Corruption by evil thoughts.
The corpses strewn across the ground crawled onto Vill-V's body. Vill-V could almost see the resentment and hatred they had felt before their deaths.
Those dark emotions were merging into her mind, becoming part of her.
They wanted to take root in the deepest reaches of Vill-V's psyche and become her master!
Cold sweat broke out across Vill-V's forehead as she struggled desperately against those dark emotions.
"What is the principle behind this? A supernatural ability, Honkai energy, or a mental attack from a psychic-type MANTIS?"
In this twilight city where secret organizations and Honkai phenomena gathered, every conjecture carried at least some possibility.
But none of that was immediately fatal. The truly deadly threat was Asura Demon Dragon's attack, which had already closed in before her eyes.
Seeing that Vill-V had not moved, Asura Demon Dragon threw a punch without hesitation.
"Finishing Move! Evil Dragon Claw Strike!"
There were no eye-catching special effects to Asura Demon Dragon's technique. Even the commotion caused by his subordinates' electromagnetic cannons was far more impressive.
Even the name of the move sounded somewhat clichéd.
As for technique, there was none to speak of. Shenzhou's Dragon Claw techniques were vastly more refined than this strike.
Asura Demon Dragon's claw was like the attack of a street thug, crude and savage.
He was like a wild beast that knew only how to tear prey apart with brute force, without the slightest trace of finesse.
To an outsider, it looked no different from an ordinary thug's punch.
Yet this utterly unremarkable claw, infused with terrifying baleful aura, directly tore through space and caused time itself to slow.
This strike was powerful enough to rend mountains and rivers apart! It rivaled the full-force lance thrust of a Knight-class Honkai Beast!
Suddenly, Vill-V, who had remained motionless all this time, raised her head.
Despite seemingly possessing no strength at all, she lightly raised a fair, jade-like palm and stopped the terrifying claw that had torn through space and time.
The girl's eyes remained clear and limpid, utterly unaffected by the evil thoughts.
The cold sweat from earlier had all been an act.
There was even a healthy smile on her face.
"You think someone like you can kill me? Good, good, good! Let's see just how much you're really worth!"
Naturally, Vill-V would not be affected by evil thoughts.
After all, Vill-V herself possessed the will of Pure Evil.
Absorbing and assimilating evil thoughts was as easy as drinking water for her.
Well, the sensation was still rather unpleasant, but that was simply the burden of being Pure Evil.
Only she possessed the arrogance and confidence necessary to bear those evil thoughts.
None of the other Vill-Vs had the qualifications!
Not even Occultist!
However...
Pure Evil: Magician, could you stop pretending that I'm the one who came out?
...
In the distance, among the spectators, a Taixu Gang commentator cried out in astonishment.
"Good! Azure Empyrea caught it! She caught Asura Demon Dragon's finishing move with those smooth, powerful arms of hers!"
The commentator continued narrating the battle in real time. "According to legend, no one has ever survived Asura Demon Dragon's finishing move. Even through a heavily armored mechanical arm, anyone targeted by Evil Dragon Claw Strike will be devoured by a murderous tiger until not even a trace remains! Grandmaster, what is your opinion?"
An old man dressed like a martial arts grandmaster lowered the wooden staff in his hand, stared profoundly into empty space, and spoke with inscrutable wisdom. "I sensed an immensely powerful qi. Anyone who has not mastered this path would be incapable of detecting it. Heh, this old man has immersed himself in this discipline for more than sixty years. How could I possibly fail to notice it?"
"So it was powerful qi! I see! No wonder such an ordinary-looking move possessed such terrifying destructive power." The Taixu Gang commentator's face filled with reverence. "It seems we still have a very long road ahead of us in the martial arts. Then, venerable sir, what realm have you reached?"
"Huh? Were you talking to me?" The sage-like old man turned around in confusion, then pressed against the back of the elderly woman beside him, making her moan comfortably.
"I'm a blind masseur. Did you twist your waist while fleeing earlier? I can massage it for you."
The elderly woman praised him repeatedly. "That's right. There's always been a powerful current of qi stuck in my waist. The old master noticed it with a single press, then smoothed it out with just a few strokes."
