The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 601 - 599: Devouring and Death

Chapter 601: Chapter 599: Devouring and Death

After weight reduction was completed, Marquis Glatoni did not launch an attack immediately but reassessed the young man before him.

William, who had been dodging continuously and performing multiple Star Transfers, showed no signs of needing to catch his breath and didn’t seem to be dissipating any energy whatsoever.

It appeared that everything prior was just a disguise.

"In addition to luring me to expose my flaws and deliver a slash... you intentionally retreated by dodging, drawing me from the Black Bridge toward the city’s edge to facilitate your teammates’ infiltration of the Central Manor, didn’t you?"

William quickly shook his head in denial, "No, no, no~ Our manpower is limited. Even if I could draw you away, they wouldn’t be sufficient to infiltrate the Central Manor... unless we rescue teacher Zede or kill you.

The purpose of leading you to the city wall was just to ’engage in solo combat’.

Jin remaining close by could slightly hamper performance, and the aftermath of our battle could affect her external physical body since she’s fighting within herself after all."

For a moment, the Marquis actually found himself liking the young man before him,

"Excellent~ I have high hopes for you.

Therefore, I will temporarily dismiss any concerns about other areas, personnel, or the entire colony, and focus solely on defeating you."

Marquis Glatoni adjusted the straps of his dungarees, then rolled up the cuffs of his shirt, revealing his "forearm structure".

The forearms, having been slimmed down, bore perfect muscle definition, contoured and covered with a thick layer of sweat,

Holding formidable physical traits was merely an external characteristic of Marquis Glatoni, honed by extended periods of eating—an external shell, to be precise,

His true strength and characteristic trait lay in his name, Glatoni, which translates to ’Gluttony’.

Seams of varying lengths emerged between his forearms,

These gaps wriggled and gradually opened up, forming a structure akin to mouths.

Without lips,

Pure white teeth neatly aligned,

A tongue colored somewhere between gray and red,

Opening his mouth, one could clearly see the oral mucosa, tonsils, uvula, trachea, and other mouth structures,

Looking along these mouths toward the depths of the trachea, it seemed one might reach a special internal space,

As William watched the mouths gradually forming on the surface of the Marquis’ arms, he immediately sensed the presence of an ancient illness, whose corresponding genetic traits were also ancient and perhaps even lost due to war.

"The number of mouths on the left and right arms are ten and twelve respectively. The number is probably not the crucial point; the real key lies in the function of these mouths.

As the teeth of the mouths clenched, the surrounding space trembled slightly. I can almost be certain that these mouths can perform trans-spatial devouring.

I must estimate the distance of the devouring, otherwise I risk losing a chunk of flesh carelessly."

With that thought,

William immediately took out his other weapon,

Combining human technology and style, forged from the cores and materials of Old World diseases—’firearm Bartosz,’ set within its interior factory, was already loaded with a vast quantity of ordinary bullets.

The moment the firearm was in hand, William swiftly pulled the trigger.

Over a dozen spirally structured bullets shot towards the Marquis,

Lacking Little Grape’s assistance, the shot bullets couldn’t load eyes to alter their trajectory,

Yet at the moment, William did not require intricate shooting angles; he fired only to verify one thing.

All the bullets were directed at the Marquis’ arms.

William, too, was staring wide-eyed, intently watching what would happen next.

Just as the bullets were about to hit... buzz!

As if erased, all the bullets disappeared.

William immediately estimated the ’effective range’ of the devouring based on the disappearance of the bullets. Recognizing the intent behind the shooting, Marquis Glatoni immediately moved, not giving William any time to think,

His seventy-yard shoes stepped forward again,

Having completed weight reduction, his speed was roughly triple that of before, but as a ’Complete Shaper,’ William could keep up, and his superfast madness-brain calculation was already complete.

"The devouring distance is roughly 2~3 meters. My dodging must take this into account."

His ankles twisted, streams of starlight also flowed through nearby veins.

The perfect merger of the physical and the sick, created by William himself—the technique "Star Instant".

Each touch of his toes left a speck of starlight behind, significantly improving both transfer efficiency and speed.

Buzz!

Two figures, too fast to be seen with the naked eye, moved swiftly along the street near the city wall,

passing buildings that were demolished along the way, their debris clearly marked with gnawing bite marks.

However, this chase did not last long before Glatoni voluntarily stopped.

William, after executing another "Star Instant" transfer, landed on the eaves of a building fifty meters away, observing the marquis who no longer pursued him.

Glatoni showed signs of fatigue on his face, seemingly tired of this cat-and-mouse game, "You don’t seem to plan on fighting me head-on?"

William responded with a smile, "How to fight? Getting a bit close would get me completely devoured—I’m certainly not about to willingly face death."

"That’s just the most basic devouring effect. As chief of the circus, you should have ways to deal with it, right? I admit your mobility is very high, but fleeing like this is just boring.

Show me your real skills, William."

William slowly squatted on the eaves, his right hand rapidly spinning the hand axe, "Real skills? You haven’t shown yours either... You, as a blood citizen, your true illness has not yet activated, you’re just using your own talent for gluttony.

If I reveal my real power prematurely, wouldn’t I be playing into your hands? If you want to chase, try to catch up with me; if you don’t want to, then feel free to leave. I’ll just cause chaos around the city myself."

Whoo~

Marquis Glatoni took a deep breath and shook his head.

His character was considered the best among the Seven Marquis, which is why he was assigned to manage the human colonies, recruit more humans while peacefully constructing to expand the blood citizen population.

At this moment,

facing William’s repeated taunts, nearly having his origin damaged by the Death Slash, and the prolonged ineffective chase, Glatoni’s mentality was already changing.

He no longer thought about ’capturing alive’ this promising young man like Zede for live transformation,

He was now unreservedly focused on ’killing the enemy’ as his primary goal.

A special mouth opened at that instant.

Not a sub-mouth on the arm but the one on Glatoni’s face, bestowed upon him at birth—the "mouth"

This was his first time using the main mouth.

Aiming at William fifty meters away, it performed a ’biting’ action... Crunch—something hard was chewed!

He did not directly devour William,

but instead ate the space that lay between him and William, resulting in a large amount of blood erupting from the devoured space.

Buzz!

As the space was erased,

William, originally seated on the eaves, was instantly pulled close to the marquis. Without time to react or make any move... a huge palm descended from above, like Mount Tai crashing down, directly pressing William to the ground.

Crack!

Facial bones shattered, brain pulverized,

His neck and sternum were crushed,

the upper part of William’s chest nearly flattened into a meaty state, dead beyond any doubt.

However, when Marquis Glatoni attempted to devour William, his mouth instinctively rejected the command to ’eat’,

as if the crushed pile of bones and mud in front of him would bring irreversible harm to his body.

"Hmm? There’s something I can’t eat?"

As his words fell,

the crushed body of William began to liquify and bubble, transforming into a pool of pitch-black blood that even corroded the ground, eventually creating a shallow well.

Crack!

An arm crawled out of the well’s mouth, its five fingers tightly clinging to the ground.

Scattered black hair draped over the shoulders, the entire body emerged... the aura completely transformed, seemingly with a pair of eyes on the back watching the marquis.