Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - Silly B

The howling tide of blood destroyed everything in the street. Even the tall and sturdy buildings such as the Great Chapel and the Ceremonial Temple seemed to groan in agony. The overwhelming stench of blood made it hard to breathe. In just a few seconds, the lower part of the entire Cathedral of the True God was submerged in blood.

However, this was only the beginning. Streams of dazzling crimson fire continuously spewed from the Blood Sea, and even from this distance, the Pope felt his beard being scorched. Every now and then, large swarms of blood-soaked, grotesque creatures would burst out of the Blood Sea, roaring as they charged toward the central tower, their destination unknown.

"What... is this...?"

"Xiao Ye has already started fighting? How sudden!" Little Ying exclaimed.

"What? That's one of your people too!? Wait, who is she fighting? Although I don't want to admit it, the Vatican shouldn't have any other fighting forces right now!"

"Of course it's the big boss behind the scenes... No, no, why am I wasting my breath talking to you! I'm the old geezer here to take your life!"

That being said...

While Little Ying was shouting that she wanted to fight the Pope, her gaze remained fixed on the distant tower. In the haze of holy light and towering flames, two figures could be vaguely seen crossing paths in the air, the air undulating in a way reminiscent of... sound waves?

Suddenly, a loud bang, clearly audible even from this side, rang out. The space trembled, and one of the shorter people swayed before collapsing to the ground as if all his strength had left him.

"Xiao Ye--!?"

Just as Little Ying was about to scream, the man's body suddenly burst into bright red flames. In the next instant, as if injected with adrenaline, he rallied and charged forward again—but for some unknown reason, he quickly fell down—then rose up again—and died again—the cycle repeated endlessly.

The two, who should have been fighting, were both stunned.

"... That's... constant resurrection? You have people like that over there?"

"I don't know anything about this... Xiao Ye never told me..."

"..." "..."

""... ah!!!""

The two immediately reverted to hostile mode—in this situation, who had time to care about others!

"Super invincible, all-encompassing bubble barrage--"

"Thunder Control Sword!"

"Whoa!"

The swarm of bubbles, about to unleash their devastation, transformed mid-air into a dense wall of foam, deftly blocking the Pope's lightning strike. Little Ying frantically shouted:

"At least let them finish saying the skill name!"

Who's going to wait for you?!

"Oh, right... Xiao Ye said that people who talk faster have an advantage in battle, it's just superstition!"

"What kind of metaphysics is this?! It's like Reverse Thunder!"

The Pope pressed his palm to the ground, and a stream of silvery-blue lightning spread from his palm to the ground, rapidly expanding outwards! Just as it was about to reach Little Ying's feet, she decisively jumped off the roof, narrowly avoiding the fatal lightning strike—which was exactly what the Pope wanted!

You can't dodge nimbly in the air, so take this!

The attack just now made the Pope realize that Little Ying's bubbles had a considerable ability to block lightning strikes. Although this girl seemed like a complete idiot, could it be said that fools are lucky? She dodged attacks that should have been fatal without even realizing it!

But this time there will be no room for luck!

The Pope took out several bright silver nails from his wide sleeves, each inscribed with Divine Word and wrapped with silver-blue lightning. Amplified by the Divine Word, they shot out at an accelerated speed!

"Thunderstorm Spike Nail!"

The spikes accelerate under the influence of Divine Word and lightning, becoming bullets with extremely high penetrating power. The lightning attached to them also possesses the power to easily turn flesh into dust! Piercing + lightning strike, a double attack, impossible to defend against!

--And so it was contained.

At the last moment, Little Ying released another bubble, but this time it was as big as a camper van, a perfectly round amber color, enveloping her entirely. When the spike touched the bubble's membrane, the membrane automatically concave inward, curling into a small sphere as the spike entered, perfectly encasing it. The spike, trapped in the small bubble, instantly lost speed, and the lightning coiled around it stopped flashing. It floated gently through the large bubble like a fish, then flew out on the other side.

"... ha?"

The Pope was completely dumbfounded.

"... yeah?"

Even Little Ying was dumbfounded.

What the hell? How could you unleash such a foul-like defense against projectiles? You didn't even know it yourself!?

Suddenly, she remembered a conversation she had with Xiao Ye a while ago.

"Wait, you mean... every time you advance in your abilities or learn a new skill, it's when you're facing a life-threatening situation?"

"Pretty much! When I went out to train on my own, I encountered some incredibly powerful monsters or super evil villains several times. Whenever I was in danger..."

"When? And then?"

"In that situation, as long as I think to myself, 'No! I can't die yet!', or shout with grief and indignation, 'My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens!', or yell, 'I won't just die so easily!', or repeatedly chant, 'I need power, I need power, I need more power!', I will suddenly become stronger!"

"Are you serious?"

"I would never lie to Xiao Ye!"

"I've thought so for a long time, but... you really are Dragon Proud Heaven."

"Dragon Proud Heaven?"

"No, if this applies to a girl, it should be Feng Jiaotian? Feng Ritian? Anyway, it means you're... not easy to die."

"I don't quite understand, but it seems really powerful! Feng Jiaotian... he's so cool! Xiao Ye, Xiao Ye, help me think of a cool move!"

"Hmm... let me think... Oh right, actually I've wanted to complain about that 'Saint Emperor' from the West Saint Continent for a long time. It's hard not to think of a certain master-obsessed person with that title. Just in time... listen up, Little Ying."

"Uh-huh!"

"This move requires you to be in a higher position than your enemy, standing upright with your legs together and arms outstretched, like a large cross."

"Mmm! And then?"

"Then strike a perfect diving pose while shouting--"

"The Southern Dipper Phoenix Fist Secret Technique - Skyward Cross Phoenix!!!"

Little Ying let out a delicate shout, and with a flick of her hands, the bubbles enveloping her swooped down! Blurred light and shadow appeared on the amber surface of the bubbles—heads held high, wings outstretched, beautiful tails—it was just like—

"... turkey?"

"It's the Phoenix! Take this, you impotent Pope!!!"

The bubble burst with a deafening roar the moment it landed, and the violent shockwave instantly reduced the small chapel below to ashes. Contrary to its seemingly mild appearance, the bubble's power was truly astonishing!

However--

"Naive! It's far too slow! Even if it's powerful, what's the use if it can't hit?"

The Thunder Wings that unfurled behind the Pope vibrated rapidly, propelling him to quickly dodge outside the blast radius! With another burst of acceleration, he was already in front of the completely exposed Little Ying in the next second!

Despite some minor mishaps, the girl's ability still has obvious weaknesses—the explosion of bubbles is a double-edged sword, highly lethal to enemies but also easily injuring herself, so she must maintain a safe distance when attacking, in other words, she cannot handle close combat!

A fist crackling with lightning slammed into Little Ying's face. Startled, she instinctively raised her hands to protect herself, but it was utterly futile.

Call out--!!!

Just then, a sound like Fireworks rising into the sky came from afar and grew closer. The Pope looked up and saw a blood-red fireball falling from the sky at great speed, heading straight for the two of them!

If he didn't stop, he could indeed kill the girl, but the fireball would also hit him— the Pope immediately made the judgment, sighed heavily in his heart, and abruptly stopped his advance, retreating rapidly to barely avoid the fireball! The temperature of the blood-red flames far exceeded his expectations; although there was a short distance between them, the domineering heat still made him feel as if his facial skin had been scorched!

"This... this is Xiao Ye's Blood Flame? Could it be that Xiao Ye is providing remote support to me--Wa..."

Before she could even feel happy, another fireball grazed past her and crashed down, instantly turning a rather large church bell tower into lava! Looking up at the sky, hundreds of fireballs rained down in succession, all originating from the two figures atop the central tower! Each fireball that struck the blood-soaked ground unleashed a towering pillar of fire, the flames spreading and the smoke billowing—it was a scene straight out of hell!

"Damn it! Who did this?!" The Pope thought he was finally going to get rid of this clingy brat, but now he's stuck in a firestorm with her again! He felt like he was about to collapse!

"Oh no! Oh no! Xiao Ye must have thought there were no outsiders around, so he just used his ultimate move without thinking! But I got caught up in it all without even realizing it!"

"You're all so stupid you might as well die!"

"You're the stupid one!"

The Pope weaved through the gaps in the fire rain, pushing the mobility of his lightning-attribute divine magic to its limits, yet he still narrowly escaped being hit head-on multiple times! Meanwhile, Little Ying simply rode around in her new flying bubble, yelling and screaming, and aside from her clothes being scalded and revealing her smooth skin, she suffered no injuries whatsoever!

"You little brat, how lucky are you! How come you can dodge randomly without getting hurt?"

"He has purple hair, you colorblind guy! Because he's a colorblind old man, he's called 'Colorblind Old Man'!"

"Thunder Roar Spear!"

The Pope raised his hand and fired a lightning spear, but the spear collided with a fireball that happened to be landing on its trajectory. The two canceled each other out, and the Pope himself was almost burned bald by the residual heat because he was distracted by casting the skill.

"Hahahaha ba~ka! ba~ka!"

"You brat, stop laughing!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ba~ka! ba~ka! ba~ka! ba~ka!"

"Thunder Axe--Crack! Aa ..."

Just as the Pope was about to unleash his attack, he didn't even have a chance to release it this time. A fireball grazed his shoulder! Thick smoke rose, the sleeve of the Pope's robe instantly turned to ash, and his entire upper arm was charred!

"Serves you right! This must be Xiao Ye's protection, only burning you and not me!"

"Hiss... Hah... Hiss... Hah... Damn it!!!"

"Useless, hahaha!"

While Little Ying was gloating and acting like a bully—

The rain of fire suddenly stopped.

The Blood Sea ceased to churn, the temperature stopped rising, and the Blood Beast ceased their activity.

It was as if everything had stopped.

Little Ying looked at the tower in surprise, only to find that the two figures had disappeared without her noticing. Of course, she had no idea that just now, a certain lady had discovered that a certain single mother was constantly being resurrected, so she used "Song of Remembering the Past" to pull her into the cycle of memories.

"... Xiao Ye?"

"Heh... what a pity," the Pope grinned, covering his scorched upper arm with the holy light of a healing spell. "Looks like your 'reliable' outside help won't be able to help you for now!"

"Alas..."