Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 596 - 559 Turning the Tide

Chapter 596: 559 Turning the Tide

The black water cannon hit the back of the Catastrophe Demon before it could dodge.

Then, it was like water splashing against a concrete wall; the Catastrophe Demon, caught off guard by a direct attack, showed no signs of damage. Instead, the black water cannon burst into countless droplets, scattering like a prank that only gave the Catastrophe Demon a big splash of water.

Obviously, the Water Navy Xuanwu’s magic power, which had performed miracles on me, had no restraining effect whatsoever on the Catastrophe Demon, who was supposed to be the embodiment of Vermilion Bird Fire.

This is partly because the Catastrophe Demon wasn’t using Vermilion Bird Fire.

To bypass the elemental advantage and disadvantage of the Four Symbols and Five Elements system, I had once used "Eclipse" to fight the Great Demon Xuanwu. The black flame born from the "Eclipse" deviated from the main theme of fire, naturally not fitting the definition of Vermilion Bird Fire, and thus not subject to the restraining effect of Water Navy Xuanwu’s magic power. Unfortunately, I didn’t go far along the path of this wrong evolution, "Eclipse," so the deviation from the definition of Vermilion Bird Fire wasn’t significant enough, and overall, it still fell within the scope of restraint by the Great Demon Xuanwu.

But the Catastrophe Demon represents the ultimate of the "Eclipse" route, compared to the original Vermilion Bird Fire, it’s vastly different. Trying to restrain it with Water Magic Power is like trying to use scissors to defeat an opponent’s paper in rock-paper-scissors, only for the opponent to put their foot on the table. The foot can’t be held together or made into a scissor shape, so it seems like paper, but it’s still a foot, ultimately not fitting into the logic of the game.

But this alone is not enough to fully explain what happened before us.

The Catastrophe Demon seemed to be fed up and casually tossed the "Eclipse" it held toward the Great Demon Xuanwu behind it. The latter instinctively summoned a vast amount of black water, forming an enormous defensive barrier like a great city wall.

Then, an earth-shattering explosion occurred, and the shockwave and billowing dust engulfed the area where I and Huang Quan were located.

Though defined as "me in the Doomsday Era," judging from the mana fluctuations and skill intensity, the normal output power of the Catastrophe Demon is about on par with my Third Form. The aftermath of its skill obviously wasn’t enough to truly harm me and Huang Quan.

But it’s a different story for the Great Demon Xuanwu, who took the hit head-on.

In fact, I could sense that, while the Great Demon Xuanwu clearly bore an antagonistic intention toward the Catastrophe Demon, the latter lacked such feelings. It makes sense, as demons should essentially be creatures summoned by the Naraku Gospel to slaughter humans, and it would be a waste of energy for them to kill each other. The behavior of the Great Demon Xuanwu can still be explained as "inheriting the nature of Water Master Xuanwu," while the Catastrophe Demon does not have such unnecessary settings.

At this moment, the attack on the Great Demon Xuanwu seemed to be just an annoyance. The Catastrophe Demon’s counterattack seemed to say "don’t bother me," without much sincere destructive intent.

Even so, under that overwhelmingly powerful strike, the defenses built by the Great Demon Xuanwu were utterly destroyed, taking with them over seventy percent of its body’s mass, and it was visibly on the brink of critical injury and death.

The Catastrophe Demon wasn’t just "unaffected by elemental restraint," it seemed to be the one restraining the Great Demon Xuanwu!

Its attention turned to me again, and Huang Quan also seemed prepared to coordinate with it to attack me.

However, the Great Demon Xuanwu hadn’t finished its offensive.

For a regular human god being gravely injured to this extent, they would have to rest for a while to recover; yet as an abnormal phenomenon, the Great Demon Xuanwu seems to fall outside of such logic.

It behaves like a pure aggregation of energy, or perhaps a self-willed natural disaster. After its body crash-landed, it summoned an endless amount of black water from nothingness, transforming it into material for its body and soul. In the blink of an eye, most of its body had recovered, and without waiting for complete repair, it roared and lunged at the Catastrophe Demon again.

It’s said that demons possess an undying nature, but the Great Demon Xuanwu’s super-speed regeneration seems to be its own trait. Unless countless acts of destruction are inflicted upon it in a short time, or if the components making up its body are destroyed all at once, it seemingly won’t die.

The Catastrophe Demon unquestionably possesses such capabilities. Previously, I was still hoping that the Catastrophe Demon would hold out longer under the Great Demon Xuanwu’s attacks, but now I’m praying for the Great Demon Xuanwu instead.

