"Hah... why did I just kill that man? What was wrong with me?" Chu Lian pressed her hand to her chest, confused as to why such intense killing intent had erupted from her at that moment.
Even though that pilot had indeed bombarded her location and destroyed the Spirit Convergence Device she relied upon, that still wasn't reason enough to kill him.
"Could something have happened to me... something even I don't know about?" She frowned slightly, her emotions feeling strange—a mix of regret and cold detachment. She couldn't understand what this chaos in her heart was about. It felt completely unlike her usual self.
"Maybe... ever since I watched Inori and the others destroy that laboratory, I've changed." She shook her head, mocking herself softly.
She didn't want to kill people, yet at certain moments she couldn't restrain herself from doing so. She knew the girls were killing, and she merely stood by, watching, allowing them to act without stepping in or offering any words of dissuasion. How far was that from being a killer herself?
"So hypocritical it's disgusting. Killing one person, or killing many—what's the difference? A murderer is a murderer. No different from that dragon in the sky." She clenched her fist. Even as she spoke such words to herself, she had no intention of letting that dragon go.
Turning slightly, she looked toward the distant sky. The dragon was soaring again, unleashing torrents of dragonfire that consumed one fighter jet after another. Its aura fluctuated wildly under the rain of missiles, shrinking further and further with each explosion.
The battle had reached its peak. Neither the dragon nor the U.S. military could back down now. There would only be one victor between them.
The victor would live. The loser would fall among the ruins of this devastated land.
"I'd better help them... otherwise, they'll all be wiped out soon." Narrowing her eyes, Chu Lian tightened her grip on the Seven Illusions Bow and crouched low, moving lightly between the crumbling buildings so as not to be detected by either side.
After finding a hidden vantage point where she wouldn't easily be discovered, Chu Lian drew her bowstring. A radiant arrow of spiritual power appeared in her hand. "Unstoppable."
As she pulled the bow fully taut, Chu Lian activated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Her dark pupils glowed with an eerie brilliance as a five-pointed star appeared in the center of each iris, surrounded by strange circular runes.
The instant those eyes appeared, the entire world shifted. Every object around her was now covered with countless black lines. She could feel it—if she cut along those lines, she could completely destroy whatever she struck.
It wasn't her first time using the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, yet every time she saw this sight, it filled her with awe, with wonder—and with a touch of doubt about the very nature of reality itself.
But this wasn't the time to be thinking. Each activation of the Mystic Eyes lasted only ten seconds. If she didn't make full use of that window, it would be wasted.
In the next instant, the charged Unstoppable arrow left the string, streaking forward and piercing straight through the death line of the dragon's aura, shattering it completely.
The arrow didn't stop there—it drove on, striking against the dragon's armored scales before finally detonating in a massive surge of spiritual power. The blast shook the dragon's massive frame violently.
Seizing the opportunity, every fighter jet on the battlefield simultaneously unleashed their most powerful attacks on the beast. The explosions rained across its body, forcing its wings to fold inward as it began to drop.
But the damage was superficial. For a creature like this, it wasn't nearly enough to cause fatal harm. Flapping its wings midair, the dragon quickly steadied itself, preparing to soar again.
Unfortunately for it, Chu Lian was already ready. Another Unstoppable arrow flew from her bow, striking true—this time tearing through one of its claws. The dragon let out a thunderous roar of agony that shook the heavens.
It was the most severe injury it had suffered since the white-clad youth's strike. In all its battle against the U.S. military, this was the first real wound it had taken—and to lose a claw outright enraged it beyond reason.
The massive jaws opened, gathering a burning crimson sphere unlike any before. The next instant, the dragon's blood-red fireball hurtled toward the spot where Chu Lian's arrow had come from.
Driven by rage and the thirst for revenge, the dragon didn't even bother regaining its balance midair. Its massive body plummeted like a meteor, slamming into the ground with earth-shattering force. The impact made the surrounding buildings tremble violently.
Rooaaar... It let out a guttural snarl, dragging itself up again. Its fierce eyes glared toward the direction where the fireball had exploded, trying to see whether the one bold enough to wound it had survived.
However, Chu Lian had already anticipated that her attack would provoke retaliation. The moment her arrow left the string, she activated Teleport, moving herself to a different location to hide.
The spot where she had stood moments ago was now scorched into molten magma by the dragon's searing flames—a circular crater gaping in the center of a building, its sight chilling to behold.
"As expected... the death lines on its body are too well hidden. Even knowing where they are, I can't strike them. Breaking off one of its claws does nothing. For a creature like that, such an injury barely weakens it at all." The strange glow faded from Chu Lian's eyes as she leaned against a cracked wall, catching her breath and reviewing the outcome of her attack.
"Damn... if only I could strike the place where that sword is lodged into its body, I could definitely kill it. Even if not, it would suffer a fatal wound." She punched the wall in frustration, leaving a faint dent.
The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception might be famed for the boast, "Even gods can be slain before my eyes," but after using them twice, Chu Lian had realized something important—if the difference in power between her and her opponent was too vast, she could barely see most of its death lines.
Even when she could see them, she had no guarantee of breaking through its defenses to strike those lines. The death lines on its body shifted constantly, appearing and vanishing like illusions. Their positions changed every moment, leaving her no realistic chance of hitting them.
The only consistent weak point she could clearly perceive wasn't its fragile wings—but one of its unused claws.
That was why she had targeted its claw earlier. Other than that, the dragon's entire body was an impenetrable fortress.
"Its claws are practically useless anyway. Throughout most of the battle, it's relied on dragonfire, magic, or its tail to strike down those jets. Its claws were only used for climbing skyscrapers—it hardly even fights with them." She shook her head with a wry smile. Listening carefully, she sensed no movement within her spiritual perception range before standing up again.
"Still, I managed to wound it. That means... I can kill it. After all, the difference of one rank in power is like the difference between heaven and earth—at least tenfold."
Scanning her surroundings and confirming no one had spotted her, Chu Lian drew her bowstring again and fired arrow after arrow toward the dragon.
When she had activated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception earlier, it had been her best chance to hurt the beast. That was why she had used Unstoppable, her strongest single-target skill, compressing its energy to the absolute limit so it would expand only right before impact. Even so, it hadn't caused much damage—only enough to shake the creature's balance.
This time, she didn't waste power. The arrows she fired were ordinary spiritual power arrows—simple but precise.
Though her spiritual energy recovery had improved greatly compared to before, it still couldn't match what it had been when she had the Spirit Convergence Device. Wasting too much energy now would only weaken her later.
Hidden within the U.S. military's bombardment, her tiny arrows went completely unnoticed. Even when the dragon expanded its nearly depleted aura again and sensed the subtle attacks, it had no way of determining where the archer was.
Its fury toward the unseen assailant reached its peak. It knew—she was the one sabotaging it from the shadows, the one who made its situation worse with every strike.
The dragon might have been blinded by vengeance, but it was still a cunning creature. Even after losing most of its rationality, its instincts and judgment remained intact.
That was why it was so fixated on Chu Lian—why this strange human filled it with such overwhelming rage.
That so-called inexplicable attraction was, in truth, the divine aura emanating from Chu Lian herself—the divinity that lured the dragon's very soul.
Fortunately, the white-clad youth had used the Seal of the Demon—Suppress, subduing the dragon's soul completely. For the time being, it couldn't remember what it truly desired most.
But in a way, that was also Chu Lian's luck. Before its suppression, the dragon's rage had been directed toward humanity—toward the one who had sealed it. After breaking free, however, its fixation had shifted entirely to the divine aura emanating from Chu Lian.
Before using the Seal of the Demon—Suppress, the white-clad youth had been influencing the dragon's mind through the sword embedded in its body, guiding it to slaughter humans and destroy what they had built. When he could no longer control the situation, he sealed its deepest desires, leaving behind only its thirst for vengeance against humankind.
That was why the dragon refused to retreat—why it continued its relentless battle against the U.S. military.
After firing over a hundred arrows, Chu Lian looked at the dragon, which seemed intent on drawing the battle closer to her position. She smiled mischievously and used Teleport, vanishing just as it lunged again, leaving the beast snapping at empty air.
"Hah... just a few more times and I won't be able to use it anymore. This ability has its limits. I've used it too many times today... I can feel my body starting to tear apart from spatial strain." Leaning against a shattered window, Chu Lian panted heavily.
Teleport wasn't originally her own ability—it had been given to her by the system as compensation. She lacked the high-level spatial calculations required to control such power and relied entirely on the system's support to use it.
Her physical body, unlike her spirit, had never undergone spatial traversal. Its affinity with the concept of space was limited. Repeated use now pushed her body to its limit.
"This isn't going to work... Only three uses left of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, less than five Teleports, and one single Ordinary Punch. Against that thing... can I really win? Do I have to use that skill?" She mentally tallied her remaining options—abilities that could still hurt the dragon—and realized she was nearly out of viable choices.
Only one technique from the Divine Spirit Art came to mind—one that could possibly change everything.
But the risk was enormous. She wasn't sure she could survive using it, let alone escape safely afterward. And with the area surrounded by U.S. forces, it would be reckless beyond measure.
Before she could decide, there was no more time. The dragon, which had been clashing with the military in the distance, suddenly took flight. In its gaping jaws, a black sphere of destructive energy condensed, pulsing with lethal power.
And Chu Lian—found herself completely locked in place. She couldn't move a single muscle.
"...It sealed me off." Her eyes went calm, the stillness before a storm.
Endless blue spiritual power flames ignited from within her body, enveloping her in a dazzling aura.
Then, like a divine being descending upon the mortal realm, an overwhelming, sacred pressure swept across the battlefield, suffocating everyone beneath it.
And in the next instant—the world itself began to change...