Chapter 309-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
The watery silhouette vanished from the spot. An instant later, two streaks of wind tore out of the graveyard one after the other, sweeping over the streets before finally halting in the leveled city center. Shattered rubble bounced off the ground and settled again.
Ye Zheng turned around and studied the Percy hot on her heels. "In less than two weeks, you've become fast enough to keep up with me."
Percy said nothing. His pupils were contracted to pinpoints with laser focus. His movements were far quicker than before—dragging the massive sword, he blinked into existence before Ye Zheng in an instant—
Ye Zheng tilted her head back. The blade's gleam stung her eyes. The very moment the sword was about to graze her hair, her entire body dispersed like water!
Percy stumbled through the curtain of water, caught completely off guard. Not a single droplet landed on him—not even his hem was damp.
Clang. Percy braced himself on the sword and spun around. There stood Ye Zheng, her smile an inescapable nightmare, perfectly intact behind him.
"You—this kind of power shouldn't exist in this dimension."
"You even know the word 'dimension' now?"
Ye Zheng was in no hurry to strike. Like a conscientious villain, she gave Percy ample time to react. She paced leisurely around him, her eyes drifting now and then to the Holy Sword fused with his body.
"What else did he tell you?"
"Did he mention a title called King of the Demonic Dom—"
Her gentle words cut off mid-syllable. In a heartbeat, the sword tip pressed against Ye Zheng's chest. The composure was still on her face, but her eyes widened involuntarily.
The searing impact numbed all pain. Time stretched infinitely. She felt the destructive force pierce her armor, inching through flesh, moments from her beating heart.
This speed was beyond her predictions. She hadn't detected his trajectory at all.
She lifted her gaze—and met Percy's own stunned expression.
As if he, too, had no idea how he'd done it.
Water-sheathed hands gripped the blade. Veins stood out on her forearms as she fought to halt its advance. Ye Zheng held her breath, stepped back, and drew the bloodied tip from her chest.
The blood on her white robe was starkly vivid. [Stream] stanched the bleeding at once, though her breathing had grown heavier.
[He teleported right in front of you! My recordings show it plain as day—his movement was like a frame cut from surveillance footage...]
System's voice was urgent.
"Ah."
Ye Zheng pressed a hand to her chest, her complexion paler. "I see."
Her deep gaze swept past Percy's bewildered face and fixed on the golden-glowing sword.
"Have you already taken control of the Main System?"
Percy frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"It's fine. At least now I know where you are."
Ye Zheng's voice trailed off in its habitual smile. Her pitch-dark eyes held none.
That last strike had felt like divine intervention. Yet gazing at Ye Zheng, Percy felt a prickle of unease. Her cryptic words deepened his confusion. The part of his body fused with the sword seemed to be overheating; a wave of dizziness washed over him.
With each breath, a pleasant coolness seeped in, drawing the fever from his body. Percy's expression softened into something dazed; even his mood eased on its own...
"Ugh!"
He suddenly clapped a hand over his nose and mouth, staring at Ye Zheng in disbelief.
Water vapor hung in the air. The cool killing intent wrapped around him, finding every crack.
He immediately armored his entire body in metal—but it was already too late.
Percy's face twitched. His blood was boiling, the moisture being siphoned from his body drop by drop. Heat blazed from the inside out. His vision darkened.
Ye Zheng didn't merely command water—she commanded every state of water.
She no longer needed rain or fog. A casual gesture could summon a downpour from a clear sky—just like the cataclysmic flood before.
Whether it was a world-drowning flood, a torrential downpour, or the finest mist—Ye Zheng wielded them all at will.
If Sykes had once represented the apex of human ability, then Ye Zheng had broken through that ceiling, approaching something of a higher dimension entirely!
Recognizing this, Percy made an almost instantaneous decision. He raised his left arm—now fused into a long sword—and turned the blade on his own heart.
Activate [Death Rewind]. Get away from Ye Zheng!
He could now fully metallize his body, sealing out every avenue of external attack. One more try, and Ye Zheng would have absolutely no way in!
"Do you really think this is a good hiding place?"
Ye Zheng stood at a measured distance, her voice drifting to Percy's ears. But he couldn't parse her meaning, nor did he have the capacity to analyze it.
Cold mist glinted with faint light. Several supple threads of water coiled around the silver metal arm. Percy's hand was wrenched upward. He thrashed; serrated edges rose along the bound arm, severing the water threads—only for them to reform and tighten again, instantly.
The more he struggled, the tighter they wound. His right hand, fused with the Holy Sword, was also ensnared. The water threads cunningly wrapped around the point of fusion, their relentless pull holding him in check.
Percy hung there in that humiliating posture and gave up struggling. His bangs fell over half his face.
"Don't waste your [Death Rewind] so carelessly. It's an incredibly precious ability."
Ye Zheng still stood at a distance as she spoke, her expression gentle, her movements utterly cautious—not the slightest intention of coming closer.
"You've already driven me to the brink. If I don't use it now, I'll never get another chance."
