Chương 60: Arc 4: Chapter 9

“… Are you familiar with this sort of thing?” Bianca asked after she just barely managed to avoid a few of her foe’s arrows.

In truth, they were slow and predictable enough that she knew all too well that Qi Er was holding back for her, and in more than just the sheer power of her attacks. If she was being faced by the kinds of attacks that Xue Yaling had dealt with, Bianca imagined she’d have died about a decade ago… even if she hadn’t even ended up in the world prior to a month or two ago, but still.

“I had a friend that became a little too interested in the Killing archetype. He quickly became overwhelmed by the emotions he was acquiring, and soon he was growing out of control, nearly forcing him to break into the third realm prior to reaching the ninth stage just to overcome the fury, though… well, that wouldn’t have gone well for certain reasons,” Qi Er muttered, “Regardless, unless you plan to switch your archetype, you’ll need to understand the nature of your anger and then get rid of it as often as you can.”

“Nature of my anger…”

“Something has to provoke such a thing. Most people aren’t innately furious at the world around them, at the people in front of them, and so on. After all, killing intent, the concept that the Killing archetype is based on, is purportedly cultivated through endless killing and anger, building up that energy until it is overwhelming enough to tear apart the heavens.”

She paused and readied a few more arrows, letting Bianca have a few moments to relax and process what was said.

“It is impossible to remove the anger entirely, but if you channel it, if you find opportunities to relieve some of it, then you can control yourself far better during fights such as these,” Qi Er said, drawing back the string and letting energy surge into the thin bolts, “So let your anger out and ponder what exactly drive you. I can take it, even better than the kitsune, so there’s no chance of you injuring me, cutie. Do your best.”

Bianca sighed and allowed some of her fury to burst out. By now, it was somewhat easy to let her emotions get the better of her, since she had experienced it countless times, but she didn’t want to simply lose her sanity again. Whatever Demon Queen Bianca did last time, it proved that she was significantly more powerful that way, so injuring Qi Er was possible, and she couldn’t be sure when she would snap out of that state this time, if she ever would. Furthermore, it would almost certainly cause her to gain a cock again, and she wanted to avoid doing that right away.

Nice as having a dick was, she did still enjoy her original parts.

As soon as she was ready, so were Qi Er’s arrows, and this time they were flying faster than the last. However, they were flying on an obvious path, without the complex methods she had used to assault Xue Yaling earlier, so it was trivial to evade them.

The aura of light around them was more challenging. Each one was significantly wider than the arrows themselves, and when she accidentally touched the edge with her weapon, the light erupted around the tip of the sword, nearly damaging her hand in the process. Her fingers turned red, though, luckily, her abnormal endurance held up yet again.

She noticed Qi Er pausing, so she recalled her movements during her previous fights and, since her hand was a little unsteady after the previous attack, she mimicked one of her own kicks. Her energy surged out from her foot, a ray of crimson lightning heading straight for her opponent… though not fast enough. Qi Er only needed to hop aside to disregard the strike, and since Bianca’s energy couldn’t do what the Prismatic light did, that much was enough.

Since she had a while longer before any arrows would be flying her way, she stomped her foot onto the deck and swung her weapon, all while letting her focus fade away onto the questions posed for her.

It was all too easy to unleash her anger, but what exactly drove her to so much fury? Was it the fact that the world around her seemed so hostile and opposed to her when she simply wanted to live a calm, peaceful life – or even just return home, where the matters of this world would have nothing to do with her? Was it how all control had been ripped away from her and she was now stuck following the instructions of others because she lacked the confidence of surviving within this world’s society for longer than a week or two?

‘Is that what gave birth to Demon Queen Bianca? The Demonic Tyrant must’ve sensed my frustration and amplified it, and so it erupts when I can’t handle things myself… maybe I can match it and not rely on it all the time. After all, all that it does, my body and mind should be able to do…’

No matter how hard she tried to recall her movements and skills from when the Demon Queen overtook her mind, she could only recall vague sensations – one of the many reasons she was beginning to think that it was the fault of the Demonic Tyrant. Everything was far too faint to reliably replicate, but the more anger coursed through her veins, the more familiar they felt.

Thus, when Qi Er evaded several of her slashes and shot out a number of arrows, it felt easier to guess their trajectory and how to get away. Her body even began moving a moment before she had decided to act, and this time she had enough sense to shift her blade so that it wouldn’t be caught in the light of the Prismatic arrows. She just barely succeeded, but it was still a massive improvement, not to mention the fact that she was ever so slightly in control.

Although it was just coincidental, she couldn’t help but smile at the ever so slight improvement.

“You’re still not showing me the strength that someone in your realm ought to have… nor the skill. Come on, stop holding back!” Qi Er’s voice pushed the corners of her lips down and forced her to focus, “You’ll never learn if you’re not forced to the brink a few more times, cutie.”

Bianca nodded, rather reluctantly, and noticed her opponent preparing several split arrows. Each one manifested a moment after the last, and once she began drawing back the string of the bow, she aimed it above Bianca’s head. It took her a moment, but she realised what her intentions must be and felt her whole body tense up.

