After this thought flashed through her mind, the twelve pairs of wings behind her suddenly spread into the shape of a strange flower, then folded together to form an unopened bud.
The instant the bud closed, it opened again. This time, what emerged from within was an enormous, ornate cannon of blazing white edged in gold.
It was roughly two meters long. The section held in the hands was relatively narrow, while the barrel was twice as thick even at its narrowest point, making it look extremely strange when carried.
"Let me show you what it means to blow away your soul with a single shot!" Chu Lian's slender body looked incredibly petite before the enormous cannon. Yet when she firmly gripped the handle and aimed the Star-Piercing Cannon at the surging hell army before her, an indescribable aura erupted from her.
Logically speaking, there should not have been any wind in this enclosed place, which resembled a small dimensional space.
Unless something happened like when Chu Lian had provoked the Heavenly Demon and caused it to summon a black hurricane, everything here apart from the people should have remained relatively still.
However, all of that changed the moment Chu Lian grasped the Star-Piercing Cannon's handle.
On the ice-blue rooftop, the pure-white girl faced the black-red sky. Gazing at the enemies wreathed in flames, she pressed the activation mechanism for the Finale of Ruin.
Boundless energy was drawn toward it. Not only were the spiritual power, magic power, and various other energies within Chu Lian absorbed, even the energy dispersed throughout the surroundings gathered into the cannon's body as though replenishing it.
The transmission of this energy caused a hurricane to erupt around Chu Lian. It was weak at first, but it grew stronger with every passing second.
A bar of blue light appeared on the cannon's body, with another lighting up every three seconds. Each additional bar caused the fluctuations radiating from the Finale of Ruin to become even more powerful.
It was practically announcing to the enemy, "This lady is charging up her ultimate move! Get out of my way!"
"Kill her!" With Chu Lian causing such a massive disturbance, even the peak Earth-rank hell elites understood that they could not allow her to continue preparing. They immediately ordered the experts around them to charge forward and stop her.
Unfortunately for them, the people beside Chu Lian were no pushovers. Inori and Tina, who were almost mentally connected to her, instantly moved to defend her front and left side, while Chu Chu guarded her rear.
As for the remaining right side? Anna had been waiting so long that she was on the verge of losing patience and going berserk. If the little girl truly lost control, she would undoubtedly destroy everything.
Fortunately, she knew that this was no time to act willfully, so she forcibly suppressed the urge to charge out and remained on guard at the side.
"Lian..." Behind her, a girl whose entire body shimmered with the white radiance of spiritual power appeared. Seeing energy continuously being drained from Chu Lian until her body began to sway, a trace of heartache flashed through her eyes.
"I absolutely won't let you fall so easily." As a member of the spirit race, she was naturally gifted in the use of psychic power and energy. Gathering spiritual power was even easier for her.
At this moment, none of the others could help Chu Lian. She alone possessed that ability.
Drifting down, she wrapped both arms around Chu Lian's waist. Countless white feathers began to fall through the sealed space.
Her embrace did more than merely support Chu Lian. Vast quantities of energy surged toward her, were absorbed, then transmitted into the girl's body, immediately steadying Chu Lian's previously weakened frame.
"Hare, I'm counting on you." Chu Lian had already begun to regret underestimating the abnormal amount of energy the Finale of Ruin consumed. She felt that even ten of herself might not be enough to completely fill it.
Only Hare Menjou's timely appearance had helped her overcome this crisis and stabilize herself during the initial phase of energy absorption. From this point onward, she merely needed to provide it with a continuous supply of energy.
"One minute. Hold out for one minute." With someone supporting her, Chu Lian could finally speak. The one minute she mentioned was how long it would take for the Finale of Ruin to become fully charged.
She was now completely certain that once the Finale of Ruin finished charging, she might not need to fight again afterward. This single blast would be enough to annihilate every enemy.
"It's only one minute. Big Sis, just watch me!" Chu Chu had already recovered after the previous round of fighting. She looked at the hell legions circling overhead and continuously charging onto the rooftop, her eyes narrowing.
"Thunderburst!" She spread both arms and raised them toward the sky. Bolts of lightning flashed into existence and gathered between her hands, forming a massive sphere of electricity.
As Chu Chu poured in her magic power, the ball of lightning grew larger and larger. In only three seconds, it had expanded to a diameter of three meters.
Once the sphere of lightning had fully formed, Chu Chu smiled and casually tossed it into the sky.
