My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 390 Xia Pingzhou: The Black Chrysalis is Still Alive (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

A girl in an ochre-red kimono stood above the Black King's domain, looking out at the endless black and white checkerboard pattern that seemed to stretch to the ends of the earth.

She was like the brightest and most beautiful color, standing in the center of this gray and black world.

At this moment, Xia Pingzhou and Gu Qiye looked at each other.

The instant their eyes met, Xia Pingzhou raised his hand and grasped the chess pieces on the ring path, causing the light and shadow of giant statues to scatter above the chessboard.

“We don’t need to beat him,” he said. “He’s the strongest on the opposing team; we just need to stall him, understand?”

As he spoke, Xia Pingzhou slightly tightened his grip on the kimono-clad girl's right hand. The kimono-clad girl paused, then nodded gently.

Xia Pingzhou knew perfectly well that Gu Qiye's strength had increased again after defeating the Father of Puppetry.

Now, the eldest brother may have already reached the pinnacle of the calamity-level, perhaps even on par with Lin Xingshi. Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami are clearly no match for this monster.

To put it simply, in front of Gu Qiye, he didn't even have time to fuse the Queen statue and the Demon chess piece, because the moment the Human-Demon Bridge appeared, Gu Qiye could destroy both pieces at the same time, preventing the birth of the fused Queen.

Therefore, what he needs is to complete an absolute defense on this chessboard, delay Gu Qiye slightly, and finally find an opportunity to withdraw from the black king's territory.

It takes Xia Pingzhou four seconds to shrink the entire domain back.

As the master of the Black King's Domain, he can send others away the moment he makes contact with them. But only by completely converging the domain into a ring can he himself escape.

At the same time, he cannot use any piece during the four seconds of the board's end – this is because once a player enters the board, the outcome must be decided, it's either life or death, so the conditions for a player to leave the board are extremely strict.

In those four seconds that seemed like a "forfeit," Gu Qiye could have killed him a thousand or ten thousand times over.

If it were the fully evolved Black Chrysalis here, Ji Minghuan would be confident in subduing Gu Qiye. But the one standing here is merely a chess player who has just advanced to the Calamity level.

Before completing all the main quests, this mech can only temporarily avoid facing such a bug-level opponent.

“Protect,” said Origami Ayase.

“Yes,” Xia Pingzhou said softly.

Normally, Ayase Origami would probably have already launched an attack by now. But since Xia Pingzhou had said so, she thought it wouldn't hurt to defend for a few rounds and see how things went.

As each chess piece shattered, Origami Ayase pulled an endless scroll from her sleeve. The scroll moved without wind, thousands of pages fluttering out and suddenly creating swirling vortexes of paper around the chessboard.

In the next instant, vortexes formed by the convergence of the paper sheets spread across all sides of the chessboard.

One of the whirlpools concealed the king's stone statue that Xia Pingzhou had summoned.

At the same time, he released a number of pieces as a smokescreen.

The pieces are: two soldiers, one knight, one bishop, and two muskets—like the king statue, these pieces are now each buried inside a paper vortex.

With his vision obscured by the pages, Gu Qiye couldn't make out their shapes, which more or less distracted him.

As long as the king's statue remains, Xia Pingzhou can ensure the safety of himself and Ayase Origami.

On the black and white checkered chessboard, pink paper sheets, like cherry blossoms, fluttered and formed swirling vortexes, enveloping the nearly ten chess pieces.

At the same time, Origami Ayase also used a paper curtain to cover his and Xia Pingzhou's figures.

The two worked together seamlessly, as if performing a magic show. The scene on the chessboard became hazy and dreamlike under the cover of the paper, with chess pieces appearing and disappearing intermittently.

Gu Qiye remained expressionless. His gaze swept over the swirling pages of paper, understanding the principle of "capture the king first," so he naturally ignored the fancy details and focused solely on Xia Pingzhou.

"boom--!"

In an instant, his figure shot out, transforming into a streak of black lightning that shot straight forward.

He was incredibly fast. Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami barely had time to react before Gu Qiye's figure was already in their eyes, right in front of them! Lightning flashed like a soaring dragon, tearing through the hazy paper curtain.

Immediately afterward, he raised his right hand, his five fingers coming together, black lightning crackling at his fingertips, forming a sharp, lightning-like blade. Gu Qiye twisted his body sharply to use the momentum, bent his arm, and thrust his hand forward in a karate-like motion.

But at this moment, the blade crackling with lightning suddenly crashed into a massive bone shield.