‘She… she’s going to bombard me from all sides, like she did with Xue Yaling? How the fuck am I supposed to…’ she tried to imagine the kinds of manoeuvres she’d need to perform, and that alone proved headache-inducing, “U-Um, Qi Er-”

“Don’t worry, you won’t die. I’m holding back just enough for that,” her smile, although it was likely intended to be reassuring, only made Bianca more afraid, “Now, show me what you can do.”

For a moment, she thought that it would be rather terrible if Qi Er had done this with someone else and completely misjudged them, and then she recalled that she was also not especially competent. Frankly, even Demon Queen Bianca might not manage, seeing as she’d never had a chance to check how well she would perform against an absolute torrent of projectiles coming from all around her… though it seemed like she would find out soon.

The first thing that came to mind was observing where the arrows would go, as that would give her a good idea of where they’d be coming from and when, so she stood still and focused as much as her mind was able to. She forced her spiritual perception out so that she would have some clue of what was happening behind her, and allowed the Demonic Tyrant to do as it wished to support her.

Most likely, Qi Er was telling the truth and she wouldn’t die… but she didn’t believe that she could get by without any harm at all. Even if her resistance to harm was being underestimated, she’d leave with numerous terrible wounds that would force her to recover for days and, more importantly, would be immensely painful. Whether her body also had unnatural regeneration or not, she had no interest at all in suffering such pain, as even the thought of it was sufficient to cause her to tremble and nearly lose concentration.

When the arrows were fired, she managed to return to her focused state and tried to pay attention to the order in which they were shot out, and then, with her eyes shut and relying purely on spiritual perception, she turned towards one of the landing spots.

Even her spiritual perception was somewhat overwhelmed by the extreme light, meaning that she couldn’t be sure that she had gotten her position right. She brought up a barrier once the idea came to her, though she was only able to use the more general form just in case. Qi Er could’ve appeared anywhere, at any time, and indeed she did.

An arrow shot right through the barrier and hit her side, piercing her flesh all the way to the hip, followed by a duo of powerful explosions that shook her whole body and seemed to tear through every organ within her, flooding her mind with pain unlike anything she’d felt before.

She may have had a grip on her Demon Queen self prior to this, but she couldn’t have held on after that, even if she wanted to. Crimson overwhelmed her vision – mental vision, given that she was relying on spiritual perception – and filled her meridians, arcing across the surface of her skin and over her clothes. There even was a faint sensation of fullness within her underwear, though it was no big surprise, nor a particularly important one.

Her eyes opened, the light suddenly not feeling anywhere near as overwhelming. Driven either by instinct or some sense that Demon Queen Bianca had, she turned and spotted a faint figure within the light. A smile forced itself onto her face as the Demonic Tyrant flooded her blade with energy, crackling atop the metal for a moment before she swung it with all her might.

The next bolt was met with the tip of her sword, and the explosion that followed was blocked by the concentrated smoke of her defensive skill. As soon as the initial blast was taken care of, she turned and swung again, releasing her energy and trying to meet the arrow before it got too close.

Demon Queen Bianca blocked the resulting explosions using Abyssal Shield, then suddenly leaned forward and disappeared from the spot, her Tormentor’s Strides letting her shift a metre forward in the blink of an eye. As the arrow flew right through where she was a moment ago, Bianca turned again and leapt forward with the most strength she could muster, soaring into the fading light of one of the arrows just as Qi Er manifested there.

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There seemed to be a moment before she could disappear again, as she remained in place while the tip of Bianca’s sword headed straight for her neck, crimson arcing from the metal and even reaching her skin.

“Doing good… but you could do better.”

As the light faded a little more, Bianca spotted the readied arrow that was aimed directly at her stomach.

Their attacks hit one another simultaneously. Bianca’s sword made the faintest mark upon her neck, and Qi Er’s arrow pierced her flesh and exploded within her belly, energy rippling throughout her whole body. Pain and the taste of blood filled her mind, darkness flooding in around her sanity and consciousness.

Anger flooded to the forefront. Rage, hatred and disgust filled her flesh, replacing her blood and taking command. Her muscles twitched, and then her arm snapped forward, her hand slamming onto Qi Er’s shoulder and gripping it tightly, to the point that her knuckles went white.

Qi Er frowned and must’ve attempted to disappear from the spot again, but whatever her movement skill did, it must not have allowed her to outright turn intangible and teleport. Her attempt nearly tore Bianca’s arm off, but it allowed Bianca enough time to flood the sword in her hand with energy and stab with all her might. The tip of the blade struck Qi Er’s flesh, easily cutting through her clothes, but just as it reached beneath the skin, her whole body seemed to burst.

An orange light overwhelmed the scene, as if the sun had suddenly risen from the very spot ahead of her. A great force threw her back, the barrier behind her making itself known the moment she crashed into it with what should’ve been enough speed to break her back a few times over. Her body wanted to simply shut down and fall asleep, but Demon Queen Bianca was not a quitter.

