"Over there!"
"Hurry up and chase!"
In the center of New Covenant City, a large number of official Ascendants were pursuing Uenoshi. This attacker, who had blown up the parliament building with a single rocket, was now darting through the streets.
Following alongside her was a massive beast.
"Open fire!"
Several armored vehicles appeared ahead to block the road, their mounted autocannons opening fire.
Bullets poured down like water on Uenoshi and Coal Ball, but they had absolutely no effect.
"What the hell?!"
The soldiers inside the armored vehicles were horrified. Those were large-caliber bullets. Even if that Ascendant had a Defensive Item, how could that beast be completely invulnerable too?
Coal Ball lunged at the vehicles. The blood vines extending from its ribs wrapped around the armored military vehicles, lifting them high into the air before slamming them down hard, instantly killing everyone inside.
Uenoshi watched in surprise. Before the operation, Guan Tong had told her that after using items, Coal Ball had gained the tough, bark-like defense of the mutated dragonblood tree and the ability to manipulate blood vines.
But she hadn't expected Coal Ball to use them so skillfully, as if they were part of its own body.
Several heavy armored vehicles were easily destroyed by Coal Ball. Hearing the "whirring" sound of helicopters overhead, it roared up in mania, shooting blood vines a hundred meters into the air to stab into one of the pursuing helicopters.
"BOOM!!!"
Perhaps the blood vine had pierced the fuel tank. The helicopter exploded into a fireball in mid-air. The people inside didn't even have time to eject.
Uenoshi could feel that the moment the helicopter exploded, all the conventional armed forces pursuing them stopped.
No more armored vehicles or helicopters. Instead, elite Ascendants and intelligent war weapons took their place.
"Over here!"
A dozen or so pursuing official Ascendants surrounded Uenoshi and Coal Ball, launching attacks with their items and abilities.
Uenoshi was faster than them. The moment she saw them, she used her ability to forcibly alter their genes. In an instant, the dozen or so people twisted and transformed into snake-men. Under her control, they created even more chaos.
"Oh my god..."
In the operations room, the Commander watched this scene through surveillance cameras. Goosebumps erupted all over his body. He hadn't expected this enemy to be so terrifying.
Just then, someone pushed open the door and walked in, saying, "The enemy is one of 'Shadow's' people. She was once Sakura Prayer Country's official Ascendant, Yamata no Orochi."
Everyone in the operations room looked over, and upon seeing the newcomer, immediately straightened their backs. "Mr. Dodge!"
The newcomer was none other than Senator Dodge. He said to the Commander, "I'm temporarily taking over command. This enemy is dangerous. Don't send any weaklings to their deaths anymore. The Senate has officially authorized the deployment of war weapons."
"Yes!"
Without authorization from the Senate or King Bruce, war weapons could not be used.
Dodge looked at the operations screen. Inside, a large group of Serpent Servants transformed by Uenoshi were running wild. Some were destroying vehicles on the street, others were attacking buildings and shops.
Those creatures had a wide attack range, but their destructive power when gathered together wasn't particularly strong.
Deliberately expanding the chaos to draw the main force into the city center, huh...
Dodge squinted. He saw through Uenoshi's plan and knew this was very likely the task Guan Tong had given her.
But this gave him the perfect excuse not to dispatch war weapons to support Bruce's side.
Since you've already written the script, I'll just play along with this act.
No matter what Dodge was thinking in his heart, his face was full of solemnity, making everyone in the operations room think he was deeply worried.
This was precisely his two-pronged approach.
If things at Wensilisa Castle didn't develop as ideally, and Adam and Guan Tong failed, with Bruce returning alive, then he couldn't be blamed either.
After the authorization was issued, the war machines deployed in New Covenant City activated, quickly heading to the target location.
Uenoshi had already transformed over a hundred Serpent Servants. At least several dozen of Suroma's Ascendants had died under Coal Ball's attacks. The level of chaos she had created was already considerable.
So when several large war weapons appeared within her field of vision, she wasn't surprised at all.
"Coal Ball, we both need to be careful facing these big guys." Uenoshi said in a low voice.
Coal Ball also sensed the powerful enemy approaching. Its dark red pupils locked onto those mechs. It kept baring its teeth and hissing. Once they got close, it took the initiative to pounce forward and engage.
Wensilisa Castle.
The Three Beast Fusion form of Scarface attacked wildly. In this form, he combined the bear's strength, the eagle's speed, and the wolf's agility into one, intent on tearing Guan Tong to shreds.
But influenced by the Absolute Will ability, he had lost his reason. He had forgotten why he hadn't dared to fight back when he was in the Underground Parish, or why he had obediently acted as a spy.
