Boom!
Boom!
"The continent… is shaking?"
A man stood in a wild landscape, but the continent beneath his feet trembled with a rhythmic pulsation!
The deafening sound echoed to the heavens, like an earthquake, but without any discernible cause. It affected the entire continent.
It was as if something colossal, beyond comprehension, was traversing one continent to another?
Then, in a fleeting instant, the sky darkened.
Darkness enveloped the world. A farmer, holding a pitchfork, looked up in astonishment to see a monstrous creature, obscuring the heavens, blocking out the sky!
Boom!
A powerful aura enveloped him, instantly throwing the farmer into the air!
"Oh, my God, save…"
Thump.
The farmer's body fell from the height, bones broken.
And that sky-obscuring object continued its advance.
...
At the GPA headquarters within the United Nations, Zero stared silently at the satellite images, while the other GPA high-ranking officials looked utterly dumbfounded!
The satellite map showed a clearly visible, colossal monster sprawled across the European landmass, its limbs spanning countless cities, writhing and crawling forward!
"Tell me, what is that thing?"
Zero, impassive, swivelled in his chair. "Sea King."
"You're telling me that's the Sea King?"
"That thing is nearly four thousand meters long. It's the Sea King?!"
"At that size, if it stood upright… it would likely reach halfway up the Himalayas."
"It probably can't stand upright."
"Huh?"
"If it could stand, it would have already done so, instead of crawling like this."
"You mean its physique is severely unbalanced, its lower body unable to support its upper body in an upright position?"
"Not unreasonable."
"Wait, situation changing… Red Mist moving?"
On the satellite map, a Red Mist cloud covering over a thousand square kilometers suddenly began moving towards Europe!
"That direction is…"
"The Red Mist is converging with the Sea King?"
Zero pushed back his chair, grabbed a jacket hanging on the wall, and left without a word.
"Zero, where are you going?"
"To stop them."
Zero didn't turn back.
"Alone?"
Of course not.
Zero suddenly turned. "I need a helicopter."
An official frowned. "What about us? What do we do?"
Zero pulled a crumpled cigarette from his jacket, put it in his mouth, "You don't need to do anything. Keep your cobalt bombs ready. If I die, unleash them."
The countdown had begun.
Zero pulled out a stopwatch, pressed the start button.
"Hopefully, I'll make it."
...
North America.
Beneath the wreckage of an armored vehicle, a middle-aged man, gun in hand, continuously pulled the trigger. "Come out, monster! Show yourself!"
Gunfire erupted relentlessly until, with a sudden turn, a flash of light sliced through the air.
A man's head flew towards the sky.
The man blinked, wondering why his body remained standing there.
Crack!
A white hand caught the head, gently squeezing it until it crumbled into pieces like tofu.
Amidst the rubble, a tall, white figure emerged.
Ten thousand wings, perfectly aligned, sprouted from its back. This was a Ten-Thousand-Winged Angel.
"Ten thousand wings… is that the limit?"
Blood flowed from the Angel's hand to the ground. In this silent wasteland, a figure silently watched.
008 True Ancestor, gazing at the distant Angel, hadn't even spoken when the Angel's gaze pierced him!
"Die."
Splash!
Before the True Ancestor could react, his body disintegrated!
The distant Angel, somehow appearing behind the True Ancestor, silently walked past him, wings beating. Golden flames erupted, instantly reducing the True Ancestor's body to a plume of black smoke.
"They think they're immortal because they haven't encountered me."
The Angel walked barefoot through the rubble. Vampires, before even reaching her, dissolved into puffs of black smoke.
The greater the height you reach, the smaller the mountains before you appear.
When the Angel was still at the 3rd Step, Vampires seemed immortal.
But now, they're merely slightly stronger opponents.
At least, to her.
Ten-Thousand-Winged Angel, a theoretical limit of evolution.
True 5th Step.
The Angel suddenly turned her gaze to the distance, where a small rift peered at her from the shadows.
Meeting that rift was a strike like a blade of light.
Crack!
A colossal wing pierced the rift, which immediately erupted with a burst of dark green ichor!
