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Chapter 345 Father and Son Join Forces VS. Father of Puppetry (7,000 words, seeking monthly votes)

August 15, 0:16 AM, at the edge of an uninhabited island.

Restraint straps protruded from the cuffs of the trench coat, connecting to the sand dunes. Black pupa, pulling on the restraint straps, moved through the dim, yellowish sandstorm.

As he flew toward the center of the island, he looked down at the diamond pattern on his hand.

Just before the black pupa's true form left the beach, he used the restraints to steal Ruri Urushihara's special ability—"Thousand Returns Hand"—and at the same time, a diamond-shaped pattern appeared on the back of his right hand.

The moment his gaze fell upon the diamond pattern, several perspectives gradually surfaced in his mind:
—These are the perspectives of those marked by Ruri Urushihara.

To his surprise, among the Rainbow Wing members still active on the deserted island, only five people bore the "Thousand Return Hand" mark.

These five people are "Alexandra", "Ninety-Nine", "Garfield", "Uriel", and "Gu Qiye".

It seems that Ruri Urushihara also anticipated that the black pupa might steal her superpowers, so she secretly removed the marks from the Salvation Society members;

For some reason, she also removed the mark from Hoshino's body separately. It seemed she didn't want Hoshino to be captured by the black cocoon.

Besides, Ke Qingzheng was not a member of the Salvation Society, yet he did not bear the "Thousand-Turned Hand" mark. This is likely because he was not initially part of the team participating in the raid on the uninhabited island, but was instead assigned to stay in Osaka.

At that moment, as the diamond pattern on the back of his hand glowed, the method of using the "Thousand Returns Hand" flooded into the black pupa's mind.

1. Pull up to two people into a private space. After a certain period of time, the other person will automatically leave the private space.

Second: Bring someone with the "Thousand-Fold Hand" mark to your side. (Limitation: The distance between you and the person cannot exceed three kilometers.)
3. Pull a person marked with the "Thousand Returns Hand" symbol to another person's side. (Limitation: The distance between the two people cannot exceed three kilometers.)
"Then the question is, why is Urushihara Ruri immune to my 'Binding Band Mantra' and the queen bee's venom?" Kuroko wondered.

He originally thought that Ruri Urushihara had a backup plan, and that her special ability should have something to explain that scene, but now it seems that this is not the case.

Of course, the answer will only be revealed later, as he has urgent matters to attend to.

At this very moment, in the center of the deserted island, not far from the ruins of the hive.

Sandstorms and snowstorms mingled, creating a hazy, yellowish-white scene in the sky. Beams of light and missiles shattered the dreamlike beauty, and smoke billowed amidst the deafening roar.

Caesar rode atop the Christmas sleigh, with two reindeer gliding through the air, dragging the sleigh across the sky. They were like a miniature blizzard, cooling the air wherever they went.

Behind him, ninety-nine floating turrets fired missiles and beams in unison, relentlessly pursuing Caesar's figure like a torrential downpour.

Just as he was about to be caught by the tracking missile, Caesar took a deep breath and crushed the generation-class fragment "Phoenix" without looking back.

With a crisp "click," the phoenix soared into the air, unfurling its crimson wings to shield him from the barrage of bullets behind him.

Flames shot into the sky, and bombs exploded one after another, creating deafening roars.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang—!”

Tsukumo frowned, her pink twin tails bobbing up and down as she set up a sniper rifle, her pupils zooming in on the scope, aiming the muzzle at Caesar. However, at that moment, a diamond-shaped mark on Tsukumo's wrist suddenly lit up, radiating a wave-like deep blue light.

She was slightly taken aback, "Liuli?"

In the next second, the light that erupted from her wrist engulfed her, and the girl in Russian military uniform vanished into the desert, leaving only a military cap engraved with the national emblem lying on the sand, which was quickly swept away by the wind.

Caesar paused, then blinked, turned his head to look around, and slowly put down the generational wonder he was holding.

"What's going on?" he murmured.

He had already prepared to use the "Tower of Babylon" to withstand the next round of artillery fire from Ninety-Nine, but unexpectedly, Ninety-Nine's figure disappeared without a trace in the next second, along with the floating turrets.

Meanwhile, not far away, Su Wei was fighting against two opponents, Hong Yi's "Wanderer" and "Princess".

