Round 7: Heaven Can Wait

Foreword:

Can you imagine how boring life would be if everything were always the same?

It is because of death that we can continually find new life.

--Ingmar Bergman

[Part the Seventh Seal: The Seal]

The raging storm left dark water stains on the deck, washing away all the smell of blood.

The War King stood in the writhing, ever-changing corridor, facing the immortal, cannibalistic demon in silence.

Adjust your breathing, adapt to muscle exertion, sense your heartbeat, and probe for changes in the psionic tides.

At this moment, all the lines become superfluous.

George Joshua was convinced that he could defeat Glory.

His confidence stemmed not only from his Soul Power but also from several trump cards for survival, like the seven seals in the Book of Revelation that proclaimed the end of the world, tightly protecting his Gate of Death. To kill him now, one must overcome these seven seals.

He must overcome this inner demon; he has already lost once, and he absolutely cannot run away now.

By defeating Glory, taking her crown, consuming her essence, and stealing her genes, whether he bears children with her, directly devours the War King's body, or steps into a new realm through this victory, under the influence of [Carnivorism], George Joshua will become a new god.

George Joshua: "War!--"

Glory did not respond, standing like a statue, her expression like that of a dead person. This was her battle stance after returning from her studies at the Dead Puppet Agency, a completely new Pankrasin mimicry.

She almost blended into the corridor, if George Joshua hadn't deliberately looked at her—

--This woman seemed to disappear into her surroundings, indistinguishable from the carpet, walls, paintings, and potted plants.

The feeling was terrifying; George Joshua's survival instincts were kicking in, and he couldn't understand what was so strange about Glory's preparatory stance. She felt like a stranger to George.

If the jab thrown against the rubber wall when the two met again was just an appetizer, then this familiar boxing power still had a hint of what it had been like years ago.

At this moment, Glory was a completely different person; she became like an inanimate object, a target that posed no threat whatsoever.

George Joshua's eyes widened, his round eyeballs beginning to dry out; he felt his mental energy rapidly declining.

Locating a moving target is simple; primates' vision is naturally well-suited for detecting moving targets.

However, it was too much effort to distinguish the sixth brother, dressed in a ghillie suit, from a still image.

At this moment, Glory seemed to have completely "disappeared" right under George's nose! She had turned into iron and stone, into an inanimate object!

How is this possible? I can feel her body temperature and her faint heartbeat!

Can such an overly slow metabolism truly awaken the explosive power needed in combat?

I don't understand?! I don't understand at all, Glory!

George panicked, but he couldn't show it!

In crucial battles, victory or defeat is often decided in a single, fleeting moment—the instant a soldier reveals his cowardice and loses his will to fight.

"I am invincible!!!"

He roared a battle cry, his eyes instantly turning blood red. His blood pressure and hormone levels surged, and he was sending them all over his body to fully awaken the power of his soul!

The entire corridor began to shake, and the magical powers of [No Man's Unmanned Zone] transformed it into soft rubber.

Then! George waved his hand and clenched his fists together—the narrow corridor turned into a swirling, twisted rope!

"Trying to scare me?! Take this! Rubber juicer!"

Wrinkles gradually squeezed out from the vortex-like passage, and the immense pressure crushed all the debris in the passage. The trash cans, murals, wall lamps, and wooden planks that were not affected by the psionic energy of [No Man's Unmanned Zone] were all turned into deadly blades in a meat grinder!

This is an execution technique that George Joshua learned after experiencing the pain of failure, through continuous exploration, practice, and understanding of his Soul Power. In a confined space, any object with a hardness higher than human carbohydrates will become the deadly abrasive in a juicer!

The deformed tunnel with chrysanthemum patterns trembled continuously, the abrasive inside making strange clicking sounds and billowing black smoke. The high temperature generated when the objects were crushed, rubbed, and collided with each other caused them to start burning.

"Hehe. Hahahaha!"

George Joshua, his face covered in cold sweat, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hehehehe."

He grinned with wild joy, convinced that Glory was dead on the spot!

From the chrysanthemum-like opening in the corridor, clumps of twisted and deformed scrap metal spewed out, along with a constant spurting of blood.

