Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - The Final Song

Requiem: Bloodstained Inferno is arguably the strongest physical attack below Paradise Lost. Although its preparation process and actual power are vastly different from Paradise Lost, its destructive power and visual spectacle far surpass other skills.

Nevertheless, this was ultimately just a large-scale physical attack and could not possibly harm the lady.

Therefore, their goal from the beginning was not to kill, but to cause disruption.

The spirit entity converts external information into sound to receive it, thereby perceiving everything in the outside world.

Therefore, an overwhelming amount of sound, light, and heat can cause her to experience temporary confusion in her perception of the outside world.

The earth was transformed into a hellish landscape of crimson lotuses, with dazzling Blood Flame shooting straight into the sky, their temperature instantly several times that of a nuclear explosion.

Under this cover, the girl's laughter and the woman's roars went unheard by anyone.

(Givinia! Givinia! Givinia!!!)

Just as Givinia said, the sudden and intense influx of sound, light, and heat overwhelmed her processing capacity, causing her to experience a brief period of cognitive dissonance, much like how an ordinary human would be blinded by dazzling firelight.

But this is only temporary.

(Speed up processing -- Adjust -- Ignore most information -- Damn it! Damn it!!!!)

Filtering out everything about the flames and intense light, retaining only the image of the girl, and using this as a basis to reconnect our vision—

The mental body, operating at overload, finally broke free from the chaotic state at several times its usual speed. It worked! One of that guy's projections was still in my hand. I'll use reverse tracking to pinpoint its location again; this time, I absolutely must—

(Alright!!!)

The view was finally restored, filtering out the light and heat, so now only Givinia was visible.

But, sand!

The first thing that catches the eye is not that annoying face, but an umbrella.

To be precise, it was the tip of a parasol that had appeared in Givinia's hand at some unknown time.

Its tip was as sharp as a bayonet.

The lady was unaware of this.

Givinia's Mind Projection could only project herself, in other words, her naked body.

To overcome this weakness, from the day she awakened her powers, Givinia has always worn the same clothes in the same color scheme and style, just to integrate this outfit into her subconscious and create a projection of "wearing clothes".

The same goes for this umbrella.

She always carried the same style of parasol with the same mechanism. Over time, the parasol eventually became like clothing, integrated into her subconscious and became part of her projection, part of her spiritual body.

In this way, her Mind Projection gained an extra, insignificant little tool; slightly stronger enemies wouldn't fall for it—it was such a useless thing.

But Givinia had a premonition.

Victory comes from daily accumulation.

Even the smallest details, the most insignificant tricks, if accumulated little by little, will one day produce a miraculous effect.

Just to create this gap.

In the final moment before the distorted projection disappeared, a nearly transparent finger activated a hidden mechanism on the umbrella handle.

This attack was completely unexpected by everyone, not even the Madam and Ye.

When the lady finally reacted at the last second, before she could even utter a sound, she could only frantically raise her hands to defend herself—

The sharp tip of the ejected umbrella pierced the palm of the spiritual entity.

The very tip of the needle pierced shallowly into the neck.

It punctured somewhere between the trachea and the laryngeal vestibule.

That's where the vocal cord muscles are located.

"--!!!!!!!!"

The tearing sensation in her throat terrified the lady. She forgot everything and frantically scratched her neck. Meanwhile, Givinia finally exhausted her last bit of mental energy; her final projection, having fulfilled its mission, vanished into the fading Fierce Flame.

The Bloodstained Hellfire was nearing its end. Only scattered specks of the towering Blood Flame remained, and all the burned solids turned into crimson ash that drifted away in the wind, creating a more poignant and desolate beauty than the previous Blood Rain.

"Ugh--Hiss--Gurgle--!!!"

The lady desperately vibrated her damaged vocal cords, ignoring the excruciating tearing pain, but no matter how hard she tried, she could only produce a hoarse sound, completely unable to form a melody! After the entire orchestra collapsed, she could only rely on her own a cappella singing to launch an attack, but now her most vital vocal cords were damaged! This unparalleled, God-Given Sound was her most precious treasure, her greatest pride, something more important than life itself, and now it had become hoarse and unpleasant! Even if she had a way to repair the damage to her spiritual body, could her recovered vocal cords still produce that perfect and moving voice?

"Gah... Ahh... Damn it... Damn it..."

Words escaped her lips in broken, hoarse tones, making it difficult to decipher their meaning. Hearing such an unpleasant sound from her own mouth, the lady was nearly driven mad! Yet, at that moment, a last shred of reason made her sense the approaching danger. A sharp pain shot through her vocal cords, and her clear, melodious voice was replaced by a hoarse, piercing sound. Though painful, she had no choice but to fight back with this awful voice!

"Stay... away... from... me!!!!"

The distorted and chaotic sounds radiated in all directions, forcefully pushing away the approaching pink figure, but that was all. She had lost most of her control over sound, and these irregular noises were no match for the enemy!

Ye, who had been knocked away, landed steadily dozens of meters away, surrounded by a bloody aura. Drops of blood swirled around her on their own, and bright red Lycoris radiata bloomed at her feet.

It's now clear who is stronger and who is weaker.

Should we escape?

How to escape from this arch-enemy?

