Cade’s soul hadn’t fully restored Shirley, but it had stopped her body from crumbling. Now, gripping his bronze shield, she felt her fear of the soul-devouring centipede fade to grim confidence.
Ruru’s Crimson-threaded Golden-Winged Centipede lunged, its fang glinting with a malice, but Shirley dismissed it with a casual flick of her hand.
The creature was swatted aside, crashing into the marsh with a pained screech, its claws scrabbling in the mud.
Then—her free hand summoned Cade’s bronze shield, just in time to meet Lordi’s Blade of Life-Hater.
The bone blade struck the shield, carving a deep scar across its surface. The rebound force sent Shirley staggering back, her silk robes fluttering, but she held firm, her eyes narrowing with a mocking glint. "Is that all, little brother?" she taunted, her voice a chilling fusion of her own venom and Cade’s stolen timbre, eerie and discordant.
The marsh quaked, the air alive with the screech of metal and the centipede’s hissing fury.
Shirley’s lips curled higher. Cade’s soul, though insufficient to fully restore her, had stabilized her crumbling form, dulling her fear of Ruru’s soul-devouring beast. The bronze shield, a Dao artifact forged for defense, perfectly countered Lordi’s ferocious blade technique—just as she’d hoped. Of course, her superior cultivation played a part. Her Ninth-Layer cultivation dwarfed the young man, giving her the edge to wield the shield’s power with devastating precision. Without it, overwhelming this brat and his vicious weapon would’ve been far harder.
"You can’t win," Shirley sneered, her voice dripping with malice. "Surrender, darling comrades. The Great Dao is a lonely path—why not walk it with your dear Senior Sister?" Her laugh was shrill, a spine-chilling blend of male and female tones that grated against the soul.
Lordi answered with action, not words. His bone blade flashed, striking the shield with relentless fury.
Each hit sent shockwaves through the marsh, cratering the earth and shredding cherry trees into scarlet confetti. The air trembled, sparks exploding like fireflies in the dusk. Shirley braced, her delicate arm coiling with unnatural strength, the shield roaring as it absorbed each blow.
Lordi pressed forward, a phantom of crimson light, his blade a shrieking arc aimed at her throat. Shirley met it with the shield, her movements fluid yet unyielding.
The collision fractured the ground, trees toppling as their roots tore free. Cherry blossoms ignited in midair, embers drifting like dying stars. Lordi flipped back, landing lightly, his azure eyes burning with demonic intensity. He vanished again, reappearing above, his blade descending like a guillotine.
The detonation shook the heavens, the air fracturing with the force. Shirley charged forward, the shield a battering ram, her voice a snarl. "Stop struggling!" she taunted, her warped face twisting with Cade’s sneer. "Join me on the Great Dao!"
Lordi took the impact head-on, blood spraying from his lips as he was hurled back. Yet his Perfect Grade Refined-Tier Bones held firm, unbroken. He twisted mid-air, his blade slashing again, faster, harder, its edge howling for blood. The ground ruptured beneath them, stones crumbling to dust, the wind screaming like a wounded beast.
No words. No mercy. Only the dance of blade and shield, death and defiance, tearing the world apart.
Shirley’s frame burned with blood-scent, her eyes blazing with murderous intent.
"Give the fuck up!" she roared, thrusting the shield forward with crushing force, aiming to shatter Lordi’s chest. The marsh shuddered, the air thick with the scent of iron and ash, as their battle raged—a storm of steel and fury that would end only when one of them broke.
Lordi Payne’s bone blade sang, unleashing two searing arcs of blood-red aura that tore through the air.
The strikes slammed into Shirley Quinn’s bronze shield, sparks erupting like dying stars. A suffocating haze of crimson malice surged around him, cloaking his body as he dissolved into a bloody shadow, streaking backward in a desperate bid for escape.
If he couldn’t win, he’d flee. Freedom waited beyond the grand defense array’s edge.
As he flashed past Ruru Rosa, Lordi hesitated for a moment before his hand shot out, seizing her by the waist.
"Move!" he growled, his voice low and urgent, laced with the grit of survival. Ruru gasped, her whip still clutched tight, but she didn’t resist as he dragged her along in a blur of motion. In seconds, they were a hundred paces away.
Shirley’s warped face—half her own, half Cade’s grotesque mockery—twisted with cold fury. "Running, are we?" she hissed with malice. Her silk dress fluttered as she channeled her Cloud Walking Rain Step, the Footwork Art, her skeletal frame blurring into a streak of pink mist and crimson light. The ground quaked beneath her pursuit, cherry blossoms scattering like blood in her wake.
But Lordi’s Blood Spectre Footwork Art was no average Outer Sect technique, honed for evasion and movement. Each step carried him faster, his crimson shadow weaving through the trees. Shirley’s eyes narrowed, her breath hissing through clenched teeth as the distance between them yawned wider. Her Ninth-Layer cultivation with the boosting of Blood Burning Technique should have closed the gap, but the young man’s pace was relentless, his movements a flicker of blood and shadow that mocked her speed.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" The beauty snarled, her voice trembling with rage. The two figures ahead dwindled to mere specks, then vanished into the dark line of the horizon, swallowed by the marsh’s embrace.
Shirley skidded to a halt, her full chest heaving, the bronze shield still clutched in her hand. Her half-rotted face contorted, Cade’s stolen features twisting into a grimace.