Imposter vs. Imposter

"Does a monster feel pain?"

Xi Nian, clad in Female Battle Armor, asked with a blank expression, his foot planted on the Abomination's raised arms as he pressed down with both hands on the Retro Longsword, driving the patterned blade deeper into the eye socket!

"ROAR!!"

The right eye was stabbed straight through, and the Abomination, its skull splitting with agony, couldn't hold back a scream, finally releasing the Spider-Woman it had gripped in its hands.

Seeing the Spider-Woman about to crash onto the rubble-strewn ground, Xi Nian yanked the longsword out with lightning speed, sending scorching, foul green blood spraying forth. His left hand swept back, catching the Spider-Woman around her slender waist, and he bolted at top speed toward the smoke-choked outskirts of the city!

As he burst dozens of meters away with the Spider-Woman, behind him, the Abomination stood clutching its bleeding right eye socket, then threw its head back and roared like an erupting volcano!

The piercing, hideous howl nearly formed a tangible shockwave, rippling through the air for a hundred meters in every direction. The flames themselves shrank back from the Abomination's vicinity. Countless glass objects shattered from the sonic boom, and abandoned cars parked on the street blared their horns in unison as a warning!

The wounded Abomination was truly enraged this time.

Xi Nian hadn't even made it a hundred meters with the Spider-Woman when he felt something hurtling toward them from behind. Glancing back, he saw a military four-wheel-drive vehicle flying through the night sky of the city!

No, not just one!

Besides the military vehicle hurled by the Abomination, there were taxis, vans, and even a massive long-haul bus!

Four or five cars, like meteorites from beyond the sky, plummeted with immense force.

Xi Nian, holding the Spider-Woman and his longsword, leaped forward rapidly, dodging one vehicle after another.

The missed cars slammed into the ground, sparks flying, rubble scattering, before exploding into fireballs!

He narrowly evaded a third van that rolled past his shoulder, his space for movement severely limited. Before he could catch his breath, the bus, its horn blaring a continuous warning, came crashing down!

The bus's massive shadow fell over Xi Nian and the Spider-Woman first—this time, there was no escape!

In that instant.

Xi Nian, driven by his divine nature, was eerily calm. He stopped abruptly with the Spider-Woman in one arm, his skidding feet carving two furrows into the ground. Turning to face the bus hurtling down, he took a deep breath and swung the Retro Longsword with all his might!

Shiiing!!

The air, smoke, dust, flames... everything three meters ahead was cleaved in two!

The bus, too, was severed by Xi Nian's blade, its body splitting cleanly in half, the cut metal as smooth as a mirror. The two halves kept their momentum, tumbling past him on either side, turning into two piles of fire-wreathed scrap metal.

"Hah." Xi Nian's hand trembled slightly as he gripped the longsword. He had just exhaled a murky breath when the massive green-yellow figure landed without warning right behind him, the ground instantly buckling under the unbearable weight!

It was the Abomination!

Xi Nian's silver-glowing pupils contracted sharply. He realized at once that the thrown cars had been a mere distraction!

He had underestimated the Abomination!

With its right eye wounded and in a fury, the creature had abandoned its earlier recklessness and used a battle tactic most wouldn't even think of!

The Abomination's face twisted in savage rage. As it landed, it drove a fist into Xi Nian's back!

The air exploded, wind pressure chaotic.

The Retro Longsword flew from his hand and stuck into the ground. Xi Nian, still clutching the Spider-Woman, was sent flying by the punch, crashing through an outer wall and into a building after traveling twenty or thirty meters through the air.

"Cough, cough." Xi Nian coughed a few times as he got up from the floor, holding the Spider-Woman tightly, using his own body to absorb the impact.

He felt his internal energy churning, yet despite taking a punch from the Abomination that could level a building, he bore no obvious injuries.

Xi Nian seemed to remember something. He reached back and pulled off the round shield he'd been carrying, the Dark Gold Round Shield. A faint ripple of energy flowed subtly across its surface before fading into stillness. The unknown material, patterned shield bore not a single scratch.

"It's this shield." Xi Nian's eyes lit up. He'd nearly forgotten the shield he'd brought from home.

Since that Golden Rope, appearing and disappearing, held supernatural power—able to stretch, shrink, manifest, and bind anything tangible or intangible—and the Retro Longsword was unnaturally sharp, easily cutting through metal and more...

Then this shield was no ordinary shield either! Now, taking and nullifying the Abomination's punch had proven its extraordinary nature!

Beyond that, the remaining boots and bracelet might also harbor hidden supernatural abilities!

"Am I fully decked out in Divine Equipment?" Xi Nian muttered, finally grasping a point.

Now, fleeing with someone in tow was no longer realistic.

To take down this monster, he, the fake goddess, had to make full use of the gear and weapons on him!

"Don't—don't come near me!"

At that moment, in the building Xi Nian had crashed into, a dark corner of the second-floor hall, a man in an American military uniform cowered on the ground, panicking at the sight of Xi Nian and the Spider-Woman.

"It's you?"

Xi Nian recognized him at once—the American soldier who'd nearly been killed by the Abomination. Probably because the Abomination was rampaging through the area, the soldier hadn't managed to escape and had chosen to hide here, waiting for reinforcements.

Xi Nian didn't dwell on it. He set the Spider-Woman down on a sofa and said to the soldier, "Protect her!"

The soldier nodded in terror.

Xi Nian glanced back at him, then, holding the Dark Gold Round Shield, turned and leaped out of the second-floor window!

The soldier steadied himself against the wall and looked outside. As his gaze followed Xi Nian toward the Abomination, his mouth fell open in shock, his worldview still crumbling and reforming.

A moment of silence.

The soldier opened his communicator again, his voice trembling as he reported, "General, this is Zero Frontline Zone. Our forces are completely routed. A mysterious individual is now engaging the Abomination. Repeat, someone is fighting the Abomination! Over, please respond!"

The communicator crackled with static—poor signal, perhaps—and no reply came.

On the streets where both sky and earth were ablaze, the Abomination was momentarily unable to comprehend Xi Nian's appearance.

Under its prideful, unmatched strength, a full-force punch had failed to kill its opponent—or even grievously wound him.

What the Abomination found even harder to grasp was that Xi Nian had actually taken the initiative to strike this time.

This was the greatest insult to it!

The city's night sky once again echoed with the Abomination's furious roar. It seemed to transform into the most primal, savage, and frenzied beast, charging recklessly and violently toward Xi Nian.

It no longer employed any so-called clever schemes or tactics—after all, those were merely the crutches of weak humans.

With this invincible body standing at the apex of the biological pyramid, it could tower above schemes, technology, and all such things!

This was the Abomination's arrogant, unshakable conviction!

Xi Nian's sprint grew faster and faster, his silver eyes cold and merciless, like an Old God awakened from an ancient era.

Facing the Abomination about to collide with him, he made only one move—

Shield Bash!