Blood splattered on George's face, and his cannibalistic instincts kicked in; he stuck out his tongue and licked it.

"--Damn it! It's ketchup!"

George immediately summoned his spirit and headed to the window of his private office on the terrace. He needed to get his gun. He crossed the glass room that Bailu had smashed and pulled out his custom-made, expensive hand cannon from under the table. That wasn't enough; he also needed to get his main weapon from the office!

Where is Glory? Where is she?

Did she run away? No, no, no, no.

I can't sense her spiritual pressure! Why? I can't sense it at all!

George hesitated for a moment, then involuntarily glanced towards Cruise Ship Number Two.

--His [Gate of Death] is hidden there; it is the first seal of the Gate of Death!

On the second cruise ship, there is a Libyan girl named Juno Villato who possesses special psychic abilities. Her spirit power, Heaven Can Wait, can transfer the harm suffered by others onto herself.

George Joshua possesses incredibly powerful self-healing abilities, but this requires him to eat to sustain his energy expenditure. Thus, [Heaven Can Wait] becomes George Joshua's second life.

White Lady's artifacts can repeatedly heal the original form of [Heaven Can Wait], repeatedly healing this scapegoat, while [Heaven Can Wait] can help George Joshua forge a set of armor.

The first seal was stored in a medicinal jar made by White Lady, along with nutrient solution and a ventilator, and a lich-like life casket was thus created.

He was indeed an idiot, but not stupid at all; arrogance and cunning could coexist in one person. George Joshua had made thorough preparations and done his homework to meet the War King's challenge. Just like the protagonist in a traditional online novel who constantly uses cheat codes and has hidden cards up his sleeve, always finding a way out.

He is handsome, tall and strong, ruthless, vicious, profit-driven, has questionable emotional intelligence, has a harem full of concubines, and exudes an aura of evil.

"The second seal! I've got it! It's in my hands!"

He raised his hand cannon high, grasping the dawn of victory.

This large-caliber, specially designed semi-automatic hand cannon contains a special type of annihilation bullet.

--Very similar to the anti-spirit bullets of the Celestial Pivot Mechanism, but even more effective.

This is George Joshua's second seal against the War King. It can shatter the War King's psionic armor, bypass the strange cat-shaped spirit, and directly pierce the War King's physical body.

Now all we need to do is wait quietly for the target to appear, then pull the trigger on this hateful yet lovable woman, and perform the bloodletting operation before she completely loses her life.

You can --

Before George could finish his calculations, his trembling hands and booming voice, seemingly driven by excitement, gave Glory the location information.

A humanoid tank burst out of the glass enclosure wall, grabbed George Joshua around the waist, and rammed him straight out onto the deck!

Fortunately, George Joshua managed to grab the golden hand cannon. His lower body remained inside the glass enclosure, while his upper body, as if struck by a truck, clung tightly to Glory as they fell onto the slippery, wet deck observation area.

The two fell to the ground, George's legs finally remembered who their owner was, and they were about to spring forward!

George, mustering his courage, shouted angrily, "Rubber rocket!"

His legs were like two battering rams, his feet cutting through the rain and wind, stretching out ten meters, and suddenly launched him toward Glory.

The vicious rubber band kick slashed and cut open the War King's arm, then darted to the floating dock fifty meters away, smashing the cast iron railing of the dock before finally losing all momentum.

Glory covered her head with her arms raised, still in the stance of her lunge and landing. Her legs hadn't even settled properly before she was met with a deadly kick. She was not in good pain from the blow; Fragrant Dream seemed to have a hard time dealing with this kind of attack.

This is not just a simple frontal impact. Once George's rubber arms and legs are stretched, they transform into extremely resilient ribbons. These ribbons can be as thin as one-fortieth of a millimeter, just like knives made of fine silk!

George was temporarily unable to move; his legs had exerted too much force and he couldn't retract them at all.

Rain and strong winds swept over his lower body, making it extremely difficult for him to pull his legs back.

[Part ②: Love in the Rain]

In that instant, Glory raised her gun and fired!

The MK111 spewed out a blinding burst of flames!

George wasn't afraid of bullets at all! He was still laughing arrogantly!

