Confrontation

Although the leader had instructed him not to clash with Red again before next Tuesday, which left him dissatisfied…

Since Red had shown up right in front of him anyway, how could he possibly let this chance slip?

Across the gap, Red stood atop a spherical boulder suspended in midair.

She had just finished dealing with a forest fire on one side.

At that moment, Johnson raised both arms again.

Above his head, a grain of sand began to grow.

From fist-sized, to yoga-ball-sized, until it became a massive boulder over three meters in diameter.

It hovered above him, spinning.

Flexing his thick, rock-like muscles, he hurled the boulder toward Red.

The boulder looked slow in the air.

But that was only because of the scale involved.

The distance between them was a full kilometer.

Not far enough to be unreachable.

Not close enough to be trivial either.

A thousand meters was enough to exhaust most college students in a sprint.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to fight alongside me?”

Red’s voice reached Ma Guohao’s ears.

“This is a perfect opportunity.”

“That distance is beyond my telekinesis.”

“If I go over, the suspended rocks will fall and might injure residents on the mountain or at the foot.”

“So this time, I’m counting on you.”

Ma Guohao hesitated.

Then, finally, he steeled himself.

“Guess I’ve got no choice!”

As the words left his mouth, his body lifted into the air.

At first, he flailed wildly, grabbing at empty space like someone who had lost all sense of gravity.

But soon he realized this wasn’t the same as weightlessness.

This force was guiding him.

Pushing him forward through intention itself.

Once he understood that this must be Red’s telekinesis, he relaxed.

His body rotated midair, turning to face forward.

After flying for a short distance, he landed atop the same boulder Red stood on.

As he touched down, Red took a small step aside to make room for him.

Under the moonlight, her profile looked… different somehow.

At that moment, the incoming boulder entered Ma Guohao’s firing range.

Out of habit, he raised his energy cannon and aimed, preparing to shatter it.

But the boulder slowed.

Slower and slower.

Until it stopped right in front of Red.

In the distance, Johnson saw his attack frozen in place.

He immediately realized that this method was no longer effective.

At best, it could only stall her.

Victory was impossible this way.

After a brief moment of consideration, he decided to go personally.

He turned and walked back several steps.

Then he began warming up on the spot, loosening his joints.

Soon, he broke into a run.

Each step slammed into the ground like a sledgehammer, thunderous and heavy.

Despite his massive stone body, his movements weren’t sluggish at all.

In fact, he was more agile than most people.

With a giant’s frame and rock-solid muscles, he sprinted and leapt off the cliff like a track athlete.

He arced through the air like a mortar shell.

And his target was Red.

Midair, Johnson saw the very boulder he had thrown earlier.

It was flying straight back toward him, like a billiard ball rebounding off the table.

Red’s counterattack.

A savage grin split his face.

“That’s how it should be!”

“Come on!”

“Let’s slaughter each other, Magical Girl!”

As he spoke, he formed a claw with his left hand and pointed it at the incoming boulder.

When it drew close enough, the rock tore apart instantly, disintegrating midair.

The boulder had been created by his own ability.

Trying to stop him with it was like trying to block a flood with water.

Meaningless.

Just as he was feeling smug—

He saw something else emerge from the shattered rock.

His expression darkened instantly.

It was Ma Guohao.

His right arm now bore a fist blade glowing red-hot.

He stepped off the shattered rock fragments in midair as footholds.

With Red’s telekinetic push from afar, he accelerated again and again, thrusting straight toward Johnson.

Johnson reacted instantly.

His right arm transformed into a massive stone shield to block the strike.

Blade and shield collided in midair.

Neither could break the other.

But this wasn’t a duel of equals.

It was Ma Guohao plus Red—

Against Johnson alone.

The one sent flying was Johnson.

He had leapt toward them with grandeur.

Now he was blasted back like a bullet.

He smashed into the opposite cliffside, carving out a deep crater.

Cracks spread across the rock like a spiderweb.

Ma Guohao was thrown back as well.

He rolled several times along the cliff before scrambling to his feet.

A few red feathers clung to his clothes and hair.

He looked like he’d just tangled with a giant bird.

The fist blade on his right arm erupted into roaring flames.

He looked at Johnson, who appeared mostly unharmed.

His heart sank.

Johnson rose to his feet.

What he saw was the mechanical monster who had just intercepted him.

Arrogant by nature, Johnson believed no one but the leader and Red deserved to face him.

Being dragged out to handle this kind of errand had already irritated him.

Now, just before a proper fight with Red, he’d been blocked by some nameless nobody.

Rage exploded.

“Are you mocking me?!”

“You send a brat like this to face me?!”

He turned toward Red, swinging his arm furiously as he roared.

He was about to charge her again.

“What do you mean ‘a brat like this’?”

Ma Guohao snapped.

Like hell that was supposed to be an insult he just had to swallow.

He didn’t waste time arguing.

After voicing his anger, he immediately attacked.

Fist blade raised, he rushed Johnson.

Johnson halted mid-preparation.

He began forming stone bullets in his hands and launched them at Ma Guohao.

Ma Guohao kicked off the ground.

His body shot forward like an arrow.

At the last instant, he brushed past the rock bullets and twisted his trajectory smoothly.

His movements were seamless.

As he closed in, Johnson could feel the terrifying heat radiating from the fist blade.

Normally, his stone body could withstand high temperatures.

He could tank the hit, then smash this nuisance flat.

But at the last moment, he chose otherwise.

Johnson formed a massive stone warhammer.

If it was going to be close combat—

Then it would be close combat.

The hammer swung like a raging storm.

Each strike boomed with deafening force.

The ground shattered repeatedly, debris and dust flying everywhere, obscuring vision.

Each swing cut through the air with shrill howls, like a storm taking shape.

Ma Guohao’s eyes burned with focus.

Even against hammer blows moving like afterimages, he could still read their paths.

He weaved through the shadows of the strikes and the flying rubble.

With his flaming fist blade, he severed the hammer’s handle mid-swing.

Then he closed in and slashed Johnson several times.

The hammer reformed almost immediately.

But under Ma Guohao’s relentless, agile assault, Johnson was gradually pressed thin.

Yet despite the apparent advantage, none of the strikes were fatal.

The wounds were like cuts carved into stone.

Painful.

But not deadly.

At this rate, Johnson wouldn’t fall first.

Ma Guohao would simply exhaust himself.

Was there really no fatal weakness—

In a monster made entirely of rock?