"Pa... Pa Pa Pa..."
The sound of rolling gravel echoed from all around, accompanied by the slow collapse of debris.
The remnants of buildings were piled up like discarded waste. In one corner of the Redevelopment District, a scene of utter devastation unfolded.
Orphelia lifted her head and surveyed the surroundings.
The abandoned structures that once stood had been reduced to rubble, forcibly razed as if by an invisible force, leaving behind nothing but a chaotic ruin.
The ground exhaled toxic fumes. The air was thick with a lingering purple haze. The world-shaking upheaval had lasted for an unknown span of time before finally settling.
Now, all that remained was the desolation before her.
"Aah..."
A mournful whisper slipped from Orphelia's lips.
"I've taken everything around me again..."
The power she wielded was a force of absolute destruction, an existence that eroded all in its wake.
Yet, no matter how much time passed, Orphelia could never grow accustomed to it.
This was a fate sealed long ago. Orphelia's ability was notorious for its lethality.
A miasma potent enough to claim life itself. A curse that, through her own existence, had only grown more terrifying in scale.
This power had claimed countless lives in the past.
Even though this district was deemed uninhabited, how could she be certain no small creatures had sought shelter in these ruins? How could she know if resilient plant life had clung to survival amidst the decay?
Now, even those had been erased.
Even the gangsters who had been writhing in agony moments ago had vanished after being buried beneath the rubble, swallowed by the ruin her ability had wrought.
"This is my fate..." Whispering these words, Orphelia turned to leave.
But a voice stopped her in her tracks.
"If that's the case, then your fate is truly fragile, Strega."
Orphelia paused and her crimson eyes wavered slightly.
Slowly, she turned toward the source of the voice.
"I thought that toxic miasma alone wouldn't be so destructive," the voice continued. "But I nearly forgot— when pressure is strong enough, even steel can be crushed. When venom is fierce enough, it doesn't just corrode— it annihilates."
Perched atop a collapsed heap of ruins before Orphelia, Fang Li met her gaze.
Beneath him, the gangsters who had been buried in the wreckage lay half-exposed, groaning weakly.
Fang Li offered a light, casual smile.
"Those who cherish life are the ones who take it. Those who disregard life are the ones who save it. So then, whose fate is more laughable?"
"I'd be interested in hearing a third-party's thoughts on that."
His words left Orphelia momentarily speechless and the sorrowful look in her eyes deepened.
Then, in a quiet, trembling voice, she spoke.
"I hate you..."
Hearing this, Fang Li's gaze sharpened, piercing straight through her heart.
"No, you don't hate me," he replied. "You're afraid of me."
"Afraid that one day, you'll become just like me— so numb to death that even sorrow ceases to matter."
The words struck deep into Orphelia's soul and for a long moment, silence hung between them.
Then, as if nothing had transpired, Fang Li continued.
"People call irreversible outcomes fate, but in truth, it's just despair. I've faced my own share of cruel events— moments I, too, once called destiny."
"But true destiny should be cherished when it's beautiful— and shattered when it's tragic."
"Humans are just that selfish."
Fang Li straightened and looked down at Orphelia.
"But pushing all suffering onto fate is another form of selfishness."
"So, your fate is far too fragile, Orphelia Landlufen."
With that, the Waning Moonlight Dagger fell into Fang Li's grasp.
"If you wish to keep clinging to such a fragile fate, then I'll have no choice but to wake you up—"
"By severing it."
As his words fell, an explosive surge of Prana erupted from his body, condensing into radiant streams of energy at his feet.
"Boom————!"
The Prana beneath Fang Li's feet ignited like a blast wave, propelling him forward like a shooting star streaking through the night sky.
The sheer speed was staggering.
"Aah..."
A sorrowful murmur left Orphelia's lips as her own vicious Prana surged in response.
Once again, countless spectral arms erupted from her body— ghastly extensions of poisonous miasma, their twisted shapes writhing like tormented wraiths reaching toward Fang Li, seeking to smother the heavens.
Each arm was bloated, enormous.
And as they intertwined, merging with an eerie, bone-grinding sound, they formed something even more fearsome.
A single, colossal hand that blotted out the sky.
Just the tip of a single fingernail dwarfed Fang Li's entire form.
That monstrous hand cleaved through the air, descending upon him like a divine punishment—
A scene ripped straight from myth, filled with awe-inspiring power.
And yet, both forces were laced with nothing but death.
The enormous hand was formed from pure poison; a mere touch would corrode flesh instantly.
The meteor charging forth was a manifestation of absolute death; nothing could withstand its descent.
Fang Li looked up at the enormous miasma construct looming over him.
His eyes gleamed with an icy-blue radiance as his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception had fully awakened.
Orphelia Landlufen—
A Strega who possessed overwhelming power.
Her Prana reserves were immense. Her ability was one of the most dangerous ever seen.
Yet, in Fang Li's eyes, it was meaningless.
Toxic gas?
He can just kill it.
"Flashing Scabbard - Illusionary Prison Monk!"
Countless streaks of blade light burst forth, weaving a storm of slashes around the meteor-like charge.
"PūChī PūChī PūChī PūChī PūChī————!"
Each cut was precise, tearing through the toxic limbs like paper, shredding the colossal miasma hand apart as if it were nothing more than rotting flesh.
"————!"
Orphelia's crimson eyes widened in shock.
"Chī————!"
With a subtle whisper, space itself seemed to fracture.
The next moment, the meteor pierced through the remnants of the miasma hand and shot toward Orphelia.
His Mystic Eyes locked onto her.
"Qiāng————!"
A burst of light erupted.
"Pā————!"
A crisp sound rang out.
Orphelia's school emblem—
Is severed in half.
Then, it fell to the ground.
(End of This Chapter)
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