Thorns

The demon moved swiftly.

However, Jiang Xun and Kite certainly would not just stand by and watch.

The sound of Kite’s gun rang out, and balls of fire exploded across its body.

While not fatal, and unable to cause significant damage, they could not be entirely ignored.

At the same time, an even more critical, terrifying heat was rising from behind.

That extreme high temperature was something even a demon could not overlook.

It was forced to stop and turn around, only to be met head-on by Jiang Xun’s fist.

This punch was far more exaggerated than the previous ones.

The youth’s entire body was now completely engulfed in raging flames.

He had transformed into an orange-red man of fire.

The flames, expanding to three meters high, looked even taller than the demon for a moment.

As the punch landed, the sweeping heatwave flipped every table and chair in the restaurant.

Thud!!

The violent punch sent the demon flying into mid-air.

Then, another punch slammed it heavily into the ground.

The fire giant leaped up, forcibly pinning down the demon that tried to rise.

Finally, a shadow of fists fell as fast as raindrops, carrying extreme heat.

In just three short seconds, every part of the demon’s body had been pummeled.

Its entire form was distorted as a result.

Its pale skin was scorched black and charred everywhere during this process.

But it was not over yet.

Taking advantage of the demon appearing dazed and losing its ability to resist, Jiang Xun leaped suddenly and threw a final punch.

All the surrounding flames were compressed together within a single second, concentrated into a single point.

As his fist fell, it exploded violently against the demon’s distorted chest.

Boom—!!

Flames like ocean waves swallowed the demon’s body in the blink of an eye.

They then rapidly spread throughout the entire restaurant.

Whether it was the seemingly normal furniture or the mutated walls and floors, everything was completely ignited in an instant.

The air was filled with a thick smell of char and a strange aroma of roasted meat.

Jiang Xun retreated heavily for several steps, panting for breath.

He had unleashed almost all of his power in that short duration.

However, he did not feel very optimistic about the result.

And indeed, his intuition was correct.

The demon lay on the ground for less than two seconds.

Then, with a flash of greyish-white light, the flames permeating the restaurant suddenly froze.

They then gathered rapidly toward the demon’s head as if flowing backward!

A second later.

All the flames were entirely devoured by the demon.

Series of crackling and popping sounds continuously emanated from its body.

As it slowly rose, the injuries caused by Jiang Xun were healing at high speed.

In just a few breaths, it looked no different than before!

Then…

“Die.”

The demon actually spat out language that the Bureau members could understand.

It was not human speech, yet they somehow understood the intended meaning inexplicably.

Now was clearly not the time to dwell on such things.

Along with the sound, a blinding fire ignited once more.

This time the source was the demon, and it was aimed straight at—Jiang Xun!

“…!”

There was not much time to react.

The youth tried to dodge to the side, but his heavily exhausted body reacted half a beat too slow.

In the end, he was instantaneously swallowed by the oncoming fire.

“Captain!!”

Old He, who was installing explosives nearby, saw this scene and felt his eyes nearly burst with rage.

But he only shouted instinctively before continuing to rush toward the second weak point he had just found without hesitation.

However, his voice clearly attracted the demon’s attention.

It immediately turned its head, and the fire, spanning dozens of meters, swept toward him.

Before it could reach him, a ball of holy white light struck the side of its head first!

Thud!!

The demon was knocked over by the white light, flying four or five meters and smashing through another load-bearing stone pillar before falling among the rubble.

The spewing fire naturally dissipated as well.

This time, it took a full three or four seconds before the demon slowly crawled up from the ground.

When it lifted its head, nearly one-fifth of its entire head was missing.

The injury was clearly even more severe than what Jiang Xun had caused earlier!

As for the source.

“I hate being ignored the most.”

Kite stood with a pale face, gripping that massive silver-white handgun.

The thorn patterns on the handgun had now all turned into real thorns.

Transparent thorns wound around the girl’s right arm like snakes from the gun’s body.

Sharp spikes pierced deep into her skin, frantically drinking her blood!

As the blood poured in, the handgun-type relic named [Blood Thorns] revealed its true form.

“A Danger-class relic?”

Jiang Xun, gritting his teeth as he crawled up from the ground while the demon was wounded, looked at the strange handgun with slight surprise.

The Bureau categorized relics into six levels: Harmless, Risk, Danger, High-risk, Forbidden, and Unknowable.

Although [Blood Thorns] was only a Level 3 Danger-class relic, it was actually the highest level allowed for active use under normal circumstances!

The higher Level 2 High-risk relics could only be used in special situations.

Forbidden-class relics had to be sealed away, accessible only to specific researchers under limited conditions.

The Unknowable-class went without saying; information on such relics was not permitted to be recorded in any form. Only specific personnel were allowed to know of and control them. If leaked, memory erasure or physical elimination of all contacts was mandatory.

While demons were the great enemy of humanity in this world, in reality, the harm and destruction brought by relics were not much less than that of demons.

In any case, seeing that Kite carried a Danger-class relic was surprising.

Just then, Old He finished planting explosives at the second location. He circled back as he headed toward the next weak point.

“Captain, are you alright?”

Looking at Jiang Xun, whose clothes were in tatters and whose skin was still emitting wisps of smoke, Old He showed a worried expression.

Jiang Xun shook his head gently. “I am fine… don’t worry about me, speed up!”

He was indeed mostly alright, mainly because the fire just now had been returned by the demon. Anyone else would likely have been turned to charcoal instantly, but he possessed high resistance.

While he wasn’t truly completely unharmed, at least no irreparable heavy injuries were caused.

His clothes, however, were in a pathetic state. Even though he wore a Bureau-issued combat suit underneath, it had been severely damaged in the fight and the flames. If the battle continued, he might actually end up running naked.

But now was not the time to worry about that.

The demon had been knocked over by Kite’s shot, but as a price, Kite’s condition was also not optimistic.

This was the reason she had not fired a second shot immediately.

[Blood Thorns] was a gun-type relic that could only be used by a pure maiden.

When not activated, it was just a regular handgun with slightly more power. Once activated, it possessed multiple effects such as powerful penetration, explosion, and purification. It could deal even higher damage to anomalous existences like demons.

But activating it required a price: the blood of a pure maiden.

It had to constantly drink the user’s blood to maintain the special ‘Thorn Mode.’

According to past Bureau data and testing, if this gun was used recklessly, it would completely drain all the user’s blood in at most thirty seconds!

Kite had fired one shot. According to her calculations, she could fire at most one more.

Any more, and her life would be in danger due to excessive blood loss.