The Three Beast Fusion form was indeed a powerful trump card. But it depended on who it was used against. When facing Guan Tong, in the latter's eyes, it was nothing more than a slightly stronger beast.
Guan Tong didn't even need to go all out. He multitasked, manipulating Shadow to restrain those cyborg Ascendants, temporarily preventing them from breaking free.
Meanwhile, he casually manipulated another part of Shadow to become insubstantial, drilling it into Scarface's Three Beast form's body.
"Substantial-Insubstantial."
Guan Tong activated his ability.
CRACK!!!
Scarface's Three Beast form body exploded from the inside out. His formidable comprehensive abilities had no chance to be used at all.
With Scarface dead, Guan Tong looked over at the red carpet.
Now Bruce had no one to protect him. Not just him, but Han Qiu and Yishan as well. All three people walking the red carpet were exposed to Adam's gravity field and were enduring its pressure.
Adam clenched his fist and warned, "Bruce, you should know what I want. You'd better cooperate, or I'll immediately increase the force output. Even if you have items protecting you, it won't do any good."
He wasn't worried about them using teleportation-type items to escape. Because in the Shadow Domain, no target's actions could escape Guan Tong's eyes. If Bruce or Han Qiu tried to use an item to escape, they would be discovered and blocked instantly.
Bruce's daughter Yishan had vacant eyes, sitting dazedly on the ground, still reeling from the blow.
Han Qiu also stopped pretending to be nervous. He stood calmly to the side, watching how things developed.
Both Adam and Guan Tong were very curious about Han Qiu's calm demeanor. But Adam didn't have the mind to deal with that now. He only wanted to know the whereabouts of his family.
Bruce looked at Adam, who could barely conceal his agitation, and said coldly, "Liesert, I thought you were a smart man. You should know very well what the consequences are for opposing me. It seems you've already forgotten the lesson from Eden Island."
When Adam heard Bruce call him by his real name instead of complying with his demand, he was instantly enraged and increased the gravity.
Bruce pressed the scepter button again. The cyborgs that had been entangled by Shadow automatically disassembled, turning into individual, independent structures.
This way, those independent block structures easily broke free from Shadow's restraints. They reformed by recombining and gathered around Bruce, forming a human barrier around him.
The gravity Adam applied was nullified upon hitting the barrier. He looked at the metal on those cyborgs and recalled the "Red Demon" mech he had encountered on Eden Island.
...These cyborgs' bodies might have a field shielding core, just like that Red Demon mech, effectively reducing the impact of field effects.
This scene of the cyborgs disassembling and reassembling was an eye-opener not only for Adam and Guan Tong but even for Han Qiu, who had been staying in Suroma all along. He had never seen anything like it.
"These cyborgs are actually this flexible. Truly astonishing technology..."
Han Qiu muttered, looking at Guan Tong.
He noticed Guan Tong was also looking at him. Red light flickered in Guan Tong's eyes.
The moment their gazes met, the Defensive Item on Han Qiu's body began to drain rapidly.
"Spiritual defense, huh. It seems you have a spiritual attack method." Han Qiu analyzed casually. "And judging by that red color, it seems to be related to 'Scarlet Fear.' It appears you didn't just 'eliminate' the 'Demon' within that rule; you also seized part of its power. Not bad at all."
Guan Tong had no interest in conversing with Han Qiu. Since the latter had items that could defend against spiritual attacks, he would just use a simpler method.
He crooked his finger. Overwhelming Shadow Blades slashed toward Han Qiu. He believed that no matter what the latter's ability truly was, he wouldn't escape this death trap today.
Han Qiu continuously consumed Defensive Items to deal with Guan Tong's attacks. He only passively defended, not launching any counterattack.
As for Bruce, he had already ordered those cyborgs to attack Adam. Guan Tong had to end this quickly to help the latter.
He increased his Mind Power output. He knew that even if Han Qiu had countless Defensive Items, he wouldn't have enough Mind Power to use them.
"Guan Tong, what do you think is the point of all this?" Han Qiu said unhurriedly. "What's the point of playing the good guy? I know you're not actually happy."
"Han Qiu."
It wasn't Guan Tong who called out to him, but Yishan.
She said hoarsely, "You've been lying to me all along, haven't you? You never really intended to marry me."
Hearing this, Han Qiu turned to look at Yishan. Meeting her gaze, he smiled faintly. "My dear, let me put it this way for you. If you know you're playing a virtual game, do you think there's any need to find a wife inside that game?"
Hearing this, not just Yishan, but even Guan Tong found it absurd.
