Chapter 981: Mythical Beings

Facing the attack from Ludwig, the male version of Jianna, and the female version of Antoni, Zarathustra showed no surprise.

His body within the black suit suddenly disintegrated, his face retracting into a dark vortex.

If observed closely, this vortex appeared to be teeming with countless transparent insects frantically writhing, as if they could crawl into the minds and bodies of witnesses, devouring thoughts and nerves.

From within the sleeves and pant legs of the black suit, slithering tentacles covered in sinister patterns extended outward.

Zarathustra had revealed his Mythical Being form!

Unlike His historical fissure image, His clothing was real—not part of the historical projection—and had not transformed into the Mythical Being, remaining wrapped around the surface of the writhing worm-vortex.

This made Him appear even more terrifying.

When Zarathustra revealed His Mythical Being form, both the male version of Jianna and the female version of Antoni instantly froze.

One’s hair rapidly grew thicker and longer, his skin losing all luster; the other’s face erupted in patches of gray-white dragon scales.

Without sound or warning, both their bodies collapsed—the former becoming a quivering mass of flesh, covered in thick, snake-like, slick and sinister black hairs, each tip straining to open stark black-and-white eyes or spit out snake-like tongues; the latter disintegrated into a stream of lizards covered in gray-white dragon scales.

They had lost control.

Although Zarathustra’s Mythical Being form was suppressed to Sequence 7, as Deep Mirror Individuals, their mental states were inherently unstable, their emotions skewed toward extremes, inevitably leading to this outcome of losing control.

With this development, Ludwig’s movements slowed slightly, and his mind endured the indiscriminate “madness” of the female version of Antoni.

Just as he could no longer resist the “charm” of the male version of Jianna and leaned to devour the mound of flesh, the two Shikong Deep Mirror Individuals began to fade, turning transparent, then vanished entirely.

They had been illusions all along.

Ludwig could only open his mouth wide, his lips stretching back toward his skull.

Then he leapt toward Zarathustra’s Mythical Being form encased in the black suit, biting down on one of the extending sinister tentacles.

He intended to “deprive” Zarathustra of his “Paper Man Substitute” ability.

Crunch!

Ludwig bit down hard—but shattered only a paper doll.

The transformed Zarathustra materialized midair, the dark vortex of countless worms composing His face glowing with several differently colored gems simultaneously.

Around Ludwig, still clutching the paper doll, countless illusory doors appeared.

These illusory doors varied in form—some double-hinged, some single, some barely ajar, others covered in mysterious patterns… countless in number, they completely surrounded Ludwig.

As Zarathustra’s slick tentacles swayed, one illusory door suddenly swung open, welcoming the thrown Ludwig.

Ludwig’s figure vanished into the profound darkness beyond the door.

“Banishment!”

This was a “Secret Art” used by Zarathustra via a certain sealed artifact—the “Sorcerer” ability, capable of hurling the target into a corresponding temporal-current chaos, returning only after five seconds, assuming the victim could endure the temporal-current’s assault.

Combined with the “Miracle Worker”’s influence over fate, this could extend Ludwig’s banishment to a full ten seconds.

In just two or three seconds, Zarathustra had permanently or temporarily eliminated the third wave of attackers.

He spoke again in Dragon Tongue:

“My wish is:

“No one shall disturb me again.”

As soon as he spoke, Zarathustra fulfilled his wish.

Due to the suppression of this ability to Sequence 7, the scope of His wish was clearly bounded—it lasted only thirty seconds into the future, and had diminished effect against enemies possessing divinity; the stronger the divinity, the more likely they were to break the restriction and interfere with Him.

At this moment, hidden within a certain tunnel, Jianna suddenly realized she could no longer “transit” to the corresponding mirror-realm.

Zarathustra, maintaining His Mythical Being form, descended from midair and drifted toward the glass mirror leading to the hot pot restaurant’s private room.

Boom!

He heard a faint explosion, saw a section of the mirror-realm’s illusory curtain bulging upward—but not fully ruptured.

Within the “Mysterious Realm.”

As Lu Mi threw the “Sword of Courage” and activated the “Hengha Technique,” Zarathustra’s historical projection instantly swapped positions with his puppet.

The puppet, struck by twin beams of white light, trembled once.

His soul had already died.

Boom!

The “Sword of Courage” struck the “Mysterious Realm”’s weakness, triggering a terrifying explosion—but failed to pierce through.

Amidst the chaos, Lu Mi vanished, “blinked” to the side of Zarathustra’s historical fissure image.

His left hand had already risen, the silver bracelet on his wrist glowing with silver-and-black light.

