Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 512 - 482 Third Form 2

Chapter 512: 482 Third Form 2

Huang Quan raised his right arm, bringing spiral-combined yellow and black mana as he closed in for a sneak attack from behind me. Although I could perceive changes behind me, I didn’t have time to dodge. His arm pierced through my Third Form’s light body, and the yellow-black mana erupted from within.

This strike dealt me quite a lot of damage. My vision went black, as if I had turned into an ordinary person stuffed into a metal box only large enough for my body, then pushed down a hillside. The world-spinning dizziness nearly shattered my consciousness. Taking two or three more such hits, and I’m sure I would die.

However, I suppose this was the last effective attack Huang Quan could deliver against me in this battle.

I could tell that Huang Quan himself wasn’t very adept at close combat as an Impermanence, and only resorted to this to break through my Third Form’s light body. Now that Xu Gou has left the field, in a one-on-one situation, finding another opportunity to hit me in close range would be as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

Moreover, trying to attack me up close is a costly endeavor. Due to contact with the Third Form’s light body, which is akin to solar material, he let out a muffled groan of pain and his arm turned to charcoal, with even the corresponding part of his soul taking a massive hit. As I quickly put some distance between us, he clutched his now unusable arm.

With the skill of an Impermanence, even touching true solar material might leave him unharmed, but my flames contained a destructive intent. This was already a curse, trying to cover any untouched areas with its destructive force, even without further contact with me.

Huang Quan immediately used the yellow-black mana to sever the charred arm. At this cost, the high-temperature invasion halted. Only an Impermanence could manage such a feat. Anyone else, even if they cut off an arm to survive, my flames could easily burn everything to ashes through the cause-and-effect link between the broken part and the body.

Not wanting to miss my advantage, I used Flame Transmission to flash to his closest proximity for a surprise attack. However, having used this move on Xu Gou earlier, it couldn’t take Huang Quan by surprise again. I am similarly unskilled in close combat. Just as confident I am in avoiding Huang Quan’s hits at close range, I too cannot achieve the same with him.

Huang Quan, relying on his Impermanence intuition, as if foreseeing the future, judged my ambush timing and used means that disregarded spatial distances to move rapidly. If I could hit him just once, the scales of victory would tip in my favor.

Unlike me, who could swiftly recover even with my soul shattered, his soul being burned was truly destroyed. Even if he found a way to attack my True Spirit, my tolerance for error in this battle is significantly higher than his.

The challenge lies in that his combat experience is evidently quite rich, dodging with agility akin to a deft fish. Any skilled warrior unversed in close combat undoubtedly has multiple methods to evade close-quarters harm. My "half-baked skills" make it challenging to catch him.

I relentlessly launched assaults, hoping to wait for him to make a mistake. Yet the more I attack, the less realistic it seems to pin victory on such a chance. More critically, I don’t have much time.

The Third Form relies on the flames stored in the activator weapon, and once exhausted, will extinguish. Though I could supplement while battling, ultimately the expenditure outweighs income. The longer the fight drags on, the more disadvantageous it becomes for me. True, this partially fulfilled Liu Shuying’s request for me to stall for time, but I can’t be satisfied with such an achievement.

It seems Huang Quan also discerned the major flaw in the Third Form, saying: "Your form can’t last too long, can it? This must be your trump card, releasing power you’ve stored for battle...

"While your attack and defense are exceptionally strong, your speed and accuracy haven’t significantly increased, and your moves haven’t become more innovative compared to before. Given this, there’s no need for me to decide the battle’s outcome immediately. I can simply wait for you to exhaust your strength.

"You’ve lost already, Zhuang Cheng."

Though he saw through my most crucial secrets, I wasn’t about to be defeated by him in spirit.

"Wait for me to exhaust my strength? Are you serious about that, Huang Quan?" I retorted, "It’s not only us who need to conclude this quickly, right? It’s you too?"

The Taoyuan Village Master’s and Huang Quan’s methods to prevent Lushan Great Impermanence from coming to aid must be limited. As the fight continues and destruction grows, their method’s effectiveness will diminish.

I tried using Flame Transmission to move to a more distant area, but encountered strange resistance, vaguely feeling like being buried alive, unable to move. As a test, I deliberately revealed my intention to head towards the Luoshan Headquarters via a physical path, but was intercepted by Huang Quan, who didn’t hesitate.