Thus, she forced her eyes open and gazed upon her opponent.

Blonde hair waved in an unseen wind, but even the most rebellious strands couldn’t obscure the glow from Qi Er’s orange eyes, nor could her clothing hide the changes to her pale skin. It was as if her whole body cracked, for there were numerous thin gaps in her skin from which overwhelming flame-orange light burst, the same shade as the explosion that had nearly knocked Bianca out – and would’ve done so with certainty had she truly been at the metaphorical wheel.

In her hand was the same bow as before, but the rainbow glow was replaced for a far more powerful flame-like orange, with the components made of pure energy gaining far more detail and intricacy than before.

“Told you. Now, keep it up… and don’t worry, I’m still holding my energy back. No stronger than the second realm,” even Qi Er’s voice gained an unnatural property, sounding as if an echo of herself spoke alongside her, but at a lower pitch. Regardless, the smirk offered this time was far, far less friendly, whether deliberately or not.

Before Bianca even had the chance to stand, Qi Er was already drawing her bow, several orange arrows already beginning to burn up – perhaps even literally.

When she did rise, the arrows were already flying towards her, forcing her to employ Tormentor’s Stride to evade before she even steadied her footing. One quick jump after another were followed by eruptions of power strong enough to shake the ship even through the captain’s barrier.

‘I should… should stop…’

The last one was too close to evade completely, so she raised the Abyssal Shield to absorb some of the damage and then attempted to rush forth and land another hit on Qi Er, whether with blade or energy, but then she realised that Qi Er was not the only figure she saw within the arena. She stopped and focused on her spiritual perception, but what she saw was not encouraging in the slightest – though Demon Queen Bianca wasn’t interested in listening to reason.

In every spot where an arrow had exploded, there was another entity like Qi Er, except they were obviously not made from flesh and blood. They were beings made of her energy, cracked and crackling in a similar manner to her, eyes glowing with a dozen times the light of the original and hair hovering in the air as if it was in water.

Worst of all, every one of them had the glowing outline of a bow within one hand, and at least one arrow gripped in the other.

“Fourth realm skill, Divided Prism. Enjoy it, sweetie,” Qi Er spoke and her duplicates mouthed alongside her, and then all of them raised their bows and drew back the string, arrows glowing brighter with each passing moment.

‘S-Stop…’

Her body didn’t stop. As soon as she realised the sheer danger posed by these figures, she leapt aside, dashing towards an empty spot between two of the divided figures. When the arrows were let loose, each one seeming to burn with the might of a miniature sun, she had less than a breath to exert the full strength of her Tormentor’s Strides to leap up, just narrowly avoiding one barrage of attacks. However, these divided entities didn’t mimic Qi Er perfectly, and some of their delayed shots were aimed straight for her.

In the air, her movement skill had only so much strength. Even if she released all the energy she still had within her – a small amount in comparison to what she had prior to beginning this clash – she would only be able to evade one or two projectiles… out of a dozen.

Abyssal Shield was raised the moment the energy within her body could manifest it.

Tongues of flame from the surface of the sun itself crashed into the dark shadow and nearly pierced it in an instant, even when she reached out with her hand to support the barrier. It felt as if the world slowed to a crawl while she beheld the conflict, pouring more and more energy into the smoke while the arrows continued to pierce deeper and deeper. It seemed to cause ripples throughout space itself, the Demonic Tyrant’s frame manifesting for no obvious reason.

With each infinitely small moment, it grew clearer, until she could vaguely see a rippling upon its surface, something trying to appear-

‘… stop! Stop!’ her sanity seemed to awaken as she felt an indescribable fear from what she saw, both from the arrows and the changes on the Demonic Tyrant, until she regained just enough control to yell, “Stop!”

Just like that, the arrows faded, and she fell to the ground, landing on her hands and knees, the latter lacking a lot of the cloth that should’ve guarded her skin from the wood below. Blood dripped from somewhere on her body, likely several places, splashing onto the ground below and scattering over an unseen barrier that resided just atop the wooden deck. Her sword fell somewhere by her side, though she couldn’t even hear it over the ringing in her ears from all the explosions that had occurred around her.

However, even with her fading vision, she could tell that the orange glow before her faded, and so did the Demonic Tyrant’s screen. The ripples subsided, and she could see no clear difference upon it.

“Bianca!” her pet and girlfriend’s voice let her relax just a little, even with all the panic it contained.

“Don’t worry, I held back, like I promised. Besides, her body is tough. If her regeneration is in any way a match for her durability, she’ll be like new before we arrive… can’t say the same for her clothes, though,” Qi Er’s voice lost its peculiar quality, though it still made Bianca tremble, “She did well, and even had enough sense to call it off when she knew she lost.”

At that point, Song Ming’s hands grasped Bianca’s body and brought her into an embrace, one that let limbs relax and finally release the tension that the Demon Queen’s control had filled them with. She was already struggling to keep her eyes open, but once she was truly safe, she didn’t even try to resist.

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