"Then why didn't you come to see me?" Hilda said, her voice trembling with emotion.
"Do you know how worried I've been all these years? I thought... I thought you were dead."
"See you?" Loki sneered coldly.
"Do you think I want people to know I have a sister with Elber's syndrome?"
As the most promising young king of the giants, Loki could not and would not tolerate any blemish on his reputation.
Allowing Hilda to live had been his greatest act of mercy. If she insisted on testing his patience, he wouldn't hesitate to erase even that kindness.
Anyone who defied him had to die.
"But... back then, you clearly—"
"Shut up!" Loki roared, cutting her off. His ferocious expression made Hilda shrink back in fear, taking several steps away before Lynch steadied her with a reassuring hand.
"Isn't it better to just die quietly from illness? Why... why did you have to disrupt my plans?" Loki's voice was cold, void of compassion.
"As I thought, conscience is the most useless thing. Only the dead know how to stay silent forever."
Without warning, Loki pulled a throwing knife from beneath his seat.
The muscles in his arm swelled grotesquely, overpowering even his bones, as he launched the knife with terrifying force.
The blade vanished the moment it was thrown, moving faster than sound—almost as if it had teleported.
Loki had just tried to kill his own sister.
The sharp gust from the knife's velocity blew Hilda's golden hair backward. She stood frozen, her wide, empty eyes reflecting disbelief.
Her brother—the one she hadn't seen in years, the one she once admired so deeply—had just tried to end her life.
As a child, her brother had been so kind. So loving. What had changed?
The brother who also suffered from Elber's disease—the one who always stood up for her, fought off bullies, and protected her—how had he turned into this heartless stranger?
After their parents died, Loki was the only light left in Hilda's dark world.
He was the one who taught her to smile in the face of hardship, to embrace the world with kindness no matter how cruel it seemed. And then, one day, he vanished.
That year, Hilda was only five years old, and Loki was seven.
The giants told her Loki had died, devoured by wild beasts. She cried endlessly, mourning the only family she had left.
Now, standing before her, was the same brother—but unrecognizable in his coldness. The kind, brave Loki she remembered had become a stranger.
"Shua—"
The deadly dart aimed at Hilda was stopped inches from her face.
Lynch, swift and composed, had caught it effortlessly, shielding her without so much as a flinch. His hand held the blade steady, as if mocking Loki's attempt.
"What a heartless giant king—attacking your own sister, no less," Lynch remarked coldly.
"If you'd lived through what I have, you wouldn't be even one-tenth as kind as me!" Loki roared, his voice trembling with fury.
"Then let me see the power of the so-called King of the Giants." Lynch's tone remained calm, his gaze unwavering.
Loki leaped from the throne with the ferocity of a jaguar. The force of his movement shredded the upper half of his clothing, exposing his grotesquely exaggerated muscles.
Each tendon bulged unnaturally, resembling a mosaic of cords, giving off a strange, unsettling beauty.
"Boom!"
A single punch from Loki created a deafening sonic boom, blasting the air apart like an explosion.
Lynch straightened himself as much as possible, raising his posture.
Normally, he looked down on others, both literally and figuratively. But now, for the first time, he felt what it was like to be the one looked down upon.
Loki, towering at an impressive twenty meters, was taller even among giants.
Lynch extended his hand, meeting Loki's powerful punch head-on.
Though Lynch caught the attack, the wind pressure alone blasted the palace walls apart. A dozen sections crumbled, revealing the bright sunlight streaming in from outside.
"What brute force," Lynch muttered, genuinely surprised.
In sheer strength, Loki was comparable to the likes of Kizaru and Akainu. This giant king wasn't just for show.
"Impressive strength!" Loki exclaimed, his eyes widening in admiration.
It had been years—since he was 14—that anyone had managed to stop his fist.
"Good! Now I can finally have some fun!"
Loki grinned, the warrior spirit of the giants surging through his veins. Warlike instincts were embedded deep within his bloodline.
At last, Loki could unleash his full strength.
He planted his legs firmly into the ground like anchors, took a solid stance, and unleashed a relentless barrage of punches.
Hilda couldn't keep up with her brother's movements—his fists moved so fast that the sky seemed filled with their shadows. For a moment, it looked as if Loki had grown dozens of arms.
But it wasn't just speed—Loki's punches carried immense power.
Fast, precise, and devastating.
Every one of Loki's attacks followed these three principles, with no wasted movement or unnecessary flair.
The more he fought, the more exhilarated he became, his punches growing even faster.
But no matter how much force he put behind his attacks, the man in front of him—Lynch—caught every single blow effortlessly.
The palace on the holy mountain was in shambles.
Loki's punches generated fist winds that tore through the air like high-pressure cannon blasts.
The compressed force released with each strike carried far more destructive power than any cannonball.
Massive holes appeared in the palace walls, and soon, an entire section of the palace was completely obliterated.
The once-grand structure was now a chaotic ruin, with debris scattered as far as the eye could see.
"It hurts!"
Hilda winced in pain. The relentless sonic booms from Loki's attacks were deafening at such close range. Blood trickled from her ears, a sign of how intense the force was.
Tom quietly approached and handed Hilda a pair of elephant skin earplugs.
Hilda put them on and was surprised to find the pain in her ears gone.
Seeing that Hilda was being cared for, Lynch felt relieved. He flexed his arms and launched a fierce counterattack.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Their fists clashed repeatedly in mid-air, each collision sounding like hundreds of punches striking at once.
The shockwaves grew even more ferocious, reducing the palace to utter chaos. The throne crumbled, chandeliers crashed to the ground, and glass shattered everywhere.
Hilda was caught in the turbulence, flung over ten meters high, and nearly slammed into a wall.
Thankfully, Tom reacted quickly, grabbing her and pulling her outside to safety just in time.
Tom held up a wooden sign and showed it to Hilda:
[When immortals fight, mortals suffer.]
He then flipped the sign and added:
[Next time you see a fight, stay far away. Don't foolishly get too close.]
After a moment of thought, Tom erased the text and wrote something new:
[I think I can try to cure your disease.]
Tom had spent time with doctors, scientists, and witches, learning a great deal. He believed Elbow Disease might not be incurable—it just needed careful research.
While Tom was calmly addressing Hilda, Dorner wasn't as fortunate.
"Help! Someone save me!" he screamed.
The poor giant had been caught in the shockwave of the fight, sent flying through several collapsed walls, and disappeared into the sky like a falling star.
"Meow, meow, meow." Tom made a prayer gesture on his chest, as if asking for divine protection.
Yes, Tom had connections in heaven. God was his friend.
"Hahaha, interesting."
Normally, Loki's strength was only slightly weaker than Lynch's, which was already impressive.
Lynch had eat a Mythical zoan, making his strength comparable to Kaido's. On the sea, few could match his power.
But once Lynch entered his half-animal state, Loki began to struggle.
TO BE CONTINUED
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