The shadows of the abyss spread like a living thing, carrying the deathly silence of the end of all things, instantly swallowing the place where Chu You stood.
The shadow was not pure darkness; indescribable colors and shapes flowed within it, as if the rotten essence of reality had been revealed after being stripped of its disguise.
“Chu You!”
Lin Mo’s eyes split with rage.
Deep blue coldness erupted from his combat knife, attempting to break through the blockade of shadows.
He could feel Chu You’s presence rapidly becoming weak and chaotic within that shadow.
Ayane Hanyu still smiled like a flower, only that smile looked exceptionally eerie against the backdrop of the abyss.
“Don’t be in such a rush~”
Her sweet, syrupy voice carried a hint of mockery.
“Everyone has their own exclusive stage.”
Just as Lin Mo was about to desperately charge into the shadows, Yan, who had been standing by and watching, moved.
His right hand, covered by a white glove, reached into the inner pocket of his tuxedo in a leisurely manner, with movements as elegant as if he were taking out a pocket watch.
However, what he brought out was a coin that looked plain and unremarkable.
The material of the coin was unknown.
One side featured a blurry relief of a crying human face, while the other was a blank, smooth mirror surface.
Yan gently flicked the coin upward with his thumb.
The coin spun as it rose, carving an inconspicuous arc under the dim light of the Wetland.
However, the moment the coin left his hand and began to fall….
The whole world felt as if a mute button had been pressed, and then it was violently torn apart!
Lin Mo’s vision blurred.
All the scenes—the surging abyssal shadows, the sweetly smiling Ayane Hanyu, the nervous and vigilant soldiers nearby, and even the muddy ground beneath his feet and the night sky overhead—all peeled away and dissipated like a shattered mirror.
Replacing them was a piece of pure, boundless, and unsettling “emptiness.”
There was no up, down, left, or right here; no color, and no sound.
There was only himself, and the Yan opposite him, wearing a white mask and a tuxedo.
He had been pulled into an independent sub-space, isolated from the outside world.
Almost at the same moment, Chu You, who had been enveloped by the abyssal shadows, experienced a similar sense of fragmentation.
The shadows that corroded all things did not actually harm her; instead, they wrapped around her and dragged her along like a viscous curtain.
When she was finally able to “perceive” her surroundings again, she found herself standing on a desolate, cracked black earth.
The sky was dark red, and the low-hanging clouds resembled congealed blood.
The air was filled with a pungent scent of sulfur and rot.
And Ayane Hanyu stood not far in front of her, still in that gorgeous kimono, smiling brightly—a heart-stopping contrast to the hellish scenery around them.
“Welcome to my Abyss Corridor, Miss Chu You.”
Ayane Hanyu bowed slightly, her posture impeccable.
“Here, we can be undisturbed while we… have a good time.”
….
On the other side.
Lin Mo’s heart sank.
Space had been severed.
Not only was he unable to assist Chu You, but his connection to everyone else had also been completely cut off.
But Lin Mo was Lin Mo after all.
Within mere moments, he suppressed all distracting thoughts and locked all his vigilance and killing intent onto the Yan before him.
Without a word, a ripple of energy exploded beneath Lin Mo’s feet.
His figure surged like a shell fired from a cannon, his combat knife thrusting directly at Yan’s chest!
This strike was fast as lightning, with a tricky angle that sealed off all of Yan’s conventional escape routes.
Yan stood in place, seemingly not having reacted in time.
The tip of the knife was less than 1 inch away from the fabric of the tuxedo.
In this split second, the wrist of Lin Mo’s hand holding the knife twitched violently and without warning.
This twitch was extremely strange and completely went against his muscle control and combat instinct, causing the originally perfect thrust to have a minuscule deviation in its trajectory.
It was because of this tiny difference that Yan just tilted his body slightly.
Swoosh!
The edge of the combat knife brushed past the hem of Yan’s tuxedo, not even touching a single thread of fabric.
Seeing this, Lin Mo’s pupils constricted sharply.
He forcibly twisted his body, and the combat knife followed through with a horizontal sweep, smashing toward Yan’s temple.
This time, he focused every ounce of his spirit, controlling every muscle in his body.
However, at the most crucial moment of exerting force, the ground his left foot stepped on suddenly gave him a slippery, unresponsive illusion, as if he had stepped on an ice surface covered in oil.
Although this feeling lasted for only 0.1 seconds, it was enough to make his center of gravity unsteady, and the power and speed of the sweep were reduced by a fraction.
Yan seemed to have foreseen it.
At that very moment, his head lowered by an inch.
The short baton whistled through the air, grazing the top of his mask.