Then, the rift closed.
Seeing this, the Angel, shaking the blood from her wing, soared into the air. "I've reached the theoretical height limit. The only way for me to evolve further is a new potion."
But in this world, there are no other 5th Step beings besides herself.
However, there might not be a need for other 5th Steps.
"Let's erase all creations. No need for higher dimensions. I am the sky of this world."
"And my godhood will be built upon the ruins of this war."
...
Asia.
A ruined tavern.
The Vermin shielded his eyes, crying out, "My eyes… my eyes!"
A girl dressed in a school uniform approached. "Stop acting. You don't actually feel pain."
The Vermin lowered his hands. He maintained his human form. "But it looked so painful."
The girl pulled up a chair, brushed off the ash, and sat down.
"That bird-man was strong… When I saw him, my first reaction was to run."
Hearing his sister, The Vermin approached. "If we had eaten him…"
"Brother, calm down."
The Vermin tore at the skin on his mouth. "If I'd known he was that strong, I should have eaten him first."
The power The Shans granted The Vermin was considerable for a Great Old One, but not overwhelmingly so.
His sister, however, was somewhat stronger.
Her current form wasn't a transformation; it's a form of mental contamination.
Simply put, the girl before The Vermin is a gigantic spider-like creature.
A spider-form Great Old One. She possesses a mental contamination similar to Chino's.
This mental contamination doesn't cause madness, but it distorts perception.
To ordinary beings, they appear as a man and a woman.
But if this mental contamination is revealed, the man and woman are actually a centipede-like insect collective and a giant spider with a human face.
The sister flipped her hand, seemingly weaving something, but she frowned occasionally. "Strange. I can sense Dreamland, but I can't connect…"
"I can't weave my net. Something is suppressing my ability, hindering my ability to weave the dream net for the world."
The Vermin and his sister's powers are distinct, almost as if they are two separate forces.
This is because The Vermin subconsciously views himself and his sister as two separate individuals, splitting their powers.
His sister possesses the ability to summon The Shans from the void.
Since her brother's body is composed of The Shans, her brother's immortality is linked to her. Therefore, the brother is an insect collective, while the sister is a spider-like creature, a kind of insect queen.
The sister doesn't possess direct combat abilities; those are primarily concentrated in The Vermin.
These abilities are roughly two-fold: First, he can tear through space, creating rifts in the invisible space to traverse dimensions. Second, he can freely alter the composition of his body, transforming into various forms; for example, transforming the insects in his hands into different insects.
These are The Vermin's powers. His sister has four:
One, she can summon insect swarms from the void.
Two, her summoned Shans can enter other creatures' minds, controlling and influencing the host's consciousness.
Three, as the matriarch, she can consume creatures to gain power, transferring that power to The Vermin.
Four, and the ability she just mentioned she couldn't perform.
She can weave dream nets, connecting to what is called Dreamland.
But this ability seems bound by some higher will or restraint, preventing her from sensing Dreamland's presence.
Unable to draw threads from Dreamland, she naturally can't weave a net.
At that moment, a ragged young man burst into the abandoned noodle shop.
Surrounded by rubble, the shop lacked even a roof. The young man gasped for breath. "What's with this power surging through me since a moment ago?"
"Am I awakening?"
The young man looked up, seeing a man and a woman seated in the shop.
"Uh… hello?"
Perhaps it was an illusion, but the man and woman briefly transformed into enormous insects.
The young man rubbed his eyes. The man and woman were human again.
Strange. What just happened?
It seemed that for the past two days, an inexplicable energy had been flowing into his body. He'd been seeing strange images.
These images flickered in and out, like hallucinations.
It seemed he wasn't alone. Some of the refugees he'd met on the road had experienced this.
An old man told him it was a sign of awakening.
As for what awakening was, the old man said it was a kind of energy entering the body.
Later, a man with a scholarly face jumped in, saying it wasn't some kind of energy at all, but a low-level energy that living beings could absorb.
But the old man insisted it was energy, that he had cultivated it since childhood, only sensing it in his old age.