As if she could predict the future, Su Wei could always manipulate the ruler in front of Ke Qingzheng to magnify his movements whenever Ke Qingzheng raised his hand to strike with supersonic speed. This allowed her to perfectly catch Ke Qingzheng's moves. This was true in every exchange.

Alexandra knew she couldn't use the "Red Sun" from "Sun and Moon Together" casually, otherwise she might accidentally hurt friendly forces. So she had to take advantage of the time when Ke Qing was suppressing Su Wei to have the artificial moon cast a beam of moonlight at Su Wei.

Strangely, the moonlight could never catch up with Su Wei's figure. He would always step onto the teaching ruler before the moonlight fell, flying away like a swordsman in a fantasy novel, as if he had anticipated their every move.

In fact, this was a "measurement" of Su Wei's Skydrive capabilities.

When he was still a first-level exorcist, his "ruler" could measure the "position" of certain tiny objects through photographs.
After advancing to the second-tier exorcist, he began to be able to measure a person's "information" with a ruler, and even learn about his opponent's abilities.

Despite this, Su Wei's Sky Chaser was still unremarkable in the first two tiers and could not help him stand out in the world of exorcists, where talent abounds.

However, when the "teaching ruler" reached the third level, it underwent a dramatic change.

From that day on, Su Wei began to be able to measure the future through the "teaching ruler". At first, it was one second, then one and a half seconds, and when he cultivated to the peak of the third-level exorcist, the range he could measure was "two seconds into the future".

In other words, Su Wei had a clear view of all the actions Ke Qingzheng and Alexandra would take in the next two seconds, which is why he was able to perfectly avoid all of their attacks.

"Young people are full of energy."

Su Wei stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze behind his glasses calm. The ruler hovering around him sometimes contracted like a shuttle, sometimes expanded like a pillar, and his position seemed to change accordingly.

Alexandra slowly realized something was wrong. With her arms crossed, she asked Ke Qingzheng without turning her head, "How can this person predict every single one of our attacks?"

Ke Qingzheng silently shook his head, "Perhaps that's his Sky Drive Energy..."

Just then, the diamond pattern on Alexandra's wrist suddenly burst forth with a deep blue light, which engulfed her body before she could react.

Ke Qingzheng was startled.

He turned his head sharply and saw that the arms-wielding girl "Ninety-Nine" was also swallowed by the deep blue light at that moment, and then disappeared completely.

Without a doubt, it was Ruri Urushihara's ability; he had been with Rainbow Wing for so long, he couldn't possibly be wrong!
"what happened……"

Ke Qingzheng frowned slightly. He didn't think he could fight Su Wei when he was the only one left. This exorcist was far too strong.

On the other side, Fan Dongqing was piloting the Azure Ship, colliding head-on with Agubaru.

The dragon's head opened, spewing forth tongues of flame. The burly men manipulated wooden poles, churning the air, and the Azure Ship slammed into Agubaru at full speed. A deafening roar erupted, and waves of heat surged, forcing the 300-meter-tall vessel back dozens of meters.

At this moment, Ke Qing was manipulating the airflow, shooting towards him like a bullet from afar, and then leaping up and landing on the deck of the Azure Ship.

He stood beside Fan Dongqing, back to back.

Fan Dongqing is the only remaining member of the team who is still capable of fighting, and Ke Qingzheng must reunite with him.

"Why did Liuli send Alexandra and Jiujiu away?" Fan Dongqing asked.

"I don't know either. Do you have any markings on your hands?" Ke Qingzheng asked. "In the past, Liuli would never have sent our people away without saying a word."

"No." Fan Dongqing frowned, glanced at his wrist, and then murmured, "Did Liuli remove my mark?"

"Don't overthink it. It must be that black cocoon that stole Liuli's supernatural power and sent Jiujiu and the princess away," Garfield's voice came.

Fan Dongqing and Ke Qingzheng looked up and saw Garfield using a flight backpack to bring Yuriel down from the sky and onto the deck of the dragon boat.

"What should I do?"

“What else can we do?” Garfield said. “Let’s hurry and rescue them.”

He paused for a moment, then said, "I just recovered all the remaining drones and fighter jets on the island. The current metal reserves are enough for me to generate a mech in a short time, and I can still fight you guys."

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of blue light appeared in the boy's pupils, and a miniature red and blue mech rose from the ground. It was only half the height of its peak, but it still looked imposing from a distance.

