His spear technique was truly superb and vicious, and his ability to adapt on the battlefield was equally formidable.
Facing the ferocious assaults of the ship girls who had entered acceleration state, Cao Cao relied on the clone ability of the Gahapatiratana, still swinging the holy spear in his hand and counter-killing several smaller ship girls outright.
The ship girls whose heads were pierced turned into particles of light and dissipated. Seeing this, the other ship girls merely frowned slightly and continued to intensify their extremely fierce offensive.
This complete disregard for the lives of their companions left Cao Cao momentarily speechless. Were all these women truly fearless of death?
Could they be death warriors trained by that man!?
That was what he thought, yet right before Cao Cao's stunned eyes, the ship girls he had just killed actually reappeared.
They charged out of the gates of the Universe of Gold full of vigor, their cute little faces carrying annoyed and vicious expressions as they continued to attack Cao Cao.
"You rotten guy, take San Diego's judgment!!"
Freshly resurrected after death, San Diego's adorable face showed a ferociously cute expression. She raised the idol microphone in her hand and activated her combat technique. Her exclusive curtain of light rain roared forth along with her angry shout.
Hundreds of eight-segment light wheels emitted piercing buzzing sounds as they sliced toward Cao Cao.
"Manir—!!"
Facing the brutal assault, Cao Cao, already covered in many wounds, blood at the corner of his mouth, roared loudly. A sphere suddenly appeared in front of him as space began to twist, forming a massive vortex.
The barrage of eight-segment light wheels reached Cao Cao in an instant and collided with the vortex. The vortex spun rapidly, absorbing all of the energy attacks in the blink of an eye.
The Treasure possessed the ability to absorb enemy attacks and reflect them. Using this power, Cao Cao directly rebounded all of those attacks back at the ship girls surrounding him.
"Ah! San Diego, you big idiot!!"
Vampire, whose arm had been severed by her own companion's attack and was spraying blood, angrily scolded San Diego, whose expression had frozen.
Vampire glanced somewhat painfully at her own blood. As ship girls, they were similar to humans in certain respects, though fundamentally different in nature.
Knowing the enemy's intelligence yet still using that kind of power—wasn't that simply asking for suffering?
The other ship girls were also missing arms or legs and covered in wounds. Some of them rushed back out from the Universe of Gold again, glaring angrily at San Diego.
"S-sorry..."
San Diego instantly wilted like a withered flower, apologizing awkwardly and shamefully.
This was the first time all of the ship girls—aside from Laffey—had fought an enemy like this. That was precisely why Raize had thrown Cao Cao and the others to the ship girls: an early engagement would benefit them. After all, their lives were guaranteed and they wouldn't truly die.
Taking advantage of a decent enemy to quickly accumulate combat experience was the goal.
Cao Cao, however, felt no joy at this sight, because the enemy had suffered no fundamental loss at all. Those who died simply charged out again from that magnificent golden castle.
Meanwhile, he himself was pinned down by ferocious firepower and unable to escape, his mood growing increasingly irritable.
"Damn it, I can't stay here for long. These women can't be killed no matter how many times I strike. Truth Idea can only be used once—I never thought I'd waste it here!"
Cao Cao's expression was ugly. He suddenly took out a flame-scented teardrop from his body and swallowed it whole. The moment it went down, all his injuries instantly recovered to their original peak state.
Coldly staring at the golden castle, Cao Cao abruptly raised the holy spear and pointed it at that beautiful, radiant golden structure.
"—O Spear. The true Holy Spear which pierces through God. Suck the ambition of the King of Domination sleeping within me and pierce through the gap of blessing and destruction. You—!?!"
"What's going on? Why can't Truth Idea activate!?"
Under Cao Cao's solemn chanting, the True Longinus in his hand bloomed with intense light, its hazy slumbering will gradually awakening.
But just as he reached the most crucial stage of the chant, the holy spear in his hand flickered once, bright then dim, before falling completely silent.
This was beyond ridiculous. You're a God-Slaying Sacred Gear—don't tell me you malfunctioned?
The ship girls, who had been on high alert upon seeing him charge up, had been harassing or guarding against his next move. Yet he seemed to have run into a problem.
That was perfect—take advantage of it and attack together!