The man repeatedly stressed that it was an energy that acted upon both the physical and spiritual levels.
It wasn't something you cultivated to perceive; it simply wasn't there before!
And the absorption process would continuously heal the pineal gland, making the human spirit stronger.
Leading to the perception of things previously unseen.
But the old man called it the third eye!
The intersection of the Ajna chakra and the Du point, the Nirvana Palace, energy accumulates in the Nirvana Palace, reopening the human third eye!
The two argued incessantly. One spoke of spiritual and physical energies healing the pineal gland, allowing spiritual strength to reach higher dimensions. The other spoke of energy gathering in the Nirvana Palace, opening the sealed human third eye, allowing the perception of previously unseen images.
But the young man thought their argument was pointless.
It's the same event, explained differently. What's the point of arguing?
The pineal gland is the Nirvana Palace.
It's just one term used in modern medicine, and another in Taoism.
But their knowledge bases differed; one didn't understand Taoist concepts, and the other lacked medical knowledge.
The young man looked at the man and woman. "Speaking of which, haven't you experienced those illusions? Like, the person in front of you suddenly turning into a monster?"
The Vermin tilted his head. "Oh? What kind of monster?"
"Like insect monsters. Just now, I saw you…"
"Never mind what I said."
Hearing the young man, the sister's face changed.
He saw my true form?
Not good…
"Brother, get him!"
The Vermin grinned. "One hit, and I'll pulverize him!"
Seeing The Vermin approach, the young man quickly backed away.
"What are you going to do?!"
"You…!"
...
Moments later, the man disappeared.
The sister remained in the shop, while The Vermin licked his lips, returning.
"That guy was interesting. His flavor was completely different from ordinary humans."
Indeed, quite unique. He could see their true forms through the mental contamination; he wasn't ordinary.
At that moment, The Vermin felt his stomach swell!
"Huh?"
The sister turned. "Is it from that man?"
No!
No!
The Vermin's eyes widened. "Sister, run!"
Speaking, The Vermin used his massive mandibles to tear through space, creating a rift and diving through!
The Vermin traversed dimensional space, arriving at a desert!
At that instant, his body swelled to its limit, exploding uncontrollably!
Boom——!!
The explosion was enormous, a mushroom cloud rising into the sky as The Vermin was completely obliterated!
Nuclear radiation scattered, a figure thrown from the flames, spinning through the air before crashing to the ground.
He too, was affected by the blast, his body shattering.
However, soon, he crawled back up.
His face was blackened, and his hair was incinerated.
"You dared to eat me? You forgot I had a hydrogen bomb inside me, didn't you?"
009 spat out blood. The high-intensity radiation flooded his body, causing his tissues to disintegrate.
Soon, a new 009 fell to the ground.
Then, crawled up again.
The Vermin consumed 009, controlling him to prevent his body from breaking apart and to prevent him from splitting into anything.
Simultaneously, he used acid to continuously corrode him, relentlessly killing his consciousness to leave him no time to react.
009 was repeatedly liquefied by the acid, then resurrected.
Again and again.
But, taking advantage of The Vermin having just consumed someone, 009 snapped his own neck.
His severed head instantly transformed into a hydrogen bomb!
Nuclear fusion occurred within his body, causing an explosion. Even a 4th Step body couldn't survive that.
"Not bad. I've gained a new skill."
"Now let's see who dares eat me again!"
...
"East, west, south… the intersection of three points, approaching southwest."
"Here."
On the helicopter, Zero's gaze pierced the miles.
Given the Sea King's speed, departing from the United Nations, a direct approach should intercept it without incident.
The Sea King and the Red Mist converging like this—the purpose is unclear.
And according to observations, the Angel is also heading this way.
This might be an opportunity.
The helicopter pilot glanced at him.
Zero's appearance was demonic, yet ironically, he was here to save them.
Hiss…
At that moment, a synthesized electronic voice crackled through Zero's radio.
"Commander, long time no see."
"Glad to know you're still alive."
That voice… was it the 020 computer?
Zero lowered his voice. "State your intentions. Friend or foe?"
