Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 554 - 520 VS Great Demon Xuanwu 3

Chapter 554: 520 VS Great Demon Xuanwu 3

When the flame is compressed to a certain point, it transforms into a black flame that distorts and destroys even space-time itself, with all light and heat converging and collapsing inward.

A dark miniature sun formed in the palm of my hand.

—"Eclipse."

This is a unique skill I discovered while exploring the path of increasing magic density. Unlike Ming Zhuo’s high-density Mana that only experienced Impermanence can master, "Eclipse" is simply a crude compression of power itself on a superficial level, with almost no abstract operations involved. Having used it more than once or twice, it’s now second nature to me, and I can condense it almost instantly.

The reason I hadn’t continued to explore the potential of "Eclipse" in the past was that flames are essentially luminous and heat-emitting substances. The black flame that emerged with "Eclipse" does not emit light or heat outward. The more I advanced, the more I deviated from the essence of "flame." I judged that if I continued down this path, it might eventually distort my superpower’s own explanation, leading to a potentially dangerous route.

But here, this deviation from the essence of "flame" might instead be the key to breaking the Great Demon Xuanwu’s restraint on me.

Like a heavy tank firing a shell, "Eclipse" was launched from my hand.

Perhaps because all previous attempts had ended in failure, the Great Demon Xuanwu seemed careless in the face of this attack. "Eclipse" struck its body directly. The resulting explosion was earth-shattering, sweeping everything around with light and heat far more terrifying than a strategic nuclear weapon, along with the shockwave.

In the cataclysmic explosion, I saw from afar a huge hole appear in the body of dark water, like a large-caliber handgun bullet puncturing a human torso, and the Great Demon Xuanwu let out a huge roar.

This time, it was not just the physical container being damaged. I could clearly sense that the Great Demon Xuanwu’s soul had been burned and damaged.

"What..."

The mysterious woman in the dark also let out a surprised voice via telepathy, clearly not expecting that I could actually harm the Great Demon Xuanwu.

But... it’s still not enough.

I still couldn’t muster any optimistic feelings.

My flame had only very preliminarily deviated from the essence of the Vermilion Bird Fire, and its power was still considerably weakened. The Great Demon Xuanwu only suffered "superficial wounds."

Not only did it fail to touch the core, but it didn’t even manage to reduce its output efficiency. Its body of dark water instantly returned to its original state, and its soul seemed to be regenerating at a "visibly fast" pace. Although I had indeed inflicted effective damage, it remained on a shallow level.

In the wild, encountering a large predator, an insufficiently lethal attack would only further provoke the beast’s anger and unleash its terrifying power. This logic seemed to apply to the Great Demon Xuanwu as well—it finally realized that I was a threatening enemy, and its focus shifted entirely to me.

With a thunderous roar, a massive surge of dark water erupted from its entire body, transforming into various forms of attack. Some were water cannons, some were tentacles, some were giant waves, and countless other shapeless transformations approached me from different angles. Each one was a lethal move capable of damaging my True Spirit.

I was immediately forced into a frantic and embarrassed position.

Fortunately, whether it’s for human gods or for Great Demons, the True Spirit is an unprovable entity, akin to "nonexistence." Even for Divine Demons, harming such an "unprovable entity" is extremely difficult. To accurately grasp the image that inflicts precise harm upon my True Spirit, the Great Demon Xuanwu’s hit rate significantly weakened.

In the modern world, the attack hit rate of a Xuanwu Inheritor on a Vermilion Bird Inheritor would be enhanced by their counteracting relationship, but in the Doomsday Era, where most order has already collapsed, this aspect of "environmental enhancement" is absent.

Of course, as a doomsday anomaly, the Great Demon Xuanwu can rely on its adaptability to the post-apocalyptic environment to partially restore some of the environmental enhancements that a Divine Demon should have within normal space-time, including fate and causality-level hit rate enhancements. However, this is no longer within the framework of the Four Symbols and Five Elements order, and cannot be strengthened by the counteracting relationship. What’s now weakened is precisely this part.

Ordinarily, as a Xuanwu Inheritor, the Great Demon Xuanwu wouldn’t be able to do even things outside the Four Symbols and Five Elements system’s framework, as all its talents should have been converted into the power of Water and Alchemy. However, it’s no longer human, so it’s not unreasonable for some phenomena beyond "appropriate limits" to occur.

