The Sanctuary was too far away; Sword Body Barrier had a casting delay; deploying wings of void to fly and intercept was also too late...
In a flash, countless thoughts crossed Yaxiu's mind, but not one could match the speed of a sniper bullet. In the brief pause of his thought, the memory of Weixi's wings of void being snapped by the mysterious chains surfaced in his mind, and Weixi's voice echoed in his ear: *“She is just an illusion.”*
*She is just an illusion... I am just a false, illusory memory...*
Silently flowing sorcery power surged violently. The transparent Sanctuary expanded rapidly as the fully armed sorcerer sought to defy enigmatic destiny. Yet Yaxiu, who was already running out of time, found the distance an impassable chasm after a single moment of hesitation—
*Crack!*
Half of a bamboo sword flew into the air. Feili tumbled onto her backside, a shallow streak of blood across her cheek. Yet she only stared blankly at her broken bamboo sword—snapped from deflecting the bullet—as if she had not quite registered what had just happened.
Feeling the expansion of the Sanctuary, Weixi glanced at Yaxiu but said nothing. She charged forward silently to intercept the legion monsters pouring out of the alley, while Niya moved to block the pursuers behind them. Yaxiu swiftly pulled Feili to her feet.
Only then did Feili realize what she had done. She yelled excitedly, "Did you see that, Yaxiu?! I just deflected a bulle—"
The next second, Yaxiu pulled Feili into an embrace. He let out a long breath. "Thank goodness you're..."
The sudden hug left the little lamb's mind completely blank. Yaxiu's body was very warm; continuous combat had raised his body temperature, and his breath blew against her hair like a warm breeze. The tight embrace of his arms and his firm chest evoked the vividly realistic sensations from her dreams, making her, already lightly perspiring, suddenly yearn for a bath.
"I..." she stammered incoherently, "my bamboo sword broke..."
"Use this for now." Yaxiu let go of her and shoved a Fox Lamp Sword into her hand—one advantage of dual swords was having a spare. "Stay between us. You might not be so lucky next time."
"It wasn't luck! My swordsmanship is good enough to defend myself now!" Feili protested.
Yaxiu had indeed seen Feili make a parrying motion, which proved her sword technique was genuinely at the gold rank—probably because her true self was also a sword sorcerer. The problem was that she had virtually no real combat experience. Meanwhile, Yaxiu and Weixi had survived countless battlefields, where slicing bullets out of the air was routine. Niya, as a serial killer, had lived through innumerable shootouts and possessed abundant experience. Naturally, the three of them were far better equipped to counter the sniper.
"Still, you can't hold your own yet," Yaxiu said seriously. "Get in the middle first."
"Okay." Feili was timid by nature. Faced with Yaxiu's insistence, the courage she had mustered to prove herself was instantly squelched, and she meekly hid among them.
"How did you get here? Weren't communications across the whole city scrambled when the golden rain started?"
"Earlier, Sister Weixi messaged me saying you two were shopping nearby and told me to come over for dinner. So as soon as the golden rain started, I hurried over..."
Yaxiu shot Weixi a glare. He knew this person had not given up on her wicked schemes—first inviting Feili over for dinner, then booking a room to shove them in, and probably scheming to join in and train Feili once her period ended in a few days...
She had almost pulled it off!
"How did you deal with these monsters?" Yaxiu asked as they moved.
"Took back alleys and side streets. If I really couldn't run, I fought through," Feili replied proudly. "The alleys have complex terrain, and I know how to use dumpsters, bricks, and paving stones. None of them could catch me!"
Seriously? Were the Six Nations Legions really that easy to deal with?
Yaxiu and the others exchanged glances. After a moment's thought, Weixi said, "It's probably because those of us fighting back fiercely draw massive attention. Someone like Feili, who only focuses on running, naturally faces fewer pursuers."
Regardless, successfully reuniting with Feili was already a victory. Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief. "It's good that you're unhurt."
"Sorry to make you worry," Feili said in a small voice.
"Small mall ahead!" Weixi shouted. "Let's push inside to buy time for demon transformation! Yaxiu, are you doing it, or me?"
"I'll do it!" Yaxiu said immediately. "Your Sorcery Spirit Transformation causes too much commotion. If we scare the sniper away, we'll be in trouble! I'll slip over silently in Observer Mode and take him out!"
Now that they had reunited with Feili, the Six Nations Legions were no longer a problem. Their objective immediately shifted to expanding their gains—hunting other hunters.
Especially this troublesome sniper. He had already seen Yaxiu and the others' faces; if they failed to eliminate him, Yaxiu and his companions would have to abandon their identities and go into hiding. Otherwise, they would be waiting for a demon to show up at their doorstep in the middle of the night!
Bursting into the small mall, Weixi and Niya held the entrance to block the legion, while Yaxiu clasped Feili's hand to initiate the soul contact between demon and sorcerer—
"Hey!" Weixi suddenly interrupted them. "What are you doing?!"
Yaxiu and Feili looked down and found that they were both leaning toward the holy grail, their lips almost touching the rainbow nectar. They hastily pulled back. This time Yaxiu was cautious, having a sorcery spirit assist in controlling his body before attempting soul contact again.
