Bai Zhu's grin nearly reached his ears.
Sōkatsui!
This was Sōkatsui!
"Ruler of the heavens!"
The blue-white flames in his palm suddenly surged, and Reiatsu crashed wildly through an entirely unfamiliar pathway inside his body. The pain was so sharp he nearly cursed out loud.
Sure enough, this wasn't something he could use by clicking a skill icon.
The complete method for Sōkatsui was like a pile of data packets forcibly crammed into his brain: the incantation, hand signs, Reiatsu compression, release angle... A single mistake at any step could make everything blow up in his face.
Using it for the first time and daring to skip the full incantation?
That wasn't skill. That was stupidity. If he failed to show off and instead fired a dud in front of hundreds of cultists, he'd be embarrassed enough to dig out a three-bedroom apartment in the snow with his toes.
Bai Zhu couldn't afford that humiliation.
"Mask of blood and flesh, myriad things, fluttering wings, you who bear the name of man!"
His fingers began to move, the first hand sign still slightly awkward.
But as soon as he connected the second sign, the rampaging Reiatsu inside him suddenly flowed smoothly.
The flickering flame in his palm instantly stabilized, compressing into a blue-white sphere of light too glaring to look at directly.
The silver-robed bishop's expression changed completely.
"A restriction?"
A black-robed deacon beside him let out a hoarse shriek. "He's activating a Nen Ability!"
"Interrupt him!"
The silver-robed bishop immediately changed his order. "Everyone, rush him! Don't let him finish!"
Bai Zhu nearly laughed.
A Nen Ability?
Fine. If they said it was, then it was.
The ones getting burned to ash wouldn't be him anyway.
Hearing the order, several fanatical believers actually crawled up from the snow and charged Bai Zhu through the smoke and sparks.
Some didn't even have weapons. They simply spread their arms and screamed fanatically:
"For the Lord!"
"The blasphemer must be stopped!"
"Don't let the false god's words defile the holy ground!"
In his earpiece, Milluki's voice was about to explode.
"Bai Zhu! What the hell are you doing?!"
"Chanting."
"I can hear that! Why are you chanting now of all times?! Do you think you're holding a concert?!"
"It's my first time. I need some sense of ceremony. Can't skip the process."
"First time? Don't tell me you're developing a new move in the middle of a fight!"
"Shut up. You made me start over. Ruler of the heavens..."
A believer had already lunged in front of him and reached for his legs.
Bai Zhu shifted his left foot aside and smashed the end of his sheath into the man, knocking him flat onto the ground.
Another guard charged from the side.
Bai Zhu didn't stop his hand signs. He dropped his shoulder and jammed the end of his sword hilt against the man's throat, forcibly shoving him back.
He couldn't stop now.
If the chant was interrupted, all the Reiatsu he had gathered would be wasted.
The silver-robed bishop saw it too. This move needed charging.
And charging meant an opening.
Gritting his teeth, he once again smeared the blood from his fingertips across the emblem atop his silver staff. The ring of Holy Ring Nen patterns behind him unfolded once more.
This time, the beam locked firmly onto Bai Zhu.
"Blasphemer, you are forbidden from reciting the words of a false god!"
Bai Zhu's brow twitched.
Come on, could they at least be reasonable?
His fingers moved faster and faster, while his mouth never stopped.
"Truth and temperance—"
The silver-robed bishop roared like a beast. "Shut up!"
The Holy Ring Nen attack began to contract, its light growing ever more blinding.
The alarms from Milluki's equipment had already become a continuous shriek.
"Bai Zhu! He's locked onto you!"
"Quit pretending! Don't you know how much energy you have left?!"
Bai Zhu really didn't know.
The damned system didn't show him a mana percentage. It didn't even have a basic UI. He had to rely entirely on how it felt.
And right now, he felt like a crappy phone with five percent battery left, forcibly running a high-frame-rate game.
Whether it lagged could wait. He had to fire this shot first.
Meanwhile, the four white-robed deacons were getting anxious too, their pace quickening as they carried the Black Crystal stretcher.
The black cloth over the stretcher bulged more violently, and dense knocking sounds even came from within, as though something inside were desperately trying to crawl out.
Ella leaned against a doorpost, completely limp. One hand clutched her abdomen tightly, while the other pressed against the wound in her palm. Blood continued to drip through her fingers.
Milluki dispatched a Mechanical Spider, which crawled swiftly toward her across the snow.
"Ella! Answer me if you can hear me!"
Ella gritted her teeth, her voice trembling terribly.
"I... I can hear you."
"Don't pass out! If you dare pass out, I'll anesthetize you immediately!"
"That threat... is so weird."
"Enough nonsense! Back up! Don't let that thing get near you!"
Ella instinctively did as he said.
But the moment she moved, the Black Crystal stretcher seemed as though its soul had been hooked. The black cloth suddenly bulged, stretching straight toward her.
