Drex Valen's fist exploded forward with layered kinetic force behind it.
The air within ten meters seemed to freeze solid under the pressure alone.
If that punch landed, Black Sperm's transformation would end immediately. Best case scenario, the fusion would fail. Worst case, his entire body would be crippled beyond recovery.
"AHH! Do you not believe in fair fights at all?!"
Black Sperm's miserable scream had barely begun when Psykos intervened.
"Gravity Field!"
The crushing force halted Drex for a split second.
At the same time, Evil Natural Water unleashed a gigantic water cannon while another impact crashed into him from the side.
BOOM!
Golden Sperm had entered the fight.
For the first time, Drex found himself fighting three Dragon-level monsters simultaneously.
He blocked the attacks head-on, but cracks finally spread across the Dark Knight armor.
The nanometal repaired itself almost instantly...
But the monsters saw it.
Hope.
"His armor's reaching its limit!"
"Even Drex Valen can't handle this many Dragon- and Demon-level monsters at once!"
"Break the armor!"
The monsters erupted into excited roars.
Golden Sperm, now exponentially stronger after fusion, charged first with a furious howl.
"Die!"
The underground battlefield detonated into close-quarters combat.
Golden Sperm's fists hammered toward Drex like artillery shells.
But Drex remained flawless in hand-to-hand combat.
In less than a second, the two exchanged hundreds of strikes.
Golden Sperm took blow after blow, yet not a single clean hit landed on Drex's armor.
Eventually, Drex forced him backward.
Then Orochi stepped in.
The Monster King's massive fist descended like a collapsing skyscraper.
"Damn it... we're slowing him down."
Tony Stark clenched his teeth watching the fight.
He hated this feeling.
Drex was staying in place specifically to protect them, and the monsters had realized it. They were intentionally using attacks he couldn't dodge, trying to wear him down through attrition.
"Drain the armor's energy reserves!" Psykos shouted immediately after realizing brute force wasn't enough. "Switch to ranged attacks!"
Orochi's body erupted with serpentine heads.
Countless mouths opened simultaneously.
Energy cannons fired in every direction.
Drex raised an energy shield.
Then hell descended.
Psychic blasts.
Energy bombardments.
Water cannons.
Gravity pressure.
Explosions rained down nonstop.
The energy shield held for ten full minutes before finally shattering apart.
Every remaining attack slammed directly into Drex.
But Drex retaliated just as violently.
Scarlet heat vision swept across the battlefield.
Evil Natural Water evaporated instantly.
Orochi was sliced clean in half.
At the same moment, Golden Sperm landed a punch that sent Drex crashing into the wall hard enough to fracture the tunnel itself.
The Dark Knight armor cracked apart.
Before the nanometal could fully regenerate, Homeless Emperor seized the opportunity.
Hundreds of energy spheres detonated around Drex in a carpet bombing barrage, blasting the armor into an even worse state.
And still...
Drex kept fighting.
The next second, freezing mist erupted outward.
The same weapon capable of freezing the atmosphere itself engulfed the battlefield.
Orochi.
Golden Sperm.
Homeless Emperor.
A huge number of monsters froze solid instantly.
Then Drex moved.
One punch after another shattered the frozen monsters into fragments.
For a moment, everyone thought the battle was finally over.
Then a black shadow shot toward Drex.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The two figures collided four times in an instant.
Only after the shockwaves forced them apart did the thunderous explosions finally echo through the tunnels.
Woooo...
A strange sound drifted through the battlefield.
Like a ghost breathing.
Like a demon growling.
The black figure slowly straightened.
Its body was bent forward at an unnatural angle while black organic matter made from blood, skin, keratin, and hair covered its frame like living armor.
Large sections of that black armor had shattered during the clash.
Deep trenches over a hundred meters long carved through the ground behind him from the force of the impact.
And despite all of it...
He had resisted most of the damage.
No.
More than that.
He had grown stronger.
The black substance writhing across his body suddenly expanded further, covering him completely.
His height rose to nearly eight feet.
Dark muscular tissue bulged beneath the living armor while two massive horns extended from his head.
At this point, he looked more monstrous than human.
Garou.
Drex blinked in genuine surprise.
He'd been expecting the finale to involve Orochi and Psykos merging together and carving continents apart.
So why had Garou shown up instead?
Well... Drex had technically influenced Garou's growth too.
He just hadn't paid much attention to him afterward.
Garou stared at Drex with hollow black eyes.
"Unbreakable willpower. Adaptability beyond reason. Perfect combat instincts..." Garou said slowly.
"Even after pushing my body beyond its limits with breathing techniques forged from countless martial arts styles... I still can't say for certain I can defeat you."
"You're the ultimate hero."
"The embodiment of justice."
"The absolute peak that crushes all evil."
Drex tilted his head slightly.
"...You talking about me?"
Garou ignored him completely, muttering almost to himself.
"This kind of overwhelming strength... it couldn't have been born naturally. You forged it through endless battles."
"Uh-huh."
"And yet..." Garou continued, his aura steadily rising, "you also represent the ultimate limit of humanity."
The Dark Knight armor shifted around Drex's body.
The nanometal coating had visibly thinned after tanking the combined assault earlier. A significant amount of material had been vaporized outright.
Then Garou vanished.
"God Slayer Instant Strike!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sound of fists colliding merged into a single uninterrupted roar.
In just a few seconds, Garou unleashed thousands of savage attacks.
Then—
CRASH!
Garou staggered backward coughing blood.
"Heh... even after reading your movements perfectly, you still increased your output at the last second."
"This still isn't enough."
His heartbeat suddenly echoed through the battlefield.
THUMP.
Everyone felt it.
A dark mist began spreading around Garou's body.
"Extreme Evil Aura."
FWOOOSH!
This time, the black fog completely concealed the fluctuations of his attacks.
Drex's surprise deepened as the fight continued.
Garou's attacks had no recovery delay.
None.
It was as if recoil simply didn't exist for him anymore.
How the hell was that even possible?
Then again...
This was Marvel.
Bullshit powered by sheer will probably counted as a legitimate combat mechanic here.
Extreme Evil Aura reflected every one of Drex's movements directly into Garou's mind.
His body reacted instinctively.
His left leg twisted like a compressed spring.
His right fist shot forward like lightning.
The attack reached Drex almost instantly—
BANG!
Both of them took the hit head-on.
The punch smashed directly into Drex's abdomen.
And this time...
The Dark Knight armor there completely disintegrated into powder.