Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 15 - Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: The Fiery Dance of the Jiangshi and the Mummy

Royal Capital, Altea, Castle

While the city was thrown into chaos by the swarming Apis Ideas, the castle was facing an even greater threat — King of Blaze, Feuer Lazburn, now known as “Ignis Idea.” He’d broken into the castle through the main gate and was currently drowning it in flame.

Besides him, there were two other Ideas — one spider-like, the other with the twisted form of a bat— that had broken in along Feuer and afterwards split up to kill the guards within. Tians like the Royal Guard fought back as best they could, but it was clear that they lacked the power to overcome this menace. Even the Masters that had rushed from the city to join the defense effort had been ultimately defeated by the three Ideas.

Things might’ve been different if Altimia had been there, or if the Celestial Knight or Arch Sage had still been alive — any of them might’ve been able to repel these attackers.

However, none of them were present, nor was anyone with a comparable level of power. The castle, at the very heart of the kingdom, was in real danger of falling.

Infiltration successful.

Using the chaos as cover, someone had infiltrated the castle.

It was none other than King of Thieves, Zeta.

Code III: Mirage is still active, she thought. The system that would prevent skill activation has either been deactivated...or it was never there to begin with.

She’d sneaked into the castle using a mix of a job skill that removed her presence and an Embryo skill that made her invisible to all mundane sight.

Normally, she would have triggered the castle’s magical defense system, but due to the assault from the three Ideas — most notably, the bat-like Idea’s attack on the magic distribution equipment — the system’s range was shot. That, combined with visible attackers drawing the guards’ focus, had allowed her to enter the castle completely unnoticed.

They really are potent, Zeta thought as she considered the Ideas she had let loose and thought back to an event from several months ago — the very moment that La Crima had given her these Ideas.

◇◆

Soul Trader, La Crima was a well-known name in the business realm of society’s underbelly, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the arms dealer known as The Weapon, Rascal the Bloodonyx.

In truth, La Crima was actually a pair of people acting as one.

One of them was a lady in a wheelchair. The most notable thing about her appearance was her paleness. She was wearing a white hat with a wide brim, a white dress, and white bandages that covered the upper half of her face — eyes included. The exposed lower half had a shape that many would describe as “beautiful.”

The other person was a man pushing the wheelchair. In stark contrast to the lady, he was noticeably black. Standing over two metels tall and completely covered in black leather belts, he looked like some kind of mummy.

One was a Master, while the other was most likely an Idea the Master controlled, but it was considered something of a taboo to ask which was which. Everyone who had found out was met with a grim fate.

As the Soul Trader, La Crima dealt in modified slaves.

Their Superior Embryo was “True Form Alteration, Idea.” Its type was a mix of Chariot and Guardian called “Advanced Legion,” and it was focused on humanoid modification. They modified countless tians and sold them off as high-quality slaves.

A certain clan member had once called them a “merchant of death,” to which they responded, “A merchant of death? What a strange title to give me. What I do is uncover people’s latent potential and give them a chance to live their lives to the fullest. Would it not be more apt to call me a merchant of life? -life?” La Crima talked in unison, with one of them falling slightly behind.

The person they were talking to at the time — Gerbera — would have laughed if it had only been a morbid joke, but the fact that La Crima was completely serious merely left her speechless. That, combined with their warped mindset and strange appearance, made them stand out even among the oddball criminals of Illegal Frontier.

However, few people had ever even laid eyes upon this bizarre duo. La Crima did business using their Idea subordinates as representatives, so not even their business partners knew what they looked like.

Despite being such a mysterious figure, they had been placed on wanted lists and had their supposed hideout in Caldina targeted by King of Termination and King of Revelry — only to somehow make it out alive and cross the strait to Tenchi.

There were only two types of people that knew that La Crima were two people acting as one. The first type was their comrades — the core members of I.F.

The second type was a select few “foundations.” Most of La Crima’s modifications were done remotely by having someone carry a piece of their Embryo to the target, but they always showed themselves to tians with Superior Jobs, who formed some of the most important “foundations” for their work.

That included four of the Ideas that would be released onto the capital, Regina Apis Idea being one of them.

Zeta, in fact, had met up with La Crima in person to acquire these Ideas.

“Question. I have something to ask you.”

They were at a port town in southern Huang He. Zeta was preparing to head west after having stolen a number of the Treasurebeast Orbs left behind by the Draconic Emperor that came before the previous one. La Crima was currently operating in Tenchi, and they had actually come all this way just to meet Zeta and give her the Jewel containing the four Ideas based on Superior Jobs. Included as well was the Jewel holding all the Apis Ideas that would serve Regina.

They also informed her that three other Ideas would meet up with her after finishing their tasks.

Those three Ideas would go on to be defeated by King of Light, F...but that was another story.

“What is it? -it?” One of La Crima’s voices again lagged very slightly behind the other.

“Explanation. Tell me the concepts behind the four Superior Job-based Ideas and how to use them.”

“That certainly does need explaining. -ning,” La Crima said as they both nodded. “Regina was designed to make the best use of her skills as Insect General. However, the majority of the modifications went into the Apis Ideas under her command. Regina herself was mostly untouched. I merely increased her ability to control the Apis Ideas, slightly buffed her stats, and changed her type into insectoid to make her own skills apply to her. -her.”

“Question. Why?”

“Because she refused any modifications to her appearance. Idea’s modifications work by redesigning the target’s physical body. Whether a slave is optimized for beauty or battle, the more they are modified, the more their appearance changes. If I cannot change the appearance, the modifications I can do are limited. -ted.”

“Another question. Why did you not ignore her refusal?”

“Because of a promise. -mise.”

“I see...” That answer was enough for Zeta.

She knew that despite having a warped sense of morality that made them unable to recognize true villainy, La Crima always fulfilled their promises. They did tell lies — as evidenced by the mystery of their true identity — but when they gave their word, they kept it.

After remembering something that related to La Crima, Zeta simply said, “Next.”

“Very well. -well,” said La Crima, seemingly unconcerned by Zeta’s brief silence. “Before the modification, Aranea had to use tools to deliver his potent poison and binding abilities. I spliced him with materials from an upper-Pure-Dragon-tier spider, allowing him to use these abilities by default and without limit. The materials needed are automatically created and provided by an inventory implanted into the body. -dy.”

And that was the genesis of King of Venom — Aranea Idea.

“Vespertilio had his sensory organs enhanced and was given the ability to avoid being spotted. By creating an unperceivable space, he can force himself to enter a state of invisibility. Like this, he has increased potential for ambushing and ability to continue fighting beyond that. He also has a magic-sensing function that lets him act as a radar for living creatures and magic installations. -tions.”

That was the description of King of Raids — Vespertilio Idea.

These Ideas were a few steps more powerful than they had been as tian Superior Jobs. The modifications given to them greatly improved the abilities they possessed.

It was as though these tians were granted Embryos that meshed perfectly with their builds.

Since tian Superior Jobs were often far above Masters in terms of battle technique, these two were truly fearsome foes.

They were below Regina in overall battle potential, but they were no doubt far above her as individual combatants.

However, neither of them were the strongest out of the tians La Crima had just given to Zeta.

“Ignis is actually my most powerful magic-based Idea yet. Out of all the Ideas, he’s behind only Ferrum and Cantus. -tus.”

That was La Crima’s evaluation of Ignis Idea — King of Blaze, Feuer Lazburn.

“He was modified according to his own wishes. He asked for magic power that surpassed that of the Arch Sage. -Sage.”

“Confirmation. Was that even possible?”

“The method was quite simple, actually. -lly.” La Crima’s words seemed absurd on their face. How could surpassing the magic power of Altar’s legendary Arch Sage be “simple?” The answer lay in the words that followed.

“I merely used ten of the Sacrifice slaves I cultivated. -ted,” they said, as though this was nothing special. “I connected them to his heart and the core of his brain as MP sources. This was no different from implanting monster abilities. Though, I didn’t expect all the extra MP to be counted as part of Ignis’s own pool and actually increase his maximum. I removed the parts of the Sacrifices’ brains responsible for thinking, so I believe they might’ve been recognized not as individual people, but as Ignis’s own organs. The fact that this could be the case while they still maintained the Sacrifice job surprised even me. I did some experiments on tians with other jobs, and when I removed their ability to think, they either lost their jobs or simply didn’t have their stats merged with the subject who received them as implants. I believe that Ignis turned out the way he did due to the nature of the Sacrifice job. Also, though I was already using Idea to reduce the risk of transplanted organ rejection, I matched the implants’ blood type to Ignis’s to reduce the risk even further. Because of this, I’m currently short on Sacrifice slaves with blood type B and...ohh, that information is unnecessary. -ary.”

Possibly feeling obligated to do so, La Crima gave Zeta a long-winded explanation. Even contemplating the acts they described would make some people nauseous, but they didn’t seem to even think about that.

Though she’d never admit it, even Zeta found this side of La Crima to be truly unnerving.

In fiction, there were mad scientists that mistreated their guinea pigs to satisfy their sadistic tendencies, and Zeta felt that La Crima wouldn’t be nearly as disturbing if they were anything like that — she’d merely write them off as “just that kind of person.”

Their behavior just wasn’t the same as that. If you got past the fact that La Crima were two people acting and speaking as one, you would note how serious and sincere their words were. It was as though they truly thought nothing of what they were saying, no matter how morbid it was.

