Undying

The bond between Yu Xian and Little Nora was called "Big Brother's Responsibility" in golden rope form, and "Big Brother's Competitive Spirit" when in combined form. Big Brother's Responsibility: Its effect was to pull Little Nora to his side anytime, anywhere. After Little Nora underwent atavism into a Victorious True King Bird, this ability evolved to pull all contracted partners to his side anytime, anywhere, completely ignoring spatial distance. Big Brother's Competitive Spirit: Its effect was to replicate Little Nora's abilities at one rank higher than her own—after all, a big brother would never lag behind anyone in his life. After Little Nora underwent atavism into a Victorious True King Bird, this ability was likewise enhanced, allowing him to replicate her abilities at two ranks higher. When it was just one rank higher, the difference had not been particularly obvious, but at two ranks higher, the gap became glaringly distinct. The tiger-man used its hands to parry the Heavenly Golden Feathers, slapping at their flanks to deflect them away from its body. Yet after deflecting only four or five Heavenly Golden Feathers, its palms were already deformed. The Heavenly Golden Feathers flew at tremendous speed and possessed incredible hardness; every slap fractured its bones, and because the feathers came too fast for it to regenerate in time, its hands warped out of shape. Then, due to its mangled palms, its force was uneven when it struck the sixth Heavenly Golden Feather. Instead of deflecting away, the feather spun in place and instantly carved a massive gash across its face, leaving the entire tiger visage savage and horrifying. And that was not the end of it. Even more Heavenly Golden Feathers shot forward. With no time to dodge, the tiger-man could only keep parrying, and wounds rapidly multiplied across its body. The entire sequence was blazingly fast. In basically the blink of an eye, countless Heavenly Golden Feathers fired, the tiger-man frantically parried, and by the time the volley ended, it stood there covered in wounds, several non-vital areas punctured with bloody holes. "Again!" Yu Xian gave the tiger-man no room to breathe. Seamlessly following up his first wave of attacks, he snapped the golden rope in his hand and fired another barrage of Heavenly Golden Feathers. In reality, the first wave of Heavenly Golden Feathers was merely his first flick of the wrist, and this was his second flick, with less than 0.001 seconds between them—much like waving a fan back and forth, where the first wave went out on the forward swing, and the second on the return. The tiger-man reacted swiftly, breaking into a sprint immediately to deny Yu Xian a chance to lock on. Although the second wave of Heavenly Golden Feathers followed hard on the heels of the first, a tiny gap remained between them. With the tiger-man's sudden burst of movement, the second barrage struck empty air, embedding entirely in the black substance behind it. Veering mid-sprint, the tiger-man used a mound of protruding black substance on the floor as a foothold, instantly shifting its angle and hurtling toward Yu Xian. Can't fall into its rhythm again. With a thought from Yu Xian, the golden rope transformed into a whip bristling with Heavenly Golden Feathers. Under his control, it spun like a nimble serpent and thrust toward the tiger-man. Disperse! The moment the tiger-man chose to dodge, the Heavenly Golden Feathers covering the whip abruptly burst outward. In an instant, the tiger-man was riddled with holes from head to toe. Even its head was torn open with a massive crater, obliterating a third of its face. It's over! Seeing this, Yu Xian breathed a small sigh of relief. With most of its brain gone, he refused to believe the creature could survive. Yet right then, black smoke billowed from the tiger-man's entire body, and it rose back to its feet inch by inch as the surrounding black substance flowed sluggishly into its wounds, reconstructing the missing flesh. "Niman, what's going on here?" Yu Xian asked with a slight frown. Niman had not expected the tiger-man to survive under such conditions either. A possibility occurred to her: could this tiger-man be no ordinary mob, but an entity akin to an Abyss Praiser? "An Abyss Praiser?" Yu Xian voiced her thought before she could speak. Niman said gravely, "Be careful. It might be something similar. If we truly can't handle it, we'll fall back to the Aska, lure it inside, and let Muse deal with it." No monster encountered in the Abyss was cause for surprise—Abyss Praisers, Abyssal Nesters, Abyssal Combusters, and far too many others. Coming across an Abyssal tiger-man now was perfectly normal. Yu Xian did not slack off while talking with Niman; as they conversed, he rapidly cracked the golden whip, continually releasing dense swarms of Heavenly Golden Feathers. Though the tiger-man's immortality was bizarre, it had essentially lost all ability to fight back. Every time its body regenerated, it was instantly pierced through by the barrage of Heavenly Golden Feathers. Regeneration took time, so once Yu Xian ramped up his attack frequency, the creature was essentially pinned to the spot, entirely unable to move. Yet keeping this up indefinitely was no solution either. Using the Power of True Self barely drained Yu Xian at all, functioning just like Little Nora conjuring food out of thin air. But he could not stay locked in a stalemate with the tiger-man forever—what if other monsters showed up? "It looks like it just won't die at all," Little Nora could not help remarking as she watched nearly ninety percent of the tiger-man's tissues shredded away by Heavenly Golden Feathers, only for the creature to regenerate all over again. Nora spoke up then. "Yu Xian, why don't I give it a try?" Her gun, World, possessed even greater offensive power; perhaps a single shot could obliterate the tiger-man. Yu Xian tried a few more times without success, so he nodded. "All right, swap!" In an instant, Nora took over and fired straight at the tiger-man's head. The creature had just regenerated and had no time to dodge; its head exploded on the spot. Yet right after, the tiger-man's head regenerated once more, forcing Nora to keep firing. The problem was that the bullets of World required energy to be infused, so it was not without cost. After firing several shots in succession without slaying the beast, Nora frowned. "I can't kill it." "Let me try!" Niman said. In the next moment, the King of the Abyss Battle Armor shifted forms. As Niman took over, she released a vast swarm of black motes of light. These black motes then expanded into colossal mushrooms. Vicious in appearance, they possessed gaping maws lined with teeth like meat grinders. Just as the tiger-man's body reformed, several mushrooms opened their mouths and divided up its flesh, devouring it in the blink of an eye. "Hiss, Sister Niman has such terrifying mushrooms!" Little Nora exclaimed in astonishment. Niman smiled slightly. "These are Star-Devouring Mushrooms, capable of consuming even stars. A mere tiger-headed—" Before she could finish, countless tendrils of black substance coalesced, and the tiger-man's silhouette rapidly took shape. Her smile faded. It seemed this tiger-man was one and the same with the black substance. The trouble was, the entire warship was coated in this black substance, and clearing all of it away would be no easy feat!