Combat Round

Run? Running was a certainty. Setting aside Wright for a moment, Cleios was a genuine Three-Winged Sanctuary; I had zero chance of winning. Take a hostage? The only hostage anywhere near me was the receptionist. Leaving aside whether my conscience would allow it, the problem was that the poor girl was already completely catatonic, incapable of even moving. If holding a mobile person hostage was like riding a horse, holding an immobile person hostage was like having the horse ride you—it served no purpose whatsoever except driving up the Red Hats' rage meter. Yaxiu knew this combat round was unavoidable. He was currently behind the front desk, a considerable distance from the stairs; fighting his way through was the only way to carve out an opportunity to escape. So how should he fight? Ordinarily, Yaxiu would have chosen to send his Substitute out to die as a distraction to draw enemy attention... Except his Substitute should still be with Lisi... After a brief silence, Yaxiu suddenly threw his hands in the air, stood up, and took the initiative to walk toward the Red Hats. “I surrender.” “No surrendering!” Wright and Cleios bellowed in unison. The Red Hats leveled their firearms at Yaxiu simultaneously. As the tier-zero sorcery faction of the current era, almost every single Red Hat was a gun sorcerer—even if it wasn't their primary discipline, it was their secondary. Yaxiu froze in bewilderment. “I'm not even allowed to surrender? Then why haven't you just gunned me down yet? Are you people savages?” The two Red Hat captains felt utterly helpless as well. Both knew full well what kind of foul play Yaxiu was cooking up, but they truly could not take the lead in breaking the law by shooting a criminal offering surrender. In fact, they hardly dared harm him at all. Unless Yaxiu made an explicit move to resist arrest, even though he was a wanted fugitive, the Book of Gospel would rule that whoever struck first had committed intentional assault. Civilization was the shackle on violence. The more civilized the nation, the more circumspect the use of force. In the Blood Moon Country, one might still get away with bending the rules in secret, but the greatest power of the Gospel Country was that oversight was omnipresent, ceaseless, and absolute. As long as the Red Hats wanted to retain their positions on the rankings, they wouldn't dare be the ones to break the law. Cleios signaled one of the Red Hats to go over and slap manacles on Yaxiu, her bloodshot eyes glaring at him. “Keep your hands raised high. If you make even the slightest suspicious move, we will aim for vitals. Act recklessly and you die.” “I'm just a measly Two-Winged Sorcerer. How could I ever dare act out in front of Sanctuary Sorcerers?” Yaxiu shrugged, waiting obediently for the Red Hat to step forward and restrain him. Yet the moment the Red Hat reached him, Yaxiu's black robe abruptly split down the middle—he had sliced open his own clothes with Heart Sword! Bang! Bang! “Eyes closed!” Even as Wright roared, Yaxiu dodged toward the gaming pods. Because he had deliberately waited until the Red Hat was right in front of him before baring his fangs, a slight shift of his body placed him directly behind the officer. None of the others dared risk shooting their comrade to make a precision shot, sending every bullet into the floor. All the Red Hats immediately shut their eyes and scattered in all directions. However, several of them trained their gun muzzles squarely on the stairwell and the windows. The last trace of wishful thinking vanished from Yaxiu's mind. He scurried into the aisle between the rows of gaming pods, feeling a twinge of regret— Almost every single Red Hat had dodged the terror effect of his Fiend Trench Coat! The instant he sliced open his black robe, every one of them closed their eyes, avoiding any direct sight of his fiendish appearance! In hindsight, it made complete sense. The Art Board displayed his reward for all to see, and Yaxiu had already used the Fiend Trench Coat in Azula to scare off two operational specialists from Family Harmony Agency. How could the Red Hats possibly come unprepared? Still, this worked out fine. Since they had blinded their own most critical sense, Yaxiu could escape that much more easily. Despicable as it might be, under the dense cover of the gaming pods, the Red Hats would never dare shoot recklessly. If they harmed an innocent citizen