"Shield?"

Gu Qiye frowned slightly, his pupils reflecting the stark white bone shield engraved with a cross pattern—undoubtedly Xia Pingzhou's third contracted demon, the "Raging Demon."

At this moment, the enraged demon transformed into a "shield" form, hovering in mid-air, guarding him and Origami Ayase.

At the same time, thousands of paper butterflies gathered around Gu Qiye, like a torrential rain.

"It's no use."

He reacted with lightning speed, and a burst of dark electric arcs erupted from his body, forming a magnetic field that spread outwards from his body.

"Boom!"

The magnetic field exploded with a roar, burning all the paper butterflies into black fragments that fell like rain.

Then Gu Qiye raised his hand again. At this moment, the electric light attached to his right hand suddenly changed, no longer pure black, but a mixture of deep blue and inky black.

It possessed both the gentleness of the sea and the ferocity of the night. The two different types of electric light blended together, and the light that shone at this moment was more dazzling than ever before, making everything on the chessboard pale in comparison.

Xia Pingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had seen this move before. On the Osaka battlefield, Gu Qiye had used this fusion current to break through the "Star Summoner's" psychic shield and kill the Puppet Father along with his two puppets in one go.

At this moment, Gu Qiye once again displayed the astonishing destructive power he had shown before. The bone shield formed by the enraged demons instantly showed signs of shattering, with thousands of cracks spreading out like a tidal wave across the shield's surface.

At that moment, a notification popped up in Xia Pingzhou's pupils.

[Note: When encountering an attack exceeding the shield's withstand limit, the Enraged Demon's "shield" form can sacrifice itself to help the user block the attack.]

"no."

Xia Pingzhou answered in his mind without hesitation that this was an ability that could only be used once. Once used, the raging demon would be sacrificed—not in the form of returning to the Chess Shadow state, but by completely erasing its existence from the world.

At that time, Xia Pingzhou would have to find another contracted demon, which was extremely troublesome.

"Boom—!" The enraged demon's shield shattered, and it returned to the ring road as a dim chess piece.

Gu Qiye closed in like lightning, vibrating her hand with a speed far exceeding the speed of sound, and a violent black and blue lightning bolt pierced towards Xia Pingzhou.

However, at this moment, Xia Pingzhou's plan was complete.

The stone statue of the king in the distance raises his scepter.

The black and white halos converged to form an indestructible shield, enveloping Xia Pingzhou and also including Ayase Origami beside him.

He stared blankly at Gu Qiye, who was standing right in front of him, his pupils reflecting the other's incredulous expression.

The black and blue intertwined lightning trembled and crashed down on the barrier, but the barrier remained completely still.

Gu Qiye never imagined that the two-colored electric current, which even the Father of Puppetry couldn't stop, would be blocked by this invisible barrier of black and white at this moment.

Strangely, the barrier showed no signs of breaking; instead, it completely absorbed the power of the lightning. If one had to say, he believed that this defensive power was close to a mythical feat. But why would such power appear in an exorcist? Gu Qiye couldn't figure it out for a moment.

"Can't it be broken through?" he thought. "It's not the girl's ability to control the paper, it's the chess player's ability... So as long as we destroy his pieces, he'll be helpless."

Thinking this, Gu Qiye kicked the top of the barrier, which sent her flying back a short distance.

At the same time, he slightly twisted his body, stretched out his palm, and shot out a deep blue beam of light, shattering the flying paper blades that were coming straight at him! The wind whipped his long black hair.

If it had been half a second later, his neck would probably have been sliced ​​open by the paper. The girl in the kimono had been searching for an opening to attack his vital points, and her timing was impeccable.

Gu Qiye looked up at Xia Pingzhou.

Logically speaking, Gu Qiye should have already noticed the hazy beam of light emanating from the king's scepter—that beam of light connected Xia Pingzhou and the king's scepter, making it very conspicuous and allowing one to easily pinpoint the king's location.

The reason he didn't notice the black and white beam of light was because Origami Ayase's paper was fluttering in the air like a snowstorm, obscuring his vision.

Xia Pingzhou did not mention this tactic; it was something Ayase Origami came up with on her own initiative.

"His chess pieces are hidden in those swirling pages, which means I have to find them one by one? But it won't take too long." With that thought, Gu Qiye's figure shot out.

He transformed into a black lightning bolt, rushing towards the nearest vortex of paper pages.

