Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sorry, you don’t pass.

The Visceral Attack from the King of the Abandoned Prison—embodying the absolute pinnacle of physical devastation—transmitted its force to the entire ”world.”

”Reality” trembled, and order collapsed. Everything around him resembled a malfunctioning digestive system; having swallowed a meal far too difficult to process, it could no longer proclaim the ”truth” as it had before.

That was why I couldn’t turn around for you.

Letting the sword at his back pierce him once more, Fu Qian didn’t even spare a glance. Repeating the exact same motion, he ripped out a second Visceral Attack.

”Thanks for the lesson.”

The visual impact this time was even more staggering.

Fracturing, crumbling, withering... Everything in sight began to perish beneath the demonic grasp of an evil god.

Perfection was desecrated, the truth was polluted, and all things returned to chaos.

Even the fungal hyphae blotting out the sky rapidly lost their vitality, crumbling into fine fragments that drifted down.They resembled the ashes of the world, yet also a flurry of falling snow—he did say it would snow, after all.

He didn’t rip out a third strike. Finally standing up to admire the magnificent scene, Fu Qian thrust out his sword with a backhand strike.

At the exact moment he was stabbed for the third time, his own blade pierced through his attacker’s body.

There was no longer any need for a third tear.

Finally turning around, Fu Qian casually flicked the longsword that had sliced through his body, snapping it in two, and gave a slight nod in greeting.

Indeed, the Sword God’s third attack had grown so weak it couldn’t even pierce his flesh.

The terrifying devastation, coupled with the Four Rings constantly ravaging the world, had caused the power sustaining his enemy to rapidly enter an irreversible demise.

”How should I address you?”

His only regret was that so many of the old ones and transcendents truly lacked the spirit of communication.

It was merely being destroyed by him once more in the long river of time. The Fungal Emperor, who had gone through so much trouble to appear, didn’t utter a single greeting right up to the very end.

The Sword God simply stood there blankly, rotting away alongside the heavens and the earth.

”I suppose this counts as practicing the Unity of Heaven and Humanity.”

With a soft sigh, facing the winter day of the Academy that reappeared before him as the gray-white ash finished falling, Fu Qian ultimately tried to unearth the final shining merit of this higher entity of the sword path.

He then deactivated his Mythical Form and all his auras.

...

He was back, but not quite.

Before his eyes stood the utterly artless modern architecture of the Apocalypse Branch, and the sky was completely cloudless once more.

Yet, this was still not the real Academy. It was just another temporary file.

It wasn’t that the real world was untouchable; Master Yuhun hadn’t reached such an exaggerated level. Earlier, when the hyphal world collapsed and before he canceled his Mythical Form, he had actually returned to the real Academy.

His reason for canceling it was simple. With just a single glance, Fu Qian confirmed his previous judgment: behind the bulletproof glass, Master Yuhun truly wasn’t there.

To physically touch him would require crossing a rather extraordinary path.

A path so extraordinary that even the King of the Abandoned Prison would likely have to expend quite some effort.

The man certainly knew how to fully leverage his own advantages, making one feel his determination for a battle to the death once again.

After quickly making a new assessment, Fu Qian ultimately decided not to rush and waste his precious Mythical Form duration.

And as facts proved, Master Yuhun utilized this technique of expulsion with absolute ease.

Almost the instant he reverted to Tier 2, Fu Qian found himself isolated behind the glass once more.

But one had to look on the bright side. His hand had grown back, hadn’t it?

Fu Qian thrust Sword Three Short of One back into the void and looked down at his own body.

Even though he knew his opponent couldn’t break his defenses at the very end, stabbing out with that sword hadn’t been to vent his anger.

That had practically been the fusion of two higher entities. Even if their state was largely unstable, they still served as a top-tier blood pack. How could he easily let that slip by?

The final strike, thrust out in his King of the Abandoned Prison state, had almost fully healed all his previous injuries.

Not only had his vaporized hand completely regenerated, but there were barely any open wounds left on his body.

This was despite the strict limitations on Sword Three Short of One’s innate effect: only devastation inflicted through it could be converted into healing.

Otherwise, just those two Visceral Attacks would likely have healed him so much he’d get a nosebleed.

The only downside was that the new look he had just styled over at the Linghui Courtyard was ruined once again.

But what did that matter? Don’t forget, there was still the safety net gifted by the Red Moon.

No longer keeping a low profile, Fu Qian directly summoned the Full Set of Embracing Armor.

Out of consideration for public decency, he even underwent the entire process in the state of the Blood Crusade, only revealing himself once his body was thoroughly encased.

”I must say, adding a little decoration makes for quite a nice effect.”

Continuing toward the Apocalypse Branch in his flamboyant getup, Fu Qian didn’t forget to praise his own look.

As for the mentioned decorative effect, it was quite simple: under the sunlight, faint, glistening traces could be seen on the surface of the dark silver armor, resembling intertwined, winding fungal hyphae.

It was, after all, Master Yuhun’s premier choice of enforcer. Even if it was fundamentally just an echo within a temporary file, thoroughly purging it wouldn’t be that easy.

There was a reason his opponent hadn’t made a final desperate struggle. It had clearly saved its strength to leave behind a trace of itself instead.

Given that it presented almost no obvious negative effects for the time being, and purging it would require quite a bit of effort, Fu Qian was in no rush to deal with it.

As the grand interim spokesperson of Apocalypse, shouldering heavy burdens was a daily routine. Why would he fear adding one more load to his shoulders?

Knock, knock, knock!

Amidst his reflections, Fu Qian had already knocked on the door in front of him.

He had conveniently checked through the King of the Abandoned Prison’s perspective earlier; Emperor Rob was indeed in secluded cultivation within the Laboratory.

...

”Professor Fu... what is this?”

Clearly not expecting a visit from the interim spokesperson, Rob was noticeably startled when Fu Qian retracted his helmet.

”Please, come in quickly. At first, I thought it was Dean Casi.”

Despite the warm invitation, it was completely obvious from his tone that the genuine person in charge had left a rather unserious impression on people.

”I’m here to see how your previous project is progressing.”

Fu Qian didn’t stand on ceremony. Stating his purpose directly, he stepped forward and approached the lab bench he had seen once before.

”Ah... have I been corrupted again?”

Hearing this, Rob was instantly startled again, clearly recalling his past experience in the Night-Duty Teaching Building.

”You’re fine.”

Fu Qian casually consoled him.

It wasn’t a white lie. The moment he saw him, he confirmed that Professor Rob was in excellent condition. He had absolutely nothing to do with the mushrooms and was even cleaner than Fu Qian himself.

Even on the lab bench before them, compared to its initial setup, an additional mystical restriction had clearly been added. The flight paths of the tiny insects bred by the Divine Flesh had been blurred, stripping them of their corrupting properties.

So it seemed his inner demon, Master Yuhun, really didn’t have very high requirements for conjuring up higher entities... All it took was a tiny Anchor Point?

Staring at the cluster of snow-white caps gathered beneath the cover, Fu Qian silently drew a conclusion.