of Fanmula, they could kiss their hats goodbye— And yet— Yaxiu froze. A jolt of sheer terror made his scalp tingle, his cells screaming at him to turn back from the threshold of death. Without time to think, he instantly spat out Honeyed Words and Daggered Heart, driving it straight into the floor. A warm yellow sword barrier materialized in an instant! Sword Body Barrier! Crack! Crack! Crack! Three deafening cracks echoed through the space. Before Yaxiu could see a thing, the Sword Body Barrier shattered into pieces. Then, his abdomen took an impact like the tail whip of a Fishcleaver Dragon. He felt himself go airborne, his stomach bursting like a water pouch, the violent shock wave exploding into a burst of vivid colors that burned away his vision— Crash! His back slammed hard against the cold, unyielding floor. Yaxiu coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam, the icy air he inhaled stabbing into his lungs like daggers. Agony consumed far too much of his mental capacity, leaving only a shred of combat instinct still functioning— That was a ricochet! Yaxiu had been surrounded by gaming pods on all sides; logically speaking, the Red Hats should have had no line of fire. Yet that bullet had bounced twice between the ceiling and the wall, plummeting down at an impossible angle from above. Worse, its momentum hadn't diminished in the slightest. It had not only obliterated his two-winged defensive miracle Sword Body Barrier in an instant, but still carried enough force to pierce his abdomen—no, not pierce. That was a miracle concussive round, engineered to convert all kinetic energy into a wide-area blunt impact, transforming lethal penetration into far more difficult-to-treat shock trauma! Sword Princess had once told him that the gun arts faction generally developed in two directions: either instantaneous lethality—a headshot to ensure the enemy died on the spot—or high-intensity catastrophic destruction, ensuring the enemy could neither defend nor heal. Non-fatal penetrating wounds were actually simple for a sorcerer to mend; the damaged surface area was small, and a quick medical miracle would seal it up. But blunt-force trauma explicitly designed for massive tissue damage could shatter multiple internal organs in a flash, causing a sorcerer's strength to plummet while rendering swift healing virtually impossible. Yaxiu felt as though his intestines had been scrambled into mush, tangled worse than a pair of shoelaces. Several ribs were likely crushed. He was stranded right on the threshold of death, utterly stripped of fighting strength. He wanted to cry. The Red Hats' bullet was so gentle; Yaxiu didn't even have to worry about fighting back anymore, because taking a single breath required every ounce of effort he had. If he still possessed the Reverse Day sorcery spirit Sword Princess had given him, he could heal himself immediately. Too bad he had lost it when answering the quiz wrong in the wooden cabin. Sword Princess... “No need to surrender, and no need to resist. You'll go into shock within ten seconds. We'll wait until you're asleep before carrying you away.” Wright's voice drew closer, accompanied by approaching footsteps. “Don't feel disgruntled either. I am a three-winged gun sorcerer. Even if you were an ascetic sorcerer, if I want you out cold in seconds, you will be out cold in seconds.” Another three-winged sorcerer, and the most violent kind—a gun sorcerer. Add Cleios right beside him, and that meant two Sanctuary Sorcerers coming after him... The first time he was caught, it had been one Sanctuary Sorcerer. The second time, it was two Sanctuary Sorcerers. Yaxiu could only pray this was an arithmetic sequence rather than a geometric progression. Still, there was likely no running this time. Yaxiu would finally have to return to his old profession—as a professional prison evaluator, he was about to deliver a thorough assessment of the Gospel Country's correctional facilities. However, just as Yaxiu barely managed to recover from his concussion, he opened his eyes and saw Igola on the ceiling. The Swindler had lifted one of the ceiling tiles and poked half his head out, looking down at him with an expression as cold and detached as if he were inspecting a slab of pork. Igola pointed to himself, then to the floor, and finally waved at Yaxiu, signaling him to get on his feet at once. Yaxiu didn't actually understand Igola's tactical hand