Chapter 184: The Infamous Neck Snap
Under March 7th's astonished gaze, Tingyun took one deliberate step forward, then another.
Even someone as occasionally slow on the uptake as March 7th could grasp the gravity of the situation now. A chilling realization was dawning in her wide, panicked eyes.
"Tsk, tsk. Why must you force my hand?" The voice that came from Tingyun's lips was no longer warm and inviting. It was a silken, condescending drawl. "This goes against my aesthetic of destruction... you little pawns."
The woman wearing Tingyun's face spread her hands, a smile blooming across her features—brilliant, beautiful, and utterly devoid of warmth.
"No matter. It seems that to shatter the Xianzhou from within, I will simply have to employ other methods." She let out a soft, theatrical sigh. "What a pity."
She didn't stop walking. The crisp, rhythmic click-clack of her high heels against the stone floor sounded particularly piercing in the tense silence.
"She... she's actually Lord Ravager Phantylia?" Serval whispered, unable to hide the shock in her voice. In her mind, a Lord Ravager should have been some monstrous, ruthless-looking creature. Who could have possibly imagined that the charming Amicassador who had been guiding them from the very beginning was one of Destruction's most feared commanders?
"Damn it..." Stelle's face twisted in genuine distress. "When was she replaced? My lovely little fox Tingyun!" She truly adored the polite, clever woman who always called her 'Benefactor'.
"Hmm... look at it from another perspective," Leon spoke up, his tone leisurely and unbothered. "Isn't it even more thrilling to have had a Lord Ravager calling us 'Benefactor' this whole time?"
"That... actually makes sense!" Caelus's eyes lit up in sudden realization. Leave it to his big brother to find the silver lining in a hostile takeover.
"Tsk, tsk. And I wanted to observe for a while longer..." Phantylia, still wearing Tingyun's form, walked unsteadily toward the captured Internal Alchemist from the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. Her entire body moved with the disjointed grace of a puppet controlled by invisible strings.
No one in the surrounding crowd acted rashly.
This was a Lord Ravager, after all. Within the vast cosmos, a Lord Ravager was both a war artist who practiced the entropy of all things and a living weapon carrying the blessing of an Aeon. No one knew what trump cards Phantylia might have hidden. Attacking blindly would be the height of folly.
Besides, in everyone's eyes, Phantylia was still using Tingyun's body. This could be a simple possession; her true form might not even be present. A reckless attack could prove entirely meaningless.
And more... there was a certain person with a very special identity present. A mere Lord Ravager might not be worth worrying about at all.
Phantylia, of course, was oblivious to their internal calculations. Seeing the shocked expressions all around her filled her with a deep, satisfying joy. Her true form was that of a Suiyang—a bodiless mass of greenish-yellow flame. Her own power wasn't considered particularly overwhelming among the ranks of the Antimatter Legion.
She worshipped a different kind of ruin: the destruction of the spirit. She reveled in the internal conflicts of belief systems, the collapse of spiritual pillars, the breakdown of trust within a civilization, and the utter abandonment of hope. She loved destruction, yet she also feared it. This contradiction was why she had plotted to seize the power of Abundance from the Ambrosial Arbor, hoping to use its Fruit of Immortality to forge an eternally indestructible body for herself.
In a sense, Phantylia's devotion to 'Destruction' was not entirely pure.
She chuckled, a low, musical sound. Reaching out a delicate finger, she lightly tapped the neck of the captive Internal Alchemist.
"Since you have already accepted the gift of Abundance..."
In an instant, the alchemist burst into ethereal, destructive flames.
"...you should be able to withstand the blessing of Destruction, right?"
Then, "Tingyun" raised her own index finger, pressing it gently against the side of her neck.
The now-infamous scene froze for a single, heart-stopping moment.
The next instant, with a flick of her fingertip, she struck her own body.
CRACK.
Her neck snapped violently to the side at an impossible angle. Her body, suddenly lifeless, slumped bonelessly to the ground.
A shrill scream pierced the air.
"...Zixuan, why did you scream?!" Serval couldn't help but stare at Leon, her expression a mixture of confusion and disbelief.
The one who had just shrieked was, in fact, Leon.