Their leader — Sechs — was similar in that regard, but...

...No point in thinking about it too deeply right now, Zeta thought.

I.F. was a gathering of people like this. Everyone here had come to Infinite Dendrogram seeking things they couldn’t find in reality. Sechs sought a goal. La Crima sought love. Gerbera would never say it, but she was seeking “a special version of herself.”

Zeta was no exception. She was here because she was seeking something within Infinite Dendrogram — some would say that her goal was greater than that of the others.

Everyone had such goals, some bigger, some smaller, but the members of I.F. — the wanted Superiors — didn’t hesitate to harm others for the sake of what they sought.

That was why they were wanted, and that was why I.F. was the way it was.

As a fellow member of this clan, I really can’t say anything about La Crima’s sense of morality, Zeta thought.

“Back to the matter of Ignis, the Sacrifice slaves were all modified to have more MP. I also used pre-ancient civilization MP-increasing items that were given to me by Rascal. As a result, Ignis has more MP than even spellcaster Superiors. -ors.”

La Crima instantly realized that they had misspoken.

“Oh, that doesn’t count The Earth, of course. -course.”

“Exception. You don’t have to tell me that his case is special.”

Not even UBMs could match The Earth when it came to MP.

“Number. How much MP does Ignis Idea actually have?” Zeta asked, to change the subject.

“98 million. -on,” La Crima said, again seemingly thinking nothing of it.

“...What?!” Not even Zeta could keep her composure upon hearing that.

There were high-level tian spellcasters with Superior Jobs that struggled to reach one million MP. Exceptions like The Earth aside, even Masters with MP growth boosted by Embryos would have only two or three times that, at most.

Yet Ignis Idea had 98 million MP — clearly an insane number.

“Spell power isn’t directly proportional to max MP, but there is a correlation. Besides that, I also gave him more arms he may use to release his spells. -spells.”

Despite creating something so powerful, La Crima showed almost no excitement as they finished their explanation.

“Ignis is the most potent magic-output device besides The Earth. I am sure he will have no trouble burning down a castle. -tle.”

◇◆

Royal Capital, Altea, Castle

As she remembered that event, especially La Crima’s last line, Zeta heaved a silent sigh. It truly did seem like the castle might be burned to the ground.

It’s too early, she thought. Claudiah’s request would be easier to fulfill if Zeta just let that happen, but it would ultimately get in the way of her own goal.

I’m here for the ten orbs that were brought into Altar. Specifically, the Treasurebeast Orbs brought here alongside Canglong by the Huang He diplomatic mission. They had been a gift to Altar as part of the marriage-alliance deal between the ruling families of those two countries.

When Huang He opened their treasury to select the ten orbs they would send as a gift, I was able to steal seven. Getting more than that was too hard even for me.

The treasury was full of magic traps left behind by the fabled Draconic Emperor who had created the orbs, so stealing from it was a challenge even for King of Thieves herself.

That’s why I’ll be retrieving the orbs that were removed from the treasury the normal way. Zeta had many uses for these UBM orbs and the MVP special rewards they contained. She could hand them to fellow I.F. members based on their abilities, and she could give them to Logan as sacrifices for his devil summoning skills.

The orbs could also be used to simply spread chaos, just like they were already doing in Caldina.

Somewhere in this castle, there were ten UBMs whose abilities were known and that had been weakened by centuries of being sealed away. Their value was immense, and no one in I.F. could ignore them — especially not King of Thieves.

There was a high chance that they would be at the guest house, but I couldn’t find them there. That leaves two options: they’re either with the prince, or they’ve already been handed over to Altar.

Whichever it was, Canglong was bound to know.

With the castle in chaos, the royalty must be taking shelter somewhere. I’ll find where it is and find out the orbs’ location by taking the prince or his fiancée hostage.

With that decided, she began searching for Canglong. There was a hallway here leading deeper into the castle, shrouded in darkness since the magic distribution system had been cut. She prepared to take a step forward into it...only to jump to the side.

A split-second later, something golden moved at supersonic speeds and pierced the space where she was standing only a moment ago.

This is... The golden object made a quick turn and chased after her.

Zeta got a better look at it as she evaded the object — it was an extending prosthetic arm.

She followed it with her eyes to its source...a humanoid silhouette at the other side of the long, dark hallway.

Though, perhaps “humanoid” didn’t quite describe what she saw.

The figure was tall enough to touch the high ceilings of this castle, and that was only one of its unnatural features.

The silhouette continued to freely attack Zeta with its golden arm —though, it was questionable if it was actually targeting her. Although the first attack seemed to be aimed directly at Zeta, the entity had lost sight of her right after, most likely due to Code III — Zeta’s optical camouflage skill.

Still, the prosthetic covered an enormous area just by flailing about. It was entirely possible for the entity to land a hit on Zeta by accident.

