As for Ono Yoko, she was already lying sprawled on the sofa with a thoroughly broken expression, reduced to a machine that could only go, "Ababa."
Suddenly, little Paimon pointed out the window and let out a cry of alarm:
"Wait, Traveler, look outside!"
At her reminder, Yin Kong abruptly realized that the great battle outside, which had already lasted an entire day, seemed to have reached its end.
After who knew how many collisions, the demon blade in Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill's hand finally reached its limit and was completely severed by Yatagarasu's wings.
Without the support of its demon blade, the oni warrior clearly lost its ability to stand against the golden crow.
Within only a few breaths, its armor had been battered to pieces. Anyone could see that it had reached the end of the road.
Yatagarasu, its momentum soaring, pressed the attack. Amid a shrill cry, it fired six enormous golden feather swords in succession, instantly piercing Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill's limbs, chest, and head, pinning it completely in midair and leaving it without the strength to resist.
However, just as Yin Kong thought everything had been settled, an enraged and unwilling roar suddenly erupted from the oni warrior's mouth.
The next moment, Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill suddenly exploded, turning into a dense black mist that swallowed everything within several kilometers, including Yatagarasu.
Paimon flew over while clutching her head, her tone full of unease:
"Ugh, Traveler, be careful. This black fog gives me a really bad feeling."
Yin Kong felt the same. He instinctively sensed that some unknown change was taking place within the black fog, making his heart pound and sending chills down his spine.
Yatagarasu soon flapped its wings and blew away the black mist.
Fortunately, the golden crow did not seem to have been harmed by Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill's self-destruction.
But Yin Kong and Paimon had finally identified the source of their unease.
It was a pitch-black vortex, like a wormhole with no end in sight.
"This power is—The Abyss?!"
Zhongli's shocked voice suddenly rang out in Yin Kong's heart, making his heart skip a beat.
After all, anything connected to the Abyss had never been good news.
Before he could ask Zhongli for more details, a massive black hand shot out of the wormhole like lightning and firmly seized Yatagarasu before it could evade.
Time Authority
[???] Lv. 110.
Unlike Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill and Yatagarasu, Yin Kong found that he could not directly see the black hand's name. There was only a string of question marks.
But even without knowing its origins, Level 110 alone was enough to dispel any thought of underestimating it.
Sure enough, Yatagarasu, caught in the giant hand's grasp, had no ability to resist at all. It only had time to let out a despairing cry before more than half its body was corroded by the Abyss's power.
Its once sacred and imposing golden-black feathers were dyed an even more depraved and hopeless black than the oni warrior's.
"Mr. Zhongli, should we help?"
Seeing this, Yin Kong could not help but feel his heart sink.
Although he had favored Yatagarasu in its battle with Crow Feather Demon Blade Pill, he had not been overly worried.
No matter how powerful these demons and monsters were, so long as he did not let his guard down, they had no way to harm him.
But once the power of the Abyss was involved, that was clearly another matter entirely.
Yin Kong had no doubt that the Abyss was capable of removing these demons' restrictions. When that happened, could he still remain uninvolved?
"No. Someone has already acted."
Just as Yatagarasu was about to be completely corrupted, white light suddenly lit up at the edge of the sky.
Yin Kong and Paimon followed the source of the light and discovered a tall tree.
Judging by its shape, it seemed to be a Sacred Tree planted within a shrine.
The instant it appeared, a flicker of golden light ignited on Yatagarasu's body.
Looking closely, it was actually a seed.
Golden flames erupted simultaneously from the Sacred Tree that towered into the clouds and from the seed. Not only Yatagarasu, but even the Abyssal power corroding it was set ablaze as well.
"It has used everything it possesses, even its soul, as fuel. Such resolve... Wait, this flame seems to contain the authority of time as well?"
Even Zhongli's voice carried rare hesitation.
Because he could actually sense the power and authority of time within those crimson-gold flames.
Even for him, that was an utterly unbelievable thing.
Yatagarasu, having set all of itself ablaze, also let out a heartrending cry.
The moment the crimson-gold flames ignited, the black hand sensed that something was wrong. It had already released Yatagarasu and fled at high speed toward the bottomless vortex.
However, having used even its soul as fuel, Yatagarasu clearly had no intention of letting it escape so easily.
The golden flames instantly caught up with the black hand, dragging it into the vortex along with them—
A worrying silence lasted for several seconds before the black vortex suddenly exploded.
An enormous fireball burst into existence, like a rising sun illuminating the entire pitch-black night sky.
Only after a full half-minute did that blinding radiance gradually fade.
Within those terrifying flames, the demon blade and the oni warrior, the vortex and the black hand, and the golden crow...
Everything, every last thing, was burned to ashes and ceased to exist.
Even the glowing Sacred Tree in the distance had vanished.
Looking at the night sky, now once again plunged into darkness, Yin Kong could not help saying:
"Is it finally over?"
"I believe it is." Zhongli's steady, dependable voice immediately sounded in his heart. "That Abyssal monster from before was not weak. It had already reached the level of a god, but there was no possibility of it surviving flames like those..."