"Wasn't that for sound effects?" Leon touched his own neck, a completely earnest look on his face. "Don't you think this Tingyun neck-snap is terrifying?"
Well... everyone else present was either a battle-hardened Cloud Knight or a fanatical member of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. A mere neck-snap, even one as dramatic as Tingyun's, wasn't enough to make them scream. Even March 7th, Stelle, and Caelus, though deeply shocked, hadn't made a sound.
His lone scream seemed particularly out of place.
Sigh... what a pity, Leon thought to himself. If the players from my past life had seen this scene with their own eyes, there probably would have been a lot more people screaming along with me. With no one joining in, the atmosphere is really lacking.
"Ahem. Mr. Zixuan has a kind heart. It's understandable that he couldn't hold back his emotions for a moment," Fu Xuan coughed twice, smoothly covering for him.
"Miss Tingyun, are you okay?!" March 7th, along with Stelle and Caelus, rushed toward the body lying on the ground.
But in the next moment, a swirling mass of spectral flame erupted from "Tingyun's" fallen form.
"Dear Benefactors, allow me to introduce myself once more—" a grand, echoing voice boomed.
"I am Lord Ravager Phantylia!"
"I have come to make this Xianzhou fall apart and perish by its own hand!"
The flames coalesced, revealing Phantylia's true Suiyang appearance. The Internal Alchemist who had been set ablaze moments ago had now transformed into a Voidranger, standing obediently by her side.
"Miss Tingyun... is a Lord Ravager of the Legion? How... how did this happen?!" March 7th quickly drew her bow, firing an ice arrow at the swarm of Voidrangers now materializing around them.
"Everyone, stay calm! A great enemy is before us; do not let your ranks fall into disarray!" Fu Xuan immediately gave the order, and the Cloud Knights formed a defensive line to meet the Antimatter Legion's assault.
Although she had anticipated something major was afoot, she had never expected a Lord Ravager to have been hiding right beside them, disguised as Tingyun all along.
Leon, on the other hand... seemed to have known from the very beginning.
"The ones targeting the Xianzhou aren't Zephyro or Celenova. You are very lucky," Phantylia's laughter was clear as a bell, but it carried not the slightest hint of warmth. "As for me, I dislike creating destruction with my own hands. Unfortunately, that General of yours insisted on me taking the stage. Thus, Phantylia has no choice but to show her humble skills."
"The time for the appointment has arrived. Allow me to take my leave. I hope you all enjoy playing with these little 'actors' of mine."
The spectral flames flickered once, then vanished into the distance.
---
[In the Aeon Chat Group]
Lan: [@Nanook] What is the meaning of this?
Nanook: Phantylia acts on her own. It has nothing to do with me.
Nanook: Protecting everything is a sign of weakness.
Yaoshi: Please stop arguing...
Lan: Shut up. I'm tracking your location.
Nanook: Quiet.
Aha: Fight! Fight!
Leon: [Light Cone: Yaoshi: Please Stop Fighting]
Fuli:??? You're doing all my work for me.
---
While the Aeons were bickering, the Astral Express crew and the Cloud Knights had already cleared out all the Voidrangers converted by Phantylia.
"This... this... So, the Miss Tingyun who traveled with us all this way was a member of the Legion? And what was that ball of fire that came out of her?"
"Miss Tingyun's body... where did her body go?"
"Mr. Yang, you're the most knowledgeable. What exactly happened just now?" March 7th was still reeling, her mind a whirlwind of confusion as she desperately sought an explanation.
"Didn't she say it herself?" Caelus chimed in. "Lord Ravager, Phantylia."
"Lord Ravager Phantylia... I have heard that name from other Trailblazers before." Welt pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his expression grim. "She is one of the seven Lord Ravagers under Nanook's command, obsessed with inducing mortals into the abyss of self-destruction. Many civilizations have been ruined beyond redemption because of her machinations."
"In other words," Fu Xuan stated, her voice cold as ice, "that girl from the Sky-Faring Commission had long since been bewitched and reduced to a puppet of the Legion."
Somewhere else, the real Tingyun, still in a deep, induced sleep: Are you serious right now? Are you really serious?
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