Apocalypse Forecast

Oh crap, I overdid the taunt.

Huai Shi's vision went dark for what seemed like the umpteenth time today, and he immediately felt an icy sensation in his abdomen. When he looked down, he saw a hard, jointed limb impaling his torso.

In that moment, as ripples of blood spread, both were blasted away.

Right after, they saw Qi Yuan raise his hands, responding to the black blood in the sky, and violently push down. Countless blood droplets converged into a cloud, from which numerous blood arrows shot down, indiscriminately enveloping everything within a ten-meter radius.

Even the sturdy columns were pierced with large holes by the blood arrows, and from those holes sprouted various plants that didn't look decorative, all writhing and clawing.

With no leverage mid-air... As if! Huai Shi pointed, and a rope shot out, winding around a column behind him, violently yanking him out of the AOE's attack range.

Fooled ya? I'm Spiderman!

Just as he was preparing to gloat over Li Jian Amber's misfortune, he saw the battle-hardened JK let out an angry shout. The Buddha Beads on her wrist suddenly shattered, and fiery red armor appeared on her body, completely covering her from head to toe. In the blink of an eye, she was clad in grand armor, even wearing a surcoat emblazoned with a three-fan crest.

She's tanking it!

Damn, she's Ironman!

Huai Shi's joy as Spiderman didn't last long before he was suddenly outclassed. How the hell is this rich woman so loaded!

He stumbled to the ground, gritting his teeth, and yanked out the limb that had impaled his abdomen. But there was no blood on it, only a pitch-black burn mark.

Quickly, Huai Shi discovered the wound in his abdomen was slowly closing, enveloped by flames. Although he could feel waves of intense pain, it surprisingly didn't affect his movement.

This is great...

Taking advantage of the fuel left in his negativity engine, Huai Shi took a deep breath, re-enchanted his blade and axe, and charged back into the fray.

I'm counting on this bastard for a reduced sentence; how could I let someone else chop off his head and run away with it!

In Li Jian Amber's hands, the Border Relic had once again become a wild tachi almost two meters in length. Wielded by her petite frame, it looked incredibly strange, but the flames coiling around the tachi were undeniably real.

Regardless of her motives for breaking away from the main group to attempt the boss alone, her time was running out. She ignored the Source Substance consumption, simultaneously sustaining several Border Relics, and began to hack away fiercely.

To their relief, as the rumbling around them grew louder, the other altars seemed to have been successively breached, and the power being transmitted to Qi Yuan grew increasingly unstable.

In the mirrored projection, the terrifying shadow of Nine Phoenix became increasingly blurred, as if struggling with all its might.

Finally, it abruptly looked up towards Qi Yuan. Nine Phoenix's nine beaks opened and closed as if saying something. Qi Yuan froze, his expression one of panic, which then turned deathly pale.

"Why would you forsake me, Lord..." he screamed, reaching out as if to say more. But at the other end of the vision, a massive torrent of black blood spurted out, engulfing him like a final, macabre gift.

The Mirror World suddenly shattered, and the projection of Nine Phoenix disappeared.

But Qi Yuan shrieked, welcoming the final deluge of black blood. One after another, heads squeezed out from his neck, and the pressure he exerted on Huai Shi and the others climbed to an unbelievable degree.

Similarly, they could feel terrifying fluctuations from other locations, making the situation even harder to comprehend.

Nine Phoenix... abandoned its power?

It even allowed its Stigmata to shatter, distributing all its power to its believers?

"FUCK!" Li Jian Amber let out a rather international curse. "You over there, stop standing around dazed! Take this guy down, quickly! Otherwise..."

"AHHHHHH!" Qi Yuan let out a wail of utter despair, like one who had lost his dearest kin, even as his body rapidly became more grotesque.

As a Believer personally baptized by Nine Phoenix, Qi Yuan had completely transformed into a part of Nine Phoenix after drinking the black blood, unconditionally obeying his every command, almost like a Puppet.

Now that the Puppet's strings were cut, it wasn't freedom he obtained, but the loss of his entire world.

His blood-red eyes, filled with madness, fixed on Huai Shi and the others. No need for Li Jian Amber to say anything more. Huai Shi gritted his teeth, roared, and charged forward!

What more needed to be said? This wasn't some Magical Girl world, and his opponent wasn't some fourteen-year-old Magical Girl. The boss was transforming! If they didn't go all out now, were they just waiting to be thrashed?

The current Qi Yuan had become an undeniable Border Variant. Once he received Nine Phoenix's final gift, he would essentially be a miniature, incomplete version of Nine Phoenix.

By then, even without Stigmata and with greatly reduced strength, he could easily deal with the two of them.

Huai Shi advanced, but Li Jian Amber took a step back. The wild tachi she held high fell, and a fierce blaze suddenly surged from the Border Relic.

The inscription of Kagura Village Square emerged from it.

Then, with the girl's scream, wild Source Fluctuation gathered from the oversized blade into a beam, thrusting forward with her advance, piercing through the layers of dancing black blood.

—New Yin Liu Mystery - Unique Sword.

It was unstoppable.

The terrifying storm, wreathed in flames, tore a huge hole in Qi Yuan's deformed limbs. Immediately after, Huai Shi's blade and axe came chopping down. Even without any grandiloquent move names to shout, he had fully deployed the direct lineage of the Theravada Tantra's dual-blade techniques.