Because of this, Zeta focused entirely on evasion, and had successfully dodged everything so far.

However, a number of Fu tags applied to the prosthetic arm suddenly blasted beams in every direction.

I can evade this too. But wait... This is...

Zeta evaded the fiery bolts — but the moment she did, she realized that they weren’t meant to be an attack.

“There gOes your camouflAge. I can seE a bit of whAt ya can do nOw,” the entity muttered, its voice distorted by some means.

Just like the figure had said, the skill that hid Zeta from view was expiring.

That was because the magical beams had lit the surroundings on fire and increased the temperature of the air.

Zeta’s Embryo’s abilities required extremely precise control, so she couldn’t account for sudden changes in the environment fast enough. Code III actually required even more fine-tuning than any other skill, so perhaps it was inevitable that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the sharp increase in temperature.

Brought out by the flame, Zeta’s outline became a visible distortion in the air.

I suppose she already has a good guess about my abilities, Zeta thought. The rumors surrounding her, as well as her fairly recent duel against Logan, had made it easy for this enemy to assume the nature of her Embryo.

Left with no real choice, she gave up and canceled the optical camouflage.

The entity also stepped into the light of the fire, making it obvious whom Zeta was facing.

“Master Jiangshi, Xunyu.”

“And yoU’re King of Thieves, Zeta, arEn’t ya?” Zeta was now faced with the Huang He Superior that she recognized as the greatest threat among the Masters left at the capital.

Xunyu also recognized Zeta’s face from the brief period when she had been the top duelist in Dryfe.

And both of them knew full well just how dangerous the other was.

In that hallway, bathed in flame, the two combatants stared directly at each other.

As they both stood on guard, each watching for any movements the other made, Xunyu said, “Since you’rE here, I guess this whole attAck’s Dryfe’s doing? Man, they’rE just doin’ whatever they want nOw, huh?”

“Question. I won’t tell you whether your assumption is correct, but I have a question of my own... How did you notice me?”

Zeta couldn’t help but wonder how Xunyu spotted King of Thieves herself while she was hiding her physical form and even her very presence.

“Huh? I couldn’t feEl or see ya, but yoU are mOvin’ through space, arEn’t ya? I’m sensitivE to stuff like thAt.”

“...Understandable.” Though limited, Xunyu’s Superior Embryo had a skill that let it attack by teleporting through space itself. Because of that, Xunyu’s Fu were imbued with space-scanning magic. Such spells were the specialty of Onmyoji, but Master Jiangshi could perform them as well.

Xunyu had searched the castle’s interior and found Zeta exactly because she was moving at a slow pace — something you wouldn’t expect from a person inside a building under siege.

“Unexpected. I didn’t anticipate this. I thought you would go fight the Ideas.”

“You mean thE things makin’ a mess out frOnt? Did ya see what an entrAnce they made? You dOn’t have to be as keen as me to tell that it’s a distrAction. Well, no onE who’s meant to protEct the castle would leave those things bE...but that’s not my rOle.” Someone meant to guard the castle wouldn’t be so quick to set it on fire, after all, even if that was what it took to expose an enemy. “What I’m here fOr...is to protect Cang and thE others. Activate.”

With that word, all the Fu that Xunyu spread throughout the hallway with her prosthetic arms suddenly fired beams towards Zeta.

“Understandable.” Zeta saw this coming, though, and twisted her body quickly enough to evade the beams.

However, Xunyu reacted just as quickly to the evasion and moved her arms at supersonic speeds, tracing them across the sides of the hallway. Attached to the insides of her arms were countless offensive Fu, which joined the ones that she’d spread around the area to unleash a barrage of fiery blasts that became quite difficult to evade.

Unlike in the arena where she’d fought Figaro, the space here was limited. The net of beams she created left no space large enough for a person to slip through.

Zeta had nowhere to run...

“Code III: Shelter.”

...so she simply didn’t.

Half a second later, countless beams pierced into her.

They carried enough power to turn her into burnt Swiss cheese...yet that didn’t happen.

The beams all stopped before they struck Zeta’s body as though they had hit an invisible wall.

And after withstanding this attack, she went on the offensive.

“Code I: Forming. Code IV: Artillery.”

“Ah...!” In the space of a moment, Xunyu wrapped herself in the left leg part of Tenaga-Ashinaga.

A split-second later, she was assaulted by attacks from every direction.

They all had enough power to pierce through steel, but not enough to damage a Superior Embryo like Tenaga-Ashinaga.

However, the lack of power wasn’t the main issue...

...I can’t see them, Xunyu thought. All the attacks aimed at her just now were completely transparent.

She could see something, but only if she strained her eyes. It seemed like a distortion in the air, something akin to a heat haze.