Boom! Blue-violet lightning flashed as countless electric serpents twisted and surged. Wave after wave of impact made it seem as though heaven and earth had been engulfed in blue-violet radiance.
"Stronger! Give me something stronger!" After decapitating her third Earth-rank demon commander, Hiyori gripped Xuanlong Xiaoyue and threw her head back with a roar.
Ever since taking hold of this weapon, Hiyori seemed to have abandoned her former calmness and silence, becoming arrogant and unrestrained. Faced with the hell legions vanishing in droves beneath the lightning, she was beginning to grow impatient.
At some unknown point, her aura had already broken through the peak of Spirit rank and officially entered the early Earth rank. Moreover, each time she cut down an opponent, her aura continued to rise slowly. It was simply unbelievable.
"Hiyori..." Silently watching Hiyori's eruption of power, Kurosaki Satsuki fixed her icy gaze on a red-skinned, horned woman whose body was covered in yellow, lava-like patterns.
She was the one who had been secretly firing streams of yellow magma, throwing Inori and the others into disarray. An enemy like that deserved to die.
Killing intent flashed through her eyes. The girl vanished into the shadows, then appeared behind the Enchantress in an instant. The katana with a white hilt flashed from its sheath. "Flash!"
Before the Enchantress could even react, Kurosaki Satsuki severed her beautiful head. Astonishment and confusion remained frozen on her face, as she had no idea how she had died.
"An Earth-rank spellcaster assassinated so easily. Nothing impressive after all." Kurosaki Satsuki shook her head and slid the katana back into its sheath. She then concealed herself within the darkness again without making the slightest sound.
These visitors from hell had no idea that while they schemed against Chu Lian and the others, a white-haired goddess of death was silently harvesting their lives.
"Apocalypse, bloom..." Inori began to speak, her voice as clear and graceful as song. Surrounded by the hell legions, she moved like an elegant dancer, her feet rising and falling while her waist swayed as though she were performing a dance.
As she moved, the void greatsword cut down demon after demon. Among this group of girls who all favored bladed weapons, Inori's achievements might not have been the most spectacular, but her movements were undeniably the most beautiful—so beautiful that the demons were sometimes left dazzled.
With every step she took, violet crystal flowers blossomed around her. They ensnared demons that failed to escape in time, transformed them into beads within seconds, then shattered and vanished.
"Die..." After enduring for half a minute, Anna finally lost patience. Black mist spread from her entire body as Hiru once again transformed into a weapon. Surrounded by swirling darkness, the girl resembled a charming little princess, yet she brought slaughter wherever she went.
A serpent's tail, a shroud of black mist, and Anna's twisted habit of grabbing her opponents and tearing them in half caused the number of demons in the area to plummet. Even some Earth-rank demons no longer dared approach.
Only the three-headed hellhound showed no fear. Seeing her act so arrogantly, it immediately charged forward. The head in the middle opened its jaws and snapped at Anna.
"Hahahaha! Fun! This is fun! Make it even more fun!" The girl's wild laughter rang out from within the black mist. Hiru's serpent tail coiled around the neck of the three-headed hellhound's middle head and violently dragged it closer.
The berserk Anna paid no heed to the pain still throbbing through her arm. The moment its head came within reach, she punched it.
Awooo! The other two heads were not fools. Although they often argued among themselves, none of them ever hindered the others during battle.
When the middle head fell into danger, the other two had no intention of abandoning it. They lunged at Anna together, hoping to force her to save herself and release their companion.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" However, Anna was even more insane than they had expected. Ignoring the two heads biting into her, she hammered the middle head with punch after punch.
Howl! Anna's brutality was fully revealed at that moment. She had been suppressing herself all these days for the sake of achieving the great ambition in her heart. Now that someone had willingly presented itself as an outlet for her frustration, nothing could have pleased her more.
Whoosh! Although the three heads possessed independent minds, they were fundamentally one being. When Anna's fist struck the middle head, the pain was felt not only by it but also by the two heads on either side.
Yet the agony did not lessen despite the two heads repeatedly biting Anna's body and failing to inflict even the slightest injury. On the contrary, every time Anna pulled back a fist, she tore away a large chunk of flesh, causing them unbearable pain.
After barely a dozen punches, half the middle head's face had already been torn away, leaving it horrifyingly mangled.
"Die!" Anna had originally thought they would cause her considerable trouble, perhaps even prove impossible to defeat. She had never expected them to be so pathetically weak.
