Staring at the faces in front of him—faces that were constantly twisting, with deeply sunken eye sockets oozing a crimson, foul-smelling liquid—Su Yuan knew that what he had feared had finally come to pass…
Although Xiangling had found Guoba, it seemed that Guoba had already been corrupted and taken over by the Eerie power by then…
And Xiangling herself had not been spared either…
Then, what exactly was the condition for Xiangling's eerie transformation?
Su Yuan guessed that it most likely had something to do with the food they ate…
But right now, he didn't have the luxury to think it through—he had to find a way to deal with the crisis in front of him…
"Su Yuan, if you really do have the ability to return from death," said Aether calmly, showing no panic in the face of the eerified 'Xiangling' and 'Guoba,' "then I suppose in situations like this, you've probably died more than once already, haven't you…?"
"And then, you used your life in exchange for information, trying to figure out how to use the rules of the eerie to help people break free from the transformation, right…?"
Su Yuan remained silent at Aether's words.
"Eerie power… what an interesting force. This is the first time I've truly seen it up close."
As Aether spoke, a longsword appeared in his hand, wrapped in an energy that was pitch-black with a hint of violet…
Su Yuan could sense a terrifying aura and immense power radiating from it…
"The Eerie power is naturally the bane of the seven elemental forces… but when it comes to the Abyssal power, which also exists outside the world's boundaries… will it really have the upper hand?"
"Then let me have a taste of what you're capable of!"
Aether spoke as he turned into a blur, dashing straight toward "Xiangling"!
Su Yuan thought to himself, So Lumine is going to take on Xiangling?
Then that means he'd have to find a way to hold off "Guoba"…
But just as he turned around, Su Yuan saw "Paimon" enveloped in a powerful surge of Abyssal energy.
She was holding a pitch-black tome, already confronting "Guoba" head-on.
"Su Yuan, just stay back and watch…"
Paimon said slowly:
"You're someone Her Highness wants to protect. How could we possibly let you fight and risk your life?"
Su Yuan thought, Wow, so I'm just here to spectate now?
Guess I don't even need to lift a finger…
Still, he was genuinely curious.
While Eerie power and Abyssal power shared many similarities, they were ultimately two entirely different forces…
So what would happen when these two powers from beyond the world collided—who would come out on top?
As the Traveler, wrapped in swirling Abyssal energy, rushed toward her, "Xiangling" first showed a pained expression and said:
"This feeling… You're not the Traveler…"
But almost instantly, she changed her expression, stuck out her tongue, and gave a bright yet eerie smile:
"But I don't dislike this version of you at all~"
"I wonder… what would you taste like?"
As she spoke, "Xiangling" picked up a spear infused with Eerie power—
—and clashed violently with Aether's longsword, which was shrouded in the energy of the Abyss!
In an instant, with a loud "boom", both "Xiangling" and Aether were forced to retreat under the tremendous impact of their clash!
"As expected, this so-called Eerie power, while it utterly suppresses elemental energy, doesn't seem able to overpower the Abyssal power…"
Aether looked at "Xiangling" and spoke slowly:
"These two forces seem to repel each other… like magnets with the same polarity."
Hearing Aether's words, Su Yuan fell into thought.
Could it be that because both are powers from beyond the world, they're fundamentally incompatible and thus repel one another?
He always had a feeling that Eerie power was slightly more advanced than Abyssal power.
After all, you could use elemental energy to fight the Abyss—
but elemental energy seemed completely ineffective against the Eerie…
"If Dottore were here," Aether continued, "he'd definitely be itching to run some experiments…"
"If Eerie power and Abyssal power reject each other, then what if you injected a constant stream of Abyssal power into someone under Eerie control…"
"If the Abyssal energy within their body grew to far exceed the Eerie influence, could it eventually push the Eerie power out entirely and replace it with Abyssal power instead…?"
"And if that happens, would that person be freed from the control of the Eerie transformation?"
As he listened to Aether's musings, Su Yuan nodded.
Yeah… if anyone were crazy enough to actually try something like that, it'd definitely be that lunatic Dottore…
Su Yuan then turned his attention toward the battle between "Paimon" and "Guoba"…
"Guoba"'s fighting style was fairly straightforward—he either pounced in for physical combat,
or ate a chili pepper and spewed eerie fire from his mouth…
"Paimon," on the other hand, held her dark tome, conjuring Abyssal shields around herself while using agile footwork to easily evade Guoba's attacks.
She appeared to be completely in control of the fight.
Su Yuan thought to himself, Is it because Guoba lost his memory and powers—just like Changsheng before—that his strength after becoming Eerie isn't that great?
Watching "Guoba" fumble around awkwardly, completely toyed with by "Paimon," Su Yuan felt like even he could probably land a few hits on him…
Come to think of it, what exactly is "Paimon" disguised as right now? An Abyss Herald? Or maybe an Abyss Lector?
Judging by the tome she was wielding, she was probably an Abyss Lector…
Hmm… "Feel the graaace~"
"If Eerie power and Abyssal power are essentially on the same level," Aether said, lifting his longsword before him and slowly walking toward "Xiangling",
"then this will be much easier to handle…"
"Let's see who commands their power with more mastery… with more strength…"
In the next moment, a dense surge of Abyssal energy erupted from Aether's body—
That swirling mass of violet and black seemed to take physical form, flooding the entire back kitchen with a suffocating presence.
And now, she no longer maintained her disguise—returning to her original form.
The sheer pressure in the air made Su Yuan feel like he could barely breathe…
So this is the true power of Lumine…
The Abyss Order's…
Princess…
As he watched Lumine slowly walk toward "Xiangling," Su Yuan was suddenly gripped by a bad feeling…
Lumine… she's not really planning to kill "Xiangling," is she?
"Su Yuan… take my advice—you're still too soft…"
"You always want to save everyone, but in the end… you may find yourself unable to save anyone at all…"
"Sometimes, in order to achieve your goal in the most efficient way… sacrifices are unavoidable."
"No… don't…"
Su Yuan reached out his hand, trying to stop Lumine—but his legs felt rooted to the ground, as if they were bound in place.
He couldn't move an inch…
"Xiangling" was completely shrouded in Eerie energy, trying to resist the Abyssal power radiating from Lumine—but it was all in vain…
Lumine stood before "Xiangling," looking at her calmly.
She slowly raised the sword in her hand and said:
"This strike carries five hundred years of everything I've become…
Can you withstand it?"
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