70: Chapter 70 The Sixty-Second Battle

"You... are also a Mutant?"

A ripple appeared in Nogami's voice, extremely faint, like a crack appearing on a string stretched to its limit.

Yan Zheng stood beside the altar base, hands spread open and facing forward, golden photon energy darting between his ten fingers, writhing under his skin like ten little snakes.

It hurt.

It wasn't the sharp pain of being cut by a blade, but a scorching sensation as if his bones were on fire, burning all the way from his palms to his shoulder blades.

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ ˘ ͈ ‸ ˘ ͈)

The red numbers in the top right corner of the system panel were counting down.

[Remaining time: 54 seconds.]

"The word 'Mutant' isn't quite accurate."

Yan Zheng's breathing was twice as heavy as normal, but the corners of his mouth were still curved in that damn arc.

"But you can understand it that way, if that would cause your subsequent judgments to deviate."

"They won't."

Nogami's Dark Energy longsword re-condensed, the dark patterns on the blade denser than before, resembling a mass of compressed black fog.

"Whether you are a Mutant or a sorcerer, there is no difference before the Black Sky Ritual."

He took a step, the tip of his blade grazing the floor, leaving a scorched trench on the stone slab.

Yan Zheng did not wait for him to take a second step.

He pushed his right hand forward, the golden ball of light in his palm expanding to the size of a soccer ball within half a second, then erupting forward in a completely uncontrolled manner.

It wasn't the precise, straight beam of light like a Knight's.

It was a scattered photon Impact, covering almost two-thirds of the width of the secret chamber.

"Accuracy is zero, but the coverage is enough, right?"

Yan Zheng: (˵ ꐦ ≖ ω ≖ ˵)

Nogami's body had already shifted horizontally before the Impact arrived, the hem of his white kimono brushed by the golden light, instantly carbonizing into ash.

But he couldn't avoid it entirely.

The edge of the photon Impact swept across his left forearm, the inscription patterns flickering wildly in that instant, attempting to dissipate the energy, while a hissing, scorching sound came from beneath his skin.

Nogami did not make a sound, his right-hand blade slashing horizontally in a backhand motion.

The Dark Energy blade slashed toward Yan Zheng's waist.

Yan Zheng released another photon Impact with his left hand.

This time, the distance was closer, less than two meters.

Golden light and the black blade collided again at extremely close range, the exploding air currents knocking down the black crystal suspended above the altar.

The crystal hit the stone slab, bounced twice, and rolled into the corner of the secret chamber, the dark red light points inside flickering even more violently.

[Remaining time: 41 seconds.]

"Your control is extremely poor."

Nogami's voice came from the other side of the air currents, carrying the calmness of an observer.

"An ability that hasn't been awakened for more than five minutes, you can't even manage basic focusing."

"You are right."

Yan Zheng spat out the blood in his mouth, his hands gathering power again, the golden light casting frantic shadows on the walls of the secret chamber.

"But I don't need precision."

"I only need you to stay on the defensive."

Yan Zheng: (˵ ꐦ ✧ ꒳ ✧ ˵)

The third photon Impact erupted from his right hand, the fourth following immediately from his left, with an interval of less than a second.

Yan Zheng turned himself into a shotgun that only knew how to fire, not aiming, not calculating, and not holding anything back.

Every shot covered more than half of the secret chamber, forcing Nogami to continuously consume Dark Energy to defend.

The fifth shot. The sixth shot. The seventh shot.

Yan Zheng's hands began to tremble, tiny cracks appearing on the skin of his fingertips, golden light seeping out from the fissures like molten metal flowing through his veins.

It hurt. Every release felt like grinding his bones with sandpaper.

But his eyes remained fixed on Nogami's face.

By the fifth shot, Nogami's complexion began to turn pale.

By the sixth shot, visible disintegration patterns appeared on the outer layer of his Dark Energy longsword.

By the seventh shot, Nogami's breathing had grown heavier.

"You are overdrawing."

Nogami spoke while blocking, his voice tinged with urgency.

"Your body cannot withstand the output of this ability."

"You are also overdrawing."

Yan Zheng grinned, his teeth covered in blood.

"The difference is, I know how much longer I can hold on."

[Remaining time: 19 seconds.]

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ ˘ ᗜ ˘)

"And what about you, sir?"

"How many more strikes can that blade of yours take?"

"Three strikes? Two strikes? Or is it just one more?"

Nogami's Dark Energy longsword emitted a sharp cracking sound, a fissure appearing that ran through the entire length of the blade.

Yan Zheng saw it.

[Remaining time: 12 seconds.]

He stopped the scattering.

He pulled his hands back to his chest, all the remaining photon energy beginning to converge toward his right fist.

It wasn't an Impact, but the entire output concentrated in a space the size of a fist.

Within three seconds, his right fist turned into a small golden Sun, the heat so intense that Yan Zheng could smell his own cuffs being scorched.

"The last shot."

Yan Zheng took a step forward.

"Sir, please receive it."

Nogami's Dark Energy longsword swung down with its final bit of integrity.

The black blade shattered the moment it touched the golden surface of his fist.

Like an ice cube dropped into boiling water, it rapidly disintegrated from the point of contact toward the hilt, the Dark Energy turning into black fragments and dissipating in the air.

Yan Zheng's right fist passed through the remnants of the blade and pierced into Nogami's chest.

When his fist was about ten centimeters into the chest cavity, the photon energy detonated inside the body.

Yan Zheng: (˵ ꐦ ✦ ω ✦ ˵)

A cloud of golden light exploded from Nogami's back, the white kimono stained into an abstract painting by blood and scorch marks.

[Countdown: 0.]

[Photon ability fading.]

[Backlash descending.]

The golden light on Yan Zheng's hands extinguished instantly, like a lightbulb unplugged.

Immediately after, an excruciating pain surging from the depths of his bone marrow pierced through his entire body.

Yan Zheng's knees hit the stone slab, bringing out a chunk of scorched flesh as he pulled his right fist out of Nogami's chest.

He knelt on the ground, the blood spraying from his mouth forming a mist, his vision blurring rapidly.

Nogami also fell.

He took two steps back, leaning against the wall of the secret chamber, and slowly slid down.

There was a bowl-sized scorched hole in his chest, penetrating from the front to the back, with golden embers still smoldering at the edges.

The white kimono was soaked through with blood.

He looked at Yan Zheng kneeling before him, his pale lips moving.

"You... are not a ninja, not a Mutant..."

The voice had shattered into a breathy whisper.

"What exactly are you?"

Yan Zheng used his left hand to brace himself against the ground, pulling himself back from the edge of total collapse, raising his blood-stained face to look at Nogami's dilating eyes.

He wiped the blood from his mouth, revealing his blood-stained teeth.

"A Corpse Collector."

He pressed his right palm against Nogami's chest.

A cold, pulling sensation penetrated through all the pain, spreading outward from his palm.

[Battlefield Corpse Collection activated. Target quality: Legendary.]

[Black Sky Ritual complete material, full set, stored.]

[Dark Energy core material, stored.]

Nogami's body began to collapse under his palm; skin, muscle, blood, bone, all matter was pulled away by the traction force, turning into black fog and surging into Yan Zheng's system space.

Three seconds later, only an empty white kimono remained in front of the wall, spread out on the stone floor like a paper doll that had had its bones removed.

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ ； ᗝ ；)

Then he collapsed face down.

His face pressed against the cold stone slab, every capillary in his body seeping blood, large patches of dark red hemorrhages appearing on the surface of his skin.

"Fuck."

He lay on the stone slab for five seconds.

He mumbled the only curse word of the night.

"Worth it."