CHAPTER 931: KILLING ARNOLD

Max’s eyes narrowed, a cold gleam flashing within them as he stared at Kyle, Tron, and Agatha. He sneered, his expression carrying utter disdain, but his attention wasn’t truly on them. His Three Dimensional Body had already spread its perception through the entire crowd below, mapping every movement, every life force, every breath. And then he felt it—the presence he had been hunting for a month—Arnold.

’No matter where you hide, I will find you,’ Max thought, his killing intent rising sharply like an unsheathed sword.

In the next instant, his body simply vanished, leaving behind only the faint distortion of air and a single afterimage.

"No!" a shrill voice cried out from somewhere within the crowd.

Every single person turned their heads at once, their eyes widening in shock. Max now stood among them, one hand gripping Arnold’s neck with unrelenting force, effortlessly lifting him off the ground.

The image was surreal: one moment Max was calmly standing atop the mountain peak, and in the next, he had crossed hundreds of feet to seize his target before anyone could even blink.

"You! Let go of Arnold!" Kyle roared in fury, his voice echoing in the air like thunder. His aura flared wildly, but even so, he hesitated to rush forward.

Tron and Agatha were no less shocked, their eyes trembling as they processed what just happened. Max had stood in front of them only a breath ago, yet they couldn’t even perceive how he moved, let alone stop him. It was like being slapped in the face; they had come here to kill Max, yet he had just humiliated them before everyone by snatching one of their own.

Arnold struggled, clawing at Max’s iron-like grip as his feet dangled helplessly above the ground. His voice cracked and choked as he forced out words, "You...! You can’t kill me...!"

"And why is that?" Max’s tone was cold, his eyes sharp like twin blades. "Aren’t you the one who put a bounty on my head? Aren’t you the one who spread false rumors, instigating everyone in this secret domain to come after me? Aren’t you the one responsible for this whole mess? Aren’t you the one who caused the deaths of everyone who attacked me because of your lies?"

Each word was like a hammer blow, his voice carrying enough force to suppress the murmurs of the gathered geniuses. Arnold’s face drained of color, his lips trembling, his body shaking in Max’s grasp.

"Don’t... slander me..." Arnold croaked out, but the weakness of his voice and the panic in his eyes only made his defense hollow.

"Slander?" Max’s lips curled into a cold smile as he turned to look at the countless geniuses gathered at the foot of the mountain.

His voice boomed, resonating with authority and anger. "Tell me, what would you do if hundreds of people came after your life? Would you just stand there and offer your neck? Would you let them kill you without lifting a hand? Of course not! And that’s exactly what happened with me."

He raised Arnold even higher, his arm extended, displaying him like a captured criminal for all to see. "This man put a bounty on me! You all know the promises he made for my head—the riches, the treasures, the glory he promised anyone who killed me. Even now, some of you are itching to try. But how did that turn out? Those who came for my head... are all dead by my hand. I had no choice! Either I killed them, or they killed me—all because of Arnold!"

Max’s gaze swept across the crowd, cold and commanding, and then returned to Arnold, who hung limply in his grasp, too terrified to resist. His next words carried an icy finality: "And Arnold, being responsible for all of this... how should he be dealt with?"

Everyone held their breath. While it was true that most of them had once hungered for Max’s head, driven by the extravagant promises Arnold had made and the bounty placed upon him, that greed now felt hollow.

Those who had acted on that greed had paid with their lives, cut down by the very man who now stood holding Arnold like a lifeless doll. That reality sank deep into their hearts, chilling them to their bones. Max wasn’t just strong; he was terrifying—a predator who struck back without hesitation when hunted.

As for Arnold, no one spoke for him. The silence was deafening. They had followed his schemes, his bounty, his lies. Now they couldn’t even find words to defend him.

Max’s eyes swept across the silent crowd, his gaze sharp and unforgiving, before he spoke with a calmness that only made his words more terrifying. "The answer is very simple. Eye for an eye. Blood for blood. Since Arnold wanted to kill me... I shall kill him. It’s that simple."

"No! You can’t kill—" Arnold shouted desperately, his eyes wide with panic, but Max’s grip tightened on his neck. A strangled sound escaped Arnold as his voice was cut off, his face turning pale as fear overtook him completely.

Max looked around once more, his expression cold yet oddly regretful. "I’ve explained everything to you, exposed Arnold for what he is. If he hadn’t come after me, if he hadn’t incited all of you to hunt me down, would any of those people be dead? No. I am not the cruel one here. I was forced to survive. I only did what anyone would do when their life was on the line." He shook his head slowly, almost pitying the man he was about to kill.

"Max, if you dare kill him, I swear you won’t live to see the outside world!" Kyle shouted furiously, his killing intent exploding into the air.

Max turned his head toward Kyle, a crazed smile spreading across his face. "Watch me."

With one swift motion, Max’s hand clenched tight, and the sound of bones snapping echoed in the tense silence. Arnold’s eyes bulged as blood spurted from his mouth, and then his body went limp. Max released his grip, letting Arnold’s corpse fall unceremoniously to the ground with a heavy thud, crimson staining the icy stones below.