Like opening a blind box, Gu Qiye crossed her arms and stretched out to look, and a cross-shaped lightning bolt tore open the curtain of the paper.

Hidden in the vortex was none other than Xia Pingzhou's knight statue.

"charge."

Xia Pingzhou gave the order in his mind. Immediately, the knight statue slammed its hand on the saddle, its entire body covered in a layer of black light, and it and the spirited horse beneath its feet transformed into black cannonballs, charging forward with their lances pointing straight ahead.

Gu Qiye stomped her foot on the ground and leaped into the air, avoiding the oncoming knight.

At that moment, Origami Ayase seized the instant Gu Qiye was suspended in mid-air, gathering the surrounding paper pages to form a miniature storm that swept towards him.

He flipped in mid-air, pointing his left palm straight ahead, conjuring a bouncing ball of electricity, and shot it at the oncoming storm of paper pages. The electricity exploded, the storm dissipated, and not even a scrap of paper remained.

Immediately afterwards, he raised the fingertips of his other hand and aimed them at the knight's head, shooting out a sharp and violent bolt of lightning that crushed the knight and his steed together.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Qiye pointed his right palm straight behind him and shot out a pulse of electricity from his palm. The reaction force propelled him sideways, hurtling towards a vortex of paper pages.

With a whoosh, a kick carrying lightning lashed forward, shattering the colossal soldier statue within the vortex, sending diamond fragments scattering in the wind.

"Isn't this the same stone statue?" Gu Qiye turned to look at Xia Pingzhou, and seeing that the paper barrier surrounding the other's body was still there, he quickly fell to the ground.

Then, like a whirlwind and lightning, it swiftly rushed towards the nearest vortex of paper.

To Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami, all they could see was a blurry beam of lightning flashing across the chessboard, with only the flickering points of light visible.

It was extremely difficult to pinpoint Gu Qiye's location; each time a spot of light appeared, it was already a hundred meters away from the previous position.

Both men knew perfectly well that the only way to deal with such a fast-moving enemy was through anticipation.

Gu Qiye moved like a raging leopard transformed from lightning, crouching low as he sprinted across the chessboard. His legs scraped the ground, creating a trail of violent sparks as he slid to the right, passing through the swirling pages.

In an instant, he pierced through the heart of the soldier statue with unstoppable force, and then shot straight ahead, breaking through a vortex of paper pages and piercing through the heart of the bishop hidden behind it.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Qiye's body leaped through the gap inside the giant statue.

He aimed his left palm at another swirling sheet of paper, and suddenly, a point on his palm gathered a dancing bolt of lightning.

"boom--!"

The next moment, the electromagnetic cannon shot out, roaring and tearing through the air.

The artillery vehicle hidden in the vortex was destroyed. Flames shot into the sky, and the explosion was deafening.

At this moment, only two swirling pages remained on the chessboard, with the king hidden within one of them. Gu Qiye's series of attacks flowed smoothly, almost resolved in a single second. No matter how Ayase Origami tried to defend or counterattack, she simply couldn't catch up with this lightning-fast shadow—this was the absolute advantage of speed-type ability users among their peers.

The next second, Gu Qiye flew towards the swirling vortex of the few remaining pages.

He knew in his heart that the giant statue protecting Xia Pingzhou was now hidden in the last two vortexes—no matter how bad his luck was, as long as he dealt with the pieces in the two vortexes, Xia Pingzhou would become a lamb to the slaughter, and the kimono-clad girl would not be able to protect him.

This time, Gu Qiye was very lucky. Because he approached the king, not the remaining cannon.

However, at the very moment the dark lightning broke through the vortex of the paper...

Xia Pingzhou gave the order in his mind.
"The king's chariot has been dethroned. The cannon chariot has self-destructed."

Castling: Swap one of your King's Stones with one of your Rook's Stones.

[Note: A self-destruct command has been initiated for the "Cannon Cart Statue".]

In an instant, the king and the cannon switched places. So when Gu Qiye rushed into the vortex, what he saw was not the king holding a scepter, but a cannon that was glowing with a dazzling red light.

The next second, the cannon heated up rapidly, turning into a burst of flame that shot into the sky and engulfed his figure.

"Was it predicted?"

Gu Qiye's heart stirred slightly. She curled up in mid-air, raised her arms to protect her forehead, and lightning spilled from her pores, blocking the raging fire that was approaching her body.

Even so, the violent blast of air still sent his body flying.

"Bang—!" His body flew backward, leaving a trail of residual black electric arcs in mid-air.