"You actually want to kill me with this toy? Hahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha!"

But the scorching bullets gradually extinguished the joy on his face. Unlike the intermediate-powered bullets he had expected, the bullets spewing from the rifle looked like gleaming iron filings!

He was trembling all over from the beating. He was crawling on the ground, but now he was rolling around with his two thin legs, which were as thin as cicada wings. He was swept further away by the rain of bullets. Glory was shooting as she advanced, just like a firefighter chasing a fire with a fire extinguisher.

"What is that thing? What is that in her hand?" As he fled in panic, George suddenly noticed that the bullet holes in his body were not right.

He had anticipated that the powerful bullets would penetrate the rubber body and then bounce back! He was confident he could deflect all the bullets back towards Glory.

--But look at that MK111! Did Glory modify its muzzle? Was its rifling removed? Did she turn it into a smoothbore?

No, no, no, that's not right! Doing that will cause the barrel to explode!

So what exactly is it?

Only then did he realize that these weak and powerless iron pellets had already released kinetic energy at the muzzle, generating temperatures of several hundred degrees due to intense friction. When they landed on the flesh of this immortal body, they immediately burned out charred marks, and that part of the flesh became unruly and lost its flexibility!

If things continue like this...

The third seal is about to be broken!

His soul power provides excellent physical properties, allowing this physical body to be sublimated and transformed into a cartoon character. Even if hit by a tens of tons of iron ball, jumped from dozens of floors and smashed into mincemeat, or fell into the sea in a plane crash, he would not die.

He was only afraid of fire, only afraid of the warm sun.

This is the third seal of the Gate of Death. George Joshua was cleared from the sightseeing area by thirty shattered bullets and arrived at the side corridor of the cruise ship.

He kept rolling and tumbling, being hit by shrapnel, crawling awkwardly, trying to raise his hand cannon to fight back, but every time he stretched out his arm, that damned rubber arm would transfer all the damage to his body and all the impact to his limbs!

If he were to retract his Soul Power, he would be injured! He would bleed! His inner pride wouldn't allow him to bleed! Even when he first fought Glory years ago, he hadn't bled! If he were to recall his Soul Power, wouldn't that be admitting that he hadn't improved at all in the past six years?! Or even regressed!

I'll have to wait until Glory reloads, or until she runs out of bullets! Then I can...

Before he could finish his thought, he turned around and saw the War King reloading with divine assistance, without even changing his gun-holding posture. Before the magazine had even fully hit the ground, the next round of firing had begun.

George Joshua was stunned. He saw a large gray and white cat hanging on Glory's arm. He had seen this cat before. Years ago, this ferocious avatar of Soul Might had almost rendered him helpless. Now, it had removed its armor, leaving the iron armor on Glory, as if it had unlocked the chains of her mind and left all the heavy burdens to its host.

Its nimble claws hooked out individual hairs from its body, weaving a fine and beautiful net that eventually converged at the muzzle of the gun.

As the intermediate-powered bullet passed through this resilient spirit body, it transformed into thousands upon thousands of sharp blades carrying intense heat.

"What kind of operation is this?! What kind of power is this?!" George Joshua exclaimed in disbelief, yet he did not lose his fighting spirit. His heart grew increasingly greedy, increasingly craving Glory's essence.

If I could possess her, if I could eat her flesh!

What a dreamlike, ethereal experience that was!

But his joy was short-lived; it all ended in a fleeting moment—

George finally understood; he finally understood why Glory had used guns to drive him towards the cabin.

Walking along the ship's long corridor, every single window had a dead man standing inside!

They were carrying MK111s, and they had enough bullets to keep the War King fired for half an hour!

Is she going to keep hitting me like this? Using my body as a ball? Running around the entire hull of the ship?

Good heavens! What kind of torture is this?!

"My leg! Please help me!"

"Bang--"

"Bang bang bang--"

Four bullets struck his legs, which were shaped like kites. The creases of his knees could still be faintly discerned from the flesh. They were charred black and emitted a burnt smell from the splattering red-hot metal fragments.

At that moment, the MK111 jammed!