Garfield carried the unconscious Uriel into the cockpit. The humanoid mech's eyes lit up, and a dazzling white light burst forth from the hilt of the sword it held in its right hand.

Su Wei, with her hands behind her back, adjusted her glasses and said, "After defeating one, another one comes. Are you Rainbow Wing members all Calabash Brothers?"

At the same time, in the independent space of the Thousand Return Hand.

The black pupa raised its head and saw a silvery-white space with a diamond pattern printed in the center of each wall.

Because the rules of the "Thousand Return Hand" ability state that it can pull two people into a separate space, the only people that Black Chrysalis can choose to pull into the space are Rainbow Wing's Tsukumo and Alexandra.

This would temporarily weaken the enemy's fighting strength, allowing Su Wei and Caesar to break through quickly, and then send them to support Ghost Bell, together taking down the strongest member of Rainbow Wing—"Father of Puppetry".

At this moment, Jiu Jiu and Alexandra were sitting motionless against the wall like dolls.

Black Chrysalis turned her head and glanced at them, then lowered her eyes to look at the diamond pattern on the back of her hand.

"Hmm... I can use it twice more, then my 'Thousand Returns Hand' will disappear," he murmured. "Then it's time for the closing part."

After saying that, his figure disappeared into the independent space, and Jiu Jiu and Alexandra woke up.

“Urushihara Ruri’s space, huh?” Alexandra stood up, one hand on her hip. “Why were we pulled in here?”

"Where's Ruri Urushihara?" Tsukumo was taken aback, then frowned. "Why haven't I seen her?"

One minute ago, on another corner of the deserted island.

Two figures stood facing each other across the desert, one above the other. Dust and sand swirled around them, but could not conceal the extremely gloomy crimson in the silver-black figure's pupils.

"Guess how long I've been looking for you, you bastard..." Ghost Bell stared directly at the face of the Puppet Father, suppressing his rage as he spoke in a deep voice.

"Ghost Bell, is it? One of the few time-related ability users in the world. I know your name, but I don't know what I did to make you so... angry and hysterical?" The Puppet Father stood on the Mechanical Buddha's shoulder, scratched the bandage on his face, and let out a hoarse and eerie voice.

Five years ago, in Lijing, in the old Jingmai neighborhood, do you still remember what you did?

“Old Jingmai Street?” The Puppet Father thought for a moment. “I’ve already been punished for that operation, and I was banned from carrying out missions for a long time… Isn’t that enough? Could it be… that among the people accidentally injured in that operation, there was someone close to you?” “Her name is Su Ying.”

"Do you have to be angry with me? You are also a catastrophe-level ability user, so you should understand that accidentally killing someone is like accidentally stepping on an ant. You should blame yourself for not finding a more resilient life form as your partner. You need someone who matches you."

The ghost bell suddenly paused.

He gritted his teeth and lowered his head, recalling the first time he met Su Ying. How proud and spirited she was back then! She was so strong that he felt she was out of reach, yet she gave up her title as a genius exorcist and stopped summoning the Sky Exorcist for twenty years, willingly remaining by his side as an ordinary person.

Because at that moment, he foolishly touched his nose and said to her, "I will protect you, come with me."

Su Ying was stunned for a long time. She put her hands behind her back, lowered her head and stared blankly for a moment, then looked up and gave him a bright smile.

Ghost Bell looked down at the metal glove, slowly clenched his fist, and then a deafening bell rang out, summoning a huge bell tower behind him.

The moment the clock tower appeared, Ghost Bell suddenly raised its head, stomped the ground, and the sand beneath its feet cracked and caved in—! Its body shot forward like a cannonball, a violent glint flashing from the corner of its eye, scarlet and conspicuous!
At that moment, the hands of the giant clock tower began to turn.

With a "click-clack" sound, the hands circled rapidly, and every number on the clock face seemed to tremble.

“Your abilities are just as I thought,” the Puppet Father said, not looking at the approaching Ghost Bell, but at the rapidly spinning hands. “As long as we take precautions before the hands reach their destination, there’s nothing to fear even if time stops.”

As he spoke, the mechanical Buddha suddenly raised his six hands and covered Ajaya and the Father of the Puppet on his left shoulder.

Layers of overlapping hands and arms surrounded them, like a golden jungle, and the figures of the Puppet Father and Ajaya were instantly swallowed up by the shadows of the jungle!
At the same time, the pointer landed on the number "12", and the world fell silent, then was covered by a layer of mercury.