"A virtual game?" Yishan was stunned, finding it hard to believe. "You think this is just a virtual game?!"
"At least to the Fire Thief, that's what it is. We're all just characters in its game." After saying this, Han Qiu ignored Yishan and looked back at Guan Tong.
"Guan Tong, do you know what I like most about games?"
"I only know that you're about to die." Guan Tong finally spoke a single sentence.
He could see Han Qiu's defenses weakening. His Mind Power was almost depleted. In less than ten seconds, he would die under the slashing of the Shadow Blades.
"If you hate me because of Suzuki's death, then you'll eventually come to hate everyone in this world."
Han Qiu looked at Guan Tong with certainty, as if making a prophecy about the future.
"People won't be grateful to one person for long. Gratitude is the cheapest emotion. Just like how the kids in the orphanage will eat the donated food while cursing the donors for not donating something better.
Think about it. You saved so many people during the earthquake rule, yet they still condemned you when you killed the Demon and might have brought retribution.
If your death would benefit people, they wouldn't hesitate for a second to vote for you to die. What will you do then? Get back at everyone like you got back at me? Kill everyone? I'm looking forward to seeing that scene. It'll definitely be interesting."
"..."
Guan Tong was expressionless. He just kept a close eye on the degree of Han Qiu's defenses weakening, paying no attention to his words.
"You're different from the masses of this world. You're special. I hope one day you'll understand that investing too many feelings into a game will only make you the loser. When that time comes, if you want to join my side, I'll welcome you. Urk—"
When Han Qiu reached his final sentence, his defenses had been breached. A giant hand formed from Shadow grabbed his neck, making it hard for him to breathe.
"Your game is over, Han Qiu." Guan Tong said.
"Heh... heh. I haven't answered that question from before yet... Do you know what I like most about games?" Han Qiu smiled with difficulty.
"It's that... even if you lose during the process... it doesn't matter... because you can always start over."
CRACK!
Guan Tong manipulated the Shadow hand to twist and break Han Qiu's neck.
Han Qiu was dead.
Guan Tong could sense that Han Qiu was truly dead. But he felt unsettled inside.
Why could that guy still smile when he was dying?
And that talk about "starting the game over" bothered Guan Tong somewhat.
But there was no time to think about it now. The battle wasn't over yet.
Adam was engaged in fierce combat with those cyborgs. Bruce was still standing in place, relying on the barrier formed by some of the cyborgs and his own Defensive Items to stay safe.
Guan Tong didn't want to drag this out any longer. The Shadow Blades that had been targeting Han Qiu shifted to Bruce's surroundings. Seeing this, Adam quickly shouted, "Shadow, don't kill him! I haven't gotten what I want yet!"
"I'm not going to kill him. I'm just clearing out those cyborgs first."
Guan Tong used the Substantial-Insubstantial ability on a large scale, eliminating cyborgs in batches through internal explosions. Bruce watched as the guards around him exploded one by one, his expression growing more and more grim.
Just then, Dr. Haisen's voice came through his earpiece. "Your Majesty, the Senate seems to be deliberately delaying their support for you. You..."
"Send him over." Bruce looked at Adam and suddenly said.
Dr. Haisen's tone was surprised. "Him? But, he's still not very stable right now."
"Send him over." Bruce said, leaving no room for argument.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Moments later, most of the cyborgs were dead. Adam's Mind Power was also nearly exhausted.
Then the light of a teleportation array flickered on beside Bruce. Adam's expression changed slightly. "Reinforcements!"
He knew he couldn't delay any longer. He decided to cripple Bruce first and take him away for interrogation.
"Gravity, seventy times!"
He raised his hand and channeled his power. Strangely, his Mind Power was consumed, but his gravity field didn't activate at all.
What was going on?
Guan Tong, standing on higher ground, also saw the teleportation array, but he didn't notice Adam's ability failing.
Adam tried to use his power again. But in the teleportation light, he saw a familiar, small figure.
His body shook. He was stunned, frozen in place with disbelief. "Ap... Apple..."
When Guan Tong heard Adam's voice, he too was stunned for a moment.
He remembered Adam telling him that because Adam's daughter had rosy cheeks, Adam liked to call her "Little Apple."
No!
Guan Tong immediately activated Body Swap, exchanging positions with the shadow in front of Adam.
"Gravity, fifty times."
The little girl who stepped out of the teleportation array raised both small hands expressionlessly and activated her ability.
BAM!!!
The moment Guan Tong completed the position swap, Adam's internal organs and parts of his body had already been crushed by the terrifying gravity. Blood splattered all over Guan Tong.