Cruelty

"Damn it, damn it, damn it…"

Li Qingzi clutched her abdomen. The icy sensation of seawater washing over her internal organs made her feel as though her heart were suddenly constricting.

Although her body was no longer as fragile as it had once been, her mind and senses still remained at their original standard.

She soon felt delighted again when she sensed her heartbeat returning.

The chaos in her thoughts made it impossible for Li Qingzi to think clearly. She had to exert every ounce of effort just to keep herself composed, and the intensity of her Haki had dropped considerably.

Splash!

The sound of someone entering the water was crystal clear. Li Qingzi’s heart trembled. She knew that Mercenary Tao—no, Bai Cangshu—had no intention of letting her go.

She thought of how, back in the Dragon Ball Derivative World, he had not possessed any enhancements at all. At the time, Bai Cangshu could not even disguise his number and could only flee like a rat beneath the pressure of her sword intent.

If she had not wanted to capture him alive, if she had not wanted to enslave him…

Regret coiled around Li Qingzi’s heart like a cold, venomous snake, tightening without end.

Then Li Qingzi felt utterly unwilling to accept this. Rationally speaking, there had been nothing wrong with her approach. In this damned space, lone wolves always had limits, no matter how outstanding Paper-tier, Merge-tier, or even Strong-tier individuals performed.

The further one went, the more likely they were to encounter Reincarnators who were equally exceptional and powerful. Every one of them had enhanced countless abilities.

A lone wolf’s adaptability and breadth of abilities simply could not compare to those of a mature team.

Just like Moon Demon herself. Though her individual combat power was clearly stronger than Flame Demon’s, she had been relentlessly pursued by Flame Demon’s team and forced into a disadvantage.

She had long known that, even though her favorable conditions in the real world had given her an exceptionally smooth start, she could not survive the dangerous "game" of Infinite Dimensional Space on her own.

That was why she had cultivated Jing, and why she had wanted Mercenary Tao.

Talented people like them were pieces of the puzzle that could keep her alive until the end.

Yes, unlike the indifferent facade she displayed, Li Qingzi feared death. She feared it immensely.

As a woman who had possessed, from birth, wealth that ordinary families could never accumulate even across several generations, how could she possibly not fear death?

The calmness, cruelty, and sharpness she displayed in battle existed only because she had always possessed the confidence that she would not lose, that she would not die.

Her battles had always been unequal, asymmetrical fights.

Whether during her once mediocre life as an ordinary person or as a Reincarnator, Li Qingzi had possessed advantages beyond the reach of normal people.

But after entering this world, she had felt the disparity between people.

Mercenary Tao, who had only experienced a few missions, already possessed a certain degree of immortality and High-Speed Regeneration, becoming a special type that was difficult to kill. Unable to defeat him after a prolonged fight, she had instead been caught in a pincer attack by Enel, Flame Demon, and Critical Point, whom he had drawn over, and was ultimately severely wounded.

Then, in a direct confrontation, she had been forcibly killed head-on by Mercenary Tao.

The pain and terror of her heart shattering still lingered in Li Qingzi’s mind.

Splash!

The seawater churned violently as Mercenary Tao lunged at her like a beast. Li Qingzi could not spare another thought and directly used Moonwalk beneath the water.

That violently stomping method sent her over-three-meter body shooting forward like a torpedo in an instant.

Remaining in the sea allowed her to avoid much of the stray gunfire. The Devil Fruit Ability Users among the Marines could not pursue her either, and in most situations, fighting underwater would make Reincarnators wary.

Since ancient times, there had been countless examples of those holding every advantage being counter-killed amid the chaos of underwater combat.

But unfortunately, Mercenary Tao was not the sort of Reincarnator who would retreat.

Li Qingzi stomped down again. The drastic change in water pressure shattered her scales and immediately injured her internal organs.

This was another advantage of moving underwater. When rapidly bursting forward underwater, one’s body would also suffer damage. Even Reincarnators whose agility attributes had likewise surpassed their limits could not withstand such pressure while moving like her unless they possessed a special body like her current one.

Bang!

Li Qingzi shot forward at high speed.

The next moment—

Boom!

A violent shockwave erupted underwater.

"Cough… pfft!"

The tremendous water pressure of the deep sea combined with the high-speed shockwave instantly injured Li Qingzi’s lungs and internal organs. Blood burst from her mouth and nose.

She turned around and saw only a pitch-black figure already less than two meters behind her.

Her pupils trembled. The other party vanished, and in the next instant, an enormous force struck from behind.

Boom!

A fierce force punched straight through Moon Demon’s body, forming a white column of water.

Moon Demon’s forward momentum was interrupted. Bai Cangshu’s arm had pierced into Moon Demon’s body, and his entire body hung from hers. Using Life Return, he had completely sealed his ears, nose, and mouth. Even in deep water, his resistance was far greater.

Furthermore, because he had broken through the limits of his physique, his defense was now stronger than Moon Demon’s.

With one strike of Magic Spear, he brought Moon Demon to a halt. But unlike when he had killed Flame Demon, he did not use an instant together with Death Intent Senluo to forcibly kill her.

Because Bai Cangshu had realized that a large number of Reincarnators in this world had begun fleeing. After Black King entered the field, many Reincarnators had successfully withdrawn using the exit opportunity provided by the space.

This made it nearly impossible for him to gain additional rewards through team battle points.

Though he would not suffer losses from negative team battle points either, for someone like Bai Cangshu, no additional gains already meant his interests had been harmed.

At the same time, the mass departure of Reincarnators gave him the chance to properly work over Moon Demon, one of the so-called Four Demons of the space.

