Chapter 64: 64: Trash-talking The Late Emperor Argall
What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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Hillel originally wanted to spew some trash talk, but then he thought better of it. With Matt’s brain, he might not even understand it.
Better to be direct.
"Stop bragging! ’Empire’s propagation’? Can your Emperor Argall even wrap his head around that? One day, I really want to go to Viltrum and see it for myself. Not to pay respects, but to take a steaming dump on Argall’s head!"
As Hillel spoke, he covered his crotch and made a vulgar, twitching gesture.
The Viltrumite veteran turned red in a second.
The death of Emperor Argall had always been a source of hatred in the heart of every Viltrumite.
If it hadn’t been for the traitor assassinating the Emperor, there wouldn’t have been the Great Purge that followed, nor the scourge virus that had nearly wiped out the Viltrumite race.
Matt charged over, and Hillel immediately got serious.
Viltrumites had a unique trait.
They constantly learned during battle. Their bodies could slowly convert the experience of every fight into instinct, using their muscles, bones, and blood to memorize it.
Every time Hillel was injured and recovered, he became a little stronger than before.
This time, Hillel and Matt fought for nearly six hours.
The two fought from outer space back to the planet’s surface, then from the surface to a satellite, and back into space again.
It was hard to decide the winner in such an evenly matched fight.
However, the planet that Matt had ruled for three hundred years was now unrecognizable, with over a third of its surface covered in lava and more than a dozen craters, dozens of kilometers in diameter, scattered across it.
Countless millions of insectoid creatures had been indirectly killed by the shockwaves, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions caused by the battle.
Hillel went from being covered in wounds at the beginning to rarely being hit by the end.
Until... he successfully landed a hand-blade strike on Matt.
A wound deep enough to see bone appeared on Matt’s chest, almost exposing the ribs inside.
Matt wheezed, his rage still fueling him to continue the fight.
"I heard Emperor Argall was gay, and loved group activities, especially with muscular veterans like you. You look like you’ve got plenty of strength and good stamina, too."
Hillel kept spewing trash talk.
Over the past six hours, he had used this tactic to repeatedly provoke Matt and gain the initiative in his attacks.
"I will kill you, throw you into the surface of a star, and watch every pore of yours evaporate under the high heat. I will make you die in agony!"
Matt roared and charged over.
Hillel’s Viltrumite iron fist slammed directly into Matt’s forehead, and a cone-shaped shockwave burst out from behind Matt, shattering the floating planetary debris into dust.
Matt was briefly stunned by the blow, his consciousness almost falling into the abyss.
Next, it was Hillel’s turn.
He punched the veteran again and again, holding nothing back. Compared to when he first arrived in this world, he could now perfectly utilize every ounce of his strength.
Matt’s blood sprayed into the void, freezing and scattering.
Hillel threw his final punch at his heart.
Matt suddenly snapped out of it, as if experiencing a final burst of energy, and grabbed Hillel’s arm.
"You will die!"
His teeth were covered in blood, and one of his eyeballs had popped out.
His jaw was almost crooked to one side.
His powerful thigh had been completely torn off by Hillel, leaving only broken bone connecting it.
"Hard to say!"
Hillel grabbed Matt’s hand, formed his own hand into a blade, and slashed with full force at the base of his arm.
Matt was almost chopped into a human stick.
His formidable vitality allowed him to spit a mouthful of bloody foam at Hillel’s face.
Hillel held the veteran’s head, keeping him eye-to-eye. As long as a Viltrumite’s heart and brain were not damaged, there was a chance for recovery.
Hillel flew toward the crimson star.
The star’s red light indicated it was in its twilight years, but the terrifying heat was still enough to send a Viltrumite to their grave.
In the comics, the great Regent Thragg and Mark fell into the sun and fought to the death inside it, managing to hold on for a few minutes.
The veteran before him, although he had survived the scourge virus, was in a much worse physical state, but he should still be able to hold on for a bit.
"Actually, we had no grudge against each other, but you guys are all so arrogant and wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain. But the result, well, it makes no difference!"
Hillel used a hand-blade to sever Matt’s other arm.
Within the star’s gravitational range, he let go of Matt.
He quietly watched the veteran fall into the red star, every muscle, bone, and drop of blood slowly evaporating in the high heat, letting out the most agonizing screams.
Not until every cell of Matt’s body was scorched away by the stellar energy did Hillel turn around.
His eyes lit up with stellar brilliance, and a beam fired from where he stood, moving in a zigzag, annihilating all the blood and flesh tissue scattered in the void.
Hillel returned to the planet’s surface, where remnants of the insectoid race were still crawling.
His eyes glowed red, and the Omega Beams bombarded the planet’s surface without reservation.
Volcanoes erupted, lava flowed into every corner of the planet, and the insectoid creatures let out mournful cries.
But Hillel remained unmoved.
Matt’s death would bring the next Viltrumite. Although there were fewer than fifty Viltrumites left after the Great Purge and the scourge virus, the remaining ones were far stronger than Matt.
The Omega Beams evaporated the surface rock, drilling straight through. Every bombardment sent fragments of the planet scattering into the void of space.
If once wasn’t enough, then twice. If twice wasn’t enough, then three times!
Hillel wanted to erase any evidence of what happened. Given the Holy War mission currently issued by the system, his next opponent might still be a Viltrumite.
As long as a single insectoid creature escaped, his information would be leaked.
Finally, after the 3,675th bombardment.
The planet’s crust was pierced, the core received the final blow, and the entire planet began to collapse.
Hillel floated in the void, the red light in his eyes gradually dimming.
He slowly turned around.
...
[Viltrumite Outpost Battle - Complete]
[Rating: Qualified]
[Rewards calculating...]
[Reward: Ability Points + 50,000, Smart Atom Burst (No extreme stimulation required, active activation)]
[Current Ability Points: 50,000 / 500,000]
[Teleportation countdown: 3 seconds]
[Next Holy War: Three months later]
...
Hillel looked at the information on the panel.
Qualified.
That was enough.
To be able to survive against a legitimate Viltrumite, and even kill him in return—what more could a jock like him ask for?
The planet behind him began to collapse, disintegrate, and implode.
Before the planet exploded, Hillel’s figure vanished instantly.
His vision twisted, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back on the roof of Vought Tower.
Everything seemed as if it had never happened, but the six hours of life-or-death combat he had just experienced had allowed him to absorb a massive amount of practical experience.
No one on Earth could give him this kind of valuable training.
He was now a qualified young Viltrumite.
Hillel took a deep breath, still wearing that same battle robe.
The battle robe had been torn countless times during the fight, but after returning to the world of The Boys, it was restored to its original state.
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