Chapter 58: The Maggot Becomes a Moth
After getting kicked around by Notos several times, Palermo still managed to stand up and pop a yellow-colored bean in his mouth. This caused a wave of nature energy to pulse from his body.
Notos chuckled. "Nice display of energy, but you're still a maggot to me."
Instead of frowning, Palermo grinned. "Come at me, fatso!"
Growling, Notos charged at Palermo.
"Super Spriggan (Super Multi-Size Technique)!" Palermo shouted as one of his arms grew abnormally large and smacked Notos upward.
Then before Notos could come down, Palermo did the same to his left leg kicking him up higher. Next, he expanded his left arm and grabbed Notos in midair. He tried to crush him, but Notos resisted and broke out of Palermo's grasp before landing in the alleyway. Before Notos had the chance to attack, Palermo immediately jumped into the air and expanded his whole body. The sides of the alley were crushed by his abnormally large hands and feet, but Palermo managed to push himself out of the alley and crush Notos beneath him as he landed in the street causing cars and trucks to briefly stop. Just when Palermo thought it was over, something caused him to go flying into the air and immediately deflate him.
"All right, maggot, now you've made me angry," Notos said as Palermo landed on his back.
Dammit, Palermo thought. I didn't think the side-effect of the beans would kick in so soon.
He looked up at Notos, whose skin had now turned crimson red while his hair had lengthened and his eyes had turned bright yellow.
"Not many guys have seen me in this form," Notos stated. "And they usually end up dead!"
While Palermo tried to move, Notos walked up and slammed him into the ground causing the concrete underneath to crack below.
"Once I feed on all of your nature energy, it's lights out for you." Notos then licked his tongue and a blue aura emanated from his hand.
Disappointed by the amount he got, Notos threw Palermo away.
"What a useless maggot you are," Notos said, crushing the peanut bag Palermo had on him. "But don't worry. I'll kill all your worthless friends once I'm done here."
As Notos stepped closer with his fist clenched, Palermo reached into the bean pod and ate the last red-colored one.
"Say goodbye to this world, maggot!" Notos shouted as he slammed his fist downward.
To his surprise, Palermo was no longer there. Then Notos saw several bright-blue moths fluttering around. Confused, Notos looked behind him and saw Palermo who had now sprouted wings made of pure nature energy.
"I'm not sure where all this energy came from, but this doesn't change a thing, maggot," Notos cried and clenched his fist. "Atlas* Crush (Rock Slam)!"
But before his fist could make contact, Palermo stopped him.
"I'm not a maggot," Palermo said, turning to face Notos with a skinnier face. "But a moth, cuz I thought they were cooler than butterflies."
With one shove, Palermo threw Notos several feet away into the next alley. Notos attempted to get up, but Palermo's foot pushed him down.
"That's for destroying the last peanut in that bag," Palermo growled and clenched his left hand which glowed with nature energy. "With this, you'll be one having his brights knocked out!"
Unable to move, Notos cried out in pain as Palermo punched him into the ground so hard that his appearance changed back to the way it was before. Then Notos gasped and became limp while Palermo's wings dissipated. After a few moments, though, Palermo walked away and saw a message carved into the wall in front of him with an arrow pointing left.
"Thanks, guys," Palermo smiled, and rested his back against the sign.
###
Elsewhere, Eurus and the remaining Suono Four were running along the rooftops when Notos suddenly joined them.
"Took you long enough," Zephyr grumbled.
"Sorry," Notos apologized. "Had to finish crushing the fat kid before getting here."
Borea scuffed. "If you're done having fun, then why not make yourself useful and carry the damn barrel already."
Notos said nothing, causing Eurus to stop.
"You seem a bit off today, Notos," Eurus observed, holding the barrel with Tony (Sasuke) in his hands. "Usually, you're quick to make a comeback at Borea's harsh words. Because of that, I don't think I should give the barrel away."
In response, Notos attempted to hit Eurus, who tossed the barrel into the air. Behind him, Borea caught it.
"Well, this definitely proves that you're not Notos," Eurus grinned. "Unless that was your intention, whoever you are."
In turn, the impostor pretending to be Notos transformed into Capriolo who attempted to slash Eurus with a throwing knife. But Eurus leaped up and spat spider-webs which bound Capriolo to a nearby telephone poll. Meanwhile, Borea left carrying the barrel while Zephyr followed her.
Before Eurus could leave, though, he was ambushed by Gelato and his Homunculi (Shadow-Clones). Unimpressed, Eurus jumped off the building, spun a large spider-web, and threw it upward. This trapped Gelato and his Homunculi inside, but Zanna and Rosso were waiting in the alley below. They attempted to attack Eurus using the Hellhound Hunt, but he avoided their attacks easily and landed in the alley with ease. While Zanna and Rosso landed on the fire-escapes to either side, their feet were stuck to the stairs by sticky webbing.
"S**t," Zanna cursed. "How did you do that so quickly?"
"What can I say?" Eurus shrugged with his arms. "Spiders are quick."
"But they can easily get crushed by a human foot!" Voluta cried and leaped down toward Eurus with his palms raised.
Chuckling, Eurus spat a spider-web at Voluta which stretched to both sides of the alley and trapped him inside. Then Eurus wrapped Voluta's body in more webs creating a cocoon-like structure.
"Nice try, little flies, but my webbing is so strong that not even two trucks can break them," Eurus grinned, watching all the members of Capriolo's team struggling to free themselves. "You may have gotten out before, but this time I'm getting serious!"
End of Chapter 58
*Atlas was a man who was forced to carry the entire world on his shoulders