Lu Su, You Wouldn’t Want This

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At that moment, invisible fear gripped Jacques’s heart like a giant hand.

Under the moonlight, an unmistakably clear image, etched deep into his mind, appeared before his eyes.

There was no mistake. It was him.

The culprit behind Lord Luster’s downfall, and one of the few monstrous talents worthy of Lord Commander’s attention.

No matter how much he had belittled and looked down on him before meeting him, he could not deny that fact.

"Since you know me, it seems I really did find the right target."

A gentle voice sounded beside Jacques’s ear, yet the killing intent within it sent chills through his entire body.

Squelch—

As the voice rang out, a pale, inhuman hand suddenly pierced through his chest.

Ulquiorra casually tossed aside the now-lifeless corpse in his hand, then turned his gaze toward the Jade Grade Demons and Grafted Demons standing on high alert.

Lu Su raised an eyebrow. "Not dead?"

"Interesting."

Judging by the reactions of the Guiyi Cult members present, there was no doubt that the youth Ulquiorra had just killed had not actually died.

Still, that made sense. How could a researcher sent here by the Demon Army be without a few tricks up his sleeve? Especially when he was also a Card Master.

That was right. Lu Su had recognized Jacques’s identity the moment he saw him.

He turned to the burly man beside him. "Brother Cui, take care of those lackeys."

"I’ll handle this side."

Cui Dazhu did not hesitate and immediately agreed. "Alright. Just be careful, Little Brother."

Although they had not known each other long, based on what he had seen earlier, these Guiyi Cult Bastards were probably not even enough to fill his little brother’s teeth.

With that thought, he left the spot, leaving Lu Su alone to face the Guiyi Cult members.

Amid the strange silence, the remaining Demons and Grafted Demons exchanged looks.

They had naturally deduced Lu Su’s identity from his face, but they had never expected to encounter such a Great Killing Star in a backwater like Jeju.

Even Lord Luster could be said to have fallen at his hands. If that did not make him a Great Killing Star, what did?

With just the few of them, they likely could not do anything to him. That was already putting it optimistically.

Yet even so, none of the Guiyi Cult members chose to retreat.

A hint of surprise flashed through Lu Su’s eyes. "Your leader already ran away, and you still want to resist?"

He had never expected the Demon Army’s people to have such backbone.

Of course, there was another possibility that could explain their behavior.

"Or perhaps…"

"You have some hidden trump card?"

After saying that, Lu Su ignored the drastic change in the Demons’ expressions and merely waved his hand, ordering his cards to attack.

At that moment, the sprawling abandoned hospital suddenly began to tremble.

The long-neglected stairs shook loose large clouds of dust, while walls weakened by rain erosion gradually started collapsing.

The sudden change did not surprise Lu Su. He merely sighed helplessly. "Again?"

After what had happened in Donglai, he had mentally prepared himself before coming that the Guiyi Cult might pull something big.

Feeling the terrifying aura rising from underground, Lu Su’s expression gradually turned solemn.

"Diamond Grade?"

"No… something about this aura is strange."

He could keenly sense the subtle difference between the underground aura and a true Diamond Grade aura.

Before he could think further, the other party had already revealed its true form.

Bang—

An incomparably massive palm, coated in countless clumps of earth, violently burst through the ground.

Lu Su’s pupils suddenly contracted at the sight. His face immediately darkened as though water could drip from it, and he muttered, "Guiyi Cult."

"I really underestimated you."

He said that because he had seen what the massive palm was made of.

People.

That massive palm was formed from densely packed human corpses. From the expressions on their faces, one could vaguely see the terror they had felt before death.

The next moment, a huge figure struggled up from the earth.

Lu Su watched coldly as the Giant’s body proved to be made from exactly the same thing as its hand.

"How do you like my Experiment Number Three?"

At that moment, a malicious voice rang out beneath the dark night sky.

Lu Su turned and saw Jacques standing on the Giant’s shoulder with his arms folded, a mocking smile on his face.

Jacques continued, "I wonder whether your luck is good or bad. We rarely manage to create such a stable experiment."

"Of course, I must thank your Great Ming for kindly providing materials for our experiment."

After speaking, he stared expectantly at Lu Su, hoping to catch a trace of anger on the youth’s face.

Unfortunately, all Jacques saw was calmness.