"Neither friend nor foe."
"I merely relay a message from 009's successor."
"Two more beings of comparable rank to the Sea King have appeared: the Queen Bee and The Vermin. Be prepared to confront them."
Two more?
Hearing the computer, Zero tightened his grip on his blade.
"What was 009's position? What's yours for offering this warning?"
The computer voice responded. "From a purely objective standpoint, our goals align. We all wish to contain or eliminate the monsters besides ourselves."
"As we have aided you before."
"This time, I can offer some information. Of course, that depends on your ability to act upon it."
"I'll judge that after I hear it."
"Very well. Whether you have a solution or not, I will share this intelligence."
"Concerning the Angel, the Sea King, the Red Mist, The Vermin, and the Queen Bee, consider this uncompensated assistance. I urge you to listen carefully."
"If you can spare them, that would be ideal."
"That way, we only need to deal with each other, instead of facing those god-like opponents."
...
The information 020 provided to Zero wasn't particularly helpful.
Because this time, he truly possessed the power.
"Unidentified lifeforms detected!"
Suddenly, something plummeted from the sky onto the helicopter!
Bang!
The helicopter instantly exploded in a fiery inferno, wreckage scattering everywhere.
A cultist wielding a rocket launcher summoned a Nightgaunt. It beat its wings, firing another rocket.
Unexpectedly, a sword emerged from the explosion, piercing the Nightgaunt's head!
Splash!
Zero, drawing his blade, instantly vaporized the Nightgaunt with a swift strike.
This wasn't an ambush. The entire world was under attack by various monsters, and the war raged across the globe.
The Deep Ones' summoned creatures were particularly prevalent in the Eurasian warzone.
The further they advanced, the denser the monsters became.
"This is it. No conserving strength now."
Zero activated his demonic wings and charged forward!
Flying over ruined landscapes and cities, Zero saw a colossal shadow that blotted out the sky.
Meanwhile, a massive Red Mist cloud was converging towards that shadow!
At that moment, an off-road vehicle sped past on the ground.
A man with a goatee drove the vehicle, his daughter, bearing a striking resemblance, wielding a shotgun in the back, firing relentlessly at the swarming Fish-Men!
"Rena, can you hold them off?!"
"Dad, we're running low on ammo!"
Seeing the Fish-Men surging towards the vehicle, Zero swiped his hand, and flames erupted in the air!
A colossal, burning boulder materialized in his hand.
"Twelve tons."
That was the maximum weight Zero could currently lift.
After signing the demonic pact, his strength had increased dramatically, allowing him to bring heavier objects from other dimensions to this world!
Zero hurled the magma boulder to the ground. It impacted the earth, exploding on contact!
Boom!
The explosion engulfed the mass of Fish-Men.
The daughter, holding the shotgun, saw the boulder's origin. "Someone's in the sky… Is he a superhero?"
Her father didn't reply, slamming the gas pedal.
"Don't worry about that now. It's a downhill slope ahead. Hold on tight, Rena!"
...
Seeing the father and daughter leave, Zero continued towards the colossal shadow.
The two giant monsters weren't moving quickly; they were advancing at a deliberate pace.
As if… waiting for something?
On the continent, Chino and Shino's minds continuously intertwined.
"Drawing all the monsters together at once… isn't that risky?"
"It's the fastest and most suitable method."
"If we go to them, they can escape at any time. And it's difficult to catch those more agile 4th Steps."
"Muddy the waters. Using our meeting point as a coordinate, we lure all the 4th Steps there."
"Will they come?"
"They will."
"We just need to seize the opportunity to eliminate one of them."
"Finally…"
They both knew what came next.
No matter who appeared, their goal was for Shino to obtain the potion, using Chino as the final stepping stone for Shino's ascension.
Shino: "What if I can't defeat you?"
Chino: "Then you're just not trying hard enough."
"We've both known from the start that 'what you eat shapes you.' Therefore, suffering and consuming others are the only ways to transcend humanity."
"Kings consume their subjects."
"I rose from the bottom by doing just that. You were born at the top. Since I've reached my limit, step onto my shoulders and reach the heavens."