So Level 110 was already the realm of gods?
Yin Kong nodded thoughtfully and soon heard Zhongli continue:
"However, those golden flames do not seem to be something that can be used lightly. I can sense that something extraordinary occurred in that explosion just now. It should be related to time.
"But as for what exactly happened, I have no clue for the moment."
After all, time was a power that stood above the seven types of Elemental Power. Even he could only claim a rudimentary understanding of it.
Paimon suddenly pointed at the night sky in surprise:
"Huh, Yin Kong, look! What's that?"
Only after her reminder did Yin Kong notice a tiny point of light falling where Yatagarasu and the black hand had perished together.
It seemed to be a golden feather?
Yin Kong also noticed that the feather was falling near the Tropical Land Amusement Park he had seen during the day.
His heart stirred. Even though the system had not issued a new quest, Yin Kong still intended to investigate.
"Paimon, Miss Yoko, I need to head out."
Paimon nodded vigorously and reminded him:
"Okay, but make sure you're careful!"
Ono Yoko also nodded obediently. Although she could not see the drastic changes in the night sky, she could guess from Yin Kong and Paimon's expressions that something major had happened again.
Still, as she watched Yin Kong hurry away, the popular idol could not help feeling a little disappointed.
Even if they were now so close, they truly belonged to two different worlds.
Naturally, Yin Kong had no idea what Miss Yoko was lamenting. On his way to the amusement park, he finally had time to ask Zhongli about the many questions in his heart.
The first and foremost were those terrifying, bizarre demons and monsters wandering this world.
"Are they Abyssal monsters too?"
"I do not believe so." Zhongli denied Yin Kong's guess and explained, "Of course, judging from what happened just now, these demons may indeed have some connection to the Abyss. But they themselves should not be Abyssal monsters. If I am not mistaken, they do not truly possess physical bodies. They are merely aberrations born in the gap between illusion and reality..."
Yin Kong pressed on:
"So they ask that question everywhere in order to gain a sense of existence, allowing them to truly descend into the real world?"
"I believe that is indeed the case," Zhongli replied. "But the boundary between illusion and reality is not so easily broken."
Yin Kong was somewhat puzzled.
"Is it that difficult?"
Setting aside the Chameleon Witch disguised as Chris, even ordinary monsters like the Ogre Flower and the Shadow Spider Queen wandering everywhere were enough to drive any normal person who could see them insane, weren't they?
Zhongli reminded him:
"Traveler, I believe you may have overlooked something crucial: your own identity."
Before Yin Kong could ask, Zhongli continued:
"Traveler, have you forgotten that you are a Descender, an existence from beyond this world? Your status is enough to be equal to an entire world.
"Your personal acknowledgment itself possesses unimaginable power. It is entirely different from that of anyone else in this world."
Artifacts
My acknowledgment possesses extraordinary power?
Yin Kong froze, and the scene of his battle with the Chameleon Witch immediately resurfaced in his mind.
If he remembered correctly, after the Chameleon Witch discovered that Ikezawa Yuko and the others could all see her, she had been extremely surprised as well.
And in her subsequent words, she had revealed that she had already used similar methods to devour many humans capable of seeing her.
Humans with this special constitution seemed to be called "Sacrificial Persons" by them.
In other words, she should already have received acknowledgment many times.
Yet those acknowledgments clearly had not been enough to allow her to truly descend into the real world. They had merely given her the qualification to attack the people who acknowledged her.
That did explain why Yin Kong had never found any evidence of demons causing trouble.
And it was indeed he who had indirectly caused Ikezawa Yuko and Yamagishi Ei's deaths.
Although they had also restrained the Chameleon Witch and prevented her from continuing her evil deeds, thereby saving the innocent people she would otherwise have devoured, he still felt guilty.
It seemed he would need to be more cautious with his words and actions when facing these demons in the future.
During their conversation, the taxi soon stopped at the entrance to Tropical Land Amusement Park.
"As expected, it's here?"
Following the direction from his memories, Yin Kong quickly found the target of his trip—
Kudo Shinichi, sleeping like a baby in the grass.
No, that was not right. He should be called Conan now.
Clearly, the high school detective had just experienced his first encounter with the Black Organization.
Yet this confrontation was obviously nowhere near as spectacular or brilliant as Yatagarasu burning all of its power in the night sky. It was even somewhat farcical.
It was not just Kudo Shinichi's performance. Even Gin, who in Yin Kong's impression never hesitated when killing to silence someone, had uncharacteristically chosen the thuggish method of knocking someone out with a club.
Yin Kong briefly checked Conan's condition and found that although there were bloodstains on his face, there were no wounds on his body. Even the back of his head, where he had been struck, bore no injury.
With that thought in mind, his hands did not slow down at all.
Turning Conan over from where he lay face-down, Yin Kong indeed found the golden crow feather on his chest.
"This is—a domain?"
But to his immense surprise, the crow feather was not the precious drop he had imagined, nor was it a clue to begin a quest. It was an entrance to a domain.
And it was an artifact domain.
[Requiem] [2-Piece Set: ATK +18%]
Before you continue