Lu Su had already lost any interest in talking. At this point, no words could bring back the lives that had been lost.

Although he had not caused any of this, he was not a cold, emotionless mission machine. Seeing all this, his heart could not possibly remain unmoved.

So he merely spoke three icy words.

"Kill him."

As soon as he spoke, Ulquiorra was the first to throw a Spirit Spear.

Whoosh—

Only after the emerald Spirit Spear had already reached Jacques did the piercing sound of it cutting through the air arrive.

Yet Jacques showed no panic in the face of Ulquiorra’s attack. He simply stood there calmly.

Before everyone’s eyes, the Spirit Spear was caught. Two thick fingers pinched it as easily as if they were holding a toothpick, while the expressions on the faces of the corpses forming those fingers instantly became more grotesque. Clearly, Ulquiorra’s attack was not easy to endure.

Lu Su’s expression darkened. The strength the other party had displayed so far had faintly exceeded his expectations.

After having Unohana Retsu and Nylro deal with the remaining Jade Grade Guiyi Cult members, Altria and Ulquiorra rushed toward the Corpse Giant in the distance.

At that moment, Cui Dazhu appeared beside Lu Su. As a Jade Grade Card Master, there was no way he could have failed to notice the commotion here.

Looking at the grotesque Corpse Giant, his expression was grave. "Little Brother, looks like we’re in trouble today."

As Lu Su’s partner, Cui Dazhu naturally knew about his illustrious record. He also knew that Lu Su had managed to kill Lord Luster last time only because a Diamond Grade Card Master had backed him up.

Lu Su alone clearly could not accomplish that.

After a brief moment of thought, Cui Dazhu said in a low voice, "Little Brother, I’ll create an opportunity for you later. We have to keep him here."

Retreating was absolutely not an option.

The reason he had suggested retreating first in the previous Secret Realm was because doing so would not have affected Ande City. But things were different now.

If he and Lu Su retreated, Jeju would be left completely at the enemy’s mercy.

Considering the youth’s previous achievement of seriously injuring a Diamond Grade opponent, Cui Dazhu decided to support him and do his best to create a suitable opening.

But just then, something neither of them had expected happened.

Looking at the countless figures blocking his two cards, Lu Su was momentarily stunned. "Cards?"

In his senses, every one of those figures was undoubtedly a card.

But with such numbers, it was clearly impossible for a single Card Master to summon them all.

Seeing the change in the youth’s expression, Jacques became even more arrogant. "Do you really think I’m inferior to that Cliff?!"

"Whatever Cliff can do, I can do too!"

"And I can do it better than him."

Lu Su fell silent for a moment in the face of the provocation, then sighed. "I thought you might have something impressive."

"If this is all you can do, then just obediently die."

Jacques was first startled by his words, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. "You sure are good at talking big—"

"Quack!"

Before he could finish, his voice abruptly cut off like a duck being strangled by the throat.

In his eyes, black energy suddenly surged from that pale figure’s body and shot into the sky.

The howling gale instantly scattered the dust around them.

Looking at Ulquiorra, whose appearance had completely changed, Jacques could not help swallowing.

He now roughly understood what card Lu Su had used to fight Lord Luster.

What he did not know was that Ulquiorra was actually much stronger now than when he had fought Lord Luster.

Second Stage Resurrection + Hogyoku Fusion (Incomplete) + King of Perfection + Apex of Hueco Mundo.

With the enhancement of several card Traits, Ulquiorra’s strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. It was not quite an exponential increase, but he could at least fight two of his former selves.

Then, an inconspicuous pale-green Spirit Spear flew straight into the crowd of cards.

Boom—!

Huo Jing naturally knew that Lu Su and Cui Dazhu had rushed out in the middle of the night after claiming they had found a clue to the Guiyi Cult’s whereabouts.

However, because she still needed to rotate shifts with the President of the Jeju Card Master Association, who was currently resisting a Secret Realm Invasion, she had not gone with them. She had only dispatched some of her subordinates to provide support.

Although in a Jade Grade battle, an Association Card Master force made mostly of Bronze grade and Silver grade members could not play much of a role.

"I wonder how things are going over there."

To be honest, Huo Jing truly hoped the two could directly find the Guiyi Cult’s base and wipe it out.

After all, those neither-human-nor-ghost things had been lodged in Jeju City like a nail these past few days.