It’s clear Huang Quan and the Taoyuan Village Master want to use this opportunity to eliminate me and Liu Shuying, both strong enemies who actively invaded.

Though putting my full effort to break through resistance with Flame Transmission is doable, it would mean a momentary gap of having my "back turned" to the enemy. But over time, that strange resistance seems to be slowly decreasing.

Whether my Third Form will run out of time first, or the combat length Huang Quan set for himself runs out first, it’s a question even I can’t answer accurately, let alone him.

And he’s not the only one who knows how to bluff, undermining the enemy’s will to fight. I too can use the same tactic.

"——At this rate, the countdown will run out for you first." I said, "You’re the true loser, Huang Quan."

Seemingly overwhelmed by my words, Huang Quan fell silent, though his movements showed no hesitation. As he continued dodging, I could sense him ceaselessly looking for an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to me again.

Gradually, a question arose in my mind — ultimately, what is Huang Quan and the Evangelical Institute’s goal?

In this battle, what interest lies that makes Huang Quan willing to risk his life to clash with me?

Earlier, Huang Quan asked me, "Why personally join the fray," a question applicable to him as well. Currently, he battles me as an assistant to the Taoyuan Village Master. Perhaps the Master holds an important position in the Evangelical Institute’s unknown plans, but is it truly worth Huang Quan’s dedication?

While it seems this question could wait until after the battle, my intuition signals danger. Perhaps this is crucial to the battle as it might determine Huang Quan’s decisions in the forthcoming encounters.

Then, the ominous premonition turned into reality.

Huang Quan seemed to have made a significant decision. He took a breath and looked at me with a heavy gaze.

"Zhuang Cheng... you are powerful," he said, "It’s not just strength alone, your rate of progress is also astonishingly fast. Other Impermanences, when fully realizing their potential into strength, explore cleverer ways to manipulate power. But you’re different, breaking further ground in sheer intensity.

"In terms of pure power, you now rival even the Taoyuan Village Master and Xuanming. Once you remedy your slight lag in power manipulation skills, you could stand as equals with them.

"For most Impermanences, the most challenging aspect of becoming stronger is finding the path of further progress. But you already have a clear path paved. What’s lacking is just a bit more time...

"Originally, this may have taken decades, if not hundreds of years, but as a Manifestation User capable of manipulating power literally as if extending an arm, who knows how much this time might be compressed. In the next clash, I might no longer remain your opponent. Given time, you will surely become a massive barrier in front of the Evangelical Institute.

"The best chance to eliminate you is now."

—So you say, but how do you plan to eliminate me?

I intended to retort, but saw him meet my incoming offensive head-on, no longer moving, and instead taking my Third Form’s full-on body strike.

This strike scattered Huang Quan’s entire body on the spot.

Even though I executed it myself, I never thought this strike would be successful.

However, the battle was clearly not over.

His scattered body parts all transformed mid-air into yellow-black grave soil, then instantly recombined in the air, forming a massive three-dimensional magic array.

At the array’s center — where he burst apart — was a small black mana sphere, seemingly hidden within his body all along. Once the array appeared, a torrent of yellow-black mana gushed forth, crazily injecting into the black sphere. The black sphere rapidly swelled, giving off a gravity akin to a black hole capable of distorting space-time, threatening to suck me in.

Witnessing such a shocking change, I immediately attempted to retreat without thinking, but felt as though my body was bound by countless chains, as if someone was engaging in a full-on tug-of-war with me. Unable to withdraw smoothly, the black sphere continued to expand, step by step, closing in on me during this stalemate.

What is this black sphere? Is this Huang Quan’s trump card kill move? Is he aiming to kill me with this unknown attack? As I mustered all my strength to analyze and think of ways to break the stalemate, at least one thing was clear: taking that last hit meant that over 90% of Huang Quan’s soul had been destroyed. This was an irrevocable fatal injury — not just about whether he would lose, but he was certainly going to die.

While I didn’t understand his motive for risking his life to fight me earlier, it was nevertheless acceptable. Sometimes fights to the death don’t need profound reasons; perhaps he was just caught up in it. Personally, I can empathize with such a motive.

However, a fight wagering one’s life and a fight based on the premise of sacrificing oneself are worlds apart.

No matter how I try, I can’t understand what reason Huang Quan could have that makes him willing to forsake his own life to eliminate me.