Just as Jingliu was about to say something more, a sudden roar echoed from the distance.
An instant later, a brilliant light shot into the sky.
Cecilia and Jingliu both looked up at the same time.
It was coming from deeper within Cloudford. Judging by the scene, someone was fighting there.
"Come on, let's go take a look." Cecilia was the first to move.
Jingliu instinctively wanted to stop her. With her current identity, showing up in a crowded place was hardly wise.
But before she could speak, Cecilia had already walked several steps ahead.
Jingliu fell silent for a moment. She had originally meant to use the opportunity to slip away, but in the end, she still followed.
…
…
Deep within Cloudford, the battle was in full swing.
March 7th was crouched behind a pile of cargo crates, half her head poking out, bow drawn and ready.
"Star! Over there, over there! Three more are coming!"
"Got them."
Star swung the baseball bat in her hands and sent one of the abominations flying with a single blow.
And at the center of the battlefield, a gray-clad figure was absolutely mowing through enemies.
It was none other than the Astral Express's strongest combatant at present: Welt Yang.
His cane swept through the air, warping gravity fields under his command. Several Abundance abominations were slammed to the ground, pinned so hard they could not move at all.
Meanwhile, March 7th was starting to get anxious again.
"There are more and more of these things. Shouldn't we just retreat first?"
"We can't." Star smashed another abomination aside with her bat. "The way out's already blocked."
"Then what do we do?"
"Wait to die, I guess."
"Hey!"
March 7th was about to protest when the corner of her eye caught something.
She whipped her head around toward the entrance to Cloudford.
"Wait, I think someone's coming!"
The others looked where she was pointing.
Two figures were approaching.
One white-haired person, and another white-haired person.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are ordinary people doing coming in here at a time like this?!" March 7th became even more frantic.
"Star, hurry and stop them! Don't let them come any closer!"
But Star did not move.
Her gaze was locked tightly on Cecilia, her pupils shrinking slightly.
"…Star?"
Star said flatly, "That person… is really strong."
The one she meant was Cecilia.
March 7th froze.
She genuinely did not understand Star's train of thought right now. Was this really the moment to be evaluating someone's combat stats?!
By then, Cecilia had already entered the battlefield with Jingliu beside her.
Looking at the three people ahead, Cecilia gained a much clearer sense of the current point in the timeline.
So the Astral Express had only just arrived on the Luofu today.
After all, since Jarilo-VI had already been "occupied" by her, she really could not be certain of the Express crew's current movements anymore.
That said…
As Cecilia looked at the three Nameless who were getting bogged down by mere mobs, an indescribable feeling rose in her heart.
The two girls were one thing, but what on earth was Welt doing over there?
He was struggling this much against a few little Abundance mobs?
Was he pretending to be weak?
Cecilia's gaze settled on Welt.
The dependable adult of the Astral Express was currently entangling over a dozen abominations in layers of gravity manipulation.
On the surface, he seemed calm and in control. Those creatures clearly could not break through his defenses.
But Cecilia could see it perfectly well.
Every single one of Welt's attacks was being held back. Each gravity crush that should have been a clean, one-shot kill always just barely fell short at the critical moment.
He was absolutely sandbagging.
Cecilia arched a brow.
Back in his own world, the leader of Anti-Entropy had been plenty high-profile. Why had he come here and developed this habit of acting weak?
Sadly for him, Cecilia had no interest in playing along.
"Jingliu-liu, protect me!" Cecilia turned to Jingliu.
At that form of address, Jingliu's eye twitched.
She took a slow breath and decided to ignore this headache-inducing nickname for the time being.
Then her gaze swept over the battlefield before finally landing on Welt.
This man… was concealing his strength.
As the former Sword Champion, Jingliu was intimately familiar with what it looked like when someone was holding back.
But she had no intention of exposing him.
After all, her own identity was hardly one she could show openly right now. Calling someone else out would do her no good.
"Jingliu-liu, aren't you going yet? If you wait much longer, those monsters are going to run over here."
Jingliu shot Cecilia a flat look.
The two stared at each other in silence. In the end, Jingliu drew her sword.
A flash of blade-light burst forth.
March 7th only felt her vision blur for a moment. Then she saw all the abominations surrounding them freeze in place at the exact same time.
In the next second, the heads of more than ten monsters slid cleanly off.
A perfect, merciless beheading with a single stroke.
"Waaah—!"
March 7th's eyes went wide.
"S-so strong!"
But it still was not over.
Three even larger Abundance abominations charged out from the shadows, their bodies coiling with far more twisted Abundance power than the ordinary ones. At a glance, they were clearly on an entirely different level.
March 7th's face instantly turned pale. "There's more?!"
Yet Jingliu merely glanced their way and gave the sword in her hand a tiny flick.
The three abominations stopped dead in their charge.
Their bodies remained in forward-lunging poses for half a second, then split neatly down the middle.
Click.
Jingliu sheathed her sword with a soft sound.
The entire process had taken less than three seconds.
The whole battlefield went silent.
Even Welt—the former Anti-Entropy leader who had been so blatantly pretending to struggle—finally revealed a trace of genuine seriousness.
That white-haired swordswoman's swordsmanship had already reached a near-divine realm.
But that was not the real point.
The real point was the other one.
Was that not Cecilia, Heaven's former strongest warrior?
Welt remembered her well. But had she not already died during the Second Eruption?
Could it be that, like Himeko, she was merely another world's corresponding counterpart—similar, yet not truly the same person?
By then, Jingliu had already returned to Cecilia's side after sheathing her blade.
"Jingliu-liu, you're amazing!" Cecilia immediately started applauding.
But that reaction made Jingliu pause.
To be honest, today was a rare occasion where she had been able to unleash her full power.
Under normal circumstances, eight-tenths of her strength was her absolute limit if she wanted to suppress her mara.
But today was different.
Today, Jingliu felt as though she had returned to her peak.
No—better than her peak.
And all of that was because of Cecilia.
Could it be because she had fed her blood?
Jingliu suddenly remembered that faint trace of scarlet at the corner of her lips when she woke.
At once, a stirring, restless craving rose inside her.
Her gaze locked intensely onto Cecilia.
Like flowers blooming at the start of spring, a faint, elusive fragrance drifted into her nose.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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