Adam's expression, which had always been rather blank, changed for the first time.
He... simply couldn't understand what Jaden meant.
But after saying those words, Jaden immediately charged at Adam, and Adam took up the same stance and charged forward as well!
Jaden's fist smashed toward Adam. Adam turned his head to dodge, and under the observation of his eyes, he also moved to do exactly what Jaden did...
Bang!
The instant he intended to mimic Jaden's exact movement, a fist landed directly on his face!
No...
Perhaps it should be said that Jaden had thrown his punch early, and Adam... seemed to have walked right into it!
After that, everything was just as Jaden had predicted.
Not a single one of Adam's attacks landed on him.
Or rather... Adam didn't even manage to launch a single successful attack after that!
Each time, his attack was interrupted by Jaden either as he raised his hand or even before he raised it-and Jaden would interrupt his attack with a direct, aggressive strike!
It was incomprehensible...
-Completely incomprehensible.
While Adam hadn't fully understood what Jaden was thinking from the very beginning, he was now even more confused than before.
Had his All-Seeing Vision failed?
No... his All-Seeing Vision was clearly working!
He could see through every one of Jaden's moves, and even see through the subsequent variations of those moves. He could even infer some of Jaden's later actions from these techniques, and even see through those later actions as well... Adam had always been able to do this.
Yet...
-It was useless!
Seeing through them seemed to be of no avail. He always seemed to miss something, and Jaden's attacks always burst forth from those blind spots.
And he himself...
-Seemed to be completely seen through.
One could even say... completely anticipated!
Jaden seemed to always know what he intended to do, which was why his punches could precisely interrupt Adam's attacks every single time. Even if he wanted to forcibly take a hit to trade blows, the other party knew it. Even if he intended to briefly pull back to create distance, Jaden knew that too...
He felt like a transparent man.
He felt as though he had no secrets in front of him.
He could clearly see through the opponent's next move, but... but why was he trapped in this situation?
Adam couldn't understand.
And over on the other side of the broadcast, transmitted by the drone that followed Jaden, Otto and the others watching the fight couldn't understand either!
At first, when they saw Jaden being forced back by this Adam, they thought that Jaden might have finally met his match.
But...
It lasted for less than three minutes, perhaps...
It was about the time it took for one of the Empire's higher-ups to step out to the restroom.
When he returned, the scene on the screen had changed to Jaden holding the advantage...
No, the scene at this moment should be described as Adam being unilaterally beaten up by Jaden!
This one-sided scene continued until Jaden stopped, and Adam lay on the ground, covered in blood.
Seeing him like this, Jaden flexed his shoulder slightly.
"The warm-up ends here... Don't worry, someone will come to pick you up later for treatment, and then send you to Arkham."
Saying this, Jaden started to head toward the laboratory door. Adam, who couldn't even manage to crawl, spoke in a very weak voice.
"Why..."
Huh?
Jaden paused, and then heard Adam, who had returned to his expressionless state, ask the question.
"Why could I see through your moves, yet I couldn't stop or even dodge your attacks..."
Adam's eyes were covered by his bangs, and his lips were devoid of expression, making it impossible to tell if his heart was as calm as his face.
When Jaden heard him ask this, he simply shrugged and continued walking toward the entrance of the underground lab.
However, as he walked, he deliberately slowed his pace and left Adam with this answer:
"Your eyes can see through the present, and can even infer my next move, my move after that, through my actions, and then imitate my techniques-against your eyes that can completely see through the present, even if my speed were faster, even if my techniques could briefly surpass time, they would be ineffective against you, because the technique itself has been seen through."
But...
"-My eyes can see the future."
"That is the gap between you and me."
...
Deep within the underground laboratory.
At the request of Edward Kure, the researchers directly used their wishes to stimulate the Royal Orb and forcefully wake up Heracles!
"Wake him up, wake him up!"
The researchers thought this with all their might, and they converted this wish into a form of electrical waves, letting these waves directly contact the Royal Orb.
As the Royal Orb on Heracles's forehead began to flash with light, his eyes opened!
Bang!
The container holding him instantly shattered as his eyes opened!
Countless chemicals and glass shards scattered everywhere.
When Edward Kure saw this, he tried to turn and run. But he hadn't taken more than two steps when a hand clamped around his neck, lifting him directly off the ground.
Edward Kure grabbed at the other party's fingers, trying to pry the hand open, while his feet constantly kicked towards the other party's vulnerable points, but it was all useless.
The one holding him was like a man of iron, without any discernible weakness, and possessed a strength that was completely beyond his ability to resist.
At this moment, Edward Kure quickly spoke up.
"Heracles-we're the ones who saved you. Even if we don't get credit, we at least put in the effort... I can be very useful. I can help you..."
His words stopped right there.
Then, the grip of the hand tightened, causing Edward Kure's face to instantly turn red, and he couldn't even utter a sound.
At this moment, 'Heracles' looked at the desperate Edward Kure, and a gentle smile curved on his lips.
"Heracles... what a name worth remembering-but, human, I am not Heracles, I am-King of the Gods, Zeus!"
Crack!
With this sentence, Edward Kure's neck was snapped.
The other researchers were not spared and were all killed by Heracles... oh, no, by Zeus, in a short period of time!
"Humans are indeed as cowardly and weak as ever... Even though I have died once, when I see humans again, they are exactly the same."
At this point, Zeus's expression suddenly changed!
His gaze turned directly toward the direction of the corridor. There was no one there, only the sound of slow footsteps, but Zeus immediately sensed the other party's aura.
"This aura-is that of the Human Royalty, the archenemy of the Gods!?"
Just sensing this aura caused veins to pop out on Zeus's forehead in anger-he still remembered the scene of his own death at the hands of that person!
Subconsciously, his first reaction was even to temporarily flee!
However, after suppressing this thought, he came to his senses.
"The era of humans must have progressed considerably since then... Even that archenemy of the Gods was only human and could not possibly live for so long!"
"And this is only the aura of the Archenemy of the Gods. This time, there are no thirteen Valkyrie sisters helping the humans. This fellow might just be a descendant of that monster..."
"If that's the case, then completely eradicating the descendant of that monster here would be acceptable!"
Upon saying this, Zeus seemed to regain his confidence. Now restored to his youthful appearance, he revealed a corrupt and profound smile that even his young exterior could not conceal!
...