Restriction X Totality X Evolution
Dodge knelt on the charred ruins, half his body nearly burned through.
Blood gushed from the bite wound on his neck, staining half his shoulder red.
An ordinary person would have passed out from such injuries long ago, but his eyes were still open.
There was no fear in those cloudy eyes, only a calm that came after burning to the very limit.
"The day I became the boss, I knew this day might come."
His throat was damaged, and every word came out with a ragged hiss.
"But I didn't expect... it to come so soon."
Dodge raised the hand he could still move and slowly placed it on the ground in front of his knees.
"But... I won't just sit here and wait to die."
Jiang Ye watched him, his pupils narrowing slightly.
Something was wrong.
Incredibly, unmistakably wrong!
"I will..."
Dodge's voice rose sharply, his last breath like gunpowder set alight.
"I'll kill you before I die!"
"Child of the Earth!"
The instant the words left his mouth, the aura around him erupted without warning.
The aura that had nearly run dry seemed to be forcibly drawn from beneath the earth by something.
An endless stream of earthy yellow aura poured into Dodge's body from the ground beneath his knees, like a flood filling a parched riverbed.
The aura seeped into his wounds and bones, filling his nearly extinguished aura nodes.
It visibly repaired some of his flesh wounds, filling his half-ruined body with an unnatural vitality once more.
At the same time, every aura node in Dodge's body swelled to its limit, like a spring wound as tight as it would go.
He no longer conserved or controlled his aura, pouring all of it into his vital functions.
His body was operating beyond its limits.
A Restriction!
A Restriction that traded his life for one last burst of power!
Jiang Ye recognized it at a glance.
People who climbed their way up in a place like Meteor City all had, to some degree, the resolve to take their enemies down with them.
As the boss of the Rust Bone Gang, Dodge had trained for years and had long known that a day would come when he would need to trade his life for another.
"Earth's Favor!"
Dodge slammed his left palm into the ground.
The earth within several dozen meters shook violently as soil and stone surged.
His damaged earthen armor reformed, denser and heavier than before, like a layer of mobile armor.
Jiang Ye felt the pressure bearing down on him, and his expression grew serious.
He recalled Rabbit Escape.
His hands quickly overlapped, four fingers spread and thumbs raised, forming the shadow of a wolf's head between his palms.
"Black Divine Dogs!"
A giant dog, black as ink, leaped out of the shadows and landed beside the White Divine Dog.
Both Divine Dogs lowered their bodies, their four eyes fixed on the earthy yellow tower of a man ahead.
The black and white dogs were together at last!
Their fighting spirit burst into the air.
"You're so badly injured, yet you can still force yourself into this state."
A smile touched Jiang Ye's lips.
"As expected of a boss who made it in Meteor City."
He reached his right hand into the shadow space.
His fingertips touched a cold metal cylinder, and he pulled it out.
"What a pity."
He pulled the pin.
"There's something you didn't consider."
Dodge frowned and asked instinctively, "What?"
Jiang Ye didn't answer.
After counting two seconds in his head, he snapped his right arm forward and threw the grenade low along the ground, as if pitching a baseball.
The grenade rolled across the rubble-strewn ground and slid precisely to Dodge's feet.
Dodge's pupils contracted sharply when he saw it.
Boom...!
The fiery blast swallowed Dodge's lower body.
Rubble and dust flew, the shock wave tearing up great swaths of ground and sending countless leaves falling to the earth.
When the dust cleared enough to see, Dodge's earthen armor had cracked and shattered, fragments scattering everywhere.
He staggered back two steps, steadied himself, and looked up at Jiang Ye, his charred face full of disbelief and anger.
"You're despicable!"
Jiang Ye shrugged.
"Wouldn't I be an idiot not to use a weapon when I have one?"
He took two steps forward, looking Dodge up and down.
"Besides, you've already used a Restriction, and you want to talk to me about fairness?"
"So you can do as you please, but I can't?"
Dodge didn't understand the last part, but he heard the mockery in Jiang Ye's tone loud and clear.
Gritting his teeth, he poured his aura into the ground again.
An endless stream of earthen power surged up, repairing his shattered armor.
Then he pressed his palms together and slammed them against the ground.
"Earth Spear!"
Dozens of earthen spikes shot from the ground, stabbing at Jiang Ye from every direction like sharp stone cones.
But Jiang Ye was clearly faster.
The instant Dodge struck the ground, he had stepped into a shadow, sinking into the earth like water.
The spikes pierced the afterimage he left behind and embedded themselves in a broken wall behind him.
Dodge didn't pause. Instead, he reacted even faster.
He charged forward, each step leaving a deep pit in the ground.
He had become a perpetual motion machine, the power of the earth pouring endlessly into his body and forcing it to keep going when it should have collapsed at any moment.
But he knew this state wouldn't last long.
The price of the Restriction was his life. Every extra minute he endured was one less minute he had to live.
He had to kill Jiang Ye before he died!
Jiang Ye saw through it too.
He's burning his life away.
As long as I stall..., he'll die.
He rose from the ground again and sent the Black Divine Dog and the White Divine Dog to flank Dodge.
