Jinji’s eyes turned blood-red.
A destructive savagery leaked from the depths of his dilating pupils.
As this power that didn’t belong to him surged up within his body, the whole Strong Magnetic construct began to transform. Inside the cockpit, countless tentacle-like metal tubes bored into Jinji’s body, merging with him, then writhing ceaselessly, seeming to absorb and swallow some kind of energy within Jinji’s body—the sight of it utterly revolting.
Jinji, his features savage, felt not only madness but, faintly, an indescribable pleasure.
Like someone drawing in a drug that brings both degradation and delight.
At some unknown moment, the Strong Magnetic construct’s metal shell had become stained with a layer of fresh blood.
It rapidly transformed, its hard mechanical hull turning softer than rotting flesh; the former Strong Magnetic war-armor became a demon-like monstrosity that no one could recognize.
But one thing was certain.
This demon-like, bizarre construct ought to be the same sort as Wanmo’s Flesh-and-Blood Constructs—and it looked far, far more advanced than a Flesh-and-Blood Construct.
At the very least, Wanmo’s Flesh-and-Blood Constructs had no intelligence to speak of, whereas this demon construct that had just transformed grew six blood-red eyes, every one of them leaking an evil that gripped the soul and a madness bent on destroying all things… Indeed, the sharpest-eyed of the powerhouses, someone like the Silver-Eyed Great Sage, could even make out, in those evil blood-eyes, a thread of the cunning unique to intelligent beings.
Beyond any doubt, this demon construct possessed intelligence—it was not that cold steel machinery of before.
“Heavens—just what kind of monster is this?” Mige, the Tall Tower War Wolf, went pale with shock.
“A construct can possess intelligence too?” Young Lord Yangquan was stunned as well.
“It’s not a sacred-grade construct—this is another form, a terrible demon-thing…” This match had drawn seniors like the honored Principal and the Heavenly Pride Chairman to watch, and seeing this demon construct appear, they knit their brows one and all, heavy with foreboding.
“How could Jinji possibly have such power? Impossible—what on earth is going on?” No few students harbored doubts too. Just what sort of goods Jinji was, everyone knew perfectly well; a man like that didn’t even count as an elite, at most a megalomaniac and a spoiled second-generation heir—so how could he possibly possess the strength to make a construct transform and evolve like this?
On the field, Jinji, once the demon construct’s transformation was complete, let out a smug, mad burst of laughter.
With the demon construct born of forbidden power—
—Jinji believed that within Human Valley, no one else would be his match.
Whether Ji Wuri, or this little Titan before him whom he loathed to the utmost, none could possibly be a match for this invincible demon construct!
“Go die!”
No piloting was needed; the mere rising of a killing intent in his mind, and the demon construct would automatically hunt the enemy to the death.
All Jinji needed now was to think of how to savage his opponent.
Because whatever he wished to do, the demon construct would realize for him, requiring not the slightest piloting or action on his part in between.
The demon construct dripped black foul blood, and each drop corroded the sand of the ground with a sizzling hiss, while also rapidly spreading, polluting a great swath of ground into plague-like dead earth. The demon construct swung its arms, scattering a rain of black blood all around. Seeing this, Wanmo hastily withdrew from the combat ring, taking his Flesh-and-Blood Constructs with him.
One silver construct retreated a fraction too slowly; its two great metal legs, tainted by the black blood, rusted at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before it could run clear of the filthy dead earth, the whole construct toppled over.
The Flesh-and-Blood Construct in the cockpit was made to leap out by Wanmo—but before the dwarf puppet could flee the range of the dead earth, the several drops of black blood scattered in the second wave had already struck it.
The Flesh-and-Blood Construct had no intelligence, and no life.
But it had a living creature’s skin and flesh.
In the sizzling corrosion—
—people watched the dwarf puppet’s skin and flesh peel away layer by layer, turning to bloody filth and pus; even the metal skeleton within it kept rusting, and before it had gone ten steps, it had peeled apart and melted into that black dead earth.
Watching this scene, every student broke out in gooseflesh, chilled to the bone as if plunged into an ice cellar.
This terrible corrosive and contagious power—what in the world could stop it? Metal rusted in an instant, sand and mud couldn’t be spared, let alone a human body of flesh and blood; once tainted, it clung like a maggot to the bone, impossible to shake off, leaving one only to await death… Against a demon construct like this, how was one to respond? This—this kind of thing simply wasn’t something a metal-hulled construct or a human body of flesh and blood could contend with! Perhaps only by annihilating it from afar, with something like Zhonghua’s Jet Beasts or the sword qi of Ji Wuri’s Vengeful Prince, could there be any chance of making it vanish!
Just as the onlookers were imagining this, trying to find a way—
—they suddenly saw Yue Yang fly out of the silver construct, and the silver construct transform in midair, reverting to its silver-wolf state.
The silver wolf opened its mouth.
An energy orb shot out from its throat.
Its speed swift as lightning, it struck with perfect accuracy the demon construct that was still smugly scattering black blood to pollute all around it… Rumble! The energy orb detonated in an earth-shattering, world-shaking explosion, and the demon construct—imposing and mighty a moment ago—was blasted into several great chunks, black blood spraying across the ground.
“What?” Young Lord Yangquan’s eyes went wide.
“Is that a silver wolf? Not only skilled at close combat, but able to fire energy orbs too?” Mige, the Tall Tower War Wolf, felt his mouth go bitter. By comparison, his own title of Tall Tower War Wolf seemed to somewhat dishonor the word “wolf.” Just look at the silver wolf in little Titan’s hand—how formidable had it gotten? A hundred-and-eight-strike close-combat combo, and long-range lightning-fast energy-orb spitting—quite simply mastered to the point of miraculous transcendence. That was what you called a true “wolf”!