Thinking of that, she became restless and could not enter meditation for a long time.

Just as Huo Jing was preparing to deal with the piled-up official business in the city to distract herself, an aura that made her heart tremble suddenly jolted her awake.

"D-Diamond Grade?!"

Her face paled as she abruptly rose to her feet and looked toward the source of the aura.

If she remembered correctly, that should be the direction Lu Su and Cui Dazhu had gone to investigate.

"How could the Guiyi Cult possibly have a Diamond Grade in the city?"

She muttered in disbelief, momentarily at a complete loss.

If she had known there was a Diamond Grade present, she would have emphasized it in the mission report. Lu Su and Cui Dazhu, two Jade Grade Card Masters, would never have been sent.

But Huo Jing quickly collected herself. She hurriedly issued an evacuation notice, then rushed toward the source of the aura.

As she drew closer to the target location, her expression gradually worsened.

With the eyesight of a Jade Grade Card Master, she had already clearly seen what kind of creature was emitting that Diamond Grade aura.

A massive Corpse Giant.

More importantly, Huo Jing could see the corpses of Card Masters belonging to the Association on its body.

But before she could show her anger, another equally terrifying aura suddenly spread out.

"A-a second Diamond Grade?!"

The Vice President of the Jeju Card Master Association was left speechless, unable to find words to express how she felt.

She had never imagined that two Diamond Grade existences would appear one after another in a small place like Jeju.

Immediately afterward, a Black-green Light Pillar swallowed her entire field of vision.

The abandoned hospital.

Cui Dazhu stood beside Lu Su with lingering fear. Although he had long known that Ulquiorra’s strength was extraordinary, no matter how many times he saw it, he was still deeply shocked.

More importantly…

"Compared to last time, why does this card of yours feel even stronger, Little Brother?"

Just as he was thinking that, Lu Su stared gravely into the smoke produced by the Thunder Spear’s explosion.

"It’s still fine after that?"

He could sense that the Corpse Giant had not been obliterated by Ulquiorra’s attack.

Naturally, what he could sense, Cui Dazhu could sense as well.

"That really scared me. I thought I was done for."

At that moment, a voice filled with lingering fear came from within.

It was Jacques.

As the smoke gradually dispersed, the Demon Army researcher appeared before them completely unharmed. However, many wounds had appeared across the Corpse Giant beneath his feet, and some of the corpses that had formed its body were now gone.

Clearly, taking Ulquiorra’s Thunder Spear head-on had not been easy for it either.

"Hehe, I was just kidding."

Jacques’s lips curled into an exaggerated grin, as though he were mocking Lu Su and Cui Dazhu for being unable to do anything to him.

Seeing this, Lu Su silently thought, Should I have Altria Liberate Excalibur?

Against that thing, he felt that releasing seven restraints should not be a problem. And Holy Sword Excalibur with Full Restraint Release was an attack capable of seriously injuring Lord Luster.

As though he had sensed Lu Su’s thoughts, Jacques scratched his cheek and revealed a trace of apology. "Sorry, sorry."

"To keep you from using that kind of attack again, so…"

As he spoke, his face became filled with malice.

"You wouldn’t want the ordinary people in the city to be caught up in your attack, would you?"

Lu Su’s gaze flickered.

At some point, Jacques and the Corpse Giant had changed direction. Jeju City now lay directly behind them.

"Liberating Excalibur is probably impossible right now, unless I force him away from that direction."

"Or Sister Lie can use Kyōten’shō to hold him back first."

Unfortunately, because Soul’s Sanctuary had used up all its stored souls in the Ande City Secret Realm last time, even if Unohana Retsu used Kyōten’shō to trap the Corpse Giant, she likely would not be able to hold it for long.

Just as Lu Su was lost in thought, Jacques suddenly charged toward Jeju City with the Corpse Giant.

Lu Su immediately saw through his intention. "He wants to run!"

He had made that judgment because the same thing had happened in Donglai Clive last time: once the experiment was over, Jacques had completely disregarded Li Shuo’s fate, collected the experimental data, and vanished without a trace.

There was no doubt that Jacques intended to do the same now.

With no time to think further, Lu Su made a decision on instinct.

The enormous phantom of a pale palace stood out starkly beneath the night sky.

It was Las Noches.