A Slaughter Between Two Monsters

“Hahahaha…”

A burst of uncontrollable laughter escaped Cheng Ya’s lips.

“What’s so funny?” Ran Jiuyi said, her voice laced with irritation. “Is my ability a joke to you? Or do you want to experience it for yourself in a moment?”

Struggling to catch her breath, Cheng Ya waved her hands dismissively. “No, no, I’m not mocking you. On the contrary, I think this ability is magnificent. I absolutely love it.”

“Do you know why? Because I love pain—I mean, I really love it. Seeing you possess an ability like this makes me feel like you and I share the same… unique perspective on agony.”

Ran Jiuyi stared at the laughing woman, deadpan. “Are we fighting or not? If not, I’m going back to heal.”

“We’re fighting, of course we are!” Pure euphoria danced across Cheng Ya’s face. “You introduced your ability, so let me explain mine.”

“Aside from the self-healing you’ve already seen, my other ability is called ‘Function Allocation.’ Just as the name implies, it allows me to freely adjust the various functions of every part of my body within certain limits.”

As she spoke, horrific green veins bulged beneath Cheng Ya’s skin before vanishing again.

“Just like that, I can change my physical parameters at will. I blocked your claws earlier because I used this power to boost the toughness of my epidermis, making my skin impenetrable to your blades.”

“But it’s not just defense. Strength, speed, adaptability, recovery—I can tweak them all. Usually, I keep my strength set to a relatively low level. Now that you’ve gone all out, it would be insulting if I kept holding back.”

The flesh across Cheng Ya’s entire body began to seethe. Countless granulation tissues writhed visibly like maggots under her skin. Moments later, the movement ceased. Although she looked the same, Ran Jiuyi could feel the aura of danger radiating from her skyrocket.

“I know your Ascension Form does more than just control more needles,” Cheng Ya said, stretching her newly empowered limbs. “But I don’t care. I prefer to feel it for myself rather than hear about it.”

Ran Jiuyi nodded. “Then I won’t bother explaining.”

“…I was just being polite. If you really want to talk, I won’t stop you. Actually, that sounds a bit pathetic. Let’s just start.”

In a flash, Cheng Ya was already in front of Ran Jiuyi.

With her strength unleashed, Cheng Ya’s speed had jumped several tiers. Before Ran Jiuyi could even process the movement, a fist was whistling toward her cheek.

Thanks to the Armor of Myriad Erosion, Ran Jiuyi’s defense was higher than ever, but instinct screamed at her: Dodge!

Relying on reflexes honed through years of bloodshed, she narrowly evaded the strike. Using the shockwave of the missed punch, she managed to gain some distance.

Ran Jiuyi didn’t rush to counterattack. Instead, she manipulated her needles to propel herself high into the air. Cheng Ya hadn’t shown any flight capabilities yet; staying airborne might buy her some much-needed breathing room.

The speed and power Cheng Ya had just displayed far exceeded Ran Jiuyi’s estimates. The sheer pressure reminded her of the Vampire who had handed her a crushing defeat not long ago.

God-tier physicals, plus top-tier regeneration. In just one exchange, Ran Jiuyi realized the grim reality: she might actually lose today.

Before she could devise a counter-strategy, a pair of snow-white wings unfurled from Cheng Ya’s back.

She can fly too?! This was the worst possible news.

Cheng Ya’s flight speed surpassed Ran Jiuyi’s. After a brief chase, Cheng Ya successfully closed the gap and launched another fist at Ran Jiuyi’s face.

Surprisingly, Ran Jiuyi didn’t dodge this time. Instead, she swung her own fist in a counter-blow aimed straight at Cheng Ya’s head.

BOOM!

Neither backed down. Both landed clean, brutal hits on each other’s skulls simultaneously.

Even from a hundred meters up, the shockwave of the impact sent dust billowing across the entire wasteland.

When the dust cleared, the facial plating of Ran Jiuyi’s armor was shattered, revealing a face drenched in blood. Meanwhile, Cheng Ya’s right hand was riddled with holes, and half of her skull was unnaturally collapsed inward.

At the very last millisecond before impact, Ran Jiuyi had grown dozens of centimeter-long, needle-sharp spikes from her facial armor. Even though the raw force of their punches was equal, the spikes ensured that Cheng Ya took significantly more damage.

But this wasn’t a victory. Feeling the throbbing agony in her face, Ran Jiuyi knew her facial bones were fractured in multiple places—injuries she couldn’t fix instantly.

Seconds later, Cheng Ya was whole again, and Ran Jiuyi’s armor had fully repaired itself.

Both knew the real fight was only just beginning.

Dozens of kilometers away, Meng Shan—having secured the “Three Little Ones”—was watching the titanic struggle through a long-range camera.

He had known and hunted many transcendents in his time—battle-hardened elites and regional overlords alike. But all of them combined couldn’t compare to the two monsters currently clashing in the sky.

A violet-black blur and a white streak collided repeatedly, each impact causing the earth below to tremble.

After that first exchange, the two had stopped dodging. They were simply trading blows, focused entirely on landing the most devastating hit to crush their opponent from the front.

