Chapter 313-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
The black dragon plunged into the upward-surging column of water, riding the current into the rift in the sky. Its long tail vanished into the darkness last, and the towering pillar of water gradually fell silent, dissolving into fine droplets of rain.
The edges of the rift pulled unstably—contracting one moment, expanding the next.
But the fighters on the ground had no energy to spare watching the rift. Demonic Domains raced one another to descend, bursting across the sky like fireworks, their pale white flames scattering down to ignite the entire city.
From the distant Holy Journey Knights Order Base to the ruined plaza at the center, nearly everyone was dragged into a Demonic Domain. Viewed from above, the East District was completely blanketed in white light, without a moment's respite.
Bai Muqing stood in the narrow gap between two Demonic Domains, bathed in white light. She stepped out through the opening and turned slightly, sidestepping an expanding dome of white radiance.
"Your companions are all trapped in Demonic Domains. Aren't you going to save them?"
The man watched Bai Muqing from nearby with an air of perfect composure. Having summoned a mass of Demonic Domains and mysterious forces, he wore the look of someone holding all the cards, his expression serene.
"My current objective is you."
Bai Muqing gripped a longsword—one Ye Zheng had just tossed to her. Its usual purpose was to impersonate the legendary Holy Sword; Ye Zheng had kept several more just like it.
Her opponent was unarmed. Lucy and Sierra had interrupted his attempt to retrieve the sword, and now his Holy Sword had vanished into some Demonic Domain.
Yet the man showed no urgency, as though certain that nothing could happen to him even without the Holy Sword.
"What did Ye Zheng tell you—ordered you to come kill me? Ha ha, since when did she become so weak?"
"She knows better than anyone that no one can kill me. It's an unbreakable law."
Bai Muqing's brow darkened slightly. She didn't know what "law" he was referring to, but she could sense it—an extraordinary energy field encircling his body.
An enemy who couldn't be killed?
She refused to believe it!
Even the longest winter eventually yields to spring. Even the darkest night sees the break of dawn. Even gods of legend cannot escape their fall. He might possess some unique trick, but no one could stand undefeated forever.
Her breathing slowed. Bai Muqing's toes shifted ever so slightly.
—Divine Domain, third stage: Boundary Break!
A razor-sharp blade materialized out of thin air. Bai Muqing had instantly teleported behind Wang Tao, slashing at his back. Before he could turn, his Metal Transmutation ability rushed to cover the area.
"—Aagh!"
He was suddenly launched by an enormous force, crashing into the ground some distance away. The cold-gleaming metal dissolved, revealing a back drenched in blood.
Wang Tao exhaled, hissing with pain. That worthless sword of Bai Muqing's was clearly nothing special—so how had it cut through his metal defense to wound him?
In the distance, Bai Muqing stood still with sword in hand, slightly wide-eyed, a trace of surprise in her pale irises.
[Divine Domain]'s Boundary Break could bypass the opponent's metal defense, allowing her blade to strike the vulnerable flesh beneath. The force behind her blow should have been enough to cleave him in two—so why had he simply been flung away?
It was as though some mysterious force had shielded him from the fatal blow. Was this the "law" he and Ye Zheng had spoken of...?
It seemed his narrow escape from Sierra's killing strike hadn't been coincidence either.
Alarm bells shrieked inside her. [Divine Domain] was warning her—if she persisted in attacking this dangerous man, she could very well suffer a backlash from this so-called law.
Bai Muqing took a few probing steps, studying him like a hunter sizing up prey. She used [Divine Domain] to analyze him again and again, yet couldn't grasp the shadow of that mysterious force. A rare flicker of frustration rose within her.
What unsettled her even more was that her [Divine Domain] could no longer sense Ye Zheng—she had lost the ability to assist her.
[Muqing, it's me.]
Ye Zheng's voice suddenly sounded—distant, hazy, slightly distorted, laced with faint static.
"How are things on your end?" Bai Muqing's tone quickened slightly.