Bai Zhu caught the scene from the corner of his eye as his final hand sign finally locked into place!
The flames in his palm had already compressed to their limit!
"Standing upon the wall of dreams that knows no sin, with only your claws!"
At nearly the same moment, the silver-robed bishop's Holy Ring Nen attack blasted out!
Its target was Bai Zhu's chest!
Milluki cursed so hard his voice cracked.
"Dodge!"
Bai Zhu didn't dodge.
He raised his hand, aiming his palm at the writhing Black Crystal stretcher. The last line of his incantation rang out clearly over the wind, snow, explosions, and everyone's screams.
"Hadō Number Thirty-Three—"
The silver-white Nen attack was already right in front of him.
"Sōkatsui!"
An entire pillar of blue-white light poured forth from his palm without restraint!
It wasn't a thin line like White Lightning, but a whole tide of savage, pale flames crushing forward!
The lingering smoke over the snow, broken timber, and burning candle wax were all swallowed by that light in an instant.
The silver-robed bishop's Holy Ring Nen attack had barely struck the edge of Sōkatsui when it became like a pebble tossed into surging lava. It couldn't last even half a second before it was crushed and vaporized!
"What?!"
The silver staff in the bishop's hand shook violently, and several cracks instantly burst across the emblem at its tip.
He didn't even have time to retreat before the torrent of Sōkatsui swept past him and shot directly toward the Black Crystal stretcher.
The expressions of the four white-robed deacons were still frozen somewhere between fanaticism and shock as they carried it.
The flames swept over them.
They were gone.
They didn't even have time to let out a single scream.
White robes, flesh, and bones all vaporized instantly in the blue-white flames, leaving not even a speck of ash behind.
The stretcher crashed heavily onto the ground. The black cloth wrapping it instantly burned through, revealing the true form of the Black Crystal Fragment inside.
It was nothing like a regular crystal. Its surface pulsed and contracted, wrapped in a disgusting layer resembling flesh membrane.
Sōkatsui crashed down upon it!
The Black Crystal let out a piercing shriek!
The sound pierced straight through their eardrums, stabbing pain into Bai Zhu's head. Several of the praying believers nearby immediately clutched their heads and rolled around in the snow.
Thick black smoke rose from the Black Crystal's surface. The fleshy membrane rapidly curled up and charred, filling the air with a pungent stench.
It shook desperately in the flames, seemingly trying to burrow deep into the snow.
But Sōkatsui pinned it down and kept burning.
The thing that White Lightning had only managed to scratch before now looked as though it had been shoved into a steel furnace. Its edges visibly melted and collapsed.
"Holy Stone!"
The silver-robed bishop let out a despairing scream.
"Stop! Stop!"
Bai Zhu didn't answer.
He couldn't.
He could feel the last scraps of Reiatsu in his body being sucked out by Sōkatsui like a pump, leaving not a drop behind.
Hold on for two more seconds.
One second.
Enough.
In the snow, the Black Crystal Fragment suddenly shrank into a ball.
Crack.
A crisp bursting sound rang out.
That deeply unsettling pulsing finally stopped completely.
The black cloth had already turned to ash, and the metal stretcher had broken into several pieces. All that remained on the ground was a charred shard and a puddle of molten iron. The black powder within had been repeatedly licked by blue-white flames until it scattered completely.
The remaining force of Sōkatsui continued onward, burning a massive hole directly through the Church's side wall.
The two guards behind the wall, who had been preparing to circle around for a sneak attack, were so terrified by the sight that they fell onto their backs and scrambled away.
Bai Zhu lowered his wrist, and the flames in his palm cut off instantly.
The next second, his knees gave out, and he nearly dropped to the ground.
He drove the tip of his Zanpakuto heavily into the snow, barely supporting himself and avoiding a perfect face-first collapse in front of the entire audience.
His chest felt tight.
His fingers were numb.
His head buzzed as well.
The feeling of having his Reiatsu completely drained was worse than starving for three days and nights.
Milluki was silent for a full half second on the other end of the earpiece.
Then he exploded.
"Y-you... what the hell was that just now?!"
Bai Zhu took two ragged breaths and forcibly steadied his voice so he wouldn't sound so weak.
"Professional team, professional service. Burning and extermination guaranteed."
"Cut the crap! Your move took so long to charge, but it was useless!"
Milluki cursed fiercely, but in front of the screen, his chubby face was almost pressed against the monitor. His fingers trembled as he repeatedly dragged back the footage he had just recorded.
His whole body was shaking.
That was so cool.
This was what men were supposed to play with.
Bomb mosquitoes, Mechanical Spiders—compared to that blue-white flame that had just pierced heaven and earth, they suddenly seemed far less "romantic."
Milluki took a breath and forcibly suppressed the surge of excitement in his chest.
No.
He absolutely couldn't praise him.
Before you continue