Qingxiao paused midstep in the air and glanced down at the sprawling urban expanse of Tokyo beneath his feet.
Buildings lay in ruins, streets fractured, the entire city looking as though it had been crumpled up and carelessly discarded inside the barrier.
His spawn point was hundreds of meters up in the sky.
Wind whipped his clothes with a sharp flapping sound, and the sensation of weightlessness rushed over him, wrapped in the Cursed Energy surrounding his body.
Yet Qingxiao did not even frown. He activated no Cursed Technique to cushion his fall, simply letting his body plummet.
In the vertical landing posture of a powerhouse, he hurtled toward the broadest main road below.
A king descended from the sky, landing with a resounding crash.
"BOOM!!"
The tremendous crash set every shard of broken glass along the street humming.
The concrete road exploded on impact, spiderweb cracks spreading in an instant.
Before the dust had fully settled, a golden blur shot over from the side with a whoosh.
The palm-sized Gold Beetle Cursed Spirit circled Qingxiao three times, his wing cases clicking with undisguised excitement:
"Holy shit! A badass dropped out of the sky! You made a crater that big right off the bat. Now that's what I'm talking about!"
Gold Beetle rubbed his two slender forelegs together and eagerly drew closer:
"I'm this barrier's supervisor. I was supposed to read you the rules... eh, you don't look like a beginner anyway.
"So, when are you planning to start killing?"
"No need to read them." Qingxiao waved a hand and stepped out of the crater, looking deeper into the city.
"I know all the rules. Just come tell me when I've killed my way to a hundred points."
That only got Gold Beetle even more hyped. He fluttered along beside