[Don't worry about me. Everything's going smoothly. I'll be able to break the power of the law soon.]
[Follow the plan and work with me to kill him.]
Bai Muqing looked up. "Besides his summoning ability, he doesn't seem to pose any other threat. I could come find you instead."
[It's fine—I can handle it. We'll stay in contact.]
[Your Divine Domain is watching over me. It's as good as having you standing right beside me.]
Bai Muqing's lips parted—she wanted to say more, but the static in her ears had gone silent. She understood: Ye Zheng was no longer transmitting.
This hadn't been [Divine Domain]'s telepathy.
That voice didn't quite seem to come from Ye Zheng herself either. It felt like something synthesized—yet the words were undeniably Ye Zheng's.
What on earth lurked inside that rift?
Bai Muqing lowered her gaze. Sensing that the man wearing Percy's skin had fled into a Demonic Domain, she stopped looking up and followed—her white figure slipping into the Demonic Domain in close pursuit.
Ye Zheng had deliberately reminded her—proof that the moment to kill the impossible was drawing near!
*
The surging flood rushed into the black rift, yet it was like a stream pouring into a boundless black ocean. Dense darkness enveloped Ye Zheng. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but endless void. The world had gone abruptly silent, enough to make one question the meaning of existence itself.
The current pressed onward without hesitation. The Demon Dragon swam through the water, and Ye Zheng sat atop its body, her black hair drifting in the current, her eyes blinking in quiet stillness.
Bai Muqing was the only person besides her who could have entered the passage. But considering what lay ahead, she alone would be enough.
The passage appeared boundless, but in reality it was lined with invisible barriers everywhere. The water could only flow along these walls, unable to seep through to the outside or perceive the world beyond the passage.
Ye Zheng's right hand closed in a loose fist, occasionally tugging at something—as if flying an invisible kite.
"What do you think is outside the passage?"
[Probably all kinds of turbulence. The universe contains worlds of different dimensions, and from each world, diverging events can branch into new timelines. We can't even begin to estimate how many worlds exist.]
"Can't we go out?"
[The lab people went through enormous effort to establish a stable passage between the two worlds in the midst of all that turbulence. If the passage ruptures, anything inside will be torn apart by the currents.]
System's tone carried an implicit warning. Ye Zheng's curiosity sometimes inspired inexplicable dread in others.
[The pressing question is—how do you plan to stop that Missile?]
[It was specially built to deal with threatening worlds. Under Main System's control, it's locked onto your world's coordinates... oh wait, I've traced its trajectory!]
[Estimated time to intercept: one minute! It's twenty meters long, weighs forty tons, warhead diameter—]
"About two meters."
Ye Zheng finished the sentence in her mental link with System.
[How did you know?]
"Because my [Stream] can already feel it."
A thread of water so fine it was nearly invisible crept along the passage's unseen walls. It had traveled a vast distance alone—so far that Ye Zheng's control over it was starting to waver.
Through the water thread, she clearly sensed a massive warhead carrying terrifying force brush past, nearly snapping her thread.
Suddenly Ye Zheng swayed. The steady current convulsed violently; the mighty flood began to recoil, threatening to reverse course, its agitated waves churning.
Ye Zheng felt the oppressive force even before [Stream] registered it. She rose to her feet on the dragon's back. The Demon Dragon's wings beat hard, carrying Ye Zheng against the current.
Water roared past in retreat. The Demon Dragon surged to the very front of the flow. Ye Zheng's eyes locked on what lay ahead—a silver streak blazing into view, hurtling toward her at staggering speed.
A sleek, impossibly streamlined warhead. Stabilizing fins flanked its sides. Every element of its design fit together with seamless precision, its crystal-tipped nose glittering with blinding light.
What a beautiful, exquisite creation...
The water thread wound around her fingertips flashed with a keen edge. Ye Zheng closed her eyes in something like satisfaction, pressed her palms together—and activated [Mother of All Things]!