Only they knew the details of their conversation.
The Vermin was present, observing from the shadows.
The Queen Bee had also arrived.
Seeing the two colossal monsters, she hesitated to approach. "The rumors of the Dragon's death seem true."
"If I were them, their next target would be me, and then The Vermin."
This was bad.
At that moment, a rift appeared in the space before them.
A green eye emerged from the rift.
"Shall we discuss a deal?"
"Cooperation?"
"Cooperation."
The Vermin proposed an alliance to the Queen Bee. Though she distrusted him, the situation demanded it.
"Fine. We'll each take one, and work together."
"You choose first."
"I'll take on the Red Mist."
"No, let me."
"Didn't you say I could choose first?"
"I was just teasing. Don't take it seriously."
Without hesitation, they both knew Chino would evolve. His post-evolution strength was uncertain, and neither wanted to be the first to confront him.
Ultimately, the Queen Bee, surprisingly decisive, charged towards Shino.
"You said I chose first. No changing your mind."
Watching the Queen Bee depart, The Vermin bared his teeth. He'd expected her to choose Chino, given their long-standing feud.
That's why he'd offered her the first choice; he hadn't anticipated her shrewdness.
"Seems the Queen Bee isn't as foolish as I thought. Oh well, I'll test the Sea King's composition."
With that, The Vermin lunged towards Chino!
Faced with The Vermin's sudden attack, Chino raised a massive hand, striking him down to the earth.
Boom!
Hearing the impact behind him, the Queen Bee turned. "The Vermin already down?"
Wait.
That's wrong.
The Vermin was a 4th Step; he couldn't be defeated that easily. Chino hadn't used his full strength, so…
"Damn insect, you betrayed me?"
Without a doubt, The Vermin was acting. He'd likely retreated to ambush the Queen Bee.
After all, ambushing the Queen Bee for a kill was easier than fighting Chino.
Having been ambushed by 009 before had taught The Vermin a valuable lesson.
He'd been blown up without suffering any fatal injuries, but getting too close to his sister would be problematic.
With The Vermin's retreat, Chino and Shino became the clear targets!
They attacked the Queen Bee!
Surrounded, the Queen Bee gritted her teeth and unleashed a torrent of curses.
"Damn it, I knew it!"
She then turned to Chino. "How about we discuss our respective abilities first, as before?"
Ignoring her outburst, Chino launched countless tentacles, a net of doom ensnaring the Queen Bee!
Shino transformed into a gigantic, humanoid mist, striking at the Queen Bee!
She met Shino's attack head-on!
But strangely, she passed right through him!
Intangible?
The Queen Bee thought, but the surrounding mist suddenly compressed, forming a cube-like space that began to shrink!
She tried to break free, but the contracting misty cube felt solid. No matter how hard she pushed, she couldn't break through!
As the mist constricted, the space around the Queen Bee shrank!
She pushed against the sides, but the space kept contracting!
Damn it!
Gritting her teeth, she strained with all her might, but the shrinking space remained relentless!
"Break for me!"
Boom!
The mist condensed into a solid wall, which shattered, but invisible blood mist instantly enveloped the Queen Bee!
At that moment, she felt something being extracted from her body!
Large amounts of mist-like blood threads escaped her, as if countless insects were sucking her blood!
"He's eating me?"
As she moved, Chino's tentacles attacked from all sides, binding her limbs!
The Queen Bee possessed mid-4th Step strength. Killing her with Shino's lower-4th Step power wouldn't be easy.
Of course, being of the same rank, neither inherently surpassed the other; Chino couldn't easily kill her.
However, considering their evolutions, both Chino and the Queen Bee followed a path of physical expansion.
The Queen Bee's evolution leaned more towards expansion of her offspring, with smaller individual size.
Chino's leaned towards self-expansion; his offspring were weaker, but he became larger.
Shino, however, represented a completely unprecedented evolutionary path.
He could be intangible.
From a game mechanics perspective, Chino had high health and could regenerate.
But Shino was invulnerable and untargetable.
Excluding two known weaknesses, he was practically invincible.
