Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 77: The Fight in the corridor

The corporate soldiers closed in on Maximilian’s side, weapons in hand. They switched to stun batons, intending to beat Maximilian and Switch to humiliate Gu Yichen for his inability to protect his guests.

Afraid of the consequences? That thought never crossed their minds. Gu Tian’s prestige far surpassed that of the fallen young master Gu Yichen. The soldiers were confident that by catering to Gu Tian’s whims, they’d never be held accountable.

Wicked smiles crept across their faces as they advanced toward Switch and Maximilian, stun batons ready. Though Gu Tian had only ordered them to capture the two, the underlying message was clear: humiliate the disgraced first young master.

"I suggest you stop what you’re about to do," Maximilian warned, eyes cold as he looked at Gu Tian. "I’ve already accepted that I’m not welcome here, so I’ll leave peacefully. Let’s end this while you still have the chance to do so on your terms."

His stare sent a shiver down Gu Tian’s spine. It was a gaze he’d only seen from UEC heroes and dangerous villains, those who thrived on blood-soaked battlefields. Although Gu Tian was also a hero, even if only a corporate one, he couldn’t boast that he could survive in real combat zones as they did.

Maximilian unknowingly was channeling Blood Mongoose’s habits, which had developed over the years on war-torn battlefields. His gaze was sharp and intimidating.

A flicker of doubt crossed Gu Tian’s mind. Did I make a mistake? Is this man someone I shouldn’t mess with?

No! Impossible. This wasn’t the first time this scenario played out.

Time and again, his useless brother had brought strangers to meet their father, hoping they could turn things around. And each time, those so-called "helpers" turned out to be nobodies, scammers, or powerless fools.

It had happened too many times. Gu Tian was sure this would be no different. After all, a leopard doesn’t change its spots overnight, and his brother’s gullible nature wouldn’t be fixed in a single day.

With that thought, he cast his hesitation aside, assuming it was all a bluff.

With no one stepping in to stop them, the corporate soldiers eagerly moved in. Switch slowly backed behind Maximilian. She had also sensed the tension and could tell that things were about to escalate... badly.

No... in this case, it might not just be a fan... it’s a typhoon.

A typhoon full of shit is about to wreck the place.

A soldier lunged forward, stun baton raised to strike.

With swift motion, Maximilian dodged, closing the distance, and slammed a punch into the first soldier.

BOOM!

The punch shattered the soldier’s armor, launching him back into his comrades.

Startled by the sudden resistance, the soldiers hesitated but quickly regrouped and charged Maximilian from all sides.

Maximilian didn’t back down. His posture was straight and sharp, like a sword. He surged forward, parrying and striking with fluid, ruthless precision. Every punch and elbow strike was deliberate, each one incapacitating a soldier instantly.

The squad was dismantled in moments, soldiers flying backward and crashing into walls. Cracks formed in the plaster, and blood trickled from their helmet vents.

The remaining soldiers in the distance quickly formed a firing line, weapons aimed at Maximilian.

"Freeze! Or we’ll shoot!" shouted the squad leader, clad in heavier armor.

Maximilian raised his arms, forming Qi shields around his forearms, and stepped forward.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Ratatatatata—

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Gunfire erupted. But as the bullets struck, they ricocheted off the dense Qi energy encasing Maximilian’s arms, a thin, transparent, cloud-like membrane absorbing the impact.

{Damn... the Supreme Master package is ridiculously overpowered. I can even predict the bullet paths, see their trajectory, and intercept them with my hands,} Maximilian spoke through the mental link.

[Of course. The word "Supreme" isn’t for show. While this isn’t some superpower, normal humans can achieve this with enough time, study, practice, and experience; the "package" gives you all the necessary qualities from the start. It means that under the circumstances that they are normal human without EF, magic, and so on and so forth, no one can match you.] Atherna explained.

{The system is absurd. It granted me this without even straining my muscles like my body, and my experience was molded from the ground up to handle this kind of combat. Besides needing my own personal experience, it’s like I was made into a perfect vessel for this skill set.} Maximilian added.

