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Phantylia had realized that defeating Bochang would be immensely challenging. Without the benefits of Fertility's Blessing, her body likely would have been shattered long ago by Bochang's onslaught.
She considered swiftly overpowering Stelle on the other side, hoping to use her as leverage against Bochang. Unfortunately, Stelle proved equally resilient. Despite appearing near defeat, she remained steadfast and refused to fall.
Phantylia felt increasingly frustrated. She wanted to allocate more power towards attacking the gray-haired girl but feared losing control over Bochang's strikes. It seemed like they had reached a deadlock.
Fortunately for Phantylia, she noticed that Bochang appeared intent on capturing her alive.
That's why Bochang discarded his weapon, opting for direct, close-quarters combat without relying on powerful flames.
If Bochang had unleashed his full strength,
Phantylia believed that despite her Fertility's Blessing, she would have been killed outright.
Being punched and incinerated to ash are vastly different outcomes.
Bochang's intent to capture Phantylia alive presented her with one last chance.
Phantylia exerted all her abilities, even attempting the Golden Cicada Escape maneuver again, but unfortunately, Bochang had already fallen for it once... he wouldn't be deceived twice.
The brutal fist-to-flesh battle continued for over ten minutes.
By this point, Phantylia was nearing her limit, growing increasingly desperate as each blow landed. Bochang's regenerative capabilities were astonishingly strong, seemingly surpassing even Fertility's Blessing.
No matter how fiercely Phantylia inflicted damage, Bochang swiftly healed from every wound.
How could she possibly win against such resilience? Trapped between being unable to overcome him and unwilling or unable to flee, Phantylia found herself cornered.
If Lord Ravager truly wished to flee, he could have managed it.
Since Phantylia successfully summoned the meteorite, it indicated that her teleportation abilities were not blocked within this distorted space. By abandoning her body, she could easily escape.
However...
Phantylia did not want to relinquish this vessel.
Having meticulously planned for so long on Xianzhou, how could she leave defeated and humiliated?
The surrounding chaos gradually subsided. Both the tornadoes and thunder dragons began dissipating due to Phantylia's weakening state.
Dazed and overwhelmed, Phantylia thought, "Is fleeing my only option now?"
Defeat was inevitable. Continuing the fight would serve no purpose; it was better to depart swiftly.
Bochang also recognized that Phantylia was nearing her limit, with her healing rate significantly slowing down.
Taking advantage of the lingering turmoil around them, Bochang finally asked, "Where is Tingyun?"
"Tingyun...Tingyun... Heh heh... Why don't you find him yourself, benefactor?" Phantylia remained unwilling to divulge any information.
This frustrated Bochang.
"Never mind, if she doesn't want to reveal her intentions, there's little I can do."
With another fiery punch, Bochang deliberately held back some of his strength.
He knew that...
If he continued striking with full force, Lord Ravager would likely attempt to flee. To prevent this, he needed to instill some confidence in her.
The weakened punch landed softly on Phantylia, eliciting only a muffled groan.
Quickly repairing her broken right arm, Phantylia countered with a strike to Bochang's chest.
Familiar Wind and Lightning energies surged into him.
Intentionally, Bochang neither dodged nor used the Horse Talisman's magic to heal himself; instead, he threw another punch.
It landed feebly on Phantylia, leaving her momentarily stunned.
"What's going on? Why have his attacks suddenly lost their strength? It feels like Bochang isn't even using his full potential. Why? Wait... Could it be that he employed a highly costly method to temporarily boost his power, hence choosing close combat?"
"He's not relying on fire-breathing techniques not because he wants to capture me alive, but because he can't use them at the moment... And avoiding his spear is likely to prevent me from noticing something amiss, forcing me to continue engaging."
"Bochang definitely wanted to scare me off."
"I've figured it out!" Phantylia's spirit surged, and she threw another punch.
Bochang made a symbolic attempt to dodge but intentionally failed to evade at the last moment.
The fist struck him squarely in the chest.
With immense force, the blow caused Bochang pain. After a brief thought, he decided it was time to feign defeat. With a dramatic "ah," he utilized the momentum of the punch to dramatically fly backward.
Watching as Bochang crashed through multiple tornadoes and soared hundreds of meters away, Phantylia slowly typed a question mark.
"Was my punch that powerful?"
"Hmm... It's possible that Bochang has reached his limit already."
"It seems... I ultimately emerged victorious in this battle. Now, how should I torment them next?"
"No, wait. Almost forgot there's still a mastermind behind all this; we must expose them."
In the instant Phantylia "flew" Bochang away, she promptly withdrew her full strength.
Within the pitch-black distorted space, the winds subsided.
Phantylia looked down haughtily upon the two figures below.
Bochang hurtled backwards for a considerable distance before tumbling twice on the ground, with his flames gradually dissipating.
The focus was on delivering a convincing performance.
Seeing Bochang fall nearby, the gray-haired girl momentarily froze before rushing to his side and helping him up. He lay disheveled in Stelle's arms, his face pale, appearing half-dead.
"Are you okay? Don't scare me..." Stelle sounded genuinely anxious, unsure of what else to say.
"I'm fine..." Bochang managed to respond, forcing himself to cough up blood.
At this sight, Stelle nearly burst into tears.
"Don't talk anymore... Just rest... I-I'll immediately take you to Bailu, she must have a way to help."
As Stelle prepared to grab her baseball bat and confront Phantylia,
Bochang reached out and stopped her.
Initially ready to act, Stelle paused.
Gasping for breath, Bochang said, "You can't defeat Phantylia. Don't worry about me... Stelle... just run away quickly."
"No way! I won't abandon you!" Stelle's gaze remained resolute.
Phantylia observed them from above, unperturbed.
Honestly...
The sudden victory was so unexpected that even Phantylia couldn't believe it.
A momentary silence fell over the scene.
Phantylia needed to recover her strength and devise a plan against the mastermind behind the scenes; she had no immediate intention of attacking Stelle. After all, the gray-haired girl posed little threat.
Following the script from Stellaron Hunters, Bochang should now utter some heartfelt words. Then, he would watch as Stelle charges forward to battle Phantylia.
According to the narrative, during this confrontation, Stelle could successfully awaken the Destiny of Protection and potentially defeat the severely wounded Phantylia. This marked the climax of the Stellaron Hunters storyline.
However...
Before Bochang could speak those romantic lines, the system's voice interrupted:
[Dating Options have been activated.]
[Option 1: Follow the Stellaron Hunters script and continue the performance — Completion Reward: Random item, ranging from a matchstick to a star destroyer. Note: These items will...]
[Option 2: Before using the Feign Death skill, gaze at the meteorite with a distant look and say, "I remember running under the setting sun that day; it was my lost youth." — Completion Reward: Capture Phantylia.]