Because Glory suddenly turned her gun around, the overly rapid pull-up caused it to malfunction slightly.

George quickly raised his cannon to retaliate, hoping the second seal would help him overcome the difficulty!

The hand cannon spewed out scorching flames! Like a deafening thunderclap!

The hand cannon's bullets had enough propellant to almost shatter an elephant's skull with a single shot! The muzzle rise was enormous! Even Immortals like George Joshua struggled to control this beast!

The expected scene did not occur.

George was stunned. This thing did work! But it wasn't that effective!

A huge, bloody crater appeared in Glory's chest, as if a large screwdriver had pierced through her.

The woman was spitting blood, with blood foam constantly oozing from the corners of her mouth, yet the spirit still floated beside her.

Why? Why aren't the Destroy Spirit Ammunition working? Why?

Could it be...?

"Sorry, Sister Lori!" Fragrant Dream stood with her hands on her hips, looking very guilty. She used her Cantonese catchphrase "9527" and even removed her breastplate. "I couldn't block what he was holding. When the gun was raised, I felt a chill run down my spine! So I took off my breastplate for you!"

George hadn't even lowered his arm yet, nor did he have a chance to turn the gun back on! He was so shocked that he foamed at the mouth and spat out saliva. "Why does your Soul Force have its own thoughts?! To protect itself! It doesn't care whether you live or die? Why would such a thing happen!"

Completely ignoring her injuries, Glory used the moment George Joshua was rambling on to immediately drop her jammed MK111, grab a new weapon from the corpse on the windowsill, and continue unleashing a barrage of fire. "Keep quiet! George! Keep taking the beating!"

She pressed forward relentlessly, striking George Joshua's upper body repeatedly, trying to drive this rubber monster to its Gate of Death. But the strange thing was—this guy's healing ability was terrifying!

She was unaware of George's Seven Seals and had no idea that he had hidden the Gate of Death. She could only continue suppressing the monster, attempting to blast him into the main kitchen and kill George Joshua with even more powerful flames.

"Why? Why doesn't it work? Why doesn't this psychic-annihilating bullet work on you? Why can you keep firing even with a bloody crater in your chest? Why?! Why am I, who is invincible, being beaten to a pulp by you?!" Black marks appeared on George's body, but they were repeatedly healed by the special psychic power of [Heaven Can Wait].

"Because your hand cannon pierced through, the bullet didn't stay inside my body. The wound looks terrible, but the damage wasn't enough. It can't take away my fighting spirit." Glory said, her Fragrant Dream Hook dangling from her side as she reloaded the MK111 while retrieving Universal Elixir from a corpse by the window and stabbing it into her neck. "As for your constant chatter, your incessant nagging about being invincible—"

The wound on the sternum gradually healed, leaving only a trail of blood.

"--Sorry! I'm a woman!"

She still maintains the habit of fighting while administering medication; her Soul Might is her extra arm.

"If I have the chance, I'll introduce you to a gunsmith so he can study your weapon and tell you which bullets have the best stopping power and which propellant charge is suitable for which bullets."

Glory pulled the trigger mercilessly; in her eyes, George Joshua's head was like liquid clay that kept deforming and bouncing.

"Of course, you two will have to reunite in hell."

George Joshua was in a daze.

"--The gunsmith is really dead?!"

As Glory watched George Joshua's legs finally return to their master, she shifted the gun to the monster's groin and fired fifteen bullets, causing his body to continue sliding and rolling forward.

"Can you imagine how boring life would be if everything were always the same? It is because of death that we can constantly find new life."

"Bang!--"

In his haste, George didn't aim and fired a second shot! He had to retaliate!

After Glory was injured, the blood along the way became a psionic catalyst. Before George opened fire, she grabbed the tail of Fragrant Dream. The spirit carried her away along the bloody path, avoiding George's gunfire, and then mysteriously moved back to continue applying pressure with bullets.

Iron bullets rained down on George's gunman time and again, but the White Shark Association President never gave up his fighting spirit—he could endure more pain, was more resilient, and was more shameless than Kang Que. He was growing more and more fond of this woman! He was almost dazzled by her!

Glory was in a killing frenzy.

"Well done! Keep fighting back!"