Melee

The Professor watched as Sen Xia failed to bring the situation under control after landing, instead directly allowing the Great Sun of Finality to begin using its ability. Terrified, he kept trying to contact the others.

But there was no response.

Sen Xia floated out over the sea. Her eyes had already calmed as she looked at Tan Zhishan, who clearly did not "accept" her persuasion. She closed her eyes.

The scarlet Satsui no Hado completely withdrew into her body, and then she took a step forward.

Buzz!

Sen Xia drew her sword. A scarlet sword light, like a massive fan, cleaved apart the black flames between them.

One Sword Style: Great Shock!

Almost at the same instant, an afterimage passed through the gap carved by Great Shock and appeared directly before Tan Zhishan. The Demonic Blade · Heart Crossing was drawn!

Pfft!

Before that demonic blade capable of cutting down all anomalies, the Flame of Finality seemed devoid of all vitality. It was cleaved apart, and the blade cut straight into Tan Zhishan’s shoulder and neck.

Afterimage Step Slash!

Tan Zhishan’s body staggered back two steps, yet it moved in a bizarre fashion. Though his torso and legs were still being driven backward by the impact of the slash, his hands had already pressed against his wound and pulled it apart to either side.

As though he were deliberately widening his own wound, his hands seemed to seize something before coming together in front of him.

His left hand opened, and a large lump of black blood fell from his palm. Black flames rose in his right hand, directly igniting the black blood.

The next moment, Sen Xia’s expression changed from thousands of meters away, and she spat out blood.

Special Reincarnator EX014, you have been affected by the ability: Spirit Summoning Curse Method

Special Reincarnator EX014, you have been affected by the ability: Onmyōdō of Aversion

Exemption failed. You have suffered a curse attack.

Sen Xia’s brows drew together slightly. In an instant, she understood that Tan Zhishan could use the damage caused by her attacks on him as a medium to inflict a medium-based curse.

As a Supreme Expert in the Curse Kill branch of mental attributes, it was only natural that she could not exempt herself from it.

She showed no intention of retreating. The slender Demonic Blade · Heart Crossing swept across her body, and the curse’s effects vanished the next moment.

The wound on Tan Zhishan’s chest had also completely disappeared by then.

Their first exchange had merely been a probe, but both had obtained some of the information they wanted.

Sen Xia realized that Tan Zhishan’s defensive capabilities were merely average. Even her Afterimage Step Slash could break through his defenses and injure him. However, he possessed some kind of bloodline ability that allowed him to heal himself. Since she had just been affected by the Spirit Summoning Curse Method, Sen Xia was more inclined to believe it was the effect of a Reverse Cursed Technique.

Tan Zhishan, meanwhile, was equally reassured. Sen Xia’s attack power was indeed terrifying, and the Demonic Blade · Heart Crossing, capable of cutting through all manner of anomalies, truly lived up to the rumors. It could cut through nearly all special abilities and energies.

For the moment, he was still unsure whether that was the original power of the blade from the Monogatari World, or whether it had something to do with Sen Xia’s Heart Light Pulse.

But Sen Xia’s weakness was obvious as well. She could not exempt herself from his curses!

Boom!

At that moment, heaven and earth suddenly changed color as a crushing sense of oppression erupted.

The moonlight in the sky vanished in an instant. Inky black clouds piled over the nearshore sky, and drops of dark green rain began to fall.

Tap, tap, tap, tap…

The world before A Single Thought of Silk turned black and white. A terrifying pressure upon the soul descended, and accompanied by that wild, booming laughter, she initially thought Mercenary Tao had returned.

But the two voices arguing with each other made her realize that the one who had returned was not Mercenary Tao.

Thump, thump, thump…

Far away, beyond the area reached by the black flames, ordinary people clutched their chests and collapsed one after another. The excessively powerful Spiritual Pressure had begun directly crushing every soul that was not strong enough.

The others, who had each used their abilities to flee the central battlefield, were also all affected. Their faces pale, they stared at Mercenary Tao, who had regained his ability to act.

"Spiritual Pressure… Mercenary Tao is enhanced with Spiritual Pressure?!"

"Damn it, at this level of Spiritual Pressure… has his energy attribute surpassed a hundred?!"

Inside Divine Tiger, Tianjie struggled to breathe. Fundamentally, he was the weakest among all the reincarnators present in terms of personal attributes; he relied entirely on Divine Tiger’s powerful performance to fight.

