As the flames dissipated, a fiery red dragon formed entirely of scorching fire coiled in the air behind Qin Tian.
“Go.”
At that single, calm command, the entire battlefield was engulfed in flames.
The crimson fire dragon drifted through the sea of fire, and amidst endless shrieks of agony, every last mutated beast perished in the blaze.
At this moment, Qin Tian was nothing less than a god of fire!
“Next—purge every mutated beast from the entire imperial capital.”
Hidden beneath the armor, his golden dragon eyes gleamed with a cold, piercing light.
Meanwhile, in Tianhai City…
“Squeak squeak—”
“Squeak—”
“Squeak squeak squeak—”
Ear-piercing, shrill cries echoed through every corner of the city. Countless mutant rats emerged from nowhere, forming a black tidal wave that surged through the streets, devouring everything in their path. Everywhere they passed turned to ruin.
The ground was littered with bones.
Not just human remains—but those of other mutated beasts as well.
Mutant ants, mutant cattle and sheep that had escaped from slaughterhouses, feral mutant cats, stray dogs, ants—no matter what they were, all were reduced to bare skeletons beneath that horrifying black tide, swallowed whole by the rat swarm.
“Damn it!”
City officials and members of the Spiritual Energy Bureau who had rushed to the scene were furious at the sight. They unleashed their abilities—earth churned, countless earthen spikes rose from the ground, piercing through the bodies of the mutant rats. But compared to the sheer size of the swarm, the few rats killed by those spikes were merely a drop in the bucket.
“Kill them.”
A man with glasses, who looked refined and scholarly, stared coldly at the rat swarm below without turning his head. Behind him were flocks of massive mutant birds.
At his command, they shot downward like arrows, diving straight into the rat tide.
They were just a small representation of the arriving Spiritual Energy Bureau members. All the ability users were doing their utmost, relying on their own power to slow the advance of the mutated rat swarm.
Although almost everyone in this era of universal awakening had developed abilities, most were far too weak to make a difference in such a large-scale battle. And the panic and chaos in people’s hearts left them nearly paralyzed, not even able to muster the will to fight back.
But that was only natural. No one is born a warrior—without training and tempering, no one can simply jump into a life-or-death struggle.
Still, there will always be a few—ordinary people among the masses—who, when danger arrives, pick up their weapons and join the fight.
Watching the ability users fight with everything they had, countless ordinary citizens hesitated at first, then found their resolve. They stepped forward, using their modest powers to lend whatever strength they could.
Even so, it barely made a dent in the tide of battle.
The city wasn’t the wilderness—there was no room for indiscriminate firepower, and even firearms were constrained in such a dense urban environment.
If they didn’t care about casualties and simply used high-tech weaponry, the rat swarm could be wiped out in an instant.
But could they?
Could they truly sacrifice millions of lives just to eliminate the beast tide?
No. Impossible.
So their hope rested on the powerful ability users—those extraordinary individuals strong enough to turn the tide of battle single-handedly.
“Flash Freeze.”
A cold, clear voice rang out. The temperature in the air plummeted instantly, and snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
Terrifying ice rose from the ground, and in mere moments, the black tide of rats was frozen solid, turned into countless ice sculptures.
A young woman strode onto the battlefield. She wore a naval-style uniform, a black cap, and had long ice-blue hair, exuding an air of cool nobility.
Gazing at the human corpses scattered across the ground, Chen Bing’s eyes grew colder and colder.
If only her second ability awakening hadn’t taken so long—these mutated beasts never would have gotten this far!
But now her second awakening was complete, and she had gained a brand new power. It was time to put an end to this farce.
“Extreme Ice—Phoenix!”
“SCREECH!”
A crisp, clear phoenix cry resounded through the sky. With Chen Bing at its center, endless ice rapidly spread outward, deliberately avoiding humans while freezing every mutated beast in its path. In just over ten seconds, half of Tianhai City was encased in ice.
Even for Chen Bing, who had already undergone her second awakening, doing this left her face slightly pale.
But soon, the spiritual energy in the air flowed into her body, replenishing the reserves she had expended.
Originally, she never could have frozen such a vast area—not even after her second awakening.
“Demon’s Manifestation—Demon’s Extract.”
During the process of her second awakening, a container holding a strange, viscous blood had appeared before her. Instantly, an overwhelming, instinctive pull came from deep within her—her ability craved that blood with an insatiable hunger.
Acting on instinct, her hand reached out and touched the container. And then, its name surfaced in her mind—Demon’s Manifestation—Demon’s Extract. A terrifying ice-type Imperial Arm, forged from the blood of a legendary super-dangerous creature said to dwell in the far frozen north.
There was no such creature in this world’s northernmost lands—she knew that clearly.
But more importantly, she recognized this Imperial Arm.
Huo Yu had once told her that in one of Bai Xuan’s anime series, there was a character who resembled her greatly—even their abilities were nearly identical. He had even joked that Bai Xuan must have modeled the character after her—the Ice Queen, Esdeath.
Just as Huo Yu said, this character looked, acted, and carried herself like Chen Bing’s mirror image.
And this Imperial Arm was the very ability used by that Ice Queen.
Just as Qin Tian had guessed that the Flame Dragon Armor was created by Bai Xuan, Chen Bing understood that Demon’s Manifestation—Demon’s Extract was Bai Xuan’s gift to her.
She didn’t hesitate—nor did her instincts give her a chance to. She drank it all in one go.
The pain!
Unimaginable, excruciating pain!
Not just physical torment, but agony that clawed at her very soul.
It was as if ice was slowly devouring her from the inside out. Her consciousness grew hazy, on the verge of slipping into a frozen slumber.
In the end, it was only because her ability had been transformed through the baptism of Demon’s Manifestation—Demon’s Extract that she snapped back to awareness. If not for that, she might have died right there.
In terms of willpower, she fell short of Esdeath.
Before, she might have dismissed Esdeath as just a fictional character. But now, she no longer felt that way.
If Demon’s Manifestation—Demon’s Extract could appear in the real world… then could Esdeath herself also manifest?
Inferior was inferior—there was no point denying it. But being inferior now didn’t mean she would stay inferior forever.
What Esdeath had, she had. What Esdeath didn’t have, she also had.
If even with all that, she still couldn’t surpass Esdeath, then she might as well be dead.
“There will not be a single mutated beast left in Tianhai City.”
Chen Bing’s voice was cold and resolute.