"Do not underestimate us!" Anna's repeated provocations drove the two remaining mobile heads into a complete rage. They opened their mouths and blasted frost and deadly poison at her.
"How boring." The black mist practically adored such forms of energy. It swallowed them all in an instant, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
Seeing the trump cards they had concealed for so long become useless in an instant, the two heads stared at each other blankly, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened.
"I surrender!" At last, just as Anna was about to smash through the middle head's bones, the three-headed hellhound commanding the hell legion surrendered without the slightest shred of integrity.
It had no other choice. It was not that they had been unwilling to use their abilities during the battle. They had simply been preparing their source power, intending to annihilate Anna in a single attack.
This girl was far too terrifying. They were not confident that ordinary abilities could defeat her, so while biting her, they had also begun circulating the energy within their body.
Unfortunately, even that had failed to cause the girl any harm. It was as though she had never intended to waste time fighting them. Even the purest energy they spat out was completely absorbed.
With the middle head close to collapsing, the other two heads realized there was only one way for them to survive—surrender.
After all, most creatures of hell cared only about staying alive. It did not matter whom they followed. As long as they survived, that was all that mattered.
It had no desire to imitate those insane demons who sought nothing but battle and death. It wanted to live!
"Tch..." No matter how willful Anna was, she could still understand the situation before her. This little dog clearly no longer dared to fight. She could choose to kill it, but that would be wasteful, would it not? Mommy was still here, so she could decide how to deal with it afterward.
"Then destroy them." Anna extended a tiny finger and pointed toward the demons and monsters, speaking softly.
"But the boss..." The leftmost head glanced at the middle head. Although the serpent tail had already withdrawn, its entire face was still ruined. It spoke hesitantly.
"What a nuisance!" Anna grew impatient. Still, she could genuinely sense its desire to surrender. As a descendant of Tírnas, it was exceedingly difficult for such creatures to deceive her.
Looking at the head she had reduced to a mass of torn flesh, Anna showed no embarrassment whatsoever. She pulled a clump of black energy from behind her and tossed it onto the creature's face without explanation.
Under the uneasy gazes of the other two heads, the middle head suddenly began to change. Large quantities of flesh grew back, though unlike its previous crimson color, the new flesh was black-red.
Once its flesh had completely regenerated, its aura became even stronger than before. It rose onto all four limbs, and the middle head that had commanded the hell legion gave Anna a long, deep look before lowering itself in submission. "My master, I shall obey your command."
"Destroy them!" After that bout of violence, much of Anna's brutality had faded. With so many enemies remaining, she had no desire to fight anymore. She only wanted to stay beside Mommy.
"Everyone, gather around me!" However, Chu Lian's voice rang out the next second. Anna felt a terrifying concentration of energy building and immediately ran to Chu Lian's side without the slightest hesitation.
The three-headed hellhound hesitated briefly, then looked toward the sky and sensed the terrifying pressure radiating from Chu Lian. Without further delay, it shrank its body and ran to Anna's feet, where it prostrated itself.
The other girls trusted Chu Lian without reservation. Since she had personally called out to them, none of them would dare delay. They all rushed over, even Hiyori, who was still immersed in the thrill of battle.
"Finale of Ruin..." Chu Lian exerted both arms and raised the Star-Piercing Cannon, aiming it at the place in the sky where the hell legion continued to pour through. Then she pressed the firing mechanism...
Whoosh! Like light, like a falling meteor, like the most brilliant radiance between heaven and earth, the energy wave of the Finale of Ruin was unstoppable. Earth rank, peak Earth rank—everything in its path vanished instantly like dust.
When the Finale of Ruin struck the black-red barrier, an unbearable burst of blue-white radiance erupted like an exploding star. The entire hell legion was annihilated, while not even the slightest trace of energy reached the area surrounding Chu Lian.
Crash! Like shattering glass, the energy barrier could not withstand an attack of such world-destroying force and completely disappeared.
Yet the Finale of Ruin did not vanish. It continued surging toward the sky.
Communication satellites orbiting Earth and American satellites hidden above Huaxia to monitor every movement in certain locations were completely destroyed when the Finale of Ruin passed through them, sending their remains plummeting toward Earth.
The final object struck by the beam was a rotating meteorite. The attack pierced straight through it, and only after exhausting the last of its energy did the Finale of Ruin finally disappear...