The wind stopped breathing, and the dust in the air ceased to swirl.

Ghost Bell, like a tyrant who controls time, roared and leaped up, its arm blade tearing through the silvery air, slashing above one of the mechanical Buddha's hands, carving a huge chasm!

Gears flew out, steam sprayed out!
The next moment, Ghost Bell suddenly punched Buddha's other arm, creating a dent.

"boom--!"

In an instant, one of the mechanical Buddha's arms roared and drooped down, landing on the ground.

It only has five arms left.

The next second, time resumed its flow, and a golden palm suddenly slammed in, moving at almost supersonic speed! Ghost Bell's figure was embedded in the giant palm, twisted at high speed, and then slammed away a hundred meters away.

He flew backwards through the air, his battle suit torn in one corner, and finally crashed onto the top of the clock tower with a deafening thud.

Gui Zhong knelt on one knee amidst the flying sand, slowly rose, and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

Every five seconds, the hands of the clock tower will move to a point in time that he has designated;
However, the pointer cannot rotate to the same point in time twice in a row. To use the ability to reach the same point in time, one rotation of the pointer must be spaced out, so he cannot pause time twice in a row.

The Father of Puppetry remained unmoved. He stood atop the mechanical Buddha's shoulder, silently observing the Ghost Bell.

The next moment, the shadow of the Ghost Bell suddenly rose up from the sand. Its outline was exactly the same as the Ghost Bell, equally robust and powerful.

The two surged forth together, tearing through the sandstorm and traversing the desert, flanking the mechanical Buddha from both sides!

The father of puppetry crossed his arms and resorted to his old tricks.

The mechanical Buddha first raised two of its hands and slapped the ghost bell and its shadow respectively.

At the same time, it brought its remaining three arms close to its shoulders, using its three enormous hands to protect its shoulders, preventing the Ghost Bell from having any chance to harm the Puppet Father and Ajaya.

Two enormous golden hands pierced the air, almost raising a sandstorm, before rushing towards us!

Ghost Bell was no faster than its opponent, and was instantly slapped away by the palm that shot towards it.

But the shadow's fate was different from his—because five seconds passed at that moment, the clock tower's hands were freed again, spinning rapidly, and the result was instantly obtained.

This time, the pointer landed at six o'clock!
The ability at this point in time is: "To magnify the shadow several times, turning it into a shadow giant."

"You keep guarding—!" Ghost Bell roared as he flew backward, but his shadow rose up from the ground in an instant, expanding violently and transforming into a giant forty meters tall.

"Roar--!!!"

The shadow giant stood on the desert, roaring, and caught the mechanical hand that came crashing down on him with its arms.

"Oh? You didn't use your time-stopping ability this time?" the Puppet Father said. "Your ability is very interesting. Every five seconds you can rotate to a point in time and release a corresponding superpower."

The three hands covering his shoulder dispersed, and the Father of Puppetry was brought back to light.

The mechanical Buddha unleashed its full power, using all five hands in rapid succession, like a machine gun firing, as its five golden arms shot forward, each hand slamming into the shadow giant's body!
The whole world trembled as the shadow giant roared, stretching out his arms to withstand the mechanical Buddha's barrage of attacks.

In almost two seconds, the shadow giant's body was blasted open for tens of meters.

During the retreat, the legs, deeply embedded in the sand, carved out a chasm-like trench, with sand and stones continuously sinking into it.

The Father of Puppetry raised an eyebrow. "Gone?"

Indeed, the moment he focused his attention on the Shadow Giant, Ghost Bell had already vanished. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from his side, and the Father of Puppets turned his head sharply to see Ghost Bell leaping up.

Sand and dust burst forth, and the Ghost Bell shot upwards like a scarlet arrow, piercing through the five arms of the Mechanical Buddha. Finally, it roared and raised its arm blades to attack the Father of Puppets.

However, just as Ghost Bell's arm blade was about to graz the Puppet Father's neck, the Puppet Father suddenly laughed.

“Too slow,” he said calmly. “You think you can get close to me if you’re this slow?”

As he spoke, the mechanical Buddha suddenly raised his right palm and smashed it down on the Ghost Bell's body from below!

"Oh!"

In an instant, the enormous hand shattered Ghost Bell's breastplate, sending him hurtling towards the sky. Like a cannonball, he tore through the air and shot straight upwards!
In just one second, Ghost Bell was blasted three hundred meters away, and when he looked up, he could see the clouds.