Every strike sent blood spraying. Every collision was a symphony of bone and sinew.

“This is amazing!” Cheng Ya laughed maniacally amidst the gore. “I haven’t felt this much pain in forever! I haven’t had a fight this satisfying! You really are my type! Hahahaha!”

Cheng Ya landed an elbow that shattered the left side of Ran Jiuyi’s chest plate, pulverizing her last intact rib in the process.

“You know, it’s usually so lonely. No one wants to play these ‘pain games’ with me. I always have to enjoy it by myself. It’s so annoying—what’s so bad about loving pain?”

She followed up with a vertical kick. Ran Jiuyi crossed her arms to block, but the sheer force sent cracks spider-webbing through her arm bones.

“You’re a goddamn pervert who loves pain! I don’t give a flying f**k about your daily life!” Ran Jiuyi roared.

It was clear now: Cheng Ya was a pure masochist. What others fled from, she treated like a refreshing rain.

More needles dove into Ran Jiuyi’s body, filling the gaps left by the damage. Broken ribs and shredded muscles were forcibly held together by steel. Parts that were too damaged to function were simply bypassed and replaced by new needles!

She pushed her life force absorption to the absolute limit, giving her a steady stream of stamina and doubling her healing speed. But compared to the damage she was taking, it was barely enough to keep her afloat.

“If you want to play with pain, go do it by yourself! A freak like you should stay hidden in some dark corner!”

Catching an opening, Ran Jiuyi unleashed a flurry of dozens of punches, turning half of Cheng Ya’s body into a red mist.

Even as half her torso was obliterated, Cheng Ya continued to observe Ran Jiuyi’s growth during the fight.

Strange. She’s taking massive damage, but her power is actually… increasing?

And there was something else. Besides draining life force, Ran Jiuyi seemed to be receiving a specific type of mana from Cheng Ya, yet Cheng Ya didn’t feel like her own mana was being siphoned.

“Hey, hey! Why don’t you understand the beauty of suffering?”

In an instant, Cheng Ya’s missing half regrew. Her regeneration was even faster than before.

This anomaly caught Ran Jiuyi’s attention. Cheng Ya’s recovery was speeding up, and Ran Jiuyi’s attacks were becoming more effective—did that mean Cheng Ya’s defense was dropping?

There was no time to think. Taking advantage of the moment Ran Jiuyi’s momentum shifted, Cheng Ya landed a straight kick to her abdomen.

“You don’t get it. Only pain is proof that you’re alive. Only pain is humanity’s greatest gift!”

Ran Jiuyi’s blood splattered against the inside of her faceplate. That last kick proved it: Cheng Ya’s strength was increasing.

Cheng Ya pressed her advantage, landing a series of precise kicks to Ran Jiuyi’s head. Although the counter-spikes nearly shredded Cheng Ya’s legs to ribbons, the nearly destroyed head-armor showed that Ran Jiuyi had taken critical damage.

“Who the hell can understand your gibberish?! Pain is just pain!”

Ignoring the repairs to her helmet, Ran Jiuyi retaliated with a volley of hundreds of needles.

The needles, which should have easily transfixed Cheng Ya’s body, now pinged off her like sewing needles hitting iron, barely leaving scratches on her skin.

Ran Jiuyi finally understood. Cheng Ya was shifting her parameters: she had lowered her internal tissue density to maximize the “pleasure” of the hits while hardening her skin just enough to make the needles ineffective. She was minimizing her energy expenditure while maximizing the impact of her physical strikes to break through Ran Jiuyi’s armor.

This was the true use of Function Allocation: dynamically shifting stats to counter the enemy’s specific strategy.

But even knowing the trick, Ran Jiuyi couldn’t counter it. She had to keep trading blows, betting her life that Cheng Ya’s endurance wouldn’t last as long as her own.

“You’re talking nonsense! Pain isn’t a gift—it’s a test! A test we all have to pass!”

More needles embedded themselves in her flesh. Ran Jiuyi’s speed and power surged again as she drove a fist clean through Cheng Ya’s chest.

“Eh?”

That specific choice of words made Cheng Ya pause for a split second. Seizing the rare opening, Ran Jiuyi sprouted a forest of spikes from her arm, shredding Cheng Ya’s body into fragments in an instant.

Yet again, it did nothing. In the blink of an eye, the scattered meat coalesced, and Cheng Ya was whole once more.

This time, she didn’t attack immediately. She allowed Ran Jiuyi to continue tearing at her body.

Because Cheng Ya was confirming something. Something very important.

Since the fight began, Ran Jiuyi had been able to mutilate Cheng Ya in every exchange, but Cheng Ya healed instantly. Cheng Ya’s attacks were blocked by armor, yet the residual force caused internal damage to Ran Jiuyi that couldn’t be fixed quickly.

To compensate, Ran Jiuyi was driving more and more needles into herself to “act” as her body. It boosted her power, but it was a temporary fix. A body can only take so many needles; a mind can only take so much trauma.

Logically, Ran Jiuyi should be avoiding this head-on meat grinder. Yet, she persisted.

Why? Cheng Ya wondered. Why is she fighting like she’s the one who can’t die?