Yet Weixi stopped them once more. While Yaxiu managed to restrain himself, Feili still tried to drink from the holy grail.
By now, Yaxiu had realized the truth. "We can't complete the demon transformation... Demon transformation requires soul permeation between demon and sorcerer. But during that process, our souls temporarily detach, leaving us unable to control our bodies—so Feili involuntarily tries to drink from the holy grail..."
From the very beginning, the rainbow nectar was an irresistible temptation for everyone. Yaxiu, Feili, and Niya had barely managed to resist it with all their might. But demon transformation required Yaxiu and Feili to open their minds for soul contact; in that state, their bodies were like unsupervised, ravenous beasts, desperate to drink the holy grail's rainbow nectar!
Yaxiu could still resort to tricks like using a sorcery spirit to influence his body, but Feili didn't have any sorcery spirits!
"Try again," Weixi said.
On their third attempt, Weixi directly clamped her hand over Feili's mouth. But the holy grail phased right through her palm, pouring the nectar straight into Feili's mouth—as long as they wanted to drink, nothing could stop them from drinking from the holy grail!
"No wonder the city has been so quiet," Weixi said in realization. "I knew it was impossible for every demon out there to be without a sorcerer."
If a demon didn't drink the rainbow nectar, they couldn't forge a combat contract with a sorcerer. But if a demon did drink the rainbow nectar, they would instantly fall asleep and drop out of the battle!
The Prime Angel had figured out the demons' inner workings from the very first Angel Hunt, tailoring a direct counter for the second!
Yaxiu and the others were dumbfounded. After all the trouble to reunite with their demon, they still couldn't unleash a slaughter?
"If drinking from the holy grail is unavoidable," Niya said while cutting down monsters, "isn't there a very simple solution?"
***
Inside the Jiashi Museum Library, watching the triple fire doors buckle under the massive dents smashed by corpse wolves, Igola realized the library had exhausted its last shred of usefulness. He slipped directly into the ventilation duct to escape, leaving the monsters that broke through the fire doors to howl in futile rage outside the narrow opening.
Kicking off the vent cover, Igola leaped from the library's second floor onto the lawn. Before the monsters could rush him, he hopped onto a nearby electric scooter and sped off.
Passing an intersection, he saw a nearby bank also swarming with legion monsters. At that moment, a manhole cover on the ground was pushed aside, and a white-haired hulk and a gothic-dressed girl with pinkish-purple hair climbed out.
"Oh? What a coincidence, Igola! Wait for us, we want on too!"
"No room!" Igola swerved immediately and took off, completely ignoring Yinzhi's shouts behind him.
It was like that old joke: when being chased by a bear, you don't need to run faster than the bear; you just need to run faster than your companion.
Soon, however, the white-haired hulk pedaled a bicycle at furious speed, catching up with Yinzhi in tow. Igola glanced at the white-haired brute. "So this is your true appearance, Amilo?"
"Though I am quite satisfied with my humanized appearance, my true form is a beastman," Amilo answered calmly. "'True appearance' is an inaccurate term."
"Igola, why are you here?" Yinzhi crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "You're not a stalker, are you?"
"Yeah, I spotted you long ago and have been surveilling you this whole time."
"Liar! You just came to the library to look up information and see if there are any social mechanisms you could exploit against your competitors." Yinzhi giggled. "Surprised your thoughts were guessed? Because that's what we were thinking too!"
"Didn't expect you to hold out in the library for so long. We happened to be eating out and were passing by the bank when the golden rain started, so we used the vault inside to fend them off for quite a while. Isn't Yinzhi clever?"
Without the deceiver having to ask, Yinzhi spilled information like pouring beans from a jar, appearing even more like a naive, sweet simpleton than Feili. Yet for some reason, Igola grew increasingly wary—it felt like watching a Lalafell trying to be best friends with a sorcerer.
"Igola, what's the plan?" Yinzhi asked with utter familiarity. "They're about to catch up."
Igola checked the rearview mirror. A blood-red dracolich was flying toward them from behind. Even without transcendent traits, the dracolich's sheer physical might was far beyond what a mind sorcerer could withstand.
"Why haven't you undergone demon transformation?"
"We can't," Yinzhi answered. "Otherwise, we would've beaten these ugly freaks to death long ago."
Igola: "Then now is the time for a legendary claw sorcerer to shine."
"Can a mind sorcerer deal with what's ahead?" Amilo asked.
Igola looked up, and his face instantly turned pale.
Legion creatures of every kind covered the hills and dales, swarming forward. The steel jungle of the metropolis could no longer impede their progress; they moved swiftly between high-rises, drowning everything like a tsunami.
"That's the flaw of hiding in one place for too long," Yinzhi remarked leisurely. "All the monsters gather nearby, and the moment we appear, they surround us."
Igola's eyes flickered. "Looks like we have no choice but to split up and each drink from our holy grails—"
Right at that moment, they saw the first rainbow beam of light erupt into the sky, accompanied by the miracle shockwave bursting from the Black Coffin. Igola and Yinzhi exchanged a look; without a word, both deduced the connection between the rainbow beam of light and drinking from the holy grail.