They’re...projectiles made of air. There were Wind magic spells that compressed the air and fired pulverizing projectiles just like these.

But Zeta wasn’t using magic — it was an Embryo skill.

That could only mean that her Embryo was...

“..., ...?” Xunyu tried to say her guess out loud, only to realize she couldn’t make a sound.

I’m in a vacuum... The flames that had lit up the hallway had vanished, as well.

This place was completely devoid of air, besides the projectiles Zeta was using.

There also seemed to be a difference in pressure that prevented any new air from flowing in.

A barrage, followed by a truly nasty trick. I’m undead, so I can deal with not breathing, but I imagine that it’d be over for most people by now. As Master Jiangshi, Xunyu had all the positives of being undead without the negatives, letting her function normally even in a situation like this. Ignoring the vacuum around her, she continued attacking with her prosthetic arms.

Zeta evaded or deflected them using invisible walls.

“Change.” Realizing that the vacuum had done nothing, Zeta switched to another tactic.

That switch was obvious even to Xunyu — all the metal lights and door ornaments began to rust at an absurd rate.

She increased the oxygen concentration in the air... Pure oxygen was an extremely potent natural oxidizing agent. It reacted with countless types of matter, creating various other compounds. Xunyu quickly realized that her equipment was being affected as well.

Oxygen also had strong inflammatory properties, making it dangerous to use fire magic. If Zeta hadn’t snuffed out the flames with her vacuum, this place would now be burning as brightly as the main gate.

She’s not wearing the bandages just for fashion... On their inside, there’s gear that acts like space or diving suits, protecting her from the changes in air pressure and atmospheric composition.

The nature of Zeta’s Superior Embryo was more or less obvious by now.

“Optical camoUflage, invisible walls, air projEctiles, vacuum, oxygen concentration cOntrol... Your Embryo has powEr over the air itsElf, dOesn’t it?” Xunyu said, continuing to attack with her arms, defend with her legs, and dodge using fire attacks. “You get optical camouflAge by distorting the air. You insulatE yourself by creating multiple lAyers of vacuum and air. Your bArriers are just cOmpressed air. The wind projEctiles are exactly thAt. Then the vacuUm, and the opposIte with oxygen overcOncentration. It’s too damn obvioUs.”

Zeta said nothing in response, but there was a hint of surprise on her hidden face.

“AnyOne would figure it oUt if you used as much stuff on thEm as you did on me. But it’s nOt like it’s a big deal thAt I know it now, right?”

If Xunyu was right about Zeta’s Embryo’s abilities, Xunyu’s awareness of it wouldn’t be much of a disadvantage. After all, no living creature could survive without air. It was the opposite of Gerbera’s Alhazred, which lost half of its potential when the target merely knew of its existence.

Zeta’s Embryo was as strong as ever, even if the enemy knew exactly what it did.

“This Embryo isn’t limitEd to just basic control either. You can actually mess with the air’s cOmposition. There’s a whole lOt ya can do with somethin’ like that. Even the skills yoU’re using look the same, but are actUally pretty dAmn different.”

Xunyu was referring to the barrier that protected Zeta from the beams and the wall that was blocking her prosthetic arm attacks — the barriers that deflected physical attacks much like Silver’s compressed air walls. The barriers were actually so dense that they didn’t even allow light to pass, but she camouflaged them by making them transparent using Code III. Zeta had a wide array of abilities at her disposal and always used the right one for any situation. It was second nature to her.

“And evEn though you mEss with the air and its compositiOn, you’re not creating any poison gAs or anythin’ like thAt. You’re just cOntrolling the air thAt’s already there, aren’t yA?” Xunyu guessed that instead of “filling” the space with pure oxygen, Zeta had actually separated the oxygen from the other gases, which she was now using for her air barriers and projectiles.

That made Zeta’s abilities seem weaker, but it was important to remember that she could use the air around her to do whatever she wanted.

Zeta was a Superior so versatile that she could fight just about anyone.

Xunyu herself had lots of versatility, but it seemed that Zeta outshone even her.

Another notable aspect was just how well Zeta controlled these powers of hers. When Xunyu presented her guess regarding her powers, Zeta was slightly shaken, but that hadn’t affected her barriers or projectiles whatsoever. She was also constantly moving so that she wouldn’t be an easy target for Xunyu’s ultimate skill.

I guess I should be glad that she can’t take me out with just this, Xunyu thought. Code IV — the skill Zeta used to fire the projectiles — wasn’t strong enough to break through her defenses, while the air barriers weren’t capable of completely deflecting her attacks.

Her versatility had come at the cost of output.

On top of that, the vacuum and corrosive air that would kill living creatures were powerless against an undead.

It seemed that Xunyu would win this damage race, but...

