Chapter 188: Damn

Then she picked up the Pink Fish Plush Doll again, weighed it in her hand, and felt its soft texture.

After hesitating for a few seconds, she neither put it away nor threw it, but simply placed it beside a stack of files on the desk.

The pink fish doll lay there quietly, as if both keeping company and supervising.

Fu Xuan sat back in his chair, refocused on the piled official duties, yet the tight line at the corner of his mouth, clenched from fatigue and complaint, seemed to relax ever so slightly without his noticing.

"Still... a bit conscientious."

She muttered to herself in a low voice, so soft that only she could hear it.

Meanwhile, inside a bustling gambling hall somewhere in Changletian.

"Ah—Achoo!"

Qingque, who had just drawn a good hand and beamed, let out a sudden loud sneeze, nearly flinging the cards in his hand.

"Ouch! Qingque, which fellow player is raving about your skill?" a nearby player teased with a laugh.

"Exactly, maybe they're so upset about losing they're drawing circles behind you to curse you!" another added.

Qingque rubbed his itchy nose, waved his hand indifferently, and his face returned to a lazy expression: "Well, who knows. Maybe Grand Diviner is again muttering that I'm 'playing away my ambition'! Whatever, come on, whose turn is it? This round I'm going to win big!"

She quickly brushed the little incident aside, rejoined the fierce card battle, her mind already racing on how to leverage the good hand to enlarge her winnings.

After all, the sky's the limit, and fishing for cards is the greatest!

Perspective shift.

Just as Xilin, feeling invincible and supremely clever, let a tiny surge of pride swell within, assuming the two below should be intimidated by her unfathomable poise and at least show a hint of deliberation—

Kevin, the former civilization's strongest warrior, gave the most direct answer with his actions.

He didn't even glance at Xilin again, as if the Herrscher looming in the sky, exuding terrifying pressure, were no different in essence from an ordinary moving target in the Training Room.

He simply lifted his left hand, which held no bat, calmly, his ice-blue eyes narrowing slightly.

In a Shana, the temperature inside the Training Room plummeted at an irrational speed!

Countless droplets in the air instantly solidified, forming dozens of Ice Cones of varying sizes, their edges razor-sharp and tips flashing lethal cold light, like a deadly arrow formation controlled by an invisible hand, roaring beyond the speed of sound from multiple cunning angles toward the hovering Xilin!

No Warning, no probing— the moment it struck was a killing move.

"Hmph!"

Xilin felt a slight alarm, a flash of anger crossing the golden cross-shaped pupils.

She hadn't expected the white-haired man to be so 'ungrateful', daring to launch such a fierce attack after she displayed power and 'gave a chance'.

Sure enough, humans—ignorant and arrogant!

But as the Void Arbiter, her pride would not allow any retreat.

Facing the incoming Ice Cone array, she didn't even move, but raised a hand expressionlessly and snapped a crisp finger.

"Snap."

The sound was faint, yet seemed to strike the strings of space.

Centered before her, dozens of voids with edges swirling purple-black light and bottomless dark interiors materialized out of nowhere, precisely blocking each Ice Cone's trajectory.

The Ice Cones, like a mud ox into the sea, plunged into the voids and vanished instantly without a ripple.

Xilin's mouth curved again with a controlling smile.

She spread her fingers slightly; the void that had absorbed the Ice Cones hadn't fully dissipated, instead converging above her palm in a mysterious trajectory, compressing into a ping-pong-ball-sized, pulsating purple sphere.

"Heh."

She sneered a single word, flipped her palm, and gently sent the purple orb toward the area below where Kevin and Star stood.

"Whirr—!"

More numerous and widely spread voids, like a dense honeycomb, floated above Kevin and Star's heads and the surrounding air!

Immediately after, the Ice Cones that had just been swallowed erupted outward at higher speed and sharper angles, targeting the two below!

"Damn—!"

Star let out a cry; the turn of events came too fast.

She hadn't time to ponder the strange 'rebound', her body reacted before her mind.

She thrust the firmly gripped Flame Gun sharply toward the ground beneath her feet!

"Boom!"

Dark red flames erupted in a sudden ring around her, centered on her.

The fierce, dense flames spun upward at high speed, instantly forming an airtight hemispherical fire shield that tightly enclosed Star.