Rip!

As Bai Cangshu pulled out his right hand, he tore away a large chunk of flesh along with its scales.

"Ah!"

Moon Demon cried out in pain. Her body shuddered convulsively, and all the scales across her body stood upright. In an instant, Bai Cangshu felt an intense sense of danger and raised both hands before himself.

Dense black scales shot out like bullets.

Pfft pfft pfft pfft…

Clang clang clang!

Bai Cangshu activated Iron Body in an instant. His entire body continuously shook as if being swept by machine-gun fire, but attacks of this degree could no longer inflict effective damage on him.

The slight wounds on his body had healed completely before they could even become visible.

Moon Demon, on the other hand, had even weaker surface defenses after that attack.

Bai Cangshu grinned savagely and tore another huge chunk of flesh from her back.

The seawater was instantly dyed red. A large amount of muscle was ripped from Moon Demon’s back in an instant, exposing her enormous mutated skeleton.

Moon Demon swung both hands backward with all her strength, elbows bent as sword intent flared. But Bai Cangshu had mastered Sensen no Sen. In an instant, he twisted the force with both hands, deflecting Moon Demon’s long arms before grabbing them and wrenching them backward.

Standing behind Moon Demon, he pulled on her two overly long arms. Moon Demon’s Action Points began to weaken rapidly, and she slowly sank toward the seafloor.

Bai Cangshu exerted force and violently pressed both arms downward.

Crack!

Her arms snapped instantly.

None of these were fatal attacks. Bai Cangshu’s eyes widened slightly as he clearly sensed the movements of the muscles within Moon Demon’s body. A black Dragon Slayer appeared in his left hand, and the next moment—

Slash!

Swinging a greatsword in the sea was exceptionally sluggish, but the terrifying force still instantly severed Moon Demon’s limbs, now stripped of scales.

This cruel method of attack further stimulated the Satsui no Hado within Bai Cangshu. The frequency with which he tore apart Moon Demon’s muscles grew higher and higher. At first, he had merely wanted to pressure her into surrendering the resources in her Backpack out of fear.

But later, it had developed into pure sadism.

A smile he himself failed to notice appeared on Bai Cangshu’s face, and killing intent surged wildly.

Li Qingzi’s pupils trembled. In a daze, she seemed to see herself once more within the Consciousness Space. Not only that, an unprecedented chill was enveloping her soul.

"Am I going to die…"

"So I’m about to die…"

For the first time, the concept of death appeared in her mind with such clarity, even clearer than when her heart had been removed. At least then, she had still thought of using the traits of Indomitable Will to make one final attempt to kill Mercenary Tao.

But at this very moment, in the deep sea, she only felt like a helpless lump of rotten flesh, being torn apart piece by piece by Mercenary Tao.

She remembered what she had seen as a child at a slaughterhouse. Those pigs had their bristles stripped away before being thrown onto tables, where butchers carved them apart piece by piece, leaving only useless skeletons and organs in the end.

No… I don’t want to die like that!

I don’t want to die!

Thump!

Moon Demon’s heart suddenly began to beat irregularly, as if convulsing.

Thump, thump-thump-thump-thump!

In only an instant, Moon Demon’s heartbeat exceeded its limit. In Bai Cangshu’s perception, that heart—already distorted by abnormal activity and proliferation—was beating so fast that it seemed about to explode.

Moon Demon felt as if time had slowed. The seawater around her became incomparably viscous. Her neck suddenly twisted nearly one hundred and eighty degrees. Under normal circumstances, she would never have performed such an action, which completely transcended the limits of her former human body.

But in her current state, she discovered that she had become even more adept at fighting.

Rip!

The activity of her cells was activated in an instant, and her severed arms and legs regrew simultaneously.

As Moon Demon’s heart beat violently, she did not even realize how extraordinary her current state was. She merely suddenly felt—perhaps she could survive?!

"Ha~"

The strange sound traveled through the seawater, making Moon Demon almost think she was hearing things. As her pale eyes tried to focus, she discovered a large number of white bubbles rising from the sea.

Bai Cangshu’s body began to swell. With almost every heartbeat, his size increased. In the blink of an eye, he had become a muscular man nearly as large as Moon Demon.

Crack.

Bai Cangshu grabbed Moon Demon’s arms, which had swelled after her muscles activated, then slowly bent and broke them before Moon Demon’s despairing eyes.

The relief that had just arisen within Moon Demon was shattered once again.

She felt herself falling endlessly downward. The pure-white Consciousness Space began to appear. She knew that once she fell into it and was again controlled by that monster’s thoughts, she would soon be completely annihilated from this world.

At the instant between life and death, borrowing the bullet-time-like extraordinary perception of her current state, her entire body trembled madly. Not just her brain—every cell in her body was trying to find a way to survive.

"…Mercy…"

Boom!

A massive surge of water exploded as two enormous figures burst out of the deep sea and landed on the water’s surface. Bai Cangshu still retained the posture of a small giant.

He gripped the slender monster by the neck and said, "Take out something you believe can make me spare you. Remember, you only get one chance."

Moon Demon lay upon the sea. Large portions of her body’s surface had been destroyed by the Satsui no Hado, while blood continuously flowed from the completely torn-open wound on her back into the ocean.

Warning, QO60833805, you are attempting to form a servant contract with another Reincarnator. After the contract is formed, the other party will be able to control your resources and interfere with their allocation. You will be unable to resist the other party's orders. Form contract?

Li Qingzi lay upon the sea. At that moment, the proud eldest daughter of a financial conglomerate was already dead.