Moreover, the black flame, which deviates from the essence of the "Vermilion Bird Fire", shouldn’t naturally be a power accessible to me as a Vermilion Bird Inheritor. I don’t know why I can condense it—is it because I am inherently someone with an Innate Manifestation that somewhat exceeds the Shan Liangyi worldview? Or is it that, in actuality, the black flame is also a certain manifestation of the Four Symbols and Five Elements order?

By the way, I also noticed another troubling issue.

Which is that I seem to have no way to collect the blood and flesh of the Great Demon Xuanwu for Mazao anytime soon.

Previously, it was mentioned that the body of the Great Demon Xuanwu is composed of extremely compressed black water, and from the start, there was no mention of "flesh and blood."

Even if this black water is regarded as its flesh and blood, I still cannot complete the collection process. According to the phenomenon I observed during the two times I destroyed its body, the black water, upon leaving its body, will explode and revert into a large quantity of ordinary water.

It’s like how the matter of a white dwarf star or a neutron star loses its extreme density once it leaves its gravitational environment. It seems that this black water also cannot exist without the mana of the Great Demon Xuanwu, and the soul components within it will disintegrate and dissipate as the black water fails to maintain its density.

More importantly, I am not in a state where I can focus on such matters. Just surviving requires me to exhaust all my wits and skills.

Continuing to fight like this, defeat remains unavoidable. To put it in video game terms, it’s like I’m a player character with only ten health points and ten attack points fighting against another character with a thousand health points and a thousand attack points in a fighting game. Even if I can be revived a few more times, the opponent only needs to hit me a few more times, and if I cannot hit the opponent a hundred more times successfully, I cannot win.

Moreover, the opponent’s health will automatically recover over time, so the victory condition is far more complicated than just hitting the opponent a hundred more times successfully.

Fortunately, no matter what, the hope for victory is not absolutely zero.

This is not because I’ve thought of a new winning strategy. I’m planning to continue fighting.

I have no interest in a battle with zero chance of victory. Conversely, even if there is only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of winning this desperate battle, I can ignite the flame of fighting spirit, betting everything, including my life, to exert every effort to defeat the enemy.

The risks are immense, the consequences severe, and the odds of success are slim... but I brought this upon myself. I like the thrill of walking a tightrope between life and death. I’d rather face the terror of falling into an endless abyss than live a life that is merely safe and dull.

There aren’t no things I’m dissatisfied with either.

Though I long for a stage where I can exert all my might and skills, what I love are grand and magnificent adventures, not mere fights driven by madness. These simple and rough battles feel like the oversized junk food sold by roadside fried chicken stores. I don’t mind junk food, but I’d prefer the potential final adventure of my life to be a lavish feast.

Humans truly are shameless creatures, easily becoming unsatisfied. When did I start becoming picky about my adventures? If I hope to be drawn into a grand adventure beyond my control, I shouldn’t have such a picky attitude.

Whether it’s the oversized junk food that’ll overstuff the diner, or the lavish feast so overwhelming it makes one lose their footing, let all of them come at me.

I’ll devour them all.

In the overwhelming clash, the mysterious woman asked again, "At this point, are you still not considering escaping?"

"Don’t make me repeat myself so many times," I said. "Since you can’t intervene in the fight, just watch over there, or take the opportunity to escape while the Great Demon Xuanwu is distracted by me. Its attention is entirely on me now, so you should be able to leave the battlefield."

"I didn’t expect you to still be a warrior addicted to the edge of life and death..."

The mysterious woman seemed to have misunderstood my nature. She continued, "However, I have no intention of running away. After all, the Great Demon Xuanwu is an enemy I provoked, and dumping it on you goes against my beliefs.

"Moreover, I have something to ask of you, so I can’t let you die inexplicably in a place like this.

"Let me end this battle."

Does she really have a way to end the battle between me and the Great Demon Xuanwu? By herself?

I don’t think she’s just bluffing, but as a character of Great Success Rank, just surviving on the battlefield alongside me and the Great Demon Xuanwu is already extremely challenging. How could she possibly intervene in the war between a human god and a Great Demon?

One thing is certain, though—from the beginning of the battle, she has indeed been trying to do something under the pressure of the Great Demon Xuanwu, and now that the Great Demon Xuanwu has focused all its power on me, she seems finally to have the chance to achieve her objective.

When I was dodging the Great Demon Xuanwu’s attacks in mid-air, her silhouette suddenly broke free from the depths of space-time and teleported beside me.

She raised her right hand, conjuring a revolver out of thin air.