A roar tore through the silent passage. The Demon Dragon's long tail struck the water with furious force, sending waves a thousand layers high. Its form merged with the surging tide, gradually dissolving, disappearing. The retreating flood suddenly halted, went still—and after a heartbeat of silence, an even more ferocious torrent erupted forward—
The two forces collided!
Water engulfed the oncoming warhead. The Missile's speed visibly slowed, its cataclysmic power held in check within the resilient embrace of the current.
Ye Zheng closed her eyes, carefully reading the information the water relayed. It wrapped around this metal monster from another world, caressing its smooth surface—yet could neither breach its outer shell nor penetrate its interior.
She recalled the time, a year ago, when she had found the legendary Holy Sword in the labyrinth. Facing it for the first time, her power couldn't budge it in the slightest—as immovable as a divine artifact.
[Your world's dimensional level is lower. Even with the Demon Dragon's higher-dimensional power at your disposal, destroying it would be nearly impossible...]
At best, she could slow it down.
System paused briefly, then spoke faster, a spark of almost-human excitement creeping in.
[Ye Zheng, I've calculated a method. The cost is steep, but you could consider—]
System's excited voice cut off without warning.
Within the water, Ye Zheng opened her dark eyes, simmering with quiet fury.
The crackle of static scraped against her eardrums, making her scalp prickle.
[I was wondering why Main System suddenly detected a threat and launched the Missile. So it was because of you... Miss Ye Zheng.]
An aged voice replaced System's mechanical tone. The grinding, teeth-clenched quality of it was harsher than the static.
[What we need is an entire world—not some dangerous element trying to breach dimensions!]
Ye Zheng replied evenly, "Perhaps you should run a check on your Main System."
[You even know about Main System?]
The old man shot back in surprise, a barely perceptible thread of fear in his voice.
[...Any anomalies with Main System will be handled by the appropriate people. But it locked onto you for a reason. Ye Zheng, we originally thought you were the hope of the project, but you've turned out to be quite the troublemaker.]
[The Missile has already entered the passage. We cannot stop it. You and your world will pay for your mistake!]
A slow smile curved Ye Zheng's lips. The water swirling around her convulsed once more, blurring her features.
The silver warhead tore through the current and pushed forward, accelerating, closing in on Ye Zheng.
"Mr. Lin—judging by your tone, as the person in charge, you weren't entirely unaware of what was happening with Main System and Wang Tao."
[What did you just call me?]
Beyond the enormous screen, the old man wondered if he was hearing things. When she spoke his identity aloud, a chill ran down his spine.
It was as though she were no longer a low-dimensional being to be manipulated at will, but a real threat that could appear right beside them.
"You have one thing backwards."
"—It is you who will pay for your mistakes."
Ye Zheng spread her arms wide. The churning water around her suddenly began to spiral with her at its center, forming a raging vortex that seemed eager to devour everything in its path.
The mighty flood poured into the whirlpool—spinning, rising. The high-speed rotation generated tremendous force within, yet Ye Zheng at the center stood utterly unmoved, an apocalyptic storm brewing inside!
[You think you can destroy it? It's called the Destroyer. There is no material it cannot annihilate—including you!]
The old man's voice grew noticeably frantic. Other people were present wherever he was; Ye Zheng could faintly hear their cries of alarm.
No—she might not be trying to destroy the Missile. She's trying to—she wants to— someone in that world shouted in panic.
Within the storm, Ye Zheng paid them no more attention. She let her body go completely slack, her fingertips dissolving into flowing water, merging utterly with [Stream].
The unstoppable Destroyer had arrived right before her. Eyes closed, expression serene, she waited as the silver warhead carrying the force of ten thousand tons surged into the furiously spinning water.
It was halted outside the water-formed tornado, stalling for a moment—
The tip of its nose shifted direction.
It was a minute change, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, yet impossible for anyone to ignore.
"...She's altering the trajectory!"
Beyond the screen, in the dead-silent laboratory, someone finally cried out in a trembling voice.
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