The Embryo is likely meant to support her actions and moves as a Thief. The outcome of this battle will be decided by something else.

It wouldn’t be a true battle between Masters if it came down to their Embryos alone.

There’s also King of Thieves’ ultimate job skill...the one that lets her tear out the other guy’s heart in that duel just by touching him. I can’t let her get too close to me. Besides that, she has that Superior MVP reward I know nothing about.

Xunyu had read about King of Thieves’ ultimate job skill. It was called “Absolute Steal,” and it allowed the user to steal anything within the object they were touching.

If they used it on an inventory, they could take any item inside regardless of how steal-proof it was. If used on living creatures, it could easily remove their organs.

She can probably use her control over air to throw me off by creating a false image, then take advantage of that to close in and steal my heart. Hell, if I wasn’t undead, she could’ve easily done that the moment she created the vacuum or made the air toxic.

That was exactly what had happened to Logan in their duel — Zeta had incapacitated him with toxic air and a localized vacuum before closing in and using Absolute Steal to take his heart.

She can easily create a pathway to a certain kill... Man, the more I think about it, the more it stuns me just how versatile this Embryo is. As usual, Xunyu speculated a little about what she could do against her enemies before crafting a strategy to corner and bring them down. She had stumbled against Figaro because she lacked information about his Embryo, but regardless, Xunyu no doubt had an eye for strategy and high adaptability. That was exactly what Xunyu was doing now — calmly analyzing what Zeta could do with her Embryo, and how she could be defeated.

Zeta actually noticed that Xunyu was doing everything she could to keep her distance, and she couldn’t help but say something “...Question. I thought you were still a child. How are you so knowledgeable, with such a sense for battle?”

“Ha! I’ve been herE for years! You think I wouldn’t leArn a thing or two over all this timE?”

“Obvious. I suppose that makes sense. Spending time here makes your mental age advance beyond your body’s age.”

Though Logan’s mind seems to be as old as he is, Zeta added mentally. It was uncertain which one of them was developing in a healthier manner.

“Interesting. The subject of whether children should outgrow their bodies would make for an interesting discussion.”

“FOrget about mY mental age and stOp talking like that. It’s annOying.”

Silence descended. Having one aspect of her identity denied like that made Zeta’s expression change slightly under the bandages.

She was known as a calm and collected person even by her clan members, but that didn’t mean that she was emotionless — as evidenced by her surprise at La Crima’s explanations and her reactions in this fight.

In fact, if her visage hadn’t been hidden by bandages, she wouldn’t have been able to maintain her customary poker face.

“...Stop. If you feel that way, then try and stop me.”

“ThAt’s the plAn!” Xunyu’s extending right arm flew towards Zeta, who tried to block it with an air barrier at first, only to switch to evasion.

A moment later, Xunyu’s arm smashed through the air barrier, gleaming brightly as it did. The shine wasn’t from her claws, but the dagger clutched in them — Yinglong’s Fang, Suling Yi.

This weapon had a trait that made it stronger the more MP was placed into it, as well as a power that let it pierce defenses. With that combination, it finally broke through Zeta’s air barrier.

Xunyu hadn’t used Suling Yi at first because of its MP drain, but she’d now decided to finish this battle as quickly as possible. If she didn’t, she feared Zeta would’ve eventually broken the stalemate and killed her using Absolute Steal.

Needless to say, Zeta reacted to this as well. For a Superior, she had relatively low HP and END. The blade that Xunyu was flailing around would take her Brooch with the first hit, then her life with the second.

However, Xunyu hadn’t gone completely on the offensive. Instead of just extending her arms towards her enemy, she retracted them when necessary, giving her enough space to deal with whatever Zeta decided to throw at her.

King of Thieves was at a clear disadvantage now. Even though her ultimate job skill could instantly kill Xunyu, her opponent’s reach advantage made this difficult. Her chances of victory were slim.

Realizing this, Zeta decided to use the ace up her sleeve.

“...Three types.”

“Hm?”

“Three types. Solo combat type, wide-scale suppression type, and wide-scale extermination type. These are the three main fighting styles, and I am all of them at once.”

“...I can tEll.” Zeta’s words had seemingly come out of nowhere and Xunyu responded with suspicion. This was both to get information about her opponent...and to buy her enough time to prepare her ultimate skill.

While attacking with both arms and defending with her left leg, she prepared her right leg to use The Limbs Reach for the Horizon — Tenaga-Ashinaga.

“I actually nEver saw an Embryo as vErsatile as yoUrs. It doesn’t surprIse me that you cAn do any combat stYle.”

Zeta’s Embryo’s control over air gave it immense utility. The very fact that she could hold her own against Xunyu made it clear that she was a capable solo fighter, and she could easily suppress and exterminate larger groups simply by manipulating the air around them.