"Damn it, why won't you respond to my will? You acknowledged me back then!!"
Cao Cao's face twisted darkly. Forced to defend against the ship girls' ferocious assault, he realized that the holy spear's other abilities and his developed Subspecies Balance Breakers still worked—but Truth Idea simply would not activate.
Having something go wrong at such a critical moment was truly fatal.
Feeling the battlefield-flood-like firepower, and the ship girls' petite yet terrifyingly powerful, battleship-like impacts, Cao Cao roared with a flushed face:
"I will not fall here!!"
After shouting, he stepped back and took out another object from his body—a cube resembling a Rubik's cube. With a fierce expression, Cao Cao slammed it hard onto the ground under the murderous gazes of the ship girls.
Then he immediately thrust the holy spear into the cube, destroying it, and forcibly endured the newly added injuries as he retreated to create distance.
The ship girls were no fools. Seeing the unclear situation, they did not rush forward recklessly and instead pulled back cautiously as well.
But for those ship girls without acceleration abilities, it was already too late. The moment they moved, a shrill roar rang out.
Roar—!!
After Cao Cao shattered the cube, a massive, radiant magic circle appeared on the ground.
Zing—!!
Blinding light erupted from within the huge magic circle, instantly flooding the Universe of Gold with white brilliance.
A murky, malicious energy wave directly blasted away the ship girls who failed to retreat in time. Black, decayed radiance burst forth from the magic circle.
Cursed miasma and darkness spilled out, attempting to swallow the nearby ship girls. Those who failed to evade were immediately engulfed.
An extremely negative emotional resonance was surging—utterly filthy beneath the golden sky.
Pain, resentment, hatred, curses...
It was as though all the world's negative emotions had manifested at once, transforming into polluted waves of darkness that sought to corrode everything about the ship girls and completely contaminate and devour them.
Enterprise immediately pushed the other ship girls away to safety. As she looked at the incomparably dark, devouring power around her, clear disgust appeared on her fair, beautiful face.
Buzz—
At the same time, supreme golden light erupted from Enterprise's pale violet eyes. The stigmata engraved upon her smooth, fair back radiated dazzling brilliance.
Shining upon her sisters, it resonated with their own stigmata, resisting the embrace of the foul power.
Outside, Hornet and San Diego stared furiously at Cao Cao and the suddenly appeared disgusting monster.
Enterprise and ship girls had been submerged by that nauseating darkness.
"Uh… ah… roar…"
It was an extremely grotesque, bizarre creature.
Its upper body was that of a fallen angel, with ten jet-black wings extending from its back.
Its lower body resembled a serpent, bearing a thick, black snake tail.
Overall, it vaguely resembled a male form—a hideous hybrid of fallen angel and dragon-serpent. Not only was it grotesque, it was also nailed to a cross, its entire body bound by various ropes and chains, eyes covered by an iron blindfold, mouth forcibly sealed, limbs and torso adorned with horrifying instruments of torture.
Anger, hatred, malice.
The malice emanating from this deformed creature made the pure-hearted ship girls feel extreme revulsion.
It was as if the filthiest refuse in the world had been mashed together and presented before them.
"This was originally meant for dealing with Ophis. It seems now that using Samael to deal with you is unavoidable."
Cao Cao leaned on the holy spear, his gaze cold as he swept over the ship girls. Standing beside Samael, he casually cast a spell onto it.
Samael—the legendary Dragon Eater—was a vicious entity Cao Cao had borrowed long ago, intending to betray Ophis and cooperate with Hades.
His aim was to control Ophis. The original plan was for Samael to seize Ophis's power and then manufacture a being completely under the control of the Khaos Brigade.
Although Ophis was one of the world's strongest, she could not be controlled. What Cao Cao wanted was power that he could command one hundred percent.
Indra had nurtured Cao Cao, but Cao Cao knew he was merely being used. Likewise, Hades lending him Samael was also exploitation.
Cao Cao did not mind. The world was cruel and real. Playing with tigers naturally required ambition. He did not want to remain a pawn forever.
He wanted to forge a great dominion like his ancestors. Dirty, despicable methods were all necessary, because to the gods he was weak—and the weak must use schemes to compensate for their shortcomings.