Drinking from the holy grail now might evade the monster legion, but it was still a dead end—one would inevitably become prey for other sorcerers.
"Looks like there's no way out," Yinzhi said mournfully. "We're going to die together. Igola, could you hold me in a moment? I don't want to die in Amilo's arms, he's so ugly."
Amilo shrugged, seemingly accustomed to Yinzhi's appearance discrimination.
Igola was silent for a moment. Seeing the dracolich and the monster horde ahead drawing closer, he finally couldn't help asking, "What's the plan?"
"Simple: demon transformation." Yinzhi snapped her fingers. "As long as we undergo demon transformation, these ugly freaks will all be handled in an instant!"
"But the golden holy grail prevents you from undergoing demon transformation, doesn't it?" Igola said calmly.
"Bingo!" Yinzhi nodded. "Whenever we try demon transformation, we can't resist drinking from the holy grail and almost fall asleep. So with just two people, demon transformation is impossible."
"But with three people, it's a different story." At that point, Amilo hit the brakes, cutting off Igola's electric scooter.
Igola's expression darkened. "Don't tell me you..."
"That's right." Yinzhi held up her holy grail. "Someone just needs to drink my holy grail."
She leaned forward, and Amilo tilted his head back, gulping down every drop of the rainbow nectar. Once Amilo finished it, the golden holy grail turned into a phantasm, slipped from Yinzhi's hand, and quickly dissolved into nothingness.
At the same time, Amilo slumped into a deep sleep, and a rainbow pillar of light surged from him, piercing the sky and cleaving through the golden rain!
Igola stared at the scene blankly. Only when Yinzhi walked over did he snap out of it and ask, "Weren't you afraid...?"
"Afraid you'd kill me? Afraid you'd refuse?" Yinzhi blinked. "But this was a death trap laid for us by the Prime Angel in the first place. Even if I didn't do this, it was certain death. Why not take a gamble?"
"I thought you would make me drink it."
"Would you have agreed?"
"No."
"Actually, even if you agreed, it wouldn't have mattered." Yinzhi shrugged. "I never had any other choice anyway. The only thing I was afraid of was that you, Igola, had no ambition. Only those without ambition are the sole winners at the gambling table."
"What if I don't?"
"If you didn't, you would've already found an opportunity to kill me the last time we met, or you would've been killed by me," Yinzhi smiled. "After all, the only reason someone without ambition is here is to fulfill someone else's."
She lifted her skirt slightly and gave a gentle curtsey, asking gracefully, "Mr. Igola, would you do me the honor of a dance?"
Looking at this pink-and-purple-haired girl—both innocent and calculating, self-absorbed yet undeniably compelling—Igola felt as though he had encountered an apex predator higher up the food chain, or perhaps even higher than that.
The deceiver took Yinzhi's hand, concluding a deal with the demon.
***
Inside the cemetery, Harvey, fleeing along a burial corridor, ran into Tiramisu at a fork in the path. Just like before, Tiramisu was tall, carrying a coffin on her back, with the young boy Yejian perched on her shoulder.
"Hey."
"Hey."
They greeted each other and sprinted down the burial corridor together. After waiting a moment, Tiramisu spoke up: "What a coincidence."
"This is a cemetery, and we're necromancers," Harvey replied. "Not much of a coincidence. It's more of a coincidence that we didn't run into each other earlier."
"Mm."
Another long silence followed. Monsters appeared at the end of the corridor, and the two stopped in their tracks. Harvey turned and asked, "Lady Tiramisu, are you proficient in close-combat sorcery?"
"Just call me Tiramisu."
"Tiramisu, are you proficient in close-combat sorcery?"
Tiramisu shook her head. "I spent several hundred years researching the necromancy school and never studied close combat."
Harvey sighed in admiration. "What a wonderful life. Can't you two undergo demon transformation?"
"No."
"Looks like we can only drink from the holy grails, then." Harvey shrugged.
Tiramisu asked, "Didn't you see the rainbow pillar of light through the skylight just now?"
"I saw it. What about it?" Harvey tilted his head.
Tiramisu didn't explain. She pondered for a moment, then asked, "Are you willing to entrust your life to us?"
"No," Harvey replied. "Only two people could ever make me entrust my life, and you aren't one of them."
Yejian suddenly spoke: "He isn't a blood kin. It won't work."
Tiramisu nodded and turned to the little boy. "Little Yejian, let me drink from the holy grail."
Yejian quietly raised his holy grail and poured it past Tiramisu's blood-red lips. Once Tiramisu slumped into a deep sleep on the ground, Yejian jumped up like a hugging bug and clung to Harvey, looking up at the dark-skinned, curly-haired necromancer. "Become my demon blood kin... temporarily."
Harvey thought for a moment. "I won't attack my friends."
"And if they aren't your friends?"
"Can their corpses be kept intact?"
"Yes."
"Then I have no problem."
The necromancer unstrapped his coffin, making room for the demon.
Chapter 871