Against the Current

In the sky, all the illusions of Ning Yu were collectively gazing at Chen Xing, who was standing beneath a blood-red halo above her head.

Chen Xing felt as though she were a defendant standing in the center of a courtroom, being judged by countless judges.

There were too many targets to attack, yet none of the attacks could land on Ning Yu.

Only Ning Yu herself knew that these versions of her in the sky were all manifestations of herself placed at different points in time.

This was not a defense in the physical sense, but rather a defense across the dimension of time—like how someone in the present moment could never kill something that exists tomorrow.

It was as if she had folded a piece of paper, bringing all versions of herself from different times into this single moment.

All the illusions raised their hands, each holding a Kronos, and pointed them at the massive blood-red sun that blotted out the sky.

The enormous crimson sphere began to tremble violently, even though no attack had touched it.

Then, the blood-red sphere started to disintegrate and transform—it was turning back into living flesh and blood!

Chen Xing was stunned by the scene before her. The process of her transformation seemed to be reversing!

The blood-red halo above her head, as if under the influence of some uncontrollable force, also began to break apart.

Despite no physical contact, time seemed to be reversing only for her, undoing the power she had just used.

The blood on her hooded cloak began to flow backward, returning to the blood-red halo before it, too, disintegrated.

The hood, which had previously concealed her face due to the distorted and absorbed light, now disappeared, revealing Chen Xing's original ashen hair.

And her bewildered face.

The illusions of Ning Yu surrounding her began to diminish, gradually fading away, likely due to the use of Kronos's power.

On the ground, the scattered bones suddenly stood up one by one, reanimating into zombies.

The flesh and blood that had flowed back from the sky began to reattach to the skeletal frames on the ground, reconstructing their bodies.

The zombies Chen Xing had sacrificed were being resurrected, standing dumbfounded, utterly clueless about what had happened.

They looked at each other, dazed and confused, like a swarm of headless flies.

Chen Xing finally snapped out of her shock. With her transformation reversed, she regained the ability to speak.

"So what? I can just do it again!"

She gritted her teeth and raised her hand once more, a red barrier beginning to envelop her body.

In the sky, only two of Ning Yu's illusions remained, and the Kronos in their hands had turned translucent, indicating that their power was nearly depleted.

Chen Xing noticed this and, though she still didn't understand what kind of bizarre ability Ning Yu possessed to reverse her transformation, her determination to kill Ning Yu remained unshaken.

The zombies on the ground began to stiffen and collapse once more, signaling that the sacrificial process was about to repeat.

Chen Xing looked at the remaining illusion of Ning Yu in the sky, now reduced to just one—the real Ning Yu of the present.

"Your little trick is impressive, but you're still going to die."

The blood-red egg was about to fully encase Chen Xing, leaving only her pitch-black eyes visible.

She blinked once, and in that split second, something unbelievable happened. When her eyelids closed, Ning Yu was still far away.

But when her eyes reopened, Ning Yu was standing right in front of her, and the blood-red egg had vanished.

"This... how is this... possible?!"

Her mouth hung open in disbelief as Ning Yu swung the Kronos in her hand.

"This kind of defense is useless against me."

Ning Yu's golden eyes locked onto Chen Xing's, making her feel as though her very soul was being laid bare.

"Do you know what happens when you accelerate one half of an object's time and decelerate the other half?"

She posed an intriguing question to Chen Xing.

At the same time, Ning Yu swung the Kronos horizontally. Chen Xing had no intention of answering the question and raised her cross-shaped longsword to block.

But the Kronos seemed to exist in a different dimension, passing through Chen Xing's sword and her body like a phantom.

At first, nothing happened, and Chen Xing was about to swing her sword back at Ning Yu.

But in that instant, a pure black rift tore through the world, following the trajectory of Ning Yu's slash.

Chen Xing was split in two by the rift, her cross-shaped longsword also severed cleanly in half.

"It will be irreversibly cut apart."

Ning Yu answered her own question.

Behind Chen Xing, her blood-red throne appeared, attempting to catch her bisected body, but the throne was also split down the middle by the rift.

The once proud and indomitable throne fell to the ground in two pieces alongside Chen Xing.

The Kronos seemed to have reached its limit and was on the verge of disappearing. But Ning Yu knew that while such damage could severely injure a mutated zombie, it could not kill one.

Her golden eyes began to fade back to their original amber hue, a sign that the borrowed power from the source was dissipating.

She extended her right hand, as if summoning something.

"Whoosh!"

The Blood Kite cut through the air, transforming into a blood-red streak as it flew into her hand.

Ning Yu raised the now phantom-like Kronos in her left hand and the Blood Kite in her right, slowly bringing the two weapons together.

The Kronos merged into the Blood Kite like a high-quality enchantment material, serving its final purpose.

All of the Blood Kite's skill cooldowns were instantly reset.

Without the golden eyes, Ning Yu's divine aura faded, replaced by a human intensity. Her furious gaze locked onto the falling Chen Xing.

Gripping the Blood Kite once more, Ning Yu's eyes turned into beautiful rubies.

"Whoosh!"

She burst through the air with a powerful gust, diving toward Chen Xing's falling form. Holding the Blood Kite with both hands, she accelerated downward, piercing through the air and creating a sonic boom.

"You're dead!!"

Ning Yu's eyes blazed with rage, her silver teeth clenched, and her snow-white hair billowed upward as the Blood Kite sliced through the air.

"This... can't be!!!"

Chen Xing, now split in two, tried to muster a final struggle, summoning a broken light barrier in the air to block Ning Yu.

But suddenly, she noticed blood-red butterflies fluttering in front of her.

"How beautiful."

Amidst the countless flashes of blade light, this was her final thought.