While the two monsters were still entangled, I continued launching my offensive towards Huang Quan, who could only slip back into a passive evasion mode.

"Did you expect the appearance of the Catastrophe Demon?" he asked with difficulty, "How did you do it?"

"The same way as you," I replied.

Huang Quan’s eyes shifted slightly.

"You haven’t really mastered the technique of manipulating the Great Demon, only capable of utilizing its patterns of behavior... am I right?" I said, "Although I don’t know how you manage to make the Great Demon ignore you, it’s probably related to the communication between your Evangelical Institute and the Naraku Gospel. As for directing the actions of the Great Demon Xuanwu, the method is actually quite simple.

"Since the Great Demon Xuanwu naturally harbors animosity towards Flame Ability Users, you just need to sacrifice a few, or a dozen, individuals with related abilities to a certain extent guide and alter its path of action.

"After all, talents who excel in using Flame Power have never been scarce resources. Considering your power as a human god, you could even temporarily endow a random subject with Flame Power. The bestowed individual doesn’t necessarily have to be chosen from your subordinates and believers; you could just grab some survivors from the outside, then use the Power of Word Spirit to control them.

"You’re likely worried about whether Tai Sui left any unimaginable legacy to his confidants before his demise. So, you’d rather spend more effort guiding the Great Demon Xuanwu to annihilate the Tai Sui Army while observing the situation from a distance. Even with the Tai Sui Army in such a dire state, you’re still on guard. I don’t know whether to laugh at your cowardice or commend your caution."

A science fiction writer once wrote something like this, weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival, arrogance is. An enemy who is cowardly and suspicious might not inspire admiration, but they are absolutely troublesome and difficult to deal with.

Huang Quan is the kind that, when he can borrow the hands of others, will never act himself; when he can gang up, he will never fight alone; taunted by the enemy, his pride isn’t hurt in the slightest. Moreover, as an old human god with an Undying Body, he might be the type who causes me the most headaches.

In comparison, Ming Zhuo surprisingly seems to have an air of integrity. At least Ming Zhuo seems to be planning to personally avenge Xuanming once he clears the Xuanming Fire from his body. If it were Huang Quan, I fear such a thought wouldn’t even occur. I even have a hunch that, if Huang Quan encountered such a situation, he might not even hold a grudge. From this perspective, it might also be said that Ming Zhuo hasn’t fully grasped the essence of Huang Quan’s way of conduct.

"So you even know about the affairs of Naraku Gospel and Tai Sui, huh..." Huang Quan gave me a deep look, "...it seems Hongcao has told you quite a bit. Then, you should also know the plan of the Evangelical Institute by now.

"Even knowing our Evangelical Institute is truly planning to save humanity and the world, would you still stand in our way?"

"Is this the time to bring this up?" I said, "Setting aside whether I want to obstruct you, you never planned to recruit me from the beginning, did you? Why is that? You recruited Ming Zhuo and King Zhuanlun, but applied a different standard to me?"

Upon seeing me deliberately mention Ming Zhuo’s name, Huang Quan showed a disdainful expression and said, "Trying to fish for extra information from me? You’re underestimating me."

Though meticulous in this regard, in this short amount of time, his avenues for escape were dwindling, and I was close to hitting him.

At this moment, I stood above Huang Quan.

"...The one secretly assisting you is the Divine Son hunted by Yama, right?"

Evidently, Huang Quan knew who was secretly blessing me, yet he was too busy fleeing to strike at Little Bowl, who was hidden by No. 7.

Moreover, from the moment the Great Demon Xuanwu was suppressed, No. 7 and Little Bowl, lurking in the depths of time-space, were liberated from its conscious lock. Coupled with Huang Quan’s inability to allocate energy to search for them, their "encirclement" had completely disappeared.

Their presence vanished from the battlefield—No. 7 finally led Little Bowl out of this extremely dangerous zone.

I could still use the thermal energy marker and "Firefly" to lock onto Little Bowl’s position, but Huang Quan could not.

He could only sigh and say, "There’s no choice... this is as far as it goes."

After speaking, he decisively turned around and fled without a second thought.

To even be able to flee in disgrace with his back to a much younger Impermanence, shows he has not a shred of extra pride. However, I had anticipated this, and upon seeing it, I unhesitatingly left the Catastrophe Demon and Great Demon Xuanwu, the two still-contending monsters, to chase Huang Quan rapidly.

"Once it turns into a one-on-one situation, you lose all your fighting spirit?" I deliberately taunted him.

"Unlike you young hotheads, I have always despised taking risks," Huang Quan said justifiably. "I only fight battles I can win."