They hadn't even undergone any kind of "systematic language learning." At most, they had come into contact with humans in the past—
And those humans weren't necessarily from Huaxia; they could have been from anywhere in the world.
To learn this much from mere contact was a little too terrifying.
Or perhaps the ability to comprehend language was unique to this mutant orca.
Skyler Quinn cut off the thread of speculation. The most important thing right now was to destroy the mutant giant octopus. As for teaming up with the orca—he was not the kind of fighter who chased some notion of one-on-one "fairness."
For him, as long as the enemy could be taken down quickly and prevented from causing a greater catastrophe, the method didn't matter.
"—Sing!"
"Ka-da, ka-da!"
"ROAR!!!"
Under Firewing's and the others' eyes, one man and one mutant orca fell upon the mutant giant octopus, and battle erupted.
Either Skyler or the orca alone was only slightly inferior to the octopus. Together, they drove it back, pressing the advantage hard.
Violent tremors and searing fire—using the most destructive forces to smash the heaviest darkness!
"Feels like… there's nothing for us to do?"
Watching the fight, Firewing sounded vaguely aggrieved.
Skyler, Chris Frost, and her—why did it feel like she was the only one who hadn't done anything?
Why did it suddenly feel like a three-person mission where she was the slacker?
"You can join in."
Chris, who had just about recovered by now, watched the clash ahead and spoke evenly.
"Three against one, huh?"
Firewing was tempted. It didn't sound half bad.
"No—four against one."
"Aiii—!"
Chris's words had barely fallen when a clear phoenix cry rang across heaven and earth.
Firewing glanced at the frozen sea's surface, shook her head helplessly—yet the smile tugging at her lips could not be hidden.
"You two leave me no choice."
"Gang-ups are my favorite thing anyway."
"Rumble—"
Across the ice-sealed sea, countless flame-wreathed summons tore toward the mutant giant octopus, snapping and clawing, assault piling upon assault.
Put bluntly, Firewing was a summoner at her core.
And what summoner ever liked a fair duel?
"Rooooar!!!"
The mutant giant octopus bellowed, staggering under the combined onslaught from Skyler, Chris, Firewing, and the mutant orca, barely able to mount a counterattack.
The black mist hadn't even had time to spread before the orca shattered it outright with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Firewing's and Skyler's twin flames fused and erupted into something even more terrifying.
On the ice-locked sea, masses of summons leapt onto the octopus's body, chewing and rending without fear of death.
When it tried to swing an arm, ice caught it in the same instant—then the summons bit the limb clean through.
If not for its formidable regenerative powers, it would already have lost the ability to fight.
Even so, it wouldn't be long before the battle wore it down to death.
Meanwhile, in the Xiongbing Lian world—
A stunningly beautiful, delicately featured—if still faintly youthful—angel arrived at Angel Yan's palace.
She looked completely at sea, not quite understanding the task her teacher had given her.
This was Angel Zhixin, disciple of the Tianji King He Xi; the Holy Right Wing; a future bearer with every chance of inheriting the title of Tianji King.
After the ancient "scum king" Hua Ye had been eliminated, her teacher had abruptly assigned her a mission:
Go and guide a male god from another world—one destined to ascend to godhood.
Broadly speaking, she understood. But what did "another world" mean?
An unknown universe?
Come to think of it, lately Queen Keisha and Sister Yan had produced all kinds of things she had never even heard of—some they couldn't even analyze.
Were those things from that "other world"?
If so, that would explain it.
But why had her master also told her that this time the longer she stayed, the better?
And it wouldn't necessarily be "guidance." If the other party had already chosen his path, then the two of them would simply engage as equals.
"I can't shake the feeling Master didn't tell me everything."
Angel Zhixin turned the thought over and over.
"What's got you frowning, little Zhixin?"
Soft white arms slipped around her shoulders from behind. Angel Yan looked at her with amused eyes.
"I was thinking about what Master said."
Zhixin answered honestly.
"The Tianji King—that tease He Xi—basically told you to go find a man."
At the mention of He Xi, Angel Yan curled her lip and waved a hand airily.
"Ninety-eight percent compatibility. You won't find anyone in the known universe who's a better match for you."
The Sacred Treasury's data could not be wrong. At that level of computational power, it was practically foresight.
Gods only knew how shocked she'd been when she first learned that number.
She had never expected someone from another universe to mesh so closely with Angel Zhixin.
Frankly, it rankled. Zhixin had found such a match before her six-hundredth year, while she herself had fought for more than seven thousand years… Angels yearned for the coming of love.
Nothing could enrapture an angel more than love.
She'd had at least the "Power of the Galaxy" to daydream about. And now? Nothing.
"A— a male… god?"
Hearing Angel Yan's words, Angel Zhixin's cheeks flared scarlet.
Her mind filled with the scenes she had once imagined—what it would be like after "love descended," what it would be like to share days with a male god.
Her pretty face turned crimson.
"So shy already? How adorable."
Yan couldn't help poking Zhixin's cheek when she saw the fluster.
"But taking him down won't be so easy."
"That guy is already showing a trend toward divinity. What was the phrase he used? Taishang Wangqing?"
Taishang Wangqing did not mean lovelessness or heartlessness, nor some ice-cold absence of emotion. It was simply an absolute rationality.
A state in which one's essence could never be troubled by emotions that might distort the logic of one's thinking.
He would still fall in love, still converse with friends, still feel joy, excitement, grief, anger—yet those emotions would not sway his thoughts, would not derail his plans or his actions, would not lead him to do something reckless without thinking.
He could, for example, lay out a game across an entire world: distributing various strength-enhancing items to different regions in carefully chosen proportions.
Having already designated who would ultimately win, he would set all living beings to warring, accelerating the evolution of civilization.
The casualties that would arise in the process—even if people of Huaxia were injured or killed—would stir no reaction in him.
Even if it were former classmates he knew well—even if it were Firewing or Skyler Quinn—if they died, it would be the same.
For him, it was the best possible mindset: one that would not be swayed by feelings, that would allow him to pour his whole being into his plan, to stand outside the world with an observer's gaze—knowledge and action in unity.
Honestly, Angel Yan did not think there was anything wrong with such a state. It was a precious divinity, the mindset most coveted by leaders of civilizations.
But she did not want Brandon White to truly become that.
(End of this chapter)