But now the situation had deteriorated. The holy spear no longer responded to him. Holding back any longer meant death. Forget ambition—only by living could he possess anything at all.
Thus, Samael had to be used ahead of schedule.
He had not expected such a ferocious situation upon arrival, and Cao Cao felt some regret for not bringing more people.
"Go, Samael! Devour these troublesome women!!"
He released Samael's restraints through the spell and issued the attack order.
The nails on Samael's body gradually fell away, and the bindings on its mouth were released.
"Wooooooo—!!!!"
Through a special command method, the uncontrollable mad beast Samael actually obeyed Cao Cao's order, letting out a sharp, miserable shriek toward the ship girls.
It then opened its horrifying maw and spewed out incomparably filthy cursed miasma—a vile mixture of pain, resentment, hatred, and more.
"Samael… Hmph. Don't think you can walk away unharmed. Summoning such a disgusting thing simply defiles the supreme radiance of this place."
Belfast, dressed in a neat and beautiful maid outfit, coldly regarded the revolting creature. She gracefully lifted her skirt to step aside. Behind her, the vampire—also a Royal ship girl—wore a ferocious grin as she directly confronted Samael's torrent of curses.
Do not think the ship girls lacked trump cards. Their commander had never been stingy in granting them power.
"Disgusting thing. Don't smear your filthy energy onto our sisters!"
Vampire's pupils emitted a blood-soaked aura completely different from before. The surrounding air became thick like viscous blood.
Blood at the severed arm surged with life, forming dark red piercing iron stakes.
Countless crimson roses of death grew from her petite, alluring body, winding around her form, giving her a blood-soaked, tragic beauty.
Facing Samael's cursed torrent, the blood stakes likewise surged forward, clashing and holding it at bay under Cao Cao's grave gaze.
"Witness the favor bestowed upon me by our commander!"
As she proclaimed this, a blood-fiend aura strong enough to reach the soul overflowed from her body.
The surrounding ship girls immediately moved farther away—not out of fear of collateral damage, but to spread out and encircle Cao Cao. In their eyes, that disgusting Dragon Eater would not survive long.
Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Cao Cao immediately went on guard. Using the Hatthiratana, he flew into the air, attempting to escape the encirclement.
He did not have infinite stamina. These women were endless—dead ones could simply return from that massive golden city.
Cao Cao wanted to destroy the golden city, but to demolish such a colossal structure required Truth Idea. Once used, he would be completely drained—nothing but slaughtered meat.
Therefore, regrouping and retreating with his companions was the top priority.
However, what followed mercilessly shattered his delusion.
Before Cao Cao's grim eyes, dense crimson iron stakes formed a piercing torrent, sealing off his escape route as if to skewer him completely.
He could not reflect it—there were no blind spots. He could not dodge—it was fully sealed.
Moreover, countless aircraft spraying dense barrages occupied the skies, while the destroyer ship girls, moving like phantoms beyond sight, coldly fixed their gazes on every vital point of his body.
The instant Cao Cao revealed even the slightest opening, he would face a storm-like onslaught.
"How could my grand ambition be ended by a bunch of women like you!!"
Cao Cao roared furiously, wildly swinging the holy spear to form an impenetrable defensive net, yet several blood stakes still tore through his flesh.
In that instant, Cao Cao immediately sensed something wrong—his stamina, no, his very vitality and spirit were draining rapidly, like air leaking from a punctured balloon.
These blood stakes drained power upon contact!
Cao Cao instantly discerned the essence of their power, his expression darkening further.
He frantically used the Cakkaratana and Parinayakaratana, fighting desperately to carve out a narrow opening, then used the Assaratana to relocate.
He absolutely could not stay here any longer!
But Vampire would not abandon her prey—there was no way she would allow him to escape.
Just as Cao Cao broke free of the encirclement, a blood-boiling chant echoed from the unseen depths.
[Where did I taste of old such rapture celestial?]
[All thy soul, all thy heart - their perfections who can measure?]
[I had been but a child before I knew you.
But who am I? What fate brings her to me? What fate brings me to her?]
Suddenly, a voice reaching straight into the soul, carrying a morbid and deranged tone, chanted words like a fervent wish.