Running away from his daughter?

To abandon all glory and self-respect, and flee like a stray dog?

Don't be ridiculous! It's better to die in battle than to be so pathetic!!

"... It seems the battle is over, Winsani."

"No... no... cough cough... no! I... you... can't... hurt... me..."

Although her vocal cords were damaged, she was still a spiritual being, and since she was a spiritual being, Ye absolutely could not harm her! As for Givinia —judging from her appearance, the previous series of actions had exhausted her spiritual energy; she was no longer considered a combatant! As long as they unleashed their final trump card at this moment, this gamble might not be lost, and could even be considered a sure thing—

"I can't harm a spiritual entity? That's true, but..."

The index finger, with its bright red nails, pointed at the lady's body.

"The prerequisite is that you must be a spiritual being, okay?"

"...?"

I don't know when it started, but my vision has become clearer.

It's not about receiving and processing external information, but about truly seeing the world with your own eyes.

The sensation in my hands and feet returned, and I felt a burning sensation on my skin—it was the warmth of a blowing wind.

"How?"

It's not entirely a spiritual entity anymore.

The facial features, including the eyes, and parts of the skin, although still somewhat fragile, are all genuine "flesh and blood".

In the center of the torso, presumably where the heart is, an extremely thick bead of blood is rolling restlessly. Strands of blood emanate from the bead, flowing to various parts of the spiritual body. The blood threads are arranged in a certain order, meticulously and rapidly weaving together organs. From bones to nerves, from internal organs to skin, from mucous membranes to hair, everything that a human body should have is being constructed!

My body is being reshaped.

Or rather—the self that had finally transformed into a spiritual form was being forcibly reverted back to its original physical body.

"Why...? How... did you do that?"

The series of shocks had numbed the lady; she simply stared blankly down at her body, which was turning back into flesh, and murmured in a hoarse voice.

"Actually, it's not that difficult... After experiencing some things, I've become quite adept at sculpting the human body."

"Therefore, it's not impossible to turn you back into a physical body, as long as one prerequisite is met."

That's what I said.

"..."

"You know, everyone's body has a so-called 'blueprint,' which manifests externally as genes or Meme, but ultimately it's the basis for constructing the body."

"But... even so..."

"Where do you think Givinia's mental energy went? While you were seizing her projection to deduce the location of her true body, she was also probing you, quickly deciphering the blueprint of your spiritual body and translating it back into physical information for me."

"..."

"To complete such a massive project in such a short time under near-limit conditions is incredible, isn't it? But you'd better be happy, happy that your daughter is so accomplished..."

"Shut up..."

I obediently shut my mouth, while carefully observing the lady at the moment.

She was in a delicate state between reality and illusion. While Givinia was taking a risky move, I wasn't idle either. I refined all the blood in my body, and the final product was a blood bead. I then gave the blood bead instructions according to the "blueprint" sent back by Givinia.

In that brief exchange, I successfully embedded the blood bead into the lady's body, automatically constructing her physical form. Once this process begins, it cannot be stopped. When the physical form accounts for more than 80%, her spirit will be re-confined to this mortal body.

In other words, it means returning to a state where "I can hurt you".

Unfortunately, although the material used was my blood, the body she transformed back into still belonged to her, so even I couldn't remotely control its burning or explosion.

"Don't be careless A Ye... Although I successfully damaged her vocal cords, it only prevents her from launching a powerful attack. Even without the ability to control her sound waves, she is still in great danger..."

"I know, but she's no match for me right now."

I glanced at the naked Givinia beside me. Noticing my gaze, she shyly tossed her long, light brown hair aside, barely covering her breasts. Just moments ago, I had recreated Givinia's body, a body fused with my blood, but unfortunately, clothes were powerless to change it. Although I had poured a great deal of life force into her body without reservation, she still looked listless; after all, mental exhaustion cannot be compensated for by the body.

"As for you, Winsani... Ah, it seems it's done."

The woman, who had just returned to her physical body, was also naked, with blood dripping from between her fingers as she pressed her hand tightly against her throat. Her reconstructed body was exactly what her spiritual form was, and naturally, the injury to her vocal cords was preserved.

But what's noteworthy is that her expression was no longer ferocious; instead, it was resolute, a resoluteness that even chilled me to the bone.

"Incredible... I have to admit... your performance truly... exceeded my expectations... and pushed me to this point..."

"So, are you going to obediently admit defeat? You probably can't unleash an attack strong enough to seriously injure me now."

"... Admit defeat? Admit defeat? You mean... admit defeat?"

As she repeated those two words, a smile appeared on her face, a smile that was three parts poignant and seven parts resolute.

"Without vocal cords... does that mean I can't sing? No..."

The atmosphere suddenly changed.

An indescribable sense of terrifying oppression filled the space, originating from the seemingly exhausted lady.

"Let me tell you... the highest form of music... is not a showy voice... but... the resonance of the soul, the sublimation of life..."

The earth trembled.

The sky resonates.

All the sounds of the world merged into one at this moment.

It was as if the whole world had become her vocal cords.

"Listen with your hearts... my final tribute... the Song of Creation!!!"

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This volume is almost over, yay! By the way, a really weird poll has started, feel free to participate.