India Genealogy·Eight-Part Dragon Mass.
Fourth Stage·Ashura.
——He was the 'Non-Heaven' absorbed in slaughter!
Raymond's risky strike had only bought Huai Shi a respite as brief as the flick of a finger. Yet Huai Shi suddenly felt a stroke of luck, as if a lifeline had been thrown to him in his desperate plight.
Amidst the tearing pain in his chest, Huai Shi looked up, scrutinizing the enraged teenage girl before him.
She must have never been this angry, Huai Shi thought. The Superior bearing God's Noble Blood, the dignified High Priest, the solemn warrior—when had she ever suffered such humiliation? Even if I groveled and begged, she wouldn't listen. Such humiliation could only be cleansed with blood. Then, I'll give you blood.
As the Stone Tooth Sword shrieked, Huai Shi released his grip, dropped his weapons, and stepped forward.
Completely unresisting.
He allowed it to pierce his chest, entering through the gash Averson's heavy sword had torn, passing through the void within him and protruding from his back.
Flames erupted from the Stone Tooth Sword, burning away Averson's bloodstains and incinerating Huai Shi's shell.
The two of them were now pressed close together.
Huai Shi could even see Liz's dilating pupils and his own reflection within them.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into Liz's ear during that fleeting moment of astonishment. "I truly regret what I said just now."
He raised his arms and embraced Liz's shoulders.
"But—"
In that discordant moment, Huai Shi, one arm around her waist, suddenly spun her in a tangle of steps, like a tango move.
He switched their positions.
He maneuvered Liz in front of Averson's Sword Blade.
Halting the lethal blade in its tracks.
Then, with the rasp of iron, black Lock Chains shot from Huai Shi's fingertips. They snaked up his left arm and wrapped around Liz's sword hand, binding them together.
Huai Shi said, "Partings are always sorrowful, aren't they?"
In that instant, The Sorrow of Index activated!
Indescribable sorrow and desolation welled up in Liz's heart, accompanied by the sealing of her Source Substance and the suppression of her Stigma. The Left Hummingbird, symbol of the War God, was caged.
No matter how her Stigma raged or how swiftly she neared collapse, her furious Source Substance and rebellious Power were rapidly drained.
Anger was futile; pain could not change the truth.
"Before we part, why not dance with me, lady?"
Pressing his cheek against hers, Huai Shi smiled, guiding her arm, leading the awkward teenage girl into a left step, a spin.
A deep rhythm resonated with their intermingling footsteps.
They moved amidst the roar of surrounding gunfire.
Huai Shi's arm flourished, scattering Cards from his pocket. Amidst a tide of crows, nine ferocious figures emerged from the torn Cards. They raised their steel-covered faces, aimed their weapons at the encircling enemies, and pulled the triggers.
Streams of molten iron light erupted, crisscrossing as they broke through the Ivy League's encirclement.
"Is this your plan?" Liz lifted her eyes, her green pupils gazing dispassionately at Huai Shi. "You can't bind me for long, nor can you delay Averson... Huai Shi, you can't escape!"
But Huai Shi didn't respond.
He just smiled, humming softly to a low beat.
"Felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, pressure to break or retreat at every turn..."
His faint song was torn apart.
The Asura lifted his cold gaze, staring impassively at Huai Shi.
Averson stepped forward. Drawing a Dagger from a subordinate's sheath, he dual-wielded and advanced steadily on Huai Shi, effortlessly slicing through the Guard Team members blocking his path.
Huai Shi had nowhere to run.
But Huai Shi kept retreating.
Because a deafening crack, a Space Break, resounded from the sky above.
A wolfhound made of mosaic tiles materialized before Averson. It raised its head, gazing intently at the avatar of the Evil God. Its mosaic-built body suddenly swelled, expanding rapidly.
In an instant, it transformed into a sky-blotting monster, unfurling massive wings pieced together from countless squares, and let out a furious roar.
Dragon breath erupted.
Flames swept out.
It echoed through Huai Shi's low humming.
"Facing the fear that the truth had discovered, no telling how, all these will work out..."
Because there was no path left.
The sound of chains shattering echoed incessantly. Even at Third Stage, The Sorrow of Index could no longer suppress the Left Hummingbird Stigma.
Huai Shi had retreated to the edge of the outer deck, the endless, dark sea of clouds behind him. One more step, and he would fall into Hell, to be shattered to pieces.