Tianqi Sanluo had never been so happy.
It was her first time tasting the joy of killing.
No pristine lotus leaves grow in a pond poisoned to death.
In an environment twisted by extreme despair, children will very likely become twisted and despairing themselves.
To put it bluntly: Tianqi Sanluo was half-mad now.
A madman must entertain himself in a madman's way.
The simplest thing — and the easiest for Tianqi Sanluo — was killing.
Of course, killing ordinary people was boring; even a child who enjoys playing with ants will grow tired of it eventually.
So…
Her keen senses detected a flock of human-shaped figures flying in the distance, bearing various weapons and heading straight for her.
They were AST units from nearby bases, dispatched after detecting the unprecedented spatial quake to exterminate the Spirit.
Given the intensity of this quake, the nearby bases had mobilized everything they had.
Right in front of Tianqi Sanluo there were well over a hundred people, not to mention reinforcements coming from all directions.
She smiled, the corners of her mouth curling into an increasingly eerie grin as she watched those bird-like figures approach.
No need to think — in her view they had come to deal with her.
Like a wild horse that feels most triumphant once broken, slaying opponents who resist or match you in strength brought far more satisfaction than slaughtering the defenseless.
So Tianqi Sanluo hovered in midair without dodging, waiting for them to arrive.
She had never used firearms in her previous life, but that didn't stop her from sensing the power those weapons carried via her Spirit.
Still, that was all they were to her.
Frankly, those mass-produced, low-grade weapons couldn't even scratch the surface of her Astral Dress.
Soon the several hundred AST members circled her, lifting their light-swords and Gatlings in unison, their faces alert.
Tianqi Sanluo was not in a hurry; she watched the "small fry" with interest, letting them make the first move.
"Captain! There's no information on this Spirit in our files!"
Because these AST teams came from different city bases, they reported things piecemeal.
And since the incident had happened suddenly, their officers were all of equal rank — nobody could immediately command everyone.
So the captains ordered their subordinates to keep an eye on the Spirit and hold their fire, then huddled together to discuss a plan.
During that time Tianqi Sanluo behaved very obediently, slowly descending to the ground without any action.
She had finally found an interesting toy — why ruin the fun by breaking it too soon?
Also, although the language the AST were speaking wasn't the Chinese he had used in his former life, Tianqi Sanluo could understand it well enough; whether they could understand her was another matter.
What about the AST on the other side?
They were nervous too.
They had rarely — if ever — seen a spatial quake capable of wiping out a city in a single strike.
Which meant this Spirit was extremely powerful.
They didn't know its abilities, had no intelligence on it, and couldn't claim the advantage — rash moves could be fatal.
The captains whispered and debated for almost five minutes. Just as Tianqi Sanluo was about to lose patience and preemptively kill these short-sighted pests, they finally agreed on a concrete combat plan and received authorization from their superiors.
From the scene and the red halberd in Tianqi Sanluo's hand, they preliminarily judged the Spirit to be fire-aligned.
"All units! We've got approval from command — open fire!"
"Yes! Fire!"
The girls responded like well-drilled soldiers, leveling their weapons and firing at Tianqi Sanluo at a rate of hundreds of rounds per second.
The so-called tactic was really just dividing sectors for each captain to avoid friendly fire.
Although CR—Units with casual domains are immune to conventional military damage, they couldn't completely block these weapons designed specifically to deal with Spirits.
Tianqi Sanluo looked as if she were bewildered by the gunfire — she made no defensive move, letting the continuous barrage strike the surface of her Astral Dress.
After ten minutes of sustained shooting, smoke from explosions filled the air around her, and the prolonged high-rate firing had overheated gun barrels, forcing them to cool.
The first wave of shooters lowered their weapons and switched to light-swords, charging in batches toward Tianqi Sanluo.
When the first AST rushed into the dissipating smoke, a colossal crimson halberd suddenly came down and struck at the head of the attacker.
Although that AST barely managed to block with a light-sword, the Spirit's enormous force stripped them of flight capability and sent them plummeting to the ground.
"Now this is fun."
As the smoke cleared and waves of fire surged, Tianqi Sanluo stood unharmed with Burning Immortal Flame in her right hand.
Seeing the hatred in the attackers' eyes made her even more interested.
Being stared at with hatred — what a novel sensation.
"Come, Polar Ice Burst."
Tianqi Sanluo didn't rush to obliterate them all with Burning Immortal Flame. Toys must be played with patiently — you don't break the toy before you finish playing, do you?
With that thought she called the name of her second Angel.
At the same time, the blue corner of the inverted triangle on her chest began to glow with a dim azure light.
The already warm air suddenly plunged as an eight-foot crystalline ice spear appeared in her left hand; only the vicinity of the flaming halberd remained hot.
"What is happening?"
Members from the same squad as the downed AST were stunned — none of them had ever seen a Spirit manifest a second weapon. Did this Spirit possess two Angels? Or did both weapons belong to the same Angel?
There was no time for speculation. Tianqi Sanluo would not afford them that luxury.
Polar Ice Burst represented the Pillar of Mercy, analogous to the fourth Sephira among the ten nodes, although the Pillar's power far exceeded that of a mere Sephira.
With a casual sweep of the ice spear, the first and second waves charging at her were turned into ice sculptures in the blink of an eye and fell to the ground.
"It's bad! This Spirit has a second Angel!"
The captains realized something was wrong: the Spirit was far stronger than expected and had been toying with them the whole time, never taking them seriously.
"Damn it…"
The AST who was pinned by Burning Immortal Flame bit their teeth and tried to break free, but the overwhelming difference in power prevented any success.
They were shocked — previous Spirits had been strong, but never to this degree.
"Oh? If you hadn't spoken up, I might have forgotten you existed."
Tianqi Sanluo seemed to remember something, smiling as she lifted Polar Ice Burst, pointing the spear at the immobilized AST.
"No!"
The AST captain immediately tried to rush in with her squad to rescue their comrade.
"Whoever dares come forward, I'll kill first."
Tianqi Sanluo turned to them, wearing the most harmless smile while speaking with a threatening tone.
Even AST who value comradeship would hesitate at such a life-or-death moment.
In that hesitation, Tianqi Sanluo kept smiling and drove Polar Ice Burst through the pinned AST's body, piercing straight through with a chilling finish.