Just Kill It

The scene continued. Soon, the purple card flipped over, and the drawn character appeared before Qi Yan.

"It's actually him!!"

The person on the card had dark blue hair, a shark-like face, skin, and sharp teeth, golden pupils, a Kirigakure Village rogue ninja forehead protector, Akatsuki's signature black robe with red clouds, and a massive sword strapped to his back.

Kisame Hoshigaki!

That's right! This time, Qi Yan had drawn Kisame Hoshigaki, a member of Akatsuki from Naruto.

Kisame Hoshigaki had first appeared as Itachi's partner, and he was considered one of the more prominent villains in Naruto.

The strength Kisame Hoshigaki displayed was also extremely formidable. Though he was a villain, he was one who upheld his convictions from beginning to end.

When he knew there was no escape, in order to protect information about Akatsuki, he had actually chosen to summon a beast and kill himself. That had left a deep impression on Qi Yan. He truly was a real man.

But this was not the time to reminisce about the plot.

Now that he had a purple character card, he no longer needed to recycle the more valuable gold character card.

Qi Yan immediately tapped Kisame Hoshigaki's character card, then tapped recycle.

[ Ding! Recycle rare character card Kisame Hoshigaki? ]

"Yes!"

[ Ding! Recycle successful. Obtained magic power ★★! ]

Suddenly!

Qi Yan felt a powerful surge of magic power pour into his body. It not only replenished all the magic power he had previously consumed, but also greatly increased his maximum magic power.

"Humans four hundred years later are still so weak! But watching you crawl and struggle is truly entertaining. Hahahaha!!"

"Your Majesty!!"

Many soldiers still wanted to rush over and save the king.

"Run!! Inform all citizens!! Everyone, run!! Do not let a single person remain in this country!!"

The king roared. When he saw the carefully forged dragon-slaying sword shatter, and even the strongest move of a Nine-Star Swordsman fail to break the other party's defense, he finally understood that every legend about dragons recorded in the kingdom's books was true. Any Giant Dragon could easily destroy a nation.

Such creatures were simply not something humans could defeat.

So he could only tell everyone in the kingdom to flee. Whoever could escape, should escape. This country was already finished.

"Run? Do you think you can get away? Go ahead and try running."

The purple-haired young man licked his lips. He was already ready to feast.

Suddenly!

A voice rang out. "Sorry! Could you put His Majesty down? He's my client."

Everyone was stunned when they heard the voice, then turned toward its source. They saw a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes walking over.

"Mr. Qi Yan!!!"

Many people immediately recognized Qi Yan as the powerful expert who had displayed overwhelming might just moments ago, slaughtering five Nine-Star Monsters by himself in a short time.

If Qi Yan had appeared earlier, they might have felt there was hope of victory. But now, the immense gap between a Giant Dragon and humans left them with nothing but despair.

"Oh, it's you! I saw your performance just now. You're quite strong. If you submit to me, I can let you live."

The purple-haired young man had been deeply impressed by Qi Yan. His strength was already comparable to that of a lower-ranked Giant Dragon. If Qi Yan had belonged to the dragon race, he might have posed a slight threat. But he was merely a human. No matter how strong he was, without dragon power, he could not hurt him at all.

Having just returned to the world, he naturally needed powerful subordinates to handle matters for him. Qi Yan was perfect for the role.

"Qi Yan, run!!"

Erza shouted at Qi Yan.

She deeply regretted dragging Qi Yan into this. If she had not insisted on taking an S-Rank Mission, Qi Yan would not have been assigned by the guild master to accompany her, nor would he have been dragged into this hopeless situation.

The Giant Dragon was far too powerful. Humans could not compare to it at all.

Qi Yan walked over to Erza, bent down, picked her up, then turned and walked toward the rear.

"..."

For a moment, an eerie silence fell over the battlefield.

Qi Yan carried Erza toward the city wall.

"Qi Yan... you..."

Qi Yan gave Erza a bright smile that reassured her. "Don't worry! Leave this guy to me."

After saying that, Qi Yan turned to face the purple-haired young man. The young man watched him with great interest, wanting to see what new trick this boy could pull off.

Qi Yan stepped toward the purple-haired young man. As he walked, he chanted:

"Full Takeover! Yoriichi Tsugikuni!!"

With his first step, Qi Yan's irises turned red.

With his second step, his facial features changed slightly, and paper earrings adorned with red suns appeared on his ears.

With his fourth step, his hair rapidly grew longer, then turned dark red and was tied into a high ponytail.

With his fifth step, his clothes changed as well, becoming a samurai outfit with a red haori draped over it.

With his sixth step, a long sword appeared at his waist.

With his seventh step, a strange crimson mark—or perhaps a birthmark—appeared on the left side of his forehead.

"Yoriichi Tsugikuni!!!"

Seeing Qi Yan's transformation, everyone except the purple-haired young man was utterly stunned.

That appearance, that bearing—anyone who had watched the World's Strongest Swordsman Tournament today could never forget it.

This man had crushed all the Nine-Star Swordsmen with overwhelming dominance and become the world's strongest swordsman with an invincible bearing.

Everyone had been deeply curious about where he came from, because a swordsman with such powerful swordsmanship should have long been famous throughout the Ishgar Continent.

Yet he had been completely unknown. Before this tournament, no one had ever seen Yoriichi Tsugikuni.

And after the tournament ended, Yoriichi Tsugikuni had vanished. He had not even appeared during the dangerous monster siege.

Many people had thought he had fled in fear. Only now did they realize how utterly wrong they had been. He had never left. He had merely been saving this country under another identity.

"Mr... Mr... Mr. Yoriichi..."

Arthur stared at Qi Yan in disbelief, unsure whether he should call him Yoriichi Tsugikuni or address him by his real name. His mind was buzzing from the shock. It was even more astonishing than learning that the purple-haired young man was a Demon Dragon.

"Call me Qi Yan. Yoriichi Tsugikuni is my alias."

After all, it was someone else's name. Hearing it still felt somewhat strange to him.

"Yes... yes!"

"Mr. Qi Yan... how... how did you...?"

The old king was also somewhat bewildered.

"Sorry, Your Majesty! I'm rather poor. I saw that the prize money was quite generous, so I entered. I didn't expect to accidentally win the championship. The champion's prize money will still be paid out, right?"

"Well... it can be paid, but the country is already..."

The old king wanted to pay the prize money too, but with the country about to be destroyed, no amount of money would matter anymore.

Qi Yan chuckled. "That's simple. Can't we just kill it?"