Chapter 351: Wise's Backup Plan
A flicker of sheer ruthlessness flashed across Sarah's eyes. Abandoning her futile attempts at a standard unlocking sequence, she clamped both hands down on the scabbard and hilt. Her eyelids fluttered shut. From her lips spilled an ancient, guttural whisper—a dark, obscure prayer dripping with ominous intent. The air inside the transport truck grew heavy as a distinctly alien aura began to bleed from her skin.
Miyabi's crimson eyes narrowed to pinpricks. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She could feel it—a sickening, invasive external force warping the space around them.
Sarah's eyes snapped open, a distinctly non-human glint flashing within her pupils. Veins bulged along her arms, erupting with a terrifying, unnatural strength that completely defied her slender physique. "Come out!" she shrieked.
Clang—!
A deafening shriek of metal grinding against metal tore through the confined space.
Miyabi watched in utter disbelief. The Tailless—a blade that should have been absolutely impossible for any outsider to unsheathe—was forcibly dragged from its scabbard! An ominous, blood-red light bled from the exposed steel. Sarah gripped the hilt in a white-knuckled chokehold with her right hand, while her left hand, strapped with a bizarre mechanical device, slammed against the flat of the blade. The contraption flared to life with a sickly, eerie glow, whirring aggressively as if it were forcibly extracting the weapon's very essence.
"You—!" Miyabi exploded into motion. The heavy handcuffs shattered like cheap glass. Moving with the speed of a phantom, she lunged straight for Sarah's throat and the stolen blade.
Yet, Sarah's reaction was terrifyingly calculated. She had never intended to wield the Tailless. The exact millisecond Miyabi closed the distance, Sarah pivoted and hurled the drawn katana toward a pre-prepared unloading port on the carriage wall.
Miyabi didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. Ignoring Sarah entirely, her absolute focus locked onto the tumbling weapon. Her figure blurred into a streak of lightning, smashing straight through the flimsy metal hatch of the unloading port. Amidst a chorus of startled shouts and the violent, ear-splitting screech of the transport truck's emergency brakes, she vaulted into the open air.
Outside, the sprawling city plaza was a sea of noise, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with citizens eagerly awaiting Bringer's grand speech.
Twisting nimbly in mid-air, Miyabi kept her gaze pinned to the falling streak of dark red light. She extended her hand with flawless precision, her fingers wrapping firmly around the hilt of the Tailless.
But the instant her skin made contact—
The steel vibrated with a violent, bone-rattling intensity. The crimson glow flared into a blinding flash. The dark foxfire that had previously been subdued erupted in an uncontrollable inferno! It was infinitely more violent and chaotic than her last rampage inside the Hollows. The ancient will sealed within the blade had been completely enraged by Sarah's blasphemous extraction, or perhaps the external force had thoroughly polluted it, driving the weapon into utter, unadulterated madness.
A muffled groan tore from Miyabi's throat. The crimson foxfire instantly coiled up her arm like a venomous serpent, spreading across her entire body in a heartbeat. Raw pain and desperate struggle flashed in her eyes. Her consciousness was mercilessly bombarded by a thousand rampaging, screaming wills. Her muscles locked up, her body stiffening so severely she could barely maintain her footing in the center of the plaza.
Just as the dark energy threatened to consume her completely—
"Miyabi—! Zhu Yuan, now!"
A familiar, urgent shout cut through the chaos.
Zhu Yuan and Eous burst from the crowd with blinding, desperate speed. Zhu Yuan didn't waste a single breath. Seeing Miyabi on the absolute brink of being swallowed by the demonic foxfire, the PubSec Officer lunged forward. Coordinating flawlessly with Eous, who had already calculated the optimal trajectory, the two slammed their combined weight into the swordswoman, shoving her violently toward the swirling entrance of a dead-end Hollow adjacent to the plaza.
Two humans and one Bangboo tumbled into the spatial rift, instantly swallowed by the distorted, shifting light and shadows.
Back in the plaza, absolute pandemonium erupted. The restless crowd murmured in confusion, the PubSec Officers stood frozen in shock, and up on the grand podium, Bringer's face drained of all color.