Lin Mo stepped back half a step and adjusted his breathing, his expression heavy enough to wring out water.
‘Once is an accident, but twice definitely cannot be a coincidence!’
“Your ability…”
Lin Mo’s voice sounded exceptionally clear in the empty, silent space.
“It’s not precognition, nor is it speed… Is it interference? Or the manipulation of probability?”
Yan finally reacted.
He gently smoothed the hem of his garment that had been brushed past.
His movements were composed, and the voice transmitted through the mask remained steady and placid.
“Just some insignificant little tricks. On this stage, my ability is merely an inconsequential additive… But you… no, all of you! You are the true protagonists of this stage play.”
He tilted his head slightly, seemingly looking at Lin Mo.
“Let me see what kind of surprise you, imprisoned in that body, can bring me.”
Hearing this, Lin Mo took a deep breath.
He did not answer Yan.
Engaging in verbal sparring with such a strange opponent was useless.
Lin Mo moved.
He no longer sought a one-hit kill, but instead launched a continuous, relentless offensive.
Thrust, sweep, hack, flick… He exerted his years of combat techniques to the limit.
The combat knife turned into a curtain of deep blue light, shrouding Yan within it.
His movements were swift, precise, and ruthless; every strike aimed at a vital point.
But bizarre things continued to happen one after another:
When lunging forward with full power, his calf muscles would suddenly spasm slightly—just enough to ruin his rhythm.
While delivering a fierce hack in mid-air, the joint in his arm holding the baton would inexplicably stiffen for an instant.
Just as he was about to land a hit, Yan’s body would always avoid that fatal edge in an inconceivable way that defied the laws of physics—sometimes a weak current of air would appear from nowhere to push him, other times Lin Mo’s own vision would be subjected to extremely brief interference due to dust or the refraction of light.
Yan’s movements always appeared unhurried, even leisurely.
He rarely attacked proactively, spending most of the time dodging, occasionally using his white-gloved hands to block or swat away Lin Mo’s slashes and thrusts with seemingly effortless motions.
But every one of his blocks landed exactly on the nodes of Lin Mo’s power transition, and every parry made Lin Mo feel his blood churning and his energy flow becoming sluggish.
This feeling was stifling to the extreme!
It was like putting all your strength into hitting a ball of cotton, or fighting an opponent who could predict all your punching trajectories in advance and make you slip on the ground at will.
“It’s useless, sir.”
Yan’s voice echoed in this void like a curse.
“The ending of everything has long been set.”
“You should kneel, and then lament, and be obsessed with…”
“From fate’s…”
“Divine miracle.”
Lin Mo gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead throbbing as the deep blue energy surged once more.
“Stop talking to yourself!”
He abandoned all flashy techniques and concentrated all his energy into one point.
The short baton thrust toward the center of Yan’s mask in the most direct, violent manner, like a drill!
This strike condensed all his spirit and vitality at this moment, moving forward without hesitation!
Yan finally moved.
He no longer dodged, but instead raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together, and tapped lightly against the tip of the incoming combat knife.
This time, no accidents occurred.
The moment the fingertips touched the blade of light—crack!
A crisp shattering sound echoed.
Lin Mo watched in horror as his combat knife, which had condensed massive amounts of energy, began to sprout spiderweb-like black cracks from the point where it touched Yan’s fingertips!
The cracks spread rapidly, instantly filling the entire blade before it shattered into a sky full of deep blue light particles with a boom!
Even more terrifying was that a cold, deathly power, as if it could freeze the soul, rushed up along the short baton.
It instantly surged into his arm and reached his chest!
“Hissss…”
Lin Mo groaned, and his entire body was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string, slamming heavily against the boundary of this void space.
A sweetness rose in his throat, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
The combat knife in his hand was completely destroyed, leaving only the hilt intact.
Yan slowly withdrew his finger, his white glove completely spotless.
He looked down at his fingertips, then back at Lin Mo, who was struggling to get up.
The gaze behind the mask seemed somewhat… intrigued?
“You see,” he said calmly.
“I never lie, sir.”
Lin Mo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, staring fixedly at Yan.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” he asked, panting.
“Separating us, trapping us, and toying with us like a cat playing with a mouse?”
Yan tilted his head slightly, as if thinking about it.
“Toying with you?” he denied.
“No, that’s not it…”
“This is my stage.”
“It is quite reasonable for me to decide the direction of the plot. I understand your anger, but is this anger not something that has already been predetermined?”
He took a step forward, and an invisible pressure followed.
“Of course, sir.”
“I must also thank you for your contribution.”
“All the emotions you feel before you die are, before the arrival of the gods…”
“A selfless sacrifice.”