The two Divine Dogs took turns lunging and biting at incredible speed, each swipe of their claws carrying vibrations of shadow Nen that tore fragments from the earthen armor.
Jiang Ye maneuvered in the shadows, sending shadow bindings out from different directions to coil around Dodge's ankles and trip him while the Divine Dogs held his attention.
At first, the tactic caught Dodge off guard.
The two invisible giant dogs attacked him from front and back while shadows constantly tangled around his feet. Like a beast caught in a swamp, the more he struggled, the more helpless he became.
But Dodge quickly caught on.
He knew he was being stalled.
If this continued, Jiang Ye would wear him down until he died on the ground, without even getting close enough to touch the hem of his opponent's clothes.
At the thought, a trace of ruthlessness flashed across the uninjured half of his face.
He immediately slammed his right palm into the ground, unleashing Earth Spear over a wider area than before, but his target was the White Divine Dog.
Countless earthen spikes shot toward the White Divine Dog, forcing it to dodge and retreat.
The instant the White Divine Dog was driven back, Dodge suddenly turned.
His real target had been Jiang Ye all along!
A sharp earthen spike flew from his palm like a javelin, shooting low over the ground toward Jiang Ye's chest.
It was too fast, its angle too tricky.
Jiang Ye's pupils contracted. He had only halfway stepped into the shadow and hadn't had time to sink all the way in when a white figure moved faster than he did.
The White Divine Dog charged in from the side, placing its body in the spike's path.
Pfft!
The earthen spike pierced the White Divine Dog's body.
The giant white dog let out a low whimper, its body instantly sagging.
The strike had pierced its chest, dealing a devastating blow!
The next second, the White Divine Dog's body began to rapidly break apart and dissipate into the air, like snowflakes scattered by the wind.
Dodge panted heavily as he watched the white light fade, a savage smile twisting his lips.
"I've killed one of your Nen beasts."
He pushed himself up from the ground, each step cracking the earth.
"Are you sad?"
He walked forward two steps, rock armor reforming over his exposed wounds.
"Don't worry, you'll soon..."
His next words came to an abrupt halt.
There wasn't a trace of grief on Jiang Ye's face.
The twelve-year-old boy simply stood there with his head lowered, the corners of his mouth slowly curving upward.
"Sad?"
Jiang Ye raised his head and looked at Dodge, his voice calm and light.
"Why would I be sad?"
At those words, Dodge couldn't help frowning.
Jiang Ye opened his right hand and pointed at the ground.
There, the white motes left behind after the White Divine Dog dissipated had not vanished.
As if drawn by some force, they streamed into the Black Divine Dog beside them, strand by strand.
The next moment, the Black Divine Dog began to grow, its fur changing from pure black to an interwoven black and white, while two overlapping marks appeared on its forehead.
Its shoulder height, already that of an adult male lion, doubled, and its limbs grew as thick as iron pillars. When its claws extended, they tore through the air with a shrill whistle.
Jiang Ye stood beside the Black Divine Dog, looking at Dodge with the faintest hint of a smile.
"Next, you'll be facing..."
"The evolved form of the black and white Divine Dogs."
As he spoke, his smile widened involuntarily.
"Divine Dog: Totality!"
This was also one of the abilities of the Ten Shadows Technique.
An extended application of Totality!
It temporarily joined two Shikigami into a composite form, retaining all the abilities of both before automatically separating them after use.
The destruction of the fused form would not cause the permanent loss of the Shikigami.
This form of the black and white Divine Dogs was especially unique, originating from the inheritance of power after a Shikigami's destruction.
Once the White Divine Dog was completely destroyed, all its Cursed Energy, abilities, and markings would flow into the Black Divine Dog, triggering an extraordinary evolved form in one go.
Divine Dog: Totality!
It combined all the core abilities of the black and white Divine Dogs in one body.
An extraordinary sense of smell for Nen, high-speed mobility and close combat, shadow symbiosis, damage sharing, and Nen beast devouring!
Besides those, it also had exclusive enhancements.
Doubled attributes, armor-breaking attacks, the combined technique power of dual markings, and suppression through its enormous size!
More importantly, under the form's rules, summoning Divine Dog: Totality occupied only one Shikigami slot.
That meant Jiang Ye could still summon Rabbit Escape!
Now, standing before Dodge was a giant mastiff nearly two meters tall at the shoulder.
Its black-and-white fur bristled like steel, and the dual markings on its forehead glowed faintly in the darkness.
Its breathing rumbled like muffled thunder, and its forepaw plowed three deep furrows into the ground.
Jiang Ye formed a hand shadow, and the shadow beneath his feet began taking the shape of Rabbit Escape.
"Now, we're playing on my turf."
Divine Dog: Totality charged forward.
Its massive body burst into motion at a terrifying speed that belied its size, cracking the ground in a spiderweb pattern as it swung a claw at Dodge.
Bang!
With a thunderous crash, most of Dodge's newly reformed earthen armor shattered on the spot!
The force sent Dodge staggering a full three steps backward.
At that moment, genuine horror finally appeared in his eyes.