“I dare say the power of this silver wolf’s energy orb is no less than Zhonghua’s Jet Beasts!” A student specially charged with research in this area gave his affirmation.
“An energy pillar looks gorgeous on the surface, but by comparison a highly condensed energy orb is more effective in attack, and faster too. Still, for a silver-grade construct to unleash such power—one has to say, little Titan’s creativity and piloting have both reached a monstrous degree!” A more professional student offered his appraisal, waggling his head.
“Rubbish—as if you had to say it. Little Titan’s a genius both monstrous and prodigious; who doesn’t know that!” Someone beside him instantly sneered.
“That may be so, but has Jinji really lost?”
“Look—there’s something moving over there on the ground…”
From the wreckage and foul blood on the ground, several chunks of the demon construct suddenly extended countless revolting flesh-and-blood tubes, twining and linking together; within two or three seconds they’d wholly connected and combined, and then, before all those watching eyes, restored themselves to their original state. When it stood up again, even the foul blood corroding the ground came swimming back as though alive, merging in, recombining once more into one with the demon construct. On the surface, this demon construct looked no different from before—but anyone observant would surely have noticed that the demon construct, now restored, was already somewhat unlike before.
Its skin had gained a bizarre, oily sheen.
The silver wolf opened its mouth again.
A second time, it spat out an energy orb.
The demon construct still didn’t move, standing there like a block of wood.
Boom!
What made people’s eyeballs drop to the ground was that the demon construct—blasted into four or five pieces a moment ago—came through the second energy orb’s explosion nearly without a scratch. On the surface it had only slight damage, and it recovered rapidly; in the sizzling smoke, in less than a single second, it restored itself to its original state.
“It—it’s formed energy-absorbing skin. Attacks and explosions no longer work on it!” Even the Heavenly Pride Academy’s instructors watched dumbstruck.
“This thing can evolve?” Chimu cried out in a wail of fright. “Not fair—this is quite simply cheating!”
“Quiet!” Mingzhu kicked him flying with one foot.
“…” Yue Yang, watching, drew a deep breath too. The abilities of an evil-god projection truly were monstrous enough; it seemed he’d have to get serious as well. Jinji himself was no cause for fear, but the demon construct bestowed by the evil-god projection’s power really was a thorny customer. That it couldn’t be killed and could evolve wasn’t even the worst of it; the deadliest thing was that this fellow had intelligence—it was an evil-god projection, not cold steel, and ordinary means of attack were utterly useless against it.
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Weep! Cry out! Kneel and beg for mercy! Your fate is destined for despair. Before my power, you’re all pitiful little ants, and only I am the invincible existence of this world!” Jinji broke into wild, smug laughter, feeling he’d never in his whole life been so magnificent.
From birth until now, this one moment was the most exhilarating.
What could be more exhilarating than wildly savaging one’s opponent?
If there was anything!
Then it was wildly savaging, before all those watching eyes, a genius everyone supported and praised in one voice!
Just to think of it—destroying with his own hands such a treasure of the world, such a soul who held the hope of the future and was destined to rise above others, such a peerless genius; making that darling of heaven kneel at his feet, letting out pitiful, wretched wails, while he himself stamped on the man’s head and ground that noble skull down into the mud and sand… Merely fantasizing about it could bring him straight to climax!
“Let me send you on your way!” Jinji laughed wildly, and the demon construct leapt high, pouncing on the silver wolf.
As Wanmo retreated still farther back, under Yue Yang’s watching gaze—
—the demon construct, its speed raised at least a hundredfold over the original Strong Magnetic construct, in the blink of an eye caught up with the gale-swift silver wolf, pressed a hand to its waist, and the black blood melted the silver wolf clean in two.
Jinji had the demon construct fling the silver wolf’s head down before Yue Yang, and jeered with wild, insolent arrogance, “Genius—how many more of these scraps of broken bronze and rotten iron have you got? Bring them all out! I haven’t had my fill of playing—there’s no way I can get enough pleasure like this! Ha ha ha ha ha… Look at you, about to be scared to tears. Shall I show a little kindness and spare your life? Come—kneel down and lick my toes. Don’t miss a single gap between them; lick them squeaky clean, and maybe then I’ll consider letting you off!”
“An idiot truly is beyond all cure!” Yue Yang sneered coldly.
His foot stamped down hard on the ground.
The whole earth quaked.
His two hands lifted toward the sky.
Between heaven and earth, exceedingly profound, unfathomable rune patterns flickered, and countless pillars of light shot up from deep in the earth.
The whole Western Peak trembled violently, and a sand giant over a thousand meters tall bored up out of the ground… Once its whole body had emerged, the hovering rune patterns sank into its frame, causing the sand giant’s thousand-meter body to shrink rapidly, down to a gravel giant of about five hundred meters; and when Yue Yang leapt into the air and pressed a hand to its forehead, the five-hundred-meter gravel giant shrank once again.
At last, the gravel giant shrank to a crystal giant a hundred meters tall.
Its whole body shaped like diamond.
Crystalline and translucent.
It stood upon the filthy dead earth without the slightest taint; even the black blood that could corrode metal was wholly useless against this crystal giant.
“Boom!”
The demon construct hadn’t even had time to flee before it was stamped straight into the depths of the earth by one kick of the crystal giant.
Ten meters tall, next to the hundred-meter crystal giant, it was as tiny and insignificant as a little bug.
Standing atop the crystal giant’s forehead, Yue Yang turned his face toward Wanmo. “Bring out your true strength. This clownish little upstart only wastes my time!”
(End of Chapter)