Lin Yue had barely finished speaking when the Chainsaw Cleaver flew from her hand. With Human Weakness Insight enhancing her abilities, every swing was viciously precise.
"You're too impatient. You can't rush a good thing."
Wu Xin sat calmly in place, lightly tapping the armrest.
Countless threads sprouted from behind her and netted Lin Yue's weapon.
Wu Xin casually activated the threads she had planted in Chen Xi's heart.
"Now you won't be going anywhere." As she stared at Lin Yue, she kept Chen Xi, who hadn't yet made a move, in the corner of her eye.
After all, in weather like this, her opponent's water attacks would be at least a little harder to conceal.
"Then you're thinking way too much." Lin Yue sneered. Like someone swinging a braid, she kept increasing the force in her hand.
With a faint tearing sound, the vibrating Chainsaw Cleaver snapped Wu Xin's threads.
Seizing the opportunity, shadows stretched from beneath Chen Xi's feet and closed around her, forming that familiar armor. She decisively unleashed the Rain Disaster Domain.
The Rain Calamity was already incredibly destructive under normal conditions, but in the downpour, it bared its true fangs.
Each raindrop was empowered to the point where it could pierce through walls.
Chen Xi's domain copied the surrounding terrain and froze the rain in its current state.
"That's some ridiculous power."
Wu Xin glanced at the raindrops, which corroded the ground like acid rain, and at her own thread canopy, now hanging by a thread.
"If that's the case... Domain Expansion—[Saha World]."
As soon as she spoke, Chen Xi's domain changed.
It was as though day and night had appeared in the same sky. A distinct dividing line split the rooftop in two.
On Wu Xin's side, the rain gradually eased. Looking closely, one could see the walls writhing, as if they had come to life.
Threads connected to Wu Xin from every direction, hoisting her high into the air.
Looking down at the two of them, Wu Xin's face flushed.
"That day, I was only joking with you. The Legend I control is invincible."
Countless threads surged toward them, intent on grinding them to dust.
Chen Xi analyzed the scene at lightning speed and concluded, "She's directly changing the material of everything nearby."
Everything in sight had turned into threads under Wu Xin's control—even the rain falling from the sky.
No wonder Wu Xin had been so confident in the previous loop. It seemed that back then, she really had just been playing around.
If Chen Xi didn't also have a domain to counter hers, Wu Xin would probably have already ended the battle.
Wu Xin's current strength was approaching the standard of a mid-tier Second Rank.
"That's so unfair!" Lin Yue complained as she used the Chainsaw Cleaver and her shadows to fend off the threads.
Unfair was right. She was a boss designed specifically for you. Chen Xi figured that if they followed the original story's route, Lin Yue would probably have to loop a dozen times or more before she could finally defeat Wu Xin.
There was no time to waste. Chen Xi activated Berserk.
The threads had grown far more powerful. If she got caught, she would most likely end up seriously injured.
Water and threads clashed across the sky, and the rooftop of the teaching building began to crumble.
"We should get down first." With the amount of water she could control greatly increased, Chen Xi could send a surge of water upward from below and use it like a cushion to jump safely from the tenth floor.
"Okay!"
Lin Yue followed, shaping her shadows into a paraglider and leaping from the high-rise.
Wu Xin watched them coldly, secretly trying to bind them with individual threads.
But the moment those threads entered Chen Xi's domain, they were consumed by the torrential rain.
"Looks like there's no quick way to finish you off."
"Come on. In your pain and screams, watch as your bodies are devoured until nothing remains."
The battle between them dragged on for nearly ten minutes. The buildings within the domain had long since been battered by the shockwaves, leaving them in ruins. The ground was riddled with cracks and strewn with debris.
Feeling her domain gradually being eroded, Chen Xi rapidly thought through her options.
Because of the difference in magic quality, she was at a disadvantage in their domain clash.
Although she could replenish her magic with rainwater, her domain would be completely overtaken by Wu Xin's within five minutes, long before her magic ran out.
She would have to try something else...
Chen Xi deactivated Berserk, forcing herself to calm down.
Water... How could she make the rain much more powerful and take Wu Xin down in one strike?
Suddenly, she thought of a high-pressure Water Blade—the method of concentrating water until its power was at its peak.