“Shared sentiment. Even I have only seen two Embryos that are more versatile than mine.”

“...That’s twO more than I expected.”

“Below. There is little point in trying to compete in versatility against people who are reckless and inexhaustible,” Zeta said, picturing the two I.F. members she had in mind. “Question. Back to what I was saying, which of these three battle styles...” she continued as she raised three of her fingers, “...do you think is my actual one?”

“Ah...!” Zeta presented this like a question, and Xunyu instantly understood what she was getting at — there was one battle style that Zeta was the most lethal at.

Her question, therefore, was more like a statement: “I will kill you with my true battle style.”

Combat, suppression, extermination...! She’s so versatile that I can’t even guess which one she’ll use! Xunyu thought. However, it was clear that whatever was coming, it would no doubt spell her doom.

Should she go on the defensive? Or should she retreat? Xunyu did not have the answer.

She’s probably a combat type if she comes close! And she’s one of the other two if she keeps her distance to avoid getting caught up in her own attack! If she’s a combat type, there’s a high chance that she’ll use her Absolute Steal! That was Zeta’s ultimate job skill, able to rip out hearts. To Xunyu’s knowledge, it was the most lethal skill she had, so she observed her enemy with all the caution she could muster.

A moment later, she noticed Zeta approaching her.

“SHaAH!” Xunyu tried to stop her, first by moving both hands as fast as possible, then blasting out her fire magic beams without concern for the high concentration of oxygen in the air.

However, the moment she fired them...she noticed something.

...The oxygen concentration is back to normal! It wasn’t a vacuum, nor was the area flooded with oxygen — the air composition was close to standard.

That moment, several of the beams hit Zeta, only to pass through her like she was a mirage.

No, not “like” a mirage — that was exactly what she was.

It’s a variation of her optical camouflage skill! That could only mean that Zeta herself was elsewhere.

As Xunyu prepared to use her spatial scan Fu, she felt a presence behind her.

“Gh...!” The moment she realized the presence behind her was Zeta, she released beams from the left leg that she had wrapped around herself.

Driven away by the blast, Zeta’s presence made distance between the two of them.

Xunyu didn’t feel like she had been touched or that she had lost any organs. By covering herself with Tenaga-Ashinaga, she was able to prevent Zeta from using Absolute Steal on her heart.

I blockEd it... I think. Despite that, Xunyu wasn’t ready to relax just yet. Still wary of any follow-up attacks, Xunyu used her spatial scan Fu to search for Zeta...

“Where the hEll’s she going?!”

...only to realize that she seemed to be heading away from Xunyu.

She had left Xunyu behind to focus on finding Canglong and Elizabeth.

“You goddAmn... I’ll tear out your hEart!”

When she had initially used her spatial scan Fu and discovered Zeta’s presence, Xunyu hadn’t employed her ultimate skill because she wasn’t sure if the presence was an enemy.

Things were different now. Xunyu knew that Zeta was an intruder — a foe to be taken down at any cost.

That meant that she could use her ultimate skill on Zeta, no matter where she was in the castle.

As she prepared to do just that, Xunyu noticed another change in the environment.

“Hm...?”

The air was different again. It wasn’t a vacuum. Nor was it full of oxygen or some kind of poison gas.

Still, she could sense that something was different about it.

“It’s...!” Another realization struck her.

She’d already considered it once. If Zeta made distance between them, it could only mean one thing.

“Activation. Absolute Dominion Over the Sky — Uranus.”

Right after that voice echoed through the air, a part of the castle was drowned in dazzling light and temperatures reaching tens of thousands of degrees.

◇◆

“Cremated. It is tradition in Huang He to burn corpses, is it not?” Zeta whispered, standing some distance away from the scorched area of the castle.

Zeta’s Embryo — Cry of Air, Uranus — was, as Xunyu had assumed, an Embryo that controlled the atmosphere. By changing its density, concentration, and composition, she was able to create optical camouflage, vacuums, oxygen-filled spaces, defensive barriers, and even air cannons.

Back at Granvaloa, she even used Uranus’s air barriers on submarines.

However, this versatility came at a cost of output. If you could do many things, you either needed more external Resources, or the things you could do were simply weaker than they would be in the hands of a more focused individual.

This was a rule that applied to all Embryos, and Uranus was a latter case.

However, there were ways to circumvent such flaws, however briefly.

In Uranus’s case, it was its ultimate skill: Absolute Dominion Over the Sky — Uranus.

This ability briefly increased its output, letting Zeta surpass the limits of its atmosphere control.

In her battle against the SUBM, she’d used it to push seawater away with walls of air and open up a giant hole in the ocean.

The scale of what she did in her battle against Xunyu was far smaller, but the action was far more complex. Normally, her control over the air didn’t go beyond merely manipulating its constituent parts, but now, she was actually able to create new atoms based on the existing elements in the air.