At that moment, the kimono-clad girl seized the opportunity when Gu Qiye was suspended in mid-air, gathering the scattered pieces of paper in the air towards him. The paper instantly formed a huge cocoon, attempting to entangle his body.

"Easy to think." Gu Qiye suddenly twisted his body and flipped his hands in the air.

At that moment, he transformed himself into a storm of lightning! In an instant, the storm surged and tore apart the pages that were enveloping him!
But just when he thought he could catch his breath, he suddenly heard a deep roar! He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a huge paper dragon!

Gu Qiye suddenly turned around, and the paper dragon spread its wings and rushed towards him, opening its bloody maw.

At the same time, a noble figure radiating diamond brilliance shot in like a falcon—the Queen statue brandished two daggers in mid-air, stabbing at Gu Qiye's back from behind!

"They really know how to seize opportunities."

Gu Qiye's pupils contracted. The paper dragon and the stone statue of the empress came from both the front and the back.

At this moment, he had nowhere to retreat, and he didn't even have a fraction of a second to react. He didn't have time to turn around and deal with the enemy behind him! So, he had no choice but to take the attack from behind the Queen's statue head-on!

In an instant, to avoid being wounded in the heart by the Empress, he slightly turned his body to the side, and the Empress's two daggers instead pierced through his shoulders, gushing out a spray of blood.

"Splat!" A horrifying bloody gash opened on his shoulder, and his entire arm was almost severed off.

At the same moment, Gu Qiye suddenly raised his right hand, and an electric ball gathered in his palm. The electric ball roared and shot into the paper dragon's open mouth.

In an instant, pitch-black electricity tore through the air, spreading out in mid-air like ravines in the earth, devouring the paper dragon's head, body, tail, and wings.

Then, it exploded completely, and the airflow pushed Gu Qiye towards the king's statue.

Blood sprayed into the air. Gu Qiye raised his left hand and used lightning to burn his shoulder to stop the bleeding. At the same time, he turned around suddenly and stabbed the heart of the King Colossus with his right hand in a chop.

"Shadow Demon".

Xia Pingzhou gave the order expressionlessly. In an instant, the king's statue was pulled into the shadow by the shadowy monster beneath its feet.

"what?"

Gu Qiye frowned, his body suddenly missing its target. He quickly stomped the ground, creating distance between himself and the shadow.

As he bounced backward, Gu Qiye raised the tip of his index finger and shot a burst of lightning into the chessboard, piercing through the shadows.

But it was no use. Shadows cannot be destroyed. The shadow remained intact, shrouding the chessboard. The shadow demon grinned, chuckling sinisterly at Gu Qiye.

Gu Qiye hugged her injured shoulder and looked up in surprise.

The barrier surrounding Xia Pingzhou remained intact, meaning that as long as the Shadow Demon protected the king, he could not harm Xia Pingzhou in the slightest.

"That's ridiculous..." Gu Qiye couldn't help but twitch his lips, saying in a tone that was both a complaint and a compliment, "This is definitely the most tiring fight I've ever had."

The Shadow Demon's presence lasts only five seconds, after which the King's statue will detach from its shadow and return to the top of the board.

"Origami, go outside and wait for me," Xia Pingzhou suddenly said.

After saying that, without waiting for the girl in the kimono's permission, he raised his hand and touched her wrist.

In an instant, her figure vanished from the chessboard. In that final second, Ayase Origami's eyes widened slightly, but it was too late for her to say anything.

"Send your companion away first..." Gu Qiye murmured. "As a bandit, you're quite loyal. It's already quite remarkable that you were able to hurt me. There's no need to struggle. I can give you a quick death."

Xia Pingzhou looked at him quietly, without saying a word.

The instant the shadow demon vanished, the queen statue shot out like an arrow, raising its hand to block the top of the king statue.

At the same time, Gu Qiye's figure flashed, transforming into a thunderbolt as he approached. His right fist, crackling with electricity, slammed out, a massive lightning-infused fist shadow crashing towards the Queen and King!

"Nullification," Xia Pingzhou murmured.

The queen and king's figures simultaneously turned into transparency, and Gu Qiye's punch missed its mark, halting his forward momentum.

The next moment, the queen statue released the king's body with its right hand. She reversed her grip on the dagger and stomped it towards Gu Qiye.

The dagger struck Gu Qiye's hand, and both were sent flying several meters. But the instant Gu Qiye landed, she transformed into a bolt of lightning and bypassed the Empress.

