Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 107 - 104 Shadow Swapping Monster 8

Chapter 107: 104 Shadow Swapping Monster 8

Even though I could intervene in this causality, such intervention is different from the "capture" I wanted to achieve. I could only manage to "burn it away."

For this battle, that would be a result with no benefit.

It’s important to know that Shadow Swapping Monster’s "Shadow Swap" and Undying Monster’s "Damage Transfer" have a decisive difference.

Both can transfer the bad causality that happens to themselves onto their clones, but the Damage Transfer superpower outsources the bad causality to a distant clone, while the passively triggered Shadow Swap superpower leaves the bad causality in place, and the original body makes a strategic retreat by altering the causal relationship, letting the clone bear the remaining bad causality.

In other words, the intangible, abstract thing that I’m sensing, escaping right now, doesn’t symbolize "the fatal injury I caused to the Shadow Swapping Monster," but rather "the Shadow Swapping Monster itself."

Although it’s always about causality, in fact, I still have no objective evidence to prove that this is "causality," it’s merely borrowing the term Zhu Shi used in the past to describe Shadow Swap superpower. At least my subjective perception is that it indeed symbolizes the metaphysical, conceptual existence of the Shadow Swapping Monster, and I can’t find a more appropriate word than "causality" to express this thing.

I want to suppress it under a pillar of fire. If the fire pillar were my finger, then what I’m trying to do now is like trying to press a fleeing dust mote under my fingertip. However, what’s attempting to escape isn’t even dust, but air. No matter how hard I press, the air will still get squeezed out by the fingers.

Yes, causality as an abstract thing is invisible and intangible like air, and it doesn’t even exist in the same dimension as air. Therefore, it’s impossible to touch it with hands, let alone grasp it in a physical sense.

Burning is also a physical concept, so I can’t explain with words why I can burn it away. All in all, I just can. But the reason I can do this is that my superpower is burning. If my superpower were "Mind" or "Telekinesis" or the like, maybe I could have caught it, but unfortunately, I don’t have those.

Or... although it’s baseless, I think that "the current me" is the only one who can’t directly capture it. As long as my power continues to evolve... no, to be precise, as long as my understanding and application of my own power climb to the next major level, then the act of "capturing causality" will no longer be beyond my reach.

Let’s get back on track. The reason I feel I shouldn’t burn away the causality that symbolizes the Shadow Swapping Monster itself is that our battle objective is to at least preserve the Shadow Swapping Monster’s head.

As for this colorless and intangible abstract thing, my flames cannot distinguish where the head is, where the torso is. It’s like using a gas stove to burn a cotton ball the size of a fingernail—burning it would likely just lead to it being completely engulfed in flames. That’s unacceptable.

Rather than waste it, it’s better to let it escape for now, then reformulate tactics and pursue it using the thermal energy marker I left in the target’s body.

Of course, it’s not time to completely give up on this battle yet. At least Zhu Shi hasn’t given up. When I decided not to burn away this causality, silver sword light followed closely and pierced into the gigantic pillar of fire. My fire doesn’t harm allies, so Zhu Shi was not injured at all when she charged into the fire pillar. The sword light cunningly stabbed into the lower jaw of the Shadow Swapping Monster’s head.

Her goal was definitely to destroy the Shadow Swapping Monster’s superpower itself, it’s just a shame she was a fraction too slow.

I could clearly see the causality that symbolized the Shadow Swapping Monster itself fly away swiftly like a fast sparrow. As Zhu Shi had said earlier, the speed at which Shadow Swap superpower is activated is too fast for her. Her chance of succeeding was at most ten percent, and this outcome was to be expected.

However, I feel that a ten percent chance is already quite high, because we will have numerous opportunities to chase again, and the Shadow Swapping Monster won’t recover from a single failure. What follows is a matter of persistence. The only issue is that it’s quite troublesome, and Zhu Shi’s attempt to sever the monster’s connection with the seed of the heart is also a matter of moments. If there’s any lapse in execution later on in the battle, we might still come back empty-handed.

I reverted from my Fire Element form and withdrew my power, the giant pillar of fire dissipated suddenly as if the valve of a gas stove had been shut off. Zhu Shi landed beside me, her cold lake-blue eyes seemingly revealing dissatisfaction with her own mishap.

And the monster head that had been pierced through the jaw fell to the ground beside us. Due to causality being modified by the Shadow Swap superpower, the head from the original body turned into the condition of "having been attacked from the beginning as a Shadow Clone." Consequently, it promptly began to dissolve into black ink, soon to degrade into a mere shadow and disappear on the ground.

I intended to sense where the Shadow Swapping Monster’s original body went.

Just then, Mazao arrived at the scene belatedly, looking down at the head on the ground.

Then, she did something unprecedented.

To clarify, I had asked both Mazao and Zhu Shi if they had any ways to counter the Shadow Swap superpower before, but seeing Mazao’s troubled expression and her silence, I tentatively concluded she had no solution. Moreover, she didn’t make any further comments about the tactics, so I was convinced in my judgment.

But her actions now suggested otherwise.

She raised her right hand, pointing to the gradually melting, disintegrating ink-like head on the ground.

"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows—" she recited.

The formless head disappeared from its place instantaneously, replaced by the intact Shadow Swapping Monster.

After doing this, Mazao seemed to be very tired.

I and Zhu Shi were stunned, and the Shadow Swapping Monster also seemed to be at a loss, foolishly standing in place. I tried to sense it, and the thermal energy marker was inside the body of the monster right in front of me. There was no doubt that this was the true body of the Shadow Swapping Monster.

Mazao had used her Power of Return to capture the Shadow Swapping Monster, who had escaped to who knows where!

The Shadow Swapping Monster immediately came to its senses. I think he might have been trying to activate his superpower to swap shadows again. Almost simultaneously, a silver streak of sword light exploded forth, piercing through his chest, and sent him flying away.

Like a doll pierced by an arrow, his body was pinned against a tree in the distance, expelling a large mouthful of blood.

And I released flames centered on the thermal energy marker left in his body, transforming them once more into a massive Flame Palm, grasping and binding his whole body along with the tree trunk behind him.

He couldn’t escape, and it seemed like his superpower to swap shadows had also failed to activate.

Zhu Shi’s eyes changed back from the cold lake blue to their usual black. She exhaled in relief, then said, "Compared to the passively triggered form, actively triggered shadow-swapping abilities are indeed much easier to destroy.

"More than that... Mazao, you actually managed to capture him back?"

As she spoke, she turned her head toward Mazao, her face unable to hide the surprise and astonishment.

"Mm, since I knew that he didn’t use his clone as a decoy last night to divert our attention and stealthily escape, but rather used the power of the strange to directly switch places between his body and the clone, I thought I could use the blessing power to reset the results caused by his superpower and swap back the spatial positions between him and his clone," Mazao explained. "However, I wasn’t confident about how much strength I could muster in my current state. Before actually trying, I didn’t know whether I could do it."

"So that’s why you kept silent before?" I said, understandingly.

That being said, I felt it would have been better to speak up earlier. After all, even Zhu Shi, who was not confident about her own approach, still tentatively spoke out. When there’s no foolproof plan, luck can also be a tactical element. This kind of pre-discussion is also part of teamwork.

Compared to Zhu Shi, Mazao seemed to seriously lack a sense of teamwork. Actually, I was no better; I had also not spoken about my own trial. But my trial, rather than being a concrete method, was more like a vague groping for an approach, insufficient to propose a plan. And Mazao seemed to have an even more severe case. Considering her inferiority complex regarding her Broom Star Physique, she must have lived her life before actively avoiding cooperation with others, and to her, the only thing following around, Little Bowl No.2, was not an equivalent cooperative relationship.

Maybe what she really lacked wasn’t even a sense of teamwork. Living in the Doomsday Era, she might not even have a normal sense of social togetherness. Speaking of which, she indeed occasionally gave me the impression of a wild animal.

Mazao "Mm"ed, and then whispered softly, "Because I didn’t want to disappoint you..."

"Hey, what about me?" Zhu Shi leaned over and asked.

"You clearly didn’t believe in me." Mazao seemed to have taken Zhu Shi’s skepticism about the impending doomsday to heart.

The last time she left me, the first reason she gave on the unfinished skyscraper’s rooftop was also because I outwardly believed in the doomsday, yet never even asked when it would come. It seems that although she always acted as if it was normal for others not to believe in her, she was actually very sensitive to both the implicit and explicit doubts of others.

Zhu Shi revealed an expression unique to cat lovers who had attempted to pet a stray only to watch it turn and flee without hesitation, left grasping at thin air.

"Remember to say it in advance next time." It was also a reminder to myself, then I said, "Now let’s go deal with that monster."

Mazao nodded earnestly, then shifted her gaze. Zhu Shi, on the other hand, rallied her spirits and, together with Mazao, turned towards the monster in the distance.

The Shadow Swapping Monster was trying to break free from the Flame Palm, but the sword that pinned him to the tree seemed to have done more than disrupt his superpower; it also suppressed his strength. His struggles, not to mention breaking my Flame Palm, didn’t even damage the tree he was pinned against.

We walked up to him, he was breathing heavily, glaring at us fiercely.

No matter what, he had been defeated. The battle with him was over, and what followed was a one-sided time for gathering intelligence.

Suddenly, he looked behind us.

From that direction, there came an unfamiliar set of footsteps.