At this moment, faced with such an overwhelming difference in Spiritual Pressure, even breathing required every ounce of his strength.

Feeling the soul energy in this body, so powerful it was nearly overflowing, White Face almost wanted to tear into Mercenary Tao again and curse his stupidity.

What kind of martial arts lunatic, after obtaining such a physique, would still insist on "throwing punches"?

Even if he wanted close combat, he could have used the cursed energy of Jujutsu Kaisen as a foundation. In the early stages, he could fight with Black Flash and special cursed techniques, and with soul energy of this level, Reverse Cursed Technique could directly grant healing comparable to Hyper Regeneration.

By the middle and later stages, whether he followed the ability system of the Bleach World or, like herself, chose the Shamanic Power system of the Shaman King world, either path would have been an incomparably convenient road to power.

Mercenary Tao… that idiot… that lunatic, had actually still chosen qi?!

If not for the agreement concerning resurrection that she had reached with Mercenary Tao, and if White Face had not already realized that Mercenary Tao was not dead at all but was instead lurking within the Consciousness Space while secretly carrying out some plan…

She would likely have ridiculed Mercenary Tao until he was worthless.

White Face ignored every word spoken by that foolish King of Pride who had entered the Throne of the Heart alongside her, and simply snapped her fingers.

The next moment, dark-blue Shamanic Power rubbed against the air. A spark appeared from nowhere, then erupted with a bang.

A gigantic dark-blue fox more than fifty meters long appeared in the real world. Within the bodies of some distant dead people, specks of light began to emerge and were devoured by Fox Fire.

Having obtained Mercenary Tao’s body, White Face felt that with the support of her immense Shamanic Power, Fox Fire had almost instantly reached the Over Soul level. Simply by existing in this world, it began devouring weaker souls.

Moo!

Fox Fire circled around Mercenary Tao, its Soul Fire nearly merging with the Finality behind him.

At this point, the Great Sun of Finality also realized that when Mercenary Tao had seized Mahakala’s Finality ability last time, the actual effect had been far more exaggerated than what he had shown.

He had not merely taken the ability to control the Flame of Finality. He had also acquired a special characteristic similar to that of the Great Sun of Finality’s followers, such that its Flame of Finality did not harm him.

This showed that when Mercenary Tao learned and seized Mahakala’s Finality, it had not been a form of imitation like the Sharingan. It was something closer to complete replication and theft.

He had never seen an ability with a similar effect before. Was it an authority, or Heart Light?

White Face raised her left hand and pressed it toward Fox Fire. The fox’s enormous spirit body then vanished, and magnificent armor instantly appeared over Mercenary Tao’s body.

Beneath the dark-blue armor was a covering of white fur. Mercenary Tao’s appearance became noble and magnificent in an instant, his long half-black, half-white hair cascading down his back like a massive cloak.

White Face felt unprecedented power gathering within her body. Looking at the famed Great Sun of Finality, and Sen Xia of Azure Sky farther away…

White Face felt no fear at all.

Yet White Face did not attack either of them. Instead, her gaze shifted, and she looked teasingly at Mahakala, ICE, Su Qingqiu, A Single Thought of Silk, and the others.

"Hey~ I’m not that lunatic. When it comes to fighting, of course it’s better to pick targets weaker than yourself…"

"Ha~"

At the border between East Xia and White Bear lay vast expanses of bitterly cold snowfields and forests. Yet now, within this world that should have contained only verdant green and snow white, an enormous tree swaying with golden radiance had risen from the earth.

It stood over a hundred meters tall, its golden radiance covering an area ten kilometers in every direction.

Beneath the tree, Wuxin, who now seemed far more mature in temperament, looked worriedly at the long-haired woman descending slowly from the sky.

"Heaven’s Will, is it really alright for us to plant a tree here at a time like this? A lot of people in the space are saying that Mercenary Tao lost his sense of self and became a… weapon…"

The woman immediately saw the implication hidden in the kind man’s words. She merely shook her head.

"Wuxin, we’re safest here. Someone like Mercenary Tao… won’t die."

"And besides, this battle is far more terrifying than you imagine. Reincarnators at our level could be killed merely by getting close, you know~"

Wuxin understood what Heaven’s Will meant, but he still felt that Miss Heaven’s Will was being too modest. In his heart, Miss Heaven’s Will was a monster comparable to Mercenary Tao.

Nothing had ever escaped her calculations.

He looked at the Erdtree overhead. That trace of unease he felt over the Golden Order entering the real world also dissipated because of the woman’s composure.