The intense concentration of the flames even caused the surrounding air to refract violently.

The Ice Cones striking the fire shield slammed with a sharp sizzle, the ice and fire clashed violently; the cones melted instantly, and the shield's glow dimmed slightly, yet it steadfastly repelled the rebound attack.

Meanwhile, as Ice Cones hurled toward him, Kevin's ice-blue eyes remained unmoved.

He didn't even glance at the attacks, but subconsciously nudged his thoughts, attempting to summon the battle gear that had accompanied him through countless wars—Heavenly Fire Shengcai.

However, at the very Shana the thought arose, two lines of clear white light glyphs abruptly materialized in the void before him:

【Warning: Destruction-level energy reaction exceeding this Training Space's capacity detected.】

【Order: Heavenly Fire Shengcai—Summoning prohibited.】

Immediately, another line of text appeared almost simultaneously:

【Warning: High-risk life-form transformation tendency detected.】

【Order: Artificial Collapse (Karmic Demon Form)—Activation prohibited.】

Kevin's movement paused.

He slightly furrowed his brows, his gaze quickly scanning the two lines of apparent 'prohibitions' from the space overseer.

The power of Heavenly Fire Shengcai could damage this already bizarre Training Space's structure, which is understandable.

But even 'Artificial Collapse' is preemptively prohibited? This overseer knows them more deeply than he expected.

Just that instant of delay, the Ice Cone swarm is already within arm's length!

Kevin no longer attempts to invoke those prohibited powers.

Kevin only lets his center shift slightly downward, then his right foot steps forward, appearing to take a light, casual step.

Dong!

A deep, thudding sound like the heartbeat of a giant beast erupts, blasting outward from the point where he landed!

A visible circular wave of air bursts outward from him in all directions!

Where the wave passes, the alloy floor panels groan under the strain, and the ground—previously unmarked by Ice Cone attacks or Flame scorch—has a layer brutally stripped away!

Those incoming Ice Cones, under this overwhelmingly pure force, shatter like sandcastles in a gale, instantly blown to pieces and vanished!

Even the Flame shield on Xing Na's side is violently shaken by the wave, the flames flickering unpredictably, prompting Xing Na inside to bolster his power a few more levels.

Huh… that scared me to death.

Xing Na withdrew the Flame shield, wiped a nonexistent cold sweat, watched Kevin's casual crisis resolution, and silently clicked his tongue, "What kind of construct is this… no weapon, no transformation, just a step and it's that fierce?"

However, before Xing could fully relax, and before Kevin could act again, a far larger pressure thundered down from midair!

Xilin hovered higher, and in those golden‑colored cross‑shaped pupils, the earlier spark of anger from the easy deflection had vanished, replaced by a cold, offended fury and absolute arrogance.

She spread her arms slightly, her noble Herrscher skirt fluttered without wind, and Imaginary Energy of purple‑black hue surged around her like a boiling ocean!

Behind her, above, throughout the vast space of the Training Room, countless Purple‑Black Light Dots lit up rapidly, forming a fixed pattern as dense as a newly born star cluster!

One hundred… five hundred… one thousand…

That is the Subspace Spear!

Hundreds, even possibly over two thousand Subspace Spears, each streaming with space‑rending purple‑black light, their tips flashing a soul‑shaking cold gleam, like a legion of death awaiting inspection, hanging neatly in the air, every tip precisely locking onto Kevin and Xing below!

The dense forest of spear tips created an endless, despair‑inducing purple‑black "sky", almost obscuring all light above the Training Room, casting shadows that fully enveloped Kevin and Xing.

The sheer number, though each Subspace Spear may contain less energy than the earlier tentative two, creates a destructive pressure sufficient to make any mind lacking resolve collapse instantly.

The low hum from the resonance of Imaginary Energy merges into a background noise that crushes the spirit.

Xing Na looked up at the astronomically numbered Subspace Spear Array, and the brief pride that had risen from blocking the attack instantly froze, then shattered.

She was certain that the considerable fate power she had just expended could not withstand a saturated strike of this scale.

……

Xing Na swallowed a hard breath, feeling the throat dry, the hand holding the Flame Gun slightly sweating, golden eyes reflecting the sky‑filled purple‑black death stars, and bitterly uttered two syllables:

"Ah this…"