“There’s nothing to hold onto in the sky. Even if you pause time, you can’t land on the ground in two seconds,” the Puppet Master said slowly.

Five seconds passed again, and the hands of the giant clock tower began to spin once more, their "click-clack" echoing through the desert.

Immediately afterwards, the clock hands stopped at the number "2", and the ability at this moment was: "to return the Ghost Clock to the position it was in two seconds ago!"
As for where the Ghost Bell was two seconds ago, it goes without saying.

In the next instant, Ghost Bell's figure flashed from 300 meters above to directly in front of the Father of Puppetry.

“Surprised, you beast—!” He grinned, his face contorted with madness and savagery.

"How is this possible..." The Puppet Father's pupils contracted infinitely. No matter how fast the Mechanical Buddha was, it was already too late.

At this moment, Ghost Bell's right palm had already grabbed the Puppet Father's head, and with its powerful grip, it crushed the Puppet Father's head!
A spray of blood mist erupted, splattering onto Ghost Bell's metal breathing mask. His expression was ferocious and excited, like that of a wild beast, with a burst of crimson light flashing in his gloomy pupils.

However, at that moment, Ghost Bell suddenly witnessed an unbelievable scene: he had just crushed the head of the Puppet Father, and then a new Puppet Father suddenly appeared!

Still wearing an oversized trench coat and with bandages on her face, she stood motionless on the mechanical Buddha's shoulder.

“Luckily, I created a new body for this battle, or I would be dead already,” said the Father of Puppetry. “Indeed… arrogance leads to self-destruction, only the humble and powerful survive to the end.”

The next second, the mechanical Buddha stretched out two arms, and its two huge hands, like swatting flies, suddenly closed behind it, merging the ghost bell that was falling from mid-air into them.

"Aaaaaaahh ...

Ghost Bell roared as his body was squeezed between two giant hands. The metal on his battle suit cracked layer by layer, and thousands of cracks spread all over his body. Even his metal breathing mask shattered, revealing half of his face!
A violent chanting came from the Buddha's mouth, shattering his eardrums. Blood gushed from his ear canals, eyes, and nostrils, turning him into a blood-soaked figure almost instantly!
Ghost Bell's face was contorted, his features, stained red with blood, almost twisted together.

His skull slowly cracked open, and deeper, redder blood flowed down his forehead, staining his eyes crimson as well.

But he still did not give up struggling, his arms continuing to stretch outwards to resist the Buddha's closed palms.

He tried to use the brute force of his arms to pry open the two hands, but it was all in vain—how could physical strength possibly overcome the power of a summoned creature when both were at the Calamity level?
The situation was almost hopeless. The clock tower's hands had only turned once, and the Ghost Bell had three seconds left to unleash its next power.

Within those three seconds, the ghost bell will be crushed into pieces by the mechanical Buddha's two palms.

“Let me hear your wails…” The Puppet Father turned around from Buddha’s shoulder, looked at Ghost Bell, and admired the way he struggled between Buddha’s two hands. “A time-based ability user, it seems, is nothing special.”

However, at that moment, a thunderous roar suddenly echoed across the desert.

"Bam—!"

Immediately afterwards, a bolt of jet-black lightning pierced through the swirling dust and rushed towards the mechanical Buddha with unstoppable force, shooting upwards from the soles of the Buddha's feet and instantly passing through the Buddha's calves, thighs, and back.

Then, it suddenly changed direction!

The bolt of lightning stepped on the Buddha's back, leaped up, and shot towards the Buddha's two palms, then pushed the ghost bell that was trapped between the two palms forward.

In an instant, the black lightning pushed the ghost bell, and together they escaped the gap between the two palms!
The Buddha's two palms suddenly came together, producing a resounding boom like a bronze bell.

"Rumble--!"

The next instant, the pitch-black lightning, carrying the ghost bell, struck the ground. The remaining arcs of electricity in the air dissipated, and the figure, wrapped in electric light, finally revealed its true form—a young man with medium-length black hair.

Ghost Bell was stunned. He knelt on the ground, slowly raised his head, and looked at the young man's profile.

“Kino…” he murmured.

“Father,” Gu Qiye looked up at the Puppet Father and said softly, “I’ll settle accounts with you after this battle is over.”

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(End of this chapter)