...
Asura Demon Dragon looked human, behaved like a human, and thought like a human.
Even the cybernetic bikers considered it perfectly natural for Asura Demon Dragon, Tenmon Soji, to become the leader of the Ghostfire Syndicate.
He had also lived up to the bikers' expectations, gradually leading the entire Ghostfire Syndicate toward ever greater extremes.
It was as though he truly was nothing more than a biker gang president blessed with exceptional leadership qualities.
Aside from becoming the head of a biker gang, he appeared to possess no other distinguishing traits.
However,
Expert recognized at a glance that he was not human!
"A bosonic force field..."
Expert had already analyzed the so-called "aura" released by Asura Demon Dragon and reached a conclusion.
Conductor's tone grew slightly grave. "A bosonic force field..."
Magician sounded puzzled. "What's wrong? Is something with such an unimpressive name really that powerful?"
"Of course." Conductor nodded. "A bosonic force field is a quantum-level weapon of mass destruction. In the world of The Three-Body Problem, interstellar warships use bosonic force fields as close-combat weapons. Expert, is that fellow still human?"
Expert shook her head as though the answer were obvious. "Unless the worldview of Saint Seiya also applies to this world, it is essentially impossible for a carbon-based organism to produce a bosonic force field. Incidentally, MANTISes and Herrschers no longer qualify as carbon-based organisms. Strictly speaking, they are silicon-based life-forms."
Conductor was somewhat confused. Why would something so absurdly powerful remain in the Ghostfire Syndicate?
This was no longer a wolf wearing sheep's clothing and mingling among a flock. To him, every human being could be killed with a casual lift of his hand.
What purpose did he have in pretending to be an ordinary human? Was he simply doing it for amusement?
Or was he afraid of humanity's technological power?
Even though she could not determine Tenmon Soji's true nature, the confident Pure Evil never believed there was any problem she could not solve.
And when a problem could not be solved, she would simply destroy both the problem and herself!
"Acting like the strongest king while making threatening declarations inside my head is no fun at all. Watch me kill you in two moves!"
Why two moves?
One move would be too fast. The enemy would die before he could even react.
The first move would force him to reveal his true form, while the second would make him welcome death in terror. That was what Pure Evil liked to see.
But...
Pure Evil: I told you, stop imitating the way I talk, you bastard Magician!
Vill-V raised an ornate silver gourd-shaped flask from her waist, turned her hand toward Asura Demon Dragon, and fired a peanut-sized projectile.
"Darling, please turn around."
That peanut-sized object was no ordinary bullet. It was... a miniature hydrogen bomb.
The sunfire of human technology, the tear of regret shed by Prometheus.
When disagreements arose, throw a hydrogen bomb. Nuclear peace brought love to you, me, and everyone.
Catch the hydrogen bomb, and you would be fine, I would be fine, and everyone would be fine.
Fail to catch the hydrogen bomb, and you would die, I would die, and everyone would die.
It was that simple.
How was this supposed to make him turn around? It would send him straight into reincarnation!
One twist of the head, and he would already be in his next life.
At the sight of this move, Conductor immediately protested inside Vill-V's mind. "Heaven preserve us! Azure Empyrea has stopped using Taixuan Eminence and switched to hydrogen bombs!"
Magician curled her lips. The special effects of a hydrogen bomb really were difficult to disguise. Radiation everywhere and a mushroom cloud did not resemble an immortal technique no matter how one looked at it.
Thus, she crooked a finger and hurriedly recalled the nuclear warhead that Asura Demon Dragon had been preparing to catch with his baleful aura.
"Forget it. Hydrogen bombs are far too weak and would damage the image of Pure Evil. That one doesn't count. Let's use something else!"
Expert: "You aren't planning to use my planet-destroying bomb, are you?"
Magician: "Of course not. Wait, Expert, you actually prepared something like that?"
Expert: "That's perfectly normal. It was meant as a precaution against any Planet-class Honkai Beasts that might appear."
Magician: "Wonderful! Now I can prepare a magic trick that makes Earth disappear!"
Pure Evil: "You're even more ruthless than I am, Magician. Give me a stack of them to play with too."