But the battle was at a stalemate. If she tried to form a Water Blade, their defensive line would probably collapse in an instant.
Chen Xi lowered her head slightly and looked at the shadow armor covering her body.
Armor... Right!!!
When Lin Yue had controlled the Shadow Dweller that day, Chen Xi's body had been controlled too.
"Lin Yue!" she shouted to the blonde girl, who was concentrating on holding back the threads beside her.
"Use the shadow armor to control my body, then control the water and fight Wu Xin with it!!!"
At her words, Lin Yue looked at her in confusion. "Huh? Can I do that?"
Chen Xi waved her hand, and a curtain of rain formed a shield in front of them. "Don't worry about it! Just trust me!!! Wasn't that what you said back then?!"
Lin Yue stopped hesitating and answered her shout.
"Give me your whole body!!!"
Unable to even comment on Lin Yue's choice of words, Chen Xi cleared her mind and let the armor control her body.
It worked.
She looked at the water in the distance, which was defending them on its own even without her control, and finally relaxed.
Lin Yue focused most of her thoughts inside Chen Xi's body, shielding them both with the rain.
Chen Xi concentrated completely, trying to compress the water into the shape she envisioned.
Up above, Wu Xin noticed their movements and tilted her head, sensing the changes in the rain.
Clumsy and reckless, their approach was completely different from how they had fought before.
"I really can't underestimate you two." She murmured to herself, but didn't take the opportunity to break through Lin Yue's defenses.
By then, Chen Xi had completely shut out the changing surroundings, devoting herself to shaping the water.
Focus... Focus... Imagine the flow of water...
She desperately recalled the educational videos she'd come across while scrolling.
Compression... a tiny nozzle...
A sudden idea struck Chen Xi. She used her shadows to imitate a compression nozzle.
Water gathered around them, and beneath the cool moonlight, it flowed like a galaxy around the girl.
"It's over."
The structure of her simulated Water Blade was crude, but the supernatural force of the water more than made up for it.
Even without the original Water Blade's supersonic speed, Wu Xin's constitution left her no chance to react.
Aiming at Wu Xin high above, Chen Xi willed it forward.
"Yeah. It's over."
Wu Xin seemed to sense something. A strange smile tugged at her lips.
"I never fight a battle unless I'm sure I can win."
She lightly curled her index finger. The threads in Chen Xi's heart went wild, growing until they instantly swallowed the girl whole.
?!
The black-haired girl didn't even have time to react before she died in the fatal sneak attack.
"Chen Xi!!!" Panicked, Lin Yue felt their link sever. She cried out, but didn't stop defending herself with shadows.
"Now it's your turn."
Wu Xin's face flushed as she licked her lips.
"It's a little sad that the Ascension Ritual I spent so long preparing is ending like this."
Lin Yue desperately dodged the threads surging toward her, but there was nowhere to escape.
"Damn it..."
She'd lost again.
Lin Yue looked up at Wu Xin hovering in midair, her gaze shifting slightly.
The memories of these past few days with Xi were going to vanish just like that...
The threads writhed. Wu Xin could have directly detonated the ones in Lin Yue's heart, but had still chosen to end her life in the most painful way.
It was so... frustrating.
The threads closed in, and the light was swallowed completely. Lin Yue slowly closed her eyes.
"Rip—"
With a sharp tearing sound, the threads around Lin Yue began to fall away layer by layer.
"What's going on?"
Lin Yue struggled, finally seeing what was before her. Wu Xin's body had been sliced into pieces by a Water Blade. Looking bewildered, she tried to turn her body into threads and escape.
Behind her, Chen Xi appeared once more, though she should have been dead.
Without a word, Chen Xi, who knew Wu Xin's abilities all too well, used the water to knock her to the ground.
Giving her no chance to catch her breath, the rain washed over Wu Xin until not even a scrap of flesh remained.
They'd won.
Having escaped death, Chen Xi steadied her restless heart.
Lin Yue stared at the scene before her in disbelief.
Beneath the bright moonlight, everything around them lay in ruins. The black-haired girl quietly approached her, bent slightly, and gently took her right hand.
"I've kept my promise, Princess."
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