Percy's face was drained of all color. He moved his cracked lips with effort.
"You're deliberately stalling, aren't you? Dragging it out until the moment my rewind can't save me."
[Death Rewind] was his ultimate trump card. He could defy death—but if a second death came within too short a span, [Death Rewind] couldn't save him either.
Ye Zheng regarded him with perfect composure.
"At your current level, your [Death Rewind] can take you back... ten minutes at most?"
"Then I'm sorry—the moment you set foot in the East District, you were already beyond escape."
At this, Percy let his head droop as if all strength had left him, but the eyes beneath his lowered lids blazed brighter than ever.
—No. Ye Zheng was bluffing! If she truly didn't fear his [Death Rewind], she wouldn't resort to something as slow as dehydration to kill him.
Somewhere within the window he could rewind to, there existed a moment that posed a real threat to Ye Zheng!
Percy seized on the flash of insight. Yes—that moment.
When his Holy Sword had suddenly pierced Ye Zheng's chest. He'd been too shocked, his hand had faltered, and that hesitation gave Ye Zheng the breathing room she needed.
Percy's facial muscles twitched involuntarily, as if enduring excruciating agony. His suspended hands trembled faintly.
He gritted his teeth. If only he could rewind to that moment—
"If only you could rewind to that moment, you'd indeed have a chance to kill me."
"Too bad. You can't go back anymore."
Ye Zheng's soft sigh seemed to come from right beside his ear. Percy's pupils dilated in silence. A bone-drilling pain flared in his chest—then vanished.
"Your metal was growing inward."
"Unpleasant, wasn't it? I've healed it for you."
Percy had retracted his surface spikes and directed the metal coating to grow inward like barbs, carefully edging toward his vital point.
A portion of [Stream] was already inside Percy's body. How could Ye Zheng not know? She had been guarding against exactly this method of triggering [Death Rewind] from the start.
"Ye Zheng!"
Percy jerked his head up. He gripped the Holy Sword tighter. Time was slipping away, second by second. His last calculated window for activating the rewind was passing him by.
He hadn't yet unleashed the Holy Sword's true power. He hadn't yet fulfilled his glorious mission. How could he fall here?
The two locked eyes across the distance. Then, at a certain instant, something shifted subtly in Percy's expression. His blue eyes turned almost ashen.
Time was up.
Percy had irreversibly lost his chance to reach that critical moment.
Ye Zheng stepped forward, arms crossed over her chest. The water threads, taut as bowstrings, pulled tighter still. Percy cried out in agony.
His metal shell could hold no longer. His original skin—vulnerable, delicate—was exposed.
Water threads climbed his throat, hissing like a serpent's breath. In that instant, Percy saw his own future with perfect clarity. He would die the same way Sykes had.
Ye Zheng took no pleasure in drawn-out killing. Her kills were always clean, swift, and immaculate.
But he couldn't die yet! The Hope God had spoken to him through the Holy Sword itself—only the one who wielded the Holy Sword could stop Ye Zheng and save this dying world!
Percy erupted with strength he'd never known. Metal sheathed his body in an instant, and in one violent burst he tore free of the water threads binding his limbs.
The razor-sharp threads scored a mark across the metal guarding his throat, then quietly snapped.
Yet he was still a step too late. The mist that had invaded his body was impossible to defend against. He felt an unseen, powerful hand close around his heart from within!
The breeze froze in that instant. Ye Zheng's five fingers spread open, then slowly curled shut.
Percy's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. He glared at Ye Zheng's slender fingers as they tightened and relaxed, tightened and relaxed—toying with him.
Then, without warning, her hand clenched into a fist!
Suffocation engulfed Percy. His heart was seized in a merciless grip. His expression went blank. Before the pain could register, every sense turned weightless, adrift—as though he had ceased to exist...
He felt as if he were dying.
"Ye... Zheng..."
Time stretched into an eternity. Percy suspected an age had passed before he opened his eyes again, convinced he'd reached heaven.
But heaven couldn't possibly contain Ye Zheng.
He scrambled to his feet, staring in disbelief at his unharmed body, then looked to Ye Zheng with confusion and wariness.
In the ruined plaza, Ye Zheng stood alone at the center. She tilted her head slightly, her gaze heavy.
As though she were staring through the void at something beyond.
[Warning! Warning!]
Flashing red text flooded her entire field of vision. No matter where she looked, the searing crimson light followed.
[Protagonist death imminent. System auto-correction in progress...]
An unfamiliar mechanical voice echoed through her mind. This was not her System's voice.
She had become the story's villain. Harming the protagonist no longer cost her Action Points for defying her assigned role.
But—did the manga's residual rules still forbid the protagonist from dying?
Ye Zheng's expression froze for a long moment. She rolled her stiff neck and looked toward Percy and the Holy Sword, her gaze seeming to pass through them, reaching into another dimension's world.
Since she had gone from an insignificant female lead to the final villain—
Why couldn't she be the story's protagonist?
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