[Ding! Emergency mission triggered: Kill Chen Xing * Throne of Pride 0/1]
[Mission reward: ???]
A new emergency mission prompt echoed in Ning Yu's mind. This time, even the mission reward was hidden, but Ning Yu didn't care much about what the reward might be.
No matter what, between her and Chen Xing, it was now a fight to the death.
A black-and-white cross-shaped longsword slowly rose from beneath the throne and was grasped by Chen Xing's outstretched hand.
"Oh? Why aren't you hiding in your turtle shell anymore?"
Ning Yu smirked confidently, taunting Chen Xing.
"Let me guess... Could it be that your turtle shell ran out of energy? What a pity..."
"I was hoping to see whether my blade is harder or your shell is tougher!"
Ning Yu grinned, revealing her pearly white teeth, her eyes brimming with fighting spirit.
"It seems your mouth is the hardest thing here."
Chen Xing didn't directly answer. Instead, as she swung her cross-shaped longsword, a series of light screens began to glow around Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue.
However, compared to the overwhelming display in the previous cycle, the light screens summoned by Chen Xing now were far fewer in number.
This made Ning Yu even more certain that Chen Xing's power had indeed weakened.
"Boom!!"
The two of them dodged the sparse rays of light shooting from the screens, and Ning Yu kicked off the battle with a thermobaric bomb.
The bomb exploded around Chen Xing's protective barrier, which absorbed the blast entirely, but Ning Yu could clearly see the barrier shaking.
Leviathan, who had been by Chen Xing's side, had now separated from her, setting his sights on Shen Yiyue.
Ning Yu didn't wait any longer. Stepping onto Blood Kite, she shot forward, charging straight at Chen Xing.
While flying, Ning Yu didn't forget to attack with firearms and heavy weapons. The protective barrier around Chen Xing clinked and flashed with each hit.
Chen Xing paced through the air, her cross-shaped longsword unleashing wave after wave of black shockwaves aimed at Ning Yu. However, with the aid of [Future Reading], none of them managed to hit her.
The black shockwaves crashed into the ground, causing massive explosions that further devastated the ruins.
Around Ning Yu, light screens occasionally lit up, working in tandem with the black shockwaves to corner her and limit her movement.
But now, Ning Yu could control Blood Kite to maneuver through the air, and with the help of her agile grappling hook, Chen Xing's long-range tactics weren't very effective.
If it were still the missile-like barrage of light screens from before, even with the enhanced attributes from absorbing numerous soul gems, Ning Yu would have struggled to use [Future Reading] to dodge.
But now, Ning Yu was in complete control.
"Hum!!"
Ning Yu dodged another attack from Chen Xing's light screens and closed the distance, slashing Blood Kite against the barrier. Her cold eyes locked onto Chen Xing.
For some reason, Chen Xing felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
The way Ning Yu's blade struck her light screen, along with that relentless, life-or-death gaze, felt eerily familiar.
But today was supposed to be their first encounter.
Seeing her opponent closing in, Chen Xing gripped her cross-shaped longsword with both hands, abandoning her long-range shockwave attacks and engaging Ning Yu in close combat with Blood Kite.
"That's more like it."
Ning Yu smiled confidently. The fight was no longer one-sided, with one side bombarding and the other fleeing.
When Chen Xing rose from her throne and took up her sword to fight, Ning Yu knew the scales of victory were tipping in her favor.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Beautiful lady..."
Leviathan sniffed lightly in the air, as if catching a whiff of something.
But the air was filled only with the stench of rotting corpses.
"I sense a deep longing within you."
He closed his eyes, looking almost intoxicated, then suddenly opened his single visible eye, smiling at Shen Yiyue.
"You carry a powerful desire, so your sins must be profound."
The weapon in his hands, "Love-Hate Ecstasy," seemed to awaken at his words, its surface suddenly covered in countless blood-red eyes that spread across the entire scythe.
The eyes, like living creatures, all turned to stare at Shen Yiyue, sending shivers down her spine.
Any normal girl would feel their sanity plummet at the sight of such a grotesque weapon.
Shen Yiyue was no exception, so she immediately tossed a grenade at Leviathan.
"Boom!"
"How dangerous."
Leviathan's body, which had been standing there, was now a doll shattered on the ground by the explosion.
A new Leviathan appeared to Shen Yiyue's right, swiftly closing the distance with his scythe. He swung it backward with both hands, then brought it down in a fierce slash.
Shen Yiyue had already predicted this sneak attack through [Future Reading].
While her firearms were guaranteed to hit, Leviathan could always swap places with his clones.
The possibility of hitting his true form was too convoluted for Shen Yiyue to predict.
She glanced at Ning Yu, who was now locked in close combat with Chen Xing, and began to form a strategy in her mind.
While killing this cunning foe would be difficult, she was confident she could at least stall him.
Around Shen Yiyue, more and more of Leviathan's clones began to appear, each holding the same scythe and watching her like cats toying with a mouse.
She didn't panic, pulling out two modified "Peacemaker" shotguns from her weapon case, equipped with infinite magazines.
With a flicker of light in her hands, Shen Yiyue began imbuing the bullets with her time-manipulation abilities.
When facing a crowd, shotguns were the way to go.
Like Ning Yu before her, she wielded a Peacemaker in each hand.
"Boom! Boom!"
Facing the closing circle of Leviathan's clones, Shen Yiyue didn't wait for them to get closer before firing.
Instead, she used the spread of the shotgun pellets to create a wide-area attack, aiming not for massive damage but for crowd control.
The clones hit by the time-infused pellets froze momentarily, affected by the time-stop effect.
While the time enchantment on shotgun pellets didn't last as long as single bullets, it made up for it with its wide range.
Leviathan's true form hopped between his clones, constantly searching for an opening.
"Hum!"
Suddenly, a muffled sound came from the battle between Ning Yu and Chen Xing. Ning Yu's Blood Kite had pierced through Chen Xing's protective barrier.