Both Great Sin and Virtue, Villain Savior

"Got it!"

At that moment, a clear smile appeared on An Junxuan’s face. Blood mixed around his nose and mouth as the healing magic that imitated Mercenary Tao’s self-healing ability activated, rapidly mending his injuries.

He watched Mercenary Tao’s body sway a few times before falling backward, and the joy in his heart reached its peak.

But the next moment, that figure, already tilted forty-five degrees toward the ground, froze in midair. Bai Cangshu bent his legs, stabilizing his center of gravity at a completely impossible angle, then slowly straightened back up.

The signature cruel smile appeared on his face as he met the gaze of the Reincarnator with Heterochromatic Eyes.

"Ha~ You actually fell for it?"

He could clearly sense that when the other man saw him fall, his heartbeat had sped up and his pupils had dilated. That joy rising from the depths of his bones could not be concealed.

This Reincarnator, who possessed such a rare ability, had actually been fooled by such a clumsy act. It further confirmed Bai Cangshu’s suspicion that the special magic seemingly capable of copying his abilities was not perfect.

Moreover, the other man was nervous when facing him.

Bai Cangshu’s smile was cruel and malicious. His eyelids drooped as he looked at the other man mockingly from beneath his lower lids.

A stabbing pain ran through An Junxuan’s back. That look provoked him. He had hidden in the shadows, intending to attack an unprepared Mercenary Tao at full strength, and had unleashed a Killing Move before his opponent could go all out. Yet not only had it failed, it had also earned him that expression.

An Junxuan felt a sting. Amid the humiliation, a trace of coldness flashed through his heart.

Within his burning fighting spirit, that chill was especially distinct. It was… fear.

Instant Death Resistance (Low Priority): Grants immunity against instant-death abilities of lower priority.

Bai Cangshu looked at the conspicuous resistance marker on his panel and thought even less of the ability before him, which had likely been deliberately modeled after Death Intent Senluo.

"What a half-baked ability."

Bai Cangshu walked toward him. Since Limit Break Spiral had entered its second tier, he had become extremely sensitive to energy. Even without activating it, he could identify the properties of most energies.

Just like this Reincarnator. Though he had deliberately imitated Bai Cangshu’s fighting style and had indeed achieved results.

He possessed "Haki," "physical attributes," and "Martial Arts Mastery" close to Bai Cangshu’s. He had even replicated, to a certain extent, the instant-death attack of Death Intent Senluo.

But the aura constantly fluctuating around him was clearly mana—not Haki, nor ki.

He raised one finger, wagged it, and shook his head.

"If you were willing to compete with me in hand-to-hand combat, I might have admired you. But you actually tried to imitate that kind of attack and kill me directly…"

"Do you hate fighting?"

Bai Cangshu continued toward him as he asked the question, but those slow steps made An Junxuan’s pupils tremble.

With Advanced Instant active and his speed raised too high, moving again at the pace of an ordinary human was extremely difficult.

This movement represented Mercenary Tao’s level of control over Instant and his own body, far beyond An Junxuan’s imagination.

Before An Junxuan could speak, Bai Cangshu sighed with some disappointment.

"Because you can’t do it, right?"

"Unlike me, all the power you possess is built on mana. Even if you used Frieren’s magic to conceal your mana, the limitations of its energy properties mean you simply cannot maintain this state for long…"

An Junxuan instinctively took a step back. Mercenary Tao was not as deranged as he had imagined. His tone was even calm, as though explaining things at leisure. And after only a brief exchange, he had already noticed the weakness of his magic.

That was right. Copy Magic could not be called perfect. Even though he had used every possible method, item, and ability to stack his energy attributes to the terrifying value of nearly forty points, reaching the extreme of the Second Tier, he still could not sustain it for long.

Especially now, when copying such a powerful target as Mercenary Tao. Merely making his body this strong was already rapidly draining the mana within him.

Simulating that instant-death attack had consumed over twenty percent of his mana in one go.

Bai Cangshu pulled apart his right thumb and index finger. Then, seemingly finding it insufficient, he spread them farther apart. Even after stretching them to their limit, he was still dissatisfied. He raised his left index finger, aligned it beside his right index finger, and kept extending both hands outward.

An Junxuan did not understand what he meant, only hearing Mercenary Tao continue unhurriedly.

"The gap between you and me is probably about this much, huh~"

There was no false bravado in that soft laugh, only utterly unrestrained self-indulgence.

An Junxuan’s mind was shaken, but the Forced Calm fixed upon him refreshed the next instant.

Buzz!

As An Junxuan turned into wind, he once more summoned several tornadoes that rose around the city.

In his view, his use of Mercenary Tao’s wind transformation ability was more flexible and superior than Mercenary Tao’s own.

But Bai Cangshu merely watched the scene calmly and continued.

"Besides the mana consumption, there’s another point… You haven’t replicated my essence at all~"

Woom!

The sound of air whistling rang out again. An Junxuan’s heart clenched as he instinctively activated his wind transformation magic, turning into a breeze and falling downward. It was as though some colossal creature had passed through the sky at supersonic speed.

With a single boom, several tornadoes shattered at once, turning into scattered currents of air that flew in all directions.

Mercenary Tao stood amid the wind, then began spinning violently. The next moment, his body also transformed into wind.

Buzz!