signs, but he grasped his assignment—stand back up as a taunt minion. As long as he stood up, the terror check from the Fiend Trench Coat would remain in effect. The Red Hats wouldn't dare open their eyes easily and would be forced to fight blind! Yet standing up carried an exorbitant risk. Yaxiu was no upstanding citizen; he was a bonafide wanted criminal. If the Red Hats gunned him down now, not only would they face no penalties, they would pocket a hefty bounty! Even so, at this juncture, how could Yaxiu not trust Igola? Forming a sword finger, he activated the Singular Affection sorcery spirit, converting every shred of agony, terror, and battle lust in his heart entirely into joy. Then, channeling the Emotion Sword sorcery spirit, he condensed a blade of 'Joy Sword' and plunged it straight into his abdomen! Miracle: Singular Devotion — Joy Sword! A soothing warmth spread outward from his abdomen to nourish his entire body as delight saturated him from outside in. To his pleasant surprise, Yaxiu found that his pain was also suppressed by Joy Sword. At the very least, it no longer monopolized his mental faculties, allowing the gears of his body to grind forward once more. Though the pain would almost certainly return with a vengeance once Joy Sword wore off, it would hold out long enough for him to carry out his tactical assignment! “Hmph!” Using the gaming pod for support, Yaxiu hauled himself upright just as Cleios appeared in the aisle. With a muffled grunt, he summoned Heart Sword and launched it at the Sanctuary Sorcerer! “Confirmed: Yaxiu Heath is actively resisting arrest.” Even with her eyes closed, Cleios casually shot Heart Sword out of the air. “Lethal force authorization unlocked!” Thud! The entire floor shuddered. Beneath the feet of the Red Hats, a massive eerie-green magic array suddenly manifested. Wisps of ghostly green smoke drifted into their bodies, reacting rapidly with their souls. Even with their eyes shut tight, the Red Hats could vividly picture a deserted street in the pouring rain on a pitch-black night. Their garments grew drenched as biting winds whipped against their skin with stinging cold. Despondency, sorrow, self-pity, terror, and chill—a torrent of negative emotions surged into their hearts. Even Cleios and Wright trembled slightly under the onslaught. On the floor directly below the Red Hats, a coffin hung inverted from the ceiling. Several glowing green chains snaking out from the coffin bound tightly to the ceiling, eight chains perfectly outlining an octagonal magic array. Harvey lay on the floor below, gazing up at the coffin with hands clasped in prayer. Miracle: Immortal Coffin, Cold Rainy Night! Using the necromancy faction to simulate the effects of illusion and mind magic, flooding the enemies with negative energy to plunge them into hallucinations! During the few breaths the Red Hats spent disoriented, Igola dropped down, pulled Yaxiu out of the line of fire, and hollered at the top of his lungs, “I'm about to unleash Mind Shriek! Any ordinary person who hears it directly, even beyond ten meters, will drop dead on the spot! Three, two, one!” The Red Hats breaking free of the negative energy went pale with horror. With a Mind Shriek imminent, they had no time to gun down the culprit, Igola! Yaxiu had been wondering why Igola had suddenly picked up the terrible habit of announcing his ultimate attack beforehand. But just before Igola unleashed his silent shriek, the Red Hats raised their firearms and shot across the floor, ceiling, and walls of the gaming lounge, casting earth miracles at range to erect temporary soundproof partitions all around them! The moment Igola released his silent shriek, a petite blue figure vaulted over the exterior wall and onto the gaming floor—Banjie Doran. The Funeral Agency's most explosive ice gun sorcerer. Before the young butler stood a cluster of Red Hats with their backs turned directly toward him. The Twin Frostcurse Guns emptied both magazines within a single second, sixty-two miracle bullets raining down upon the law enforcers like a tempest. Upon impact, these bullets would siphon the enemies' blood to sprout razor-sharp frost blossoms, dealing secondary damage and freezing death into brilliant, crystalline works of art! The flawless marriage of gunplay and frost arts, where lethal efficiency and breathtaking splendor complemented each other perfectly! Miracle: Blossom and Freeze!