And one of those weaknesses wasn't truly a weakness.
That "non-weakness" was Shino's sealed item, the torch.
Since Shino had the torch, it wasn't a weakness.
For Shino, the only one who could exploit his weakness was Ye Long.
Ye Long controlled wind and clouds. Everyone believed he could resist the Red Mist, that a single breath could dispel Shino's mist.
Because of this, in the Dragon Control Plan, Chino eliminated Shino.
Shino was left in Asia to distract other monsters.
But until now, Chino hadn't found anyone who could suppress him.
Then, suddenly, Chino noticed a colossal throne in the distant sky.
A white figure stood on the throne, observing them.
The Angel.
Chino attempted to extend his mental energy, but an invisible mental barrier surrounded the Angel.
His mental energy couldn't penetrate it.
At that moment, Chino felt an inexplicable dread.
The invisible pressure emanating from the Angel was like a tidal wave, causing Chino intense unease and making his hair stand on end.
"Ten thousand wings?"
Could it be that he evolved to the 5th Step?
"So, the one who defeated me 17,000 times… was him?"
Was the answer finally revealed?
Chino felt a sense of unease, but aside from the Angel, no one had made him feel so powerless.
Combined with Mei's description of the opponent not being a 4th Step, the Angel's arrival as a 5th Step seemed to perfectly match.
Chino glanced at Shino; the Queen Bee was still struggling desperately.
The Angel's silent presence was terrifying.
They couldn't delay; they had to kill the Queen Bee quickly.
As Chino prepared for a major attack, the Angel in the sky moved.
Her figure flashed, a blinding light streaked across, and Chino's massive arm turned to ash!
What speed was that?
The Angel appeared before Chino, silent and impassive. Ten thousand wings spread across the sky, blinding light piercing the darkness, illuminating the night like day!
Chino, bathed in the intense light, looked at the Angel. "You want to fight me?"
The Angel's expression remained calm. "Fight?"
"Fighting implies two equally matched opponents."
What arrogance.
Though from a certain perspective, he was right.
Just one step short, but not a superior or mid-level step.
A single step separated 4th and 5th Step.
"Very well. If I lose, I'll lose with understanding. Let me see the difference between your 5th Step and my 4th."
Chino said, contacting Shino.
"Brother, the plan remains unchanged."
Shino understood. Chino would hold off the Angel, while he killed the Queen Bee.
As the battle erupted, Zero stood on a nearby building.
This scene felt familiar, reminiscent of the Sahara Desert battle.
Zero searched his pockets for a cigarette, only finding an empty pack.
"Forget it. No smoking."
But his hands were shaking…
Suppressing the tremor, Zero observed the four behemoths.
Compared to them, he was truly insignificant.
...
"Aaaah!!"
The Queen Bee let out a frantic scream as her body rapidly withered, her life force drained by Shino.
Strangely, Shino gained no power from this.
At that moment, the brothers considered a possibility.
"It wasn't the main body?"
It made sense. The Queen Bee always preferred to stay in the shadows, even after reaching 4th Step.
Her strength lay in swarming. Sending a clone to scout was logical, especially since her evolved form no longer feared the death of clones.
After a clone's death, its power would return to the main body. Even if only a small fraction returned, it could be reclaimed at any time.
This ability was strikingly similar to The Vermin's: both used swarms, both kept their main bodies hidden.
Was this due to both being insects?
Regardless, the Queen Bee assassination failed, as the brothers had anticipated.
Killing her was merely a bonus; it wasn't crucial.
Their primary goal was Shino sealing Chino.
Before that, however, Shino wanted to test if their combined might could stand against the Angel!
With a thought, Shino's massive Red Mist surged into Chino's body!
The Red Mist surged into Chino's body, and numerous plants sprouted wildly across his massive frame!
Shino could merge with any living being, but with some prerequisites.
First, the target couldn't be completely sealed.
For instance, beings without a respiratory system or in a fully sealed state wouldn't work.
Second, the target had to be a living being—organic, with flesh and blood. Mechanical beings wouldn't work.
