Plan A: The Silent Slash

They entered Sheng Hai Building one after the other.

There were no obstacles, no ambushes, not even a single shadow. The silent corridor was utterly still, save for the sound of their footsteps.

“I say—”

The girl walking ahead broke the silence:

“…You Bloodkin wouldn’t happen to possess the ability to enhance your power by devouring one another, would you?”

“Perhaps…” Wu Liyun replied absently. Without the interference of the shadows, Liu Yu’s naturally soft voice emerged. Though she clearly tried to lower it to sound more mature, this curious contrast only highlighted her youthful innocence.

“I knew it!” Upon receiving Wu Liyun’s confirmation, Liu Yu’s voice brimmed with uncontainable excitement, as if she had uncovered a profound secret:

“Titan must have realized he couldn’t defeat me alone. So he deliberately lured the other Bloodkin here, then devoured them all.”

“He’s probably mastered some divine technique now. Otherwise, there’s no explaining where all those Bloodkin went… Hey, hey, are you even listening, you dumb dog?”

Her soft voice pierced straight to his heart; even her insults sounded melodious. Wu Liyun felt utterly beyond redemption, convinced that if he continued to descend into this depravity, his entire life would be ruined by this mother-daughter duo.

Feeling the girl’s displeased gaze, he stammered, “I-I’m listening…”

“Hm?” Liu Yu eyed Old Wu suspiciously. Ever since they entered the building, he had seemed restless… ‘Had someone secretly tampered with him? Titan, after all, was the leader of the Bloodkin; he ought to have ways to control his subordinates.’

“W-What’s wrong? Is there something strange on my face?”

“I just realized you’re actually not bad-looking…”

Liu Yu’s casual fib, surprisingly, sent Wu Liyun into a frenzy of excitement.

“Really? Do you truly think I’m handsome?”

“Uh… er… you just barely make it into the handsome category…” The girl said, her gaze flickering, clearly not meaning it.

Liu Yu then remembered that Old Wu came from a single-parent family, raised by his father, and his lack of familial support and care had given him a strange habit of becoming agitated whenever praised by outsiders. She recalled several similar incidents happening before…

‘What a bother, Mr. Wu Liyun.’

Too lazy to humor the persistently nagging man, Liu Yu quickened her pace. She had important matters to attend to and no time to indulge Old Wu’s antics.

Still unopposed, Liu Yu quickly reached the top floor. Taking a deep breath, she prepared for battle and resolutely moved inside.

****

[ …Through tireless efforts over this period, our development of Armaments has successfully entered a new phase. We anticipate it will be ready for practical combat within six months. This enhancement will prioritize upgrades for all active hunters… ]

“Hmph, shamelessly claiming stolen goods as their own, these greedy and weak human species are comparable to their kin in other universes and different worlds only in their utter lack of shame.” The man in blood-red armor sat regally in the center of the hall, commenting on the news conference playing on the light screen. He turned to the girl who had just pushed open the door and asked:

“What do you think, unknown guest?”

‘I have no idea what he’s talking about,’ Liu Yu thought, cautiously surveying her surroundings. Based on the floor count, she should have been on the top floor of Sheng Hai Building, not in this peculiar space filled with glowing screens.

“What is this place?” Liu Yu asked.

“This is the [battleground] I prepared for my guests, a [high dimension] created from the concept of [infinity]. Unlike the fragile toy outside that shatters with a touch, here we can unleash our full power without fear of causing external damage.”

‘You’re surprisingly considerate,’ Liu Yu mused inwardly. Her opponent’s elaborate setup was indeed beyond her expectations.

‘The biggest clown, however, was probably Group Leader Li outside. His painstakingly constructed [Multi-Dimensional Spatial Defense System] was merely a ‘toy’ in his opponent’s estimation. It was fortunate he hadn’t followed her in. Just imagining the awkward scene made Liu Yu feel like her toes would claw out a three-bedroom apartment.’

“Then, it is my turn to ask.” Titan strode towards Liu Yu. His blood-red armor was adorned with protruding tubes, through which scarlet liquid continuously flowed, giving him a monstrous, terrifying appearance, like an abyssal fiend risen from hell.

He posed a deafening question to the girl: “Who do you represent, and what is your purpose?”

“…Who do I represent?” Liu Yu replied uncertainly, “I suppose you could say The Supervisory Bureau? As for my purpose—it’s quite simple~”

Black shadows flowed to her right hand, coalescing into a sword-shaped weapon. The girl flicked it in a graceful flourish, pointing it at Titan as she declared:

“…To kill you, to eliminate the Bloodkin, and then… to take your Gem!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Liu Yu swung the shadow sword in her hand…

[ Gaze Slash ]

This was a strike long prepared! A strike that would absolutely not fail!

“Ching!”

His body was torn apart…

The blood-armor, forged by the power of the Gem, was effortlessly sliced in two. By the time Titan registered what had happened, his upper body was already involuntarily toppling backward.

‘An incomprehensible power… It transcended distance, ignored defenses, defied all logic. The layers of defense he’d established around his body should have been capable of protecting him even through a planet-shattering catastrophe… But… That effortless sensation… It was like cutting a fragile piece of paper with scissors, utterly without effort.’

His vision spun 90 degrees, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

“I doubt I’ll ever forget you, Mr. Titan!” Seeing Titan bisected by her attack, Liu Yu gleefully ‘popped open the champagne.’

Regardless of anything else, landing a [Gaze Slash] on Titan right at the start was Plan A, concocted by Liu Yu and Wu Liyun. According to their discussions, almost every boss or elite-tier opponent had a habit of delivering lengthy monologues upon their entrance. Liu Yu’s [Gaze Slash], on the other hand, was arguably the ultimate silent assassination technique. As long as a target was within her line of sight, even a character who had only appeared on television could be locked onto. For instance, Liu Yu once, in a fit of extreme rage, used this skill on a particularly annoying anime character. The result was… that cartoon figure remained irrevocably stuck in the moment of its death, in a way that defied comprehension.

As for its destructive power… its upper limit was currently unknown. Theoretically, it could cleave even the sun in the sky in two, but Liu Yu wasn’t foolish enough to actually try it out on the sun.

Combining the power of [Gaze Slash] with a surprise attack was the core of Plan A. And the outcome was precisely as they had predicted: the eloquently speaking Lord Titan was bisected by Liu Yu before he could even react. To celebrate the mission’s completion, the girl deliberately turned her phone’s volume to maximum, and a melancholic funeral dirge echoed throughout this artificially created [high dimension].

“Your ability is truly powerful.”