Of course, my flames never intended to harm the personnel inside the old Human Bureau base, and the vast Fire Sea I summoned wasn’t just for show. Under my control, the flames rushed towards me from all directions, rapidly replacing my crystallized body with fire and synchronizing the healing of my soul injuries.
This place had been transformed into the perfect "home field" for me. Previously, Chen Long had withstood my destruction backed by the power of restart in an independent reality space, whereas now, I utilized the home field of the Fire Sea to achieve the same.
I instantly regained the ability to move freely and charged towards Yinyue.
However, her "Death Decree" was still effective, and my body crystallized again as new injuries appeared in my soul. But the flames swiftly surged up from below, offsetting the progress of the crystallization and damage.
"You can still do such a thing?" Yinyue exclaimed in surprise.
She teleported to a distance, then made a new move.
"Since that is the case—"
Mana fluctuations spread from her body like shockwaves. Where they passed, the Fire Sea disappeared in large swathes as if it had never existed. Seeing this, I summoned the disappearing part of the Fire Sea again. If her power was an eraser, then I was the ink brush splashing ink.
I noticed that when she focused her power on erasing the Fire Sea, the progression of my crystallization and soul injuries significantly slowed down. It seemed that even she had limited power and couldn’t maintain her efficiency in harming me while diverting her energy. Given this rate of injury, I might even repair myself by summoning flames internally.
Dimly, I felt as if I were ascending to a metaphysical level, similar to when I fought the Shadow Swapping Monster. Clearly, Yinyue was engaging in the realm of causality, concepts, and imagination. I sensed my "existence" enveloped by a dark smoke that was gradually tainting me.
Perhaps the level I was now perceiving was also where curses and spiritual magic operated. Facing this seemingly imaginary domain existing only in my mind, I imagined summoning flames to protect myself. The smoke was immediately dispelled by the flames. However, the tendency of my condition to worsen hadn’t ceased.
It seemed there were invisible forces that I currently couldn’t perceive eroding me. This was normal, as Yinyue was undoubtedly a master of metaphysical realms, and me, a novice just peering into this heavy domain, wasn’t likely to easily gain the upper hand.
Meanwhile, my power was surging rapidly. Just as past soul pain induced by Chen Long had activated my consciousness and power, I was now being pushed to the limits, acutely aware of death’s shadow, unleashing power at an unprecedented efficiency.
Frankly, what I lacked now wasn’t power but the right means to secure a victory.
Although I was mentally prepared to "burn Changan half to death if necessary," seeing Yinyue’s behavior made it clear that if I couldn’t kill her in one strike, she would recover on the spot; and if I did kill her, I’d likely kill Changan as well.
So, was there a way to target only "Yinyue’s soul"? Honestly, it was difficult. Although I could now destroy others’ souls, it was only based on my impressions of my own soul pain, and I had never directly perceived a soul. An unseen target couldn’t be included in the flames’ whitelist.
On a physical level, I couldn’t even discern whether Yinyue had merely donned her own shell on Changan’s body or used her superpower to modify Changan’s physical form into her own. If this was unclear, then targeting only the "part belonging to Yinyue" was even more challenging.
Considering that in the past, without knowing that the real identity of the girl Lu Chan was a state-level demon hunter medal, my flames hadn’t scorched her along with Chen Long, there was something worth mentioning. However, I believe it was part of my superpower as a power of the strange sometimes being ambiguously defined. Viewing it as a naturally occurring passive phenomenon was one thing, but I didn’t think I could use human consciousness to actively leverage it.
The worst possibility for me right now was that Yinyue was not only possessing Changan’s body, but had also entirely killed and replaced Changan using her superpowers. Given the power she had displayed, it was entirely possible. I couldn’t even think of a reason why she wouldn’t do so — could it be that this demon, who hardly ever nurtured Changan, had any maternal love for him?
I could only temporarily stop myself from thinking in that direction.
I controlled the flames to attack her repeatedly and took the opportunity to use Flame Transmission to get close and burst flames at her. Sometimes she dodged, other times she used her superpower to cancel my actions. Dodging aside, this "cancel" was truly unexpected. There were even a few instances when I finally hit her, yet she would still turn it into a "thing that never happened," instantly reverting to her original form.
But, I had my own ideas.
Since I couldn’t surpass her in the uniqueness of power, I decided to overwhelm her with sheer magnitude. This Fire Sea was not just there for show. After several exchanges, I could tell that Yinyue was not more powerful than I was, merely in terms of strength. And on my end, my power continued to rise.
"...you are growing stronger," Yinyue’s tone fluctuated, "No, this isn’t just growing... it’s awakening. I see now, it seems you possess a remarkably unparalleled talent.
"But... did you think I would let you continue to increase your strength?"
While she spoke, she no longer continued to dodge but charged towards me instead.
What was she trying to do? I immediately became highly cautious. I was clearly stronger in a head-on conflict; even if she could cancel my actions or reset her damaged state at any moment, to recklessly engage in close combat was still not a wise choice. This looked entirely like a posture ready to unleash some deadly move.
And my judgment was not wrong. In her right palm, I saw a fiercely hot white orb that gave off an extremely ominous feeling.
Probably because of the nature of my superpowers, other demon hunters here might not immediately realize what it was, but I could instantly determine its nature. The basic operating principle of this thing was the same as that majestic celestial body that hangs in the sky during the day.
I had once seen many people online discussing how they would develop their awakened superpowers, wondering if combining with scientific theories could produce amazing results. For instance, whether a superpower user who can manipulate electric currents could control the fundamental electromagnetic force, or whether a psychokinesis user could manipulate atoms at the microscopic level to produce nuclear fission, and so on.
However, in the demon hunter’s world, such things didn’t seem to be popular. It’s understandable — even if humans can move matter with their hands, it doesn’t mean they can disassemble and reassemble the chemical structures of matter with their hands. The power of the strange can expand and be interpreted in the imagination, but in practice it’s a different story.
Nevertheless, Yinyue seemed to have broken that conventional idea.
I had once used "miniature star" as a metaphor for my super-compressed Fireball, but compared to the white orb Yinyue held in her palm right now, it was simply inferior. This thing was a true mini-sun, based on the principle of nuclear fusion producing immense energy.
Yinyue hurled the fiercely hot white orb at my chest.
Nuclear explosion ensued.