An incomparably terrifying gray-black tornado was born out of thin air.

Its wind speed instantly surpassed the limit. Flying sand and stones appeared in an instant, and the streets destroyed by the aftershocks of their battle were swept into the air in the blink of an eye.

If the tornadoes An Junxuan had summoned were flood dragons several meters in diameter, then the gray-black tornado Mercenary Tao created now was a natural disaster.

It continued spreading through the surrounding streets.

It was not that Mercenary Tao could not do it. He simply could not be bothered…

An Junxuan understood what the other man meant, but he could not accept that reality. He continuously copied the powerful body Mercenary Tao had just displayed. The cells across his body were rapidly reinforced, becoming tougher as his defense quickly rose. At the same time, he raised his left hand, and golden light lit up at his fingertips.

Woom!

The next moment, a golden beam suddenly pierced through the massive tornado, now several hundred meters wide, and struck Mercenary Tao within with a thunderous crash.

But Mercenary Tao raised his left hand before him and accurately blocked the strike, still looking at him with that cruel smile.

An Junxuan was startled and was about to transform into wind again.

"Ha!"

World-Shaking Thunder Roar erupted right in front of him!

Mercenary Tao appeared out of thin air and let out a roar. Everything around them exploded at once.

An Junxuan felt as if everything in his chest cavity had been shaken apart. Fortunately, he had just copied Mercenary Tao’s body and strengthened his defense. Otherwise, he would likely have been killed by the shock alone.

A new ability… Probably some kind of sound-based or electromagnetic ability. Its power is extremely high.

An Junxuan kept thinking, rapidly analyzing the ability and attempting to copy it.

But his internal organs and eardrums had already been injured, reducing his thinking ability.

When his eyes refocused, the character for "kill" on the pink robe was plainly visible.

Bai Cangshu looked at the man, who had already lost much of his ability to fight, and was deeply disappointed. He grabbed him by the neck and said,

"I haven’t even used my stronger abilities yet. Are you already going to die?"

His fingers tightened. The next instant, fingers as black as ink pierced through the other man’s tough skin.

A scarlet serpent shot from Bai Cangshu’s left hand in an instant, piercing through the other man’s body.

Overkill’s effect activated. A wound that had merely been punctured instantly caused massive bleeding.

An Junxuan’s mind began to cloud, but his rich combat experience still allowed him to transform into wind and retreat in an instant, simultaneously activating concealment magic.

But a figure followed him like a shadow. The moment he emerged from his wind transformation, Bai Cangshu grabbed him again.

Locked onto by Gaze of Arrogance, he could not escape Bai Cangshu’s visual lock even by turning into wind.

Bang!

A powerful force drove An Junxuan into the ground and dragged him wildly across the shattered stone pavement.

Bai Cangshu pressed the other man’s head into the earth with one hand and charged forward at high speed using Eighth-Order Instant.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

After crashing through three buildings in a row and crossing the entire district, Bai Cangshu finally stopped with lingering satisfaction. The Reincarnator beneath his hand had begun trembling.

Emerald-green mana kept glowing as it repaired his face, but in Bai Cangshu’s eyes, its speed was only around intermediate self-healing. It could not compare to his own High-Speed Self-Healing at all.

It was a magic with considerable potential, but… that was all it was.

The magic side was one of the largest factions in the Infinite Reincarnation Dimension. Bai Cangshu had encountered little of it before, but today he discovered that the abilities of this side truly could be called omnipotent.

It seemed any kind of ability could be performed through magic.

At its core, the other man had used magic to strengthen himself to a level close to Bai Cangshu’s body, achieving the effects of various abilities, including Instant and Wind Demon.

He lifted the man with Heterochromatic Eyes and said,

"You’re somewhat interesting. As a reward, I’ll let you be the last one to die."

Bai Cangshu then carried An Junxuan to the woman whose entire body had been severely burned by the explosion from the Colossal Titan transformation and whose two arms he had destroyed. He shattered her head with a Dodon Ray.

Then he easily found Yelu, the invisible woman who had lost both her eyes and ears and could only rely on spiritual perception. As if deliberately putting on a display, he killed her with Death Intent Senluo by lightly tapping her head.

Finally, in the center of the city, he smashed the Colossal Titan’s entire head, along with Akira in the nape, to pieces with one punch. Akira’s relieved laughter as he died filled An Junxuan’s heart with sorrow.

"Scarlet Great Sin… You’re a Great Sin Reincarnator…"

An Junxuan muttered. The overwhelming gap had shattered his pride. He allowed Mercenary Tao to carry him as he watched him use his abilities.

Every time he saw Mercenary Tao kill a Reincarnator, a Scarlet Drop Card appeared. Having been struck by Overkill himself, he finally understood what made Mercenary Tao special.

Bai Cangshu shook his head. White light appeared over his right hand.

He added,

"Not just Scarlet Great Sin. Though you may not recognize it, I’m also a Virtue Reincarnator~"

He then tossed An Junxuan aside, spreading his hands—one above, one below, one forward, one back—as Satsui no Hado instantly covered everything.

Shun Goku Satsu!

With this move, he laid this Reincarnator of the magic side to rest.

You killed Reincarnator VC90707830. Deathmatch Task progress updated.

You completed the Deathmatch Task.

You obtained the special title: Villain Savior.