“The One Within the Ring!”

Lu Mi activated “The One Within the Ring” again—targeting the position of Zarathustra’s historical fissure image!

Of course, this attempt exposed him directly to the opponent’s Mythical Being form; his thoughts and joints were flooded with glue, his mental state showing signs of confusion.

Only his possession of divinity, combined with the Mythical Being form’s suppression to Sequence 7, prevented him from losing control—or being swept into a mental storm that would have rendered him unable to continue.

Just as Zarathustra’s historical fissure image attempted to swap positions with the puppet again, the attempt failed.

He remained where he was.

Seizing this opportunity, Lu Mi, whose eyes glowed silver-and-black, thrust his right palm forward.

All his remaining spiritual energy surged toward the fate-river of Zarathustra’s historical projection.

“Push Fate!”

He sought to steer Zarathustra’s historical projection’s fate toward the tributary he envisioned!

Due to the inherent rank of Zarathustra’s historical projection, the success rate was low—but as a historical projection, fate itself carried natural flaws, weaknesses, and limitations: the constraint of duration.

If Lu Mi wished to push fate and force Zarathustra’s historical projection into a hopeless situation, to be destroyed by his next strike, he could only hope for the “Fool”’s protection; but if he chose the fate-branch of “historical projection terminated prematurely by accident,” there was still a significant chance of success!

In an instant, Lu Mi’s spiritual energy was completely drained, forcing him to release the stored reserves he had previously accumulated.

His body involuntarily leaned back; blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and mouth across his radiant face, his long black hair rising as if alive, thickening slightly.

This was the backlash of gazing directly upon the fate of a Mythical Being.

He had lost sight in one eye entirely, and his entire body had become like a puppet—briefly unable to think or move.

Almost simultaneously, Zarathustra’s historical fissure image turned semi-transparent, its surface rippling like water.

It was as if some accident had severed the spiritual energy sustaining Zarathustra’s historical projection, preventing it from penetrating the “Mysterious Realm” and extending inward.

In the blink of an eye, Zarathustra’s historical fissure image faded into nothingness, vanishing completely.

With His presence gone, Lu Mi finally regained his composure.

Through his blood-misted blue single eye, he saw the black curtain enveloping the area rapidly disintegrating; the male puppet, stripped of Zarathustra’s historical fissure image’s control and now severed from Zarathustra’s true body by the “Mysterious Realm,” stood frozen in place.

Before the “Mysterious Realm” fully collapsed, Lu Mi pulled out a mirror, reflected the puppet, and cursed it with “Fire of Destruction.”

The male puppet instantly erupted with suppressed, mad, destructive black flames from within, his body beginning to melt like steel.

Lu Mi did not look back; as the “Mysterious Realm” further crumbled, he used his “Mirror Transit” ability to return to the mirror-realm.

As Zarathustra neared the glass mirror, he sensed movement behind him.

The worm-vortex encased in black suit, tendrils extended, spun around—and saw Lu Mi: one eye veiled in blood, the other unfocused, dripping crimson.

Though Lu Mi had not gazed directly at the full Mythical Being, only at the black leather shoes from which something seemed to crawl out, he still fell into mental pauses and mild confusion.

His madness intensified further.

At this moment, he had already retracted the “Sword of Courage” with invisible silk threads, gripping the iron-black straight sword, its blade blazing crimson fire, ready to slash through the air at Zarathustra.

After arduous struggle, after multiple waves of attacks, he and his teammates had finally destroyed Zarathustra’s puppet and historical fissure image—they could now challenge His true form!

Within the dark vortex composing Zarathustra’s head, each worm emitted a voice, ancient and worn.

Their single words, gathered together, formed a resonant sentence in just one second:

“Ending my historical fissure image so quickly does surprise me slightly.

“But it doesn’t matter—I’ll summon another.”

As he spoke, Zarathustra extended a slick, sinister tentacle and dragged forth another version of himself from the mist of history.

This was still Him, as Sequence 1 “Mysterious Attendant.”

Had he not feared the hidden enemy using “Distortion” to transfer himself into the mirror-world, Zarathustra believed he could have killed all of them outright, rather than merely seeking escape.

At this moment, Lu Mi could not suppress a wave of despair.

Did Zarathustra still have spiritual energy to summon historical fissure images?

Is this what an Angel is? Even suppressed to Sequence 7, so many of us only managed to destroy His puppet—without even scratching His skin!

Courage and madness filled Lu Mi’s body; he did not fear—he slashed through the air at Zarathustra and His historical fissure image, sending forth a highly compressed crimson fire-serpent.

(End of Chapter)