With his near-frenzied chopping, dark thunder roared like a tide, howling as it descended.

Huai Shi felt his blood burning rapidly, merging into the raging lightning, transforming into countless instances of destruction and death, cascading down as frost and desolation.

Within the nearly frozen passage of time, Yin Souls roared madly, swinging steel and lightning.

Layers of ballooning flesh were torn apart, revealing grotesque innards and the faces hidden within. Qi Yuan screamed, his deformed arm stabbing towards Huai Shi, only to be instantly obliterated.

Ripples of blood spread, only to be forcefully shattered by the lightning on the blade and axe.

"You like to eat, huh?" Huai Shi roared. "Eat my 'Dark Origin of the Cosmic'!"

The blade and axe intersected in mid-air, leaving a deep, cross-shaped wound on Qi Yuan's bloated carcass.

Immediately after, he discarded both blade and axe, pulling out his last pack of Apocalypse ashes and the remaining Liberator dust from his robes, fiercely stuffing them into the mangled entrails.

Finally, he brought his five fingers together like a blade.

The Hand of Confinement, blazing with the Source of fire, pierced into the rapidly closing wound and clenched tight.

The next instant, furious Yuan An and fierce light erupted from Qi Yuan's body. Without the harmonizing balance of the Stigmata Yin Soul, the Source Substances of two extremes collided, triggering a ferocious explosion and turbulence that made Qi Yuan's body instantly swell.

It then shattered into pieces under the slash of Kagura Village Square.

"—Satsuki's pressing cut!!!"

From the burning blade of the wild tachi, the glow of another crescent moon suddenly rose. Under the illumination of the Moonlight, everything seemed to pause for an instant.

Only sixteen intersecting streaks of fire crisscrossed in the air, finally converging forcefully into one, enveloping Qi Yuan.

A shrill cry sounded. Black blood gushed like a tide from Qi Yuan's mangled limbs, only to rapidly evaporate into foul-smelling Ashes amid the flames and lightning.

And that projection of a headless neck vanished with a thunderous boom.

As the deformed flesh burst and rapidly decayed, the maimed form of Qi Yuan fell out. Immediately, Li Jian Amber leaped up, ecstatically bringing down her wild tachi!

"The head—" she exclaimed excitedly, "is mine!"

"Dream on!" Huai Shi bellowed, waving his hand. Instantly, The Sorrow of Index, which had been lying in wait on a pillar behind him for a long time, shot out. It bound Li Jian Amber's large armor like a snake, yanking her backward from mid-air. Then, it entwined around her limbs and suddenly tightened, immobilizing her.

Huai Shi had already raised the axe in his hand, aiming at Qi Yuan's mangled face.

The cold lightning illuminated his vacant eyes.

"Just like you said before, Qi Yuan, I've come to send you off." Huai Shi stepped on him, looking down at his face. "Got anything else to say?"

Qi Yuan stared blankly at Huai Shi's face, coughing violently and spitting out shattered internal organs. Soon, a mocking smile spread across his lips.

"Do as you wish." He closed his eyes. "The nightmare... is finally over..."

Huai Shi indifferently lowered his gaze.

"—Your dream should never have started, just like many others in this world."

The Axe Blade fell.

Immediately, dark thunder erupted, consuming everything.

In the end, only foul-smelling ashes remained.

The flames enveloping Huai Shi suddenly dissipated. Exhaustion and intense pain washed over him. He staggered back a few steps and collapsed onto the ground, panting wretchedly.

At last, he could rest.

The fight he was meant to fight was over. What came next was beyond his ability to influence.

At this moment, he kind of missed that bottle of 'joy water' that used to be stuffed in his Stigma; too bad it had been destroyed. Otherwise, a couple of quick sips would have been perfect.

Soon, he heard furious yelling from nearby.

"You despicable cur! Scumbag! Tentacle monster! Country bumpkin! Go commit seppuku!" Li Jian Amber finally scrambled up from the ground, holding her wild tachi and glaring at Huai Shi. "I demand a duel with you!"

Huai Shi looked at her in surprise, scrutinizing the Social Security Bureau badge on her waist, incredulous.

"Are you sure?"

Li Jian Amber haughtily held her head high. "What, scared? Don't worry, I won't use the power of my Stigma. We'll only compare..."

She hadn't finished speaking when she saw Huai Shi pull his Astronomical Society ID card from his pocket and smilingly pin it to his chest.

"Ms. Li Jian Amber, as a member of the Social Security Bureau's rescue team, are you attempting to coerce me—a victim, and also the Deputy Inspector and confidential secretary of the Astronomical Society's Xinhai Department, a civilian member—into accepting your challenge?"

Huai Shi grinned, flashing the standard Astronomical Society customer service smile he'd learned from Ai Qing. "Are you sure?"

Through the mask, Huai Shi couldn't see Li Jian Amber's expression, but he could clearly hear the angry grinding of teeth.

Yes, that's right! Power-trippers are just that annoying! Especially the snitching kind—they're the absolute worst!

From the anger of others, Huai Shi felt a long-missed sense of joy.

Just as he was about to say something more to provoke Li Jian Amber, he suddenly heard a sharp shattering noise, as if countless mirrors had been smashed simultaneously.

The barriers of the Mirror World around them abruptly dissipated.

In their place, Holy Light rose from within a pitch-black Abyss.

"What is... that?"