He watched, utterly helpless, as his greatest achievement vanished into the Hollow. The muscles in his jaw twitched violently. The mask of political composure he had so carefully maintained over the years was cracking right down the middle. Beneath the podium, he clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned a bloodless white.
Damn it! Years of planning, all for nothing!
But the nightmare was only just beginning.
A sharp burst of static crackled in the miniature earpiece hidden beneath his hair. Sarah's voice, cold and hurried, hissed into his ear. "Bringer, evacuate immediately. Section 6 has successfully submitted the evidence. You know what to do."
Swallowing the bile rising in his throat, Bringer mustered the absolute last shreds of his composure. He forced a stiff, plastic smile for the restless crowd below, babbling a few hasty platitudes about unexpected municipal situations and ensuring public safety. Then, flanked by his bewildered subordinates, he practically sprinted off the stage, fleeing the plaza in thinly veiled panic.
Meanwhile, deep within the twisted geometry of the dead-end Hollow.
Miyabi stood motionless in the center of a ruined, crumbling intersection. The crimson foxfire clinging to her body hadn't weakened upon crossing the threshold; if anything, the ether-rich environment acted like gasoline. The flames burned with a terrifying ferocity, threatening to incinerate her very soul along with the surrounding space. A chaotic, suffocating aura exploded outward from her position, violently disrupting the already fragile energy balance of the Hollow.
Drawn by the overwhelming surge of chaotic energy, countless Ethereals clawed their way out from the deepest, darkest crevices of the ruins. They poured from the shadows and shattered concrete like starving sharks scenting fresh blood in the water. Howling with mindless hunger, the monstrous horde lunged toward the dazzling, crimson flame.
What greeted them, however, was absolute destruction.
Swish! Clang—!
Almost entirely devoid of Miyabi's conscious control, the violent Tailless began to move. The condensed, crimson arcs of blade light carved through the air like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, weaving a devastating, inescapable storm of steel. The leaping Ethereals—whether towering behemoths or swift, agile stalkers—were instantly vaporized. The very millisecond their corrupted flesh met the glowing edge, they disintegrated like ice cubes tossed into a roaring volcano, breaking down into nothing more than primitive ether particles.
Miyabi's figure blurred entirely within the raging foxfire. Her movements were so impossibly fast that only burning afterimages remained in her wake. Every single swing carried a terrifying, world-shattering momentum, effortlessly purging the endless tide of Ethereals.
Yet, a closer look revealed a grim reality. Only at the exact moment she slaughtered an abomination did the foxfire burning her flesh faintly recede. For that split second, the soul-searing agony lessened by a mere fraction. It formed a sick, bizarre cycle—slaughter bought a fleeting moment of peace, and that momentary peace drove her battered body into an even more frenzied, desperate slaughter just to chase the next brief taste of relief.
"Miyabi... the way she is right now..." Zhu Yuan stood in a relatively safe alcove a fair distance away, her eyes wide as she watched the apocalyptic scene unfold. It looked like a living painting of hell. Her voice trembled with uncontrollable worry. "What do we do? Can we force her to stop?"
Through Eous, Wise's voice carried an unmatched, heavy gravity. "It's impossible, Zhu Yuan. You know exactly what it means when Miyabi fights at full power. She is completely out of control. If we try to intervene now, let alone stop her, we'd be swept into that storm of blades in a heartbeat. We wouldn't even be able to protect ourselves."
He paused, a faint trace of helpless hope threading through his words. "Right now, we can only rely on her. She has to use her own willpower to overcome those chaotic voices inside the blade—the ones trying to bewitch and corrode her mind."
"But..." Zhu Yuan's heart wrenched as she watched Miyabi struggling so painfully within the demonic flames.
"However, you don't need to panic just yet." Wise's tone relaxed slightly, carrying a quiet confidence. "When we shoved her into the Hollow just now, I took the opportunity to attach something to her belt."
"Something?" Zhu Yuan blinked, stunned.
"Yes. I obtained it from a... very special friend." Wise chose his words with deliberate care, avoiding any direct mention of Zhongli or the multiversal Chat Group. "It's a Qingxin jade pendant. It's said to possess the power to calm the mind and ward off external evils. It should... give her the edge she needs."
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