Zeta had used Uranus to create deuterium and tritium, then used them to cause a nuclear fusion reaction.

This reaction produced helium and immense amounts of energy — in other words, she had made a hydrogen bomb, without nuclear warheads or any materials, and in average ambient temperatures.

As far as such explosions went, it was unusually clean. Since Zeta had held back a little, it was a small-scale reaction, and she even controlled the radiation to prevent it from leaking to the surroundings.

However, that didn’t limit the energy that had been released. It was more than enough to demolish the hallway they were in, and Xunyu was at the epicenter of the explosion.

“Answer. I am mostly a wide-scale extermination type,” Zeta said to the empty air.

She was currently alone, with no one else in sight — a Superior who possessed the power of a hydrogen bomb...of nuclear fusion.

Powerful as she was, though, this had made her break out in a cold sweat.

It was obvious why — in order to create this fusion reaction with her ultimate skill, she had to control everything manually.

These “Codes” were skills in their own right, functioning like macros that limited and automated the control of her atmospheric manipulation, but her ultimate skill’s fusion reaction had to be constructed manually. A single mistake could mean death by her own hands.

The fact that she used an ability that posed such a danger to herself just showed how cornered Zeta truly felt.

With Xunyu protecting herself against Absolute Steal and the environment being unsuitable for her Superior MVP reward, she had no choice but to use her ultimate skill.

“...Powerful. You are among the most powerful Masters I have ever fought, but it looks like not even you could withstand this.”

Nothing remotely human could withstand the explosion of a hydrogen bomb and live.

On top of that, Zeta had taken Xunyu’s only hope of survival. She had an accessory clutched tightly in her hand — a Lifesaving Brooch.

It belonged to Xunyu.

When Zeta had approached her, she used a particular skill. It was actually one of her most basic abilities as a Thief — Steal.

Its effect was simple — it gave her a chance to steal any item from an inventory or any piece of gear a target had equipped. As King of Thieves, Zeta’s Steal skill level was EX, which gave a 100% chance for her to Steal any unprotected item.

This was one of the strategies she specialized in — taking the enemy’s Brooch without their notice, then hitting them with a fatal attack.

With Xunyu not having any accessories that could protect her, her death penalty was all but certain.

“Confirmed. The Master Jiangshi job has high survivability, but I knew from her duel against Figaro that high heat can extinguish her without leaving a trace.”

Because of that, Zeta had made the right choice in using the fusion reaction.

Or at least, so she thought.

“Hm...?”

Suddenly, she heard something shatter. Looking down at her hand, she saw that the Brooch there was still intact.

The brooch that shattered was the one she was wearing.

Belatedly, she turned and saw Yinglong’s Fang, grasped by a metal arm and heading straight towards her spine.

“Gh...! Wait...!” Surprised, Zeta jumped away. But unlike before, the prosthetic arm didn’t follow after her. As though rusty, it made a creaking sound before falling to the ground. It seemed as though the attack that shattered her Brooch was the most that arm could do at the moment.

“Hah...you finAlly...stopped talking...wEird...” Those words then reached Zeta’s ears.

The speaker was none other than Xunyu — the very person who was supposed to have been burnt to ashes in the fusion reaction. But there she was, behind Zeta, in a state so awful that you couldn’t tell where her clothes ended and her body began, extending only her right arm.

“You... How did you survive the explosion...?!”

“...I’ve alreAdy...been...evapOrated...once... I’d obviously...takE steps...to prevEnt it...hAppening again...” She’d learned from her loss against Figaro and had since weaved Fu of fire magic resistance into her clothes.

Thanks to this extra defense, she was able to avoid being completely annihilated.

Her defense obviously had not been perfect, though. She had been directly exposed to the heat of a small hydrogen bomb. It was more than enough to break through the fire resistance and scorch most of Xunyu’s body.

The only reason she could even move was because Master Jiangshi were undead.

“Tch...thIs is it...fOr me...” And even the undead had their limits. Clicking her tongue, Xunyu began to literally fall apart.

“I leave thE rest...to...” Xunyu dissolved into motes of light before she could finish her sentence. Yinglong’s Fang, which had almost killed Zeta, as well as the Tenaga-Ashinaga holding it, quickly followed their Master.

King of Thieves, Zeta and Master Jiangshi, Xunyu.

This conflict had ended in the former’s victory.

“Hn...” Despite all of this, the face hidden by bandages didn’t look pleased.

Her broach was destroyed right after she was certain she’d already won. Perhaps if this was a duel — where Brooches weren’t allowed — Xunyu would’ve been victorious.

“You truly were a powerful enemy.” Feeling both slightly defeated and impressed by Xunyu’s incredible fighting, Zeta returned to her task.