{I wonder... is me being unfazed by all the killing and violence something the system affected?} Maximilian asked, half to himself. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

[No, Max... your personality and inner qualities haven’t been changed. If you’re unfazed by bloodshed and violence, it’s due to the Blood Mongoose essence. That essence simply helped temper your perspective and made you more resilient to the cruelty display of others, not heartless.] Atherna responded.

[If you want an example, Blood Mongoose never hesitated to kill innocents to complete a mission. Once, he had to assassinate a speedster hero who could move at 50% of the speed of light. He cut open the chests of the man’s wife and children and implanted EF inhibitor grenades inside. When the speedster rushed in to save them, he couldn’t disarm both bombs in time, even at light speed. The inhibitors went off, suppressing his abilities, and Mongoose triggered high explosives set throughout the house. The resulting blast decimated an entire city block, ensuring no escape at the price of the whole city block’s worth of innocent lives.]

Atherna paused, then continued.

[But you, Max... you inherited his skills, tactics, and instincts, yet chose to beat up a group of "innocents" who were physically capable and wouldn’t need extended hospital stays. And when you fought that Super Karen named Photon Fury, you used mice instead of real kids to restrain her powers, exploiting her lack of power training.]

[That’s your quality. The one I admire about you.]

{So you like a softie, huh? Good to know.}

[Yes, you’re a softie, a big softie, my softie. (๑>ᴗ<๑)] Atherna happily replied.

While Maximilian was bantering with Atherna in his mind, his body moved instinctively, punching, attacking, evading, and disarming every corporate soldier in his path as if guided by muscle memory.

Maximilian’s Every move was flawless and ruthless, precisely calibrated to incapacitate his opponents without endangering their lives. But for those on the receiving end, experiencing condensed Qi exploding within their muscles, it might have been preferable to die instead.

Within a brief moment, less than a minute had passed. The corridor was filled with groaning bodies of neutralized corporate soldiers.

The scene left Gu Tian and the nearby employees stunned. None of them had expected the supposed scammer, invited here by the "useless" young master, to be the real deal.

But... what this man displayed, though impressive, was still within a manageable range.

However, organizations operate differently from individuals, no matter how vast or powerful. While an individual, if not arrogant, can admit fault and apologize, an organization is another beast entirely.

Even if an organization makes a mistake, it cannot easily admit it. Instead, it prioritizes damage control, often by erasing the source of the mistake altogether, ensuring the error never reaches public awareness.

This is especially true for corporate organizations. In a cutthroat environment like Arkadia’s, where some corporations wield enough influence to dictate the lives of the masses, acknowledging a mistake openly is a sign of weakness and will negatively affect their stock price.

Such organizations are incredibly resilient and far more likely to eliminate the problem than to accept responsibility.

Seeing that the man’s display of power was still within manageable parameters, Gu Weizhong decided to send more soldiers to eliminate this "mistake."

He didn’t know who the man was; there hadn’t been time to check, but he assumed he wasn’t a big shot. If he were, Gu Weizhong would have recognized him.

After all, he sat near the top of the power structure in Arkadia City-State. If he didn’t recognize this man, then surely the man must be a nobody. He might be skilled, but he shouldn’t be someone Gu Weizhong couldn’t handle.

The sound of combat boots pounding through the corridor echoed loudly, more soldiers were arriving. This time, they were heavily armed, carrying everything from assault rifles and submachine guns to light machine guns.

Some of them possessed common EF enhancements, such as increased strength or heightened reflexes, making them elite forces within the corporation’s private army.

They rushed into the corridor, but when Maximilian noticed them, he charged forward at a speed almost imperceptible to the human eye. The soldiers were startled but quickly regained their combat stances.

One of the soldiers, armed with a shotgun, aimed at Maximilian, but he vanished from his sight line. A sharp pain struck the soldier from the side, and his body was sent flying into the wall.

Moments later, several of his comrades followed, crashing into the wall one after another. Maximilian moved like a tiger rampaging through a sheep pen, striking them down one by one before they could mount any resistance.

"Use the EF Inhibitor Wave! Now!" one of the soldiers, apparently the squad leader, shouted in panic as another quickly deployed a strange black device.