Cthulhu America, I can see the kill line.

Danqiu's pupils contracted sharply, and her heart pounded like thunder.

She didn't bother wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth; her hands moved swiftly, forming hand seals.

From the wide sleeves of the kimono, a dense string of paper figures flew out again, several times more numerous than before.

"Shikigami: Armored Rhinoceros!"

All the pieces of paper frantically converged, folded, and interlocked in the air.

A giant rhinoceros, the size of a truck and covered in intricate runic armor, appeared out of nowhere.

Its four hooves slammed heavily on the ground, causing the ground to tremble. With a thunderous roar, it lowered its head, aimed its single horn, which was powerful enough to pierce a tank, at the gull, and launched a desperate charge.

The blue giant, who was watching from the sidelines, was covered by thick ice armor, and his combat power detector emitted a piercing beeping alarm.

"Alert: High-energy reaction. Paper Rhinoceros, overall combat strength 2131."

"Ms. Hongye has revealed her trump card."

The Blue Giant's rudimentary AI thought with a hint of surprise.

This indestructible paper beast, having gathered most of Danqiu's remaining spiritual power, is astonishing in both offensive and defensive capabilities.

It's safe to say that even if all the heroes of the Hills Alliance, who were lying on the ground, joined forces, they wouldn't be a match for this paper rhinoceros.

However, as Kong Jiu looked at the enormous creature charging towards him with immense force, he merely curled his lips into a cruel smile.

He neither dodged nor retreated.

Instead, he stepped forward to face the giant rhinoceros!

This step was incredibly powerful.

He gripped the black stick with both hands, exerted force from his waist, and his muscles instantly tensed like rocks as he swung it in a perfect semi-circle.

The club slicing through the air with a piercing shriek before slamming heavily and plainly onto the giant rhinoceros's head!

boom!!

The ground shook violently, as if a small earthquake had occurred!

The shockwave spread wildly outwards from the point of impact, stirring up clouds of dust.

The armored rhinoceros, which was said to be indestructible, let out a mournful cry.

Its massive body was actually forced to its knees by the terrifying force contained in this blow, and the concrete at its knees shattered instantly!

Immediately afterward, starting from the point of impact on his head, countless cracks spread rapidly throughout his body like a spider web.

Click, click, click...

That was the sound of the spiritual energy structure collapsing.

The next second, in Danqiu's despairing gaze, the entire giant rhinoceros disintegrated into countless pieces of paper flying everywhere, like butterflies torn apart by a hurricane.

"this one?"

Kong Jiu waved his hand dismissively, brushing away the scraps of paper that had fallen on his shoulder. His cold gaze pierced through the swirling rain of paper scraps and fixed intently on Dan Qiu.

The next moment, he kicked off with his back foot.

The ground exploded, and the towering figure instantly passed through the flying scraps of paper, appearing in front of Danqiu as if by teleportation.

Danqiu had no time to react.

The book, transformed into a stick, struck Danqiu's soft abdomen with ruthless ferocity, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole.

Danqiu instantly curled up like a shrimp, her eyes bulging out.

The excruciating pain left her mind blank, and she instantly lost the ability to breathe. The acid in her stomach, mixed with blood and foam, surged uncontrollably up her throat and sprayed out.

But it's not over yet.

With an incredibly nimble flick of his wrist, Kong Jiu swung the iron rod out with the momentum of a thrust, striking her already swollen right cheek hard.

"Bang!"

This time, she couldn't even let out a scream.

He flew sideways like a baseball that had been hit.

She slid several meters across the rough ground, her kimono ripped and her skin cut, until she finally came to a stop after crashing into a pile of steel wreckage.

Although his moves appeared ruthless and bloody, judging from his performance of smashing the armored rhinoceros with a single blow, Kong Jiu hadn't used even a fraction of his true strength.

He's playing around.

Each of his strikes possessed the power to directly end the life of this Manchu woman dressed in a kimono.

But Kong Jiu doesn't use it?

He was toying with Niu Hulu Danqiu little by little, like a cat playing with a mouse, enjoying the process of trampling this so-called "aristocrat" into the mud.

At this moment, Danqiu looked extremely miserable, with no trace of her previous eerie and solemn appearance.

Her once exquisite makeup was now completely ruined, turning into a comical clown mask; half of her face was swollen like an over-fermented bun, bruised and purple, her mouth was severely crooked, and blood stained her teeth, dripping down her chin.

The kimono that symbolized glory was now tattered and torn in several places by the pebbles and steel bars on the ground, revealing pale skin covered with bruises and abrasions.

Her once-proud phoenix eyes could now only be barely opened a crack, and a huge, purplish-black bump had appeared on her smooth, uniquely shaved forehead, making her look both terrifying and ridiculous.

Danqiu lay on the ground, panting heavily like a wild dog with a broken spine. Each breath pulled at her broken ribs, and the excruciating pain caused her whole body to spasm.

"Whoa~"

Kong Jiu whistled lightly as he strolled over, his boots making a pattering sound as he stepped into the puddles.

"This is the strongest superhero in the Hills Alliance? He's weaker than I imagined."

Kong Jiu stopped in front of her, squatted down, and used the cold tip of the stick to lift Danqiu's chin, forcing her to raise her severely distorted face and look directly at him.

"Paper magic? Even kindergarten kids' paper-cutting tricks are more creative than yours."

There was no murderous intent in his eyