. What nonsense! They thought of you as their God. Well, what can you expect from a lowly monster of the universe?"

​Leo cackled even more, trying to trigger Neo so he would make a move against their crew, giving Zestia the reason to order his death in return. It was a vicious plan, and it worked perfectly.

​Neo’s face turned dark, his hands trembling.

​"You killed them? Now, die!" he spoke like a devil, completely devoid of mercy.

​"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Zestia screamed, her heart sinking.

​Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

​The Titanium Blades, reinforced by the tempest gale, whistled through the air like a hurricane.

They moved at a terrifying speed, and no one except Zestia and Leo could even react.

Leo saw his own death approaching in that instant.

​He tried to defend himself using his Laser Sword, but the blades moved as if they had a mind of their own, completely bypassing every obstruction.

What happened next was beyond horrifying.

​Those nine titanium blades pierced through Leo’s armor like wet parchment.

Puchi. Puchi. Puchi.

Next, they tore through his body with sickening sounds, emerging bloodied and spilling internal matter, creating a gruesome mess under the clear morning sky.

​If it had been only one strike, Leo might have survived. But the blades kept coming like a living tempest, shredding his body into tiny pieces of meat and bone.

In the end, nothing was left behind except the red blood soaking into the ground.

Seeing Leo’s death, three of his friends gasped in horror while the other three attacked Neo, enraged.

​"Scum!"

​"Devil!"

​"Die!"

​Neo countered their killing blows with his fists alone.

​

The first guy attacked with bare fists, whether out of desperation or confidence, no one knows.

​The tempest force surged through Neo’s arms, providing the extra momentum needed to dodge the party’s strikes and adding lethal force to his own fists.

Bang!

Crack! Crack!

The first blow landed on a young man’s ribcage, shattering the bone with sickening cracks.

For a moment, the young man’s brain delayed receiving the pain signals. When it finally did, "Ahhhh!"

A horrifying cry echoed from his throat, until blood spilled out from his lungs.

​"Blurgh!"

​He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.

​The second young man with yellow hair stepped forward swinging a heavy spear.

Swish!

Because of his heightened senses, Neo effortlessly parried the spear by the shaft, then struck the man’s face with brutal force.

​Crack!

​The impact shattered his upper and lower jaws, leaving his teeth barely hanging by the cheekbones.

He howled like the undead before he, too, collapsed onto the ground.

​The last attacker, frightened and shaking, fired a shotgun loaded with 12-gauge shells in desperation.

Bang!

The blast managed to connect with Neo’s back, making him wince in pain.

​But—