And for higher-level beings like Chino, unless they accepted the merging, Shino couldn't enter their bodies.
"Combining our power, we might stand a chance!"
"Let's try!"
Chino punched the ground, his colossal body roaring as dozens of massive arms struck towards the Angel!
The Angel's figure flashed, appearing above Chino!
Golden veins appeared on her bare feet, and energy surged downwards!
Boom!
A pillar of light pierced through Chino's massive body and head, but a new head grew on his back!
The Angel shifted in mid-air, her wings expanding, striking with impossible speed!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Chino's body was instantly torn apart!
But a mass of roots reconnected his severed flesh!
At that moment, a massive tree sprouted from Chino's body!
The tree spun, transforming into a gigantic wooden hand in the sky!
Before the hand could act, the Angel's wing cleaved it in two!
They were utterly helpless; even their combined power couldn't harm the Angel!
More terrifyingly, the Angel hadn't even exerted herself fully.
Casually, she kicked the colossal Chino into the sky and unleashed an intensely powerful beam of light towards the heavens!
Chino and Shino attacked simultaneously, the Red Mist solidifying into a tangible barrier against the beam, countless tentacles and roots converging!
Boom!
Their defenses shattered instantly. The unstoppable beam struck them both, causing a massive explosion in the sky!
The clouds swirled into a vortex, and torrential rain began to fall!
Only a colossal heart remained of Chino!
Within that heart, twelve contracting talismans and Chino's seal were contained.
The Angel swooped down to attack!
But as her struck, the Red Mist solidified into a humanoid form, drawing Chino's heart into itself!
The gigantic, humanoid Red Mist, formed by Shino, extended a finger!
"Rat!"
A beam of light shot from Shino's fingertip, but it was deflected the moment it struck the Angel!
"I've approached perfection. I have no weaknesses. All your methods were rendered useless before I reached 5th Step."
The Angel's speed increased exponentially. She struck through Shino's solidified mist and through Chino's heart!
The twelve stones and Chino's seal were scattered.
Then, incinerating flames erupted, reducing the shattered heart to ash!
The Angel didn't retrieve it but instantly flew away!
"The same tactic."
In the distance, a mass of Fish-Men were pulled together. The Angel's fiery wings instantly disintegrated them.
"You aren't immortal, are you? If I kill all the Fish-Men, can you regenerate?"
Flames erupted from the Angel, spreading like a nuclear blast!
She targeted the Fish-Men, incinerating them within a hundred-mile radius!
Not good!
"Seal me! Quickly! If she burns all the global Fish-Men, I'll truly be lost!"
Of course, Shino was prepared!
He solidified, seizing the Trident, about to perform the seal, but the Angel turned, her wing cleaving through the mist!
While Shino was tangible, he could be attacked.
Each time he raised the Trident, the Angel shattered him.
Chino seized this opportunity, dispersing the deep-sea Fish-Men to spread across the globe as quickly as possible!
If Chino couldn't be sealed, their only option was to escape!
Dispersing the Fish-Men would buy them time, preventing the Angel from eliminating them all instantly.
But the Angel focused on Shino, aiming to prevent the sealing of Chino!
She intended to completely eliminate Chino!
Therefore, she would prevent anyone from sealing Chino!
At this point, sealing Chino was impossible for Shino.
So, there was only one option!
"Seal me!"
"Only by evolving again can you reach 5th Step!"
Hearing Shino, Chino's voice calmed.
"Shino, listen. My evolutionary path is set. I can't defeat the Angel."
"But you're different. Your path is unique. You saw; the Angel couldn't harm you."
"Only you, evolving, can fight her!"
Shino: "But she's targeting you now. With her speed, she'll kill all the global Fish-Men quickly!"
"If you evolve to 5th Step, even if you can't defeat her, you could survive. Survival is enough!"
Chino: "That's unlikely, unless I gain 009's level of immortality. If I evolve and still can't beat the Angel, what then?"
"I won't gamble. If I must die, you kill me, brother. Truly kill me!"
"You defeat the Angel, and petition Lord Aurora to resurrect me!"