Accompanied by the deafening blast of an Air Cannon, Zhou Chen was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming violently into a nearby car.
BANG!
The metal door caved in on impact. The immense force sent the car skidding several meters sideways, its tires screeching against the pavement. The windows shattered, sending shards of glass flying.
Zhou Chen let out a muffled grunt. The moment he regained his footing, he threw himself to the side.
BOOM!
A second Air Cannon blast struck, slamming the half-demolished car into a wall. The terrifying impact crushed it into a metal disk, completely totaling it.
After rolling to a stop, Zhou Chen broke out in a cold sweat. 'What the hell is this destructive power? And where did this Ability come from? A Forbidden Object? Alchemy? Or some kind of black-ops tech?'
"Ugh..."
Just then, Fina, who had been using her Ability on pure instinct, bent over again and wretched up more than a dozen burnt, pink worms. She clutched her forehead, her head throbbing as if it were about to explode, her thoughts a jumbled mess.
Memories churned violently within her. The past six months felt completely unreal, like a long dream. It was as if she'd become a different person entirely...
'What... what have I done...?'
Suddenly, as if by some instinct, Fina looked up. A dark figure was dropping down right at her.
Zhou Chen leaped down, his arm muscles taut as steel. His fist whistled through the air, aimed straight for Fina's bloodied face.
However, with a single movement, Fina's blood-stained face vanished without a trace.
Zhou Chen was stunned. He pivoted with his momentum, unleashing a roundhouse kick, but it only met empty air.
Fina reappeared a few meters away as if she were a phantom. She raised a thumb to wipe away her nosebleed, her bloodshot eyes glaring at him with sinister intent.
Then, she pinched the bridge of her nose. With a sickening CRUNCH, she set the dislocated bone back into place.
'This Body Technique... Are you kidding me...'
Zhou Chen's heart sank.
With a skill like that, there was no way Fina was just an ordinary Ascender.
During his time in the Research Department, he had watched numerous informational videos about Ascenders, including lessons that covered "Techniques."
He still clearly remembered the records from those files: one person had effortlessly wiped out a fully armed military squad with just a dagger; another had slaughtered an entire bar full of thugs with nothing but a pencil; some could even kill Abyssal Creatures with their bare hands...
What they all possessed were "Techniques," honed through years upon years of life-or-death combat.
—The art of killing.
Techniques were something you either learned by joining an organization or mastered through your own trials in battle. It wasn't something an ordinary Ascender could ever hope to attain.
Mastering even a single Technique would cause an Ascender's power to undergo a fundamental transformation.
'It's hard to believe Fina's Body Technique is so exceptional. Who knows what other tricks she has up her sleeve... No, she definitely has other tricks.'
'If she's learned a Body Technique, would it be that much harder to learn a few killing techniques?'
Zhou Chen sighed inwardly. 'Am I some kind of legendary trouble magnet? No matter what I do, something unexpected always happens.'
"Hey, Senior, I was just kidding around. Is it too late to take you up on that ride? I think we could try to make something work. As long as you don't have any weird kinks, I'm pretty open-minded," he asked, testing the waters.
Fina spat out a mouthful of bloody spittle and didn't answer. The killing intent in her eyes was so intense it was almost tangible.
The sensation of flames searing her mind brought waves of intense phantom pain that threatened to tear her consciousness apart. But it was precisely this unforgettable agony that allowed her to claw her way back to lucidity from the fog of confusion.
And then, she would kill this bastard in front of her!
In an instant, Fina vanished.
Zhou Chen's pupils contracted. He felt a vicious gust of wind and a bone-chilling cold aimed straight for his neck.
'So fast!'
Relying on instinct, Zhou Chen took a single step to his left, barely dodging a set of sharp claws. He threw a hard right fist toward Fina's abdomen.
Fina twisted with incredible agility, evading the blow. Her hand chopped toward his neck again while her other hand made a vicious stab for his groin.
A deep chill ran down Zhou Chen's spine. Without a second thought, he dodged away. He heard a BOOM as an Air Cannon blast exploded, turning another car into a heap of scrap metal.
'Seriously, lady?' Zhou Chen gritted his teeth as he retreated, but Fina stuck to him like a shadow.
After a brief struggle, he found an opening. He snatched Fina's right wrist as she went for his groin again, quickly wrenching her arm out to the side to prevent her from hitting him with a point-blank Air Cannon.
Pale flames erupted from his hand. His powerful grip was like a pair of superheated iron tongs, clamping down on Fina's wrist. In a split second, he yanked, throwing her off balance. His other fist, wreathed in Cyan Flame, slammed into her abdomen without reservation.
With a muffled thud, he felt the solid impact through his knuckles. Fina doubled over in pain, but decisively fired a powerful Air Cannon with her free hand.
The point-blank explosion made Zhou Chen's vision go black. He reflexively let go as the impact sent him flying backward, slamming him so hard into a wall that he left a deep indentation.
Fina wasn't in much better shape. A tearing pain shot through her abdomen, and the phantom sensation of a Fiery Fire scorching her mind was so intense she could barely breathe. It felt as if every thought was being burned to ash as her consciousness began to fade.
Hunched over, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure. Her eyes, fixed on Zhou Chen, were a terrifying, ferocious red, completely shot with blood. 'At the very least, I have to kill this bastard first!'
She tremblingly raised her hand, intending to finish him off with another blast.
But after a few violent coughs, a smile crept onto Zhou Chen's lips.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Four red-hot, specialized bullets came screaming through the air, precisely striking Fina's knees and elbow joints.
Blood sprayed. With the sound of shattering bone, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Sorry, Senior. I definitely couldn't beat you one-on-one, but I have a teammate... What do you think of this move? It's called American Iaido."
Lying in a pool of her own blood, Fina twitched a few times before falling still, completely unconscious.
Yang came over to check on her. After confirming Fina wasn't dead, he looked at Zhou Chen, who was still slumped in the crater on the wall. "How did it get this bad?"
Zhou Chen rolled his eyes. "You think I wanted this...? Where's the medical team? I think I have a concussion..."
"They're on their way... Wait, don't pass out yet! Retract your fire first. If she gets brain-damaged from the burn, all this suffering will have been for nothing."
Zhou Chen sighed. He struggled to push himself out of the wall and drop to the ground. He laboriously squatted, placed his hand on Fina's shoulder, and drew back the flames that had been burning inside her. Then he looked over at the pink worms on the ground.
"What are those things?"
Yang's expression was complicated. "Desire Worms."
"Desire Worms? Forget it. Just explain it to me after I wake up..."
Zhou Chen's eyes fluttered shut, and he collapsed.
Right before he lost consciousness, he vaguely saw a huge, uncountable amount of glittering Star Dust flood into his Wish Bottle.
'Are my injuries bad enough to cause hallucinations...?'
That was Zhou Chen's last thought before his consciousness plunged into Darkness and he knew no more.