He then raised his hand and slashed the king's chest with all his might.

"boom!"

Lightning surged from the king's body, crushing him into dust.

"So what can you do next?"

As she spoke, Gu Qiye raised her head, completely ignoring the Empress statue chasing after her, and transformed into a thunderous afterimage, attacking Xia Pingzhou like a hunting leopard.

But at that moment, he suddenly saw an unbelievable scene: a black and white barrier was still open in front of Xia Pingzhou, and above his head was a halo connecting to the distance, like a black and white rainbow.

Gu Qiye suddenly turned his head and saw the second king statue standing several dozen meters away.

That was the king that Xia Pingzhou copied using the second contract demon, the "Copy Demon," before the king was destroyed. The Copy Demon can exist for eight seconds.

But he knew that within those eight seconds, the cloned king would be destroyed by Gu Qiye.

"They've got quite a few tricks up their sleeves," Gu Qiye said.

He knew in his heart that, at least in terms of stalling for time, Xia Pingzhou had done a perfect job. The two had been fighting for so long in the "Black King's Domain." If this had happened outside, he didn't know how many members of the brigade would have been killed by now.

Xia Pingzhou's ability mechanism successfully transformed what was originally a one-sided, one-sided battle into a game of strategy and tactics on the chessboard.

Gu Qiye felt like he had been playing a puzzle game for a minute. Only by solving all the puzzles and mechanisms could he take down the player. But if he guessed wrong in any level, he could lose his life on the spot.

Therefore, his speed appeared weak and powerless, and he was forced to follow the opponent's rhythm.

"Should I say it's just bad luck that I ended up with the member who's most effective against me?" Gu Qiye thought to herself. Xia Pingzhou might not be the strongest member of the group, but he definitely has the most ways to protect himself.

At that moment, Gu Qiye twisted his body to avoid the Queen statue's thrust, then shot towards the fleeing replica king. With a flick of his wrist, he easily crushed the king's neck.

Lightning shot from his five fingers, tearing the king's mangled body apart.

"So what are you going to do now?"

Gu Qiye slowly turned her head, looking at Xia Pingzhou expressionlessly, and asked almost word by word.

He could tell that Xia Pingzhou had run out of ideas at this point.

The vast chessboard was empty. The pages were scattered haphazardly on the ground, and only a stone statue of the queen remained faithfully guarding Xia Pingzhou, her eye sockets burning with raging blue flames.

Xia Pingzhou had indeed run out of ideas.

At that moment, he chose to reclaim the queen statue. Simultaneously, the entire chessboard began to shrink.

Once the domain shrinks, he and Gu Qiye will return to the real world. However, this process takes four seconds, during which time he will be unable to use any chess pieces.

"Have they already given up the struggle?"

Gu Qiye spoke expressionlessly, then transformed into a bolt of lightning and hurtled towards Xia Pingzhou.

However, at that very moment, Xia Pingzhou's lips moved slightly.

In the silence, he suddenly spoke:

"The black pupa is still alive."

In that instant, the world fell silent. Then, the deafening roar of lightning belatedly shook the entire space. The bolt of lightning that had struck his forehead suddenly stopped.

The chessboard was still closing in. The black king's domain, like a compressing maze, kept advancing towards Xia Pingzhou and Gu Qiye, seemingly about to crush them at any moment.

The whole world seemed to suddenly fall silent, eerily so.

Gu Qiye placed his right hand on Xia Pingzhou's forehead. Even after the thunderous roar of lightning subsided, trembling arcs of electricity still lingered in the air.

He slowly raised his head and looked into Xia Pingzhou's eyes.

What...did you just say?

Gu Qiye murmured blankly, his face pale and astonished. The flash of lightning in his pupils suddenly disappeared, and his voice had never been so weak.

Xia Pingzhou remained silent.

He was willing to bet that once he said those words, Gu Qiye would definitely not kill him.

This is the most powerful underhanded tactic.

As he expected, in the brief moment when Gu Qiye was in a daze, Xia Pingzhou successfully reclaimed the Black King's domain—something that would have been impossible, as he would have had to wait four seconds after reclaiming the chess pieces before the entire board could be brought to a close, which was practically like laying down his weapon and waiting to die.

But he did it.

In the very end, the black and white chessboard shrank to its limit in an instant, transforming into a pulsating point of light that converged into Xia Pingzhou's heart.

Immediately amidst Gu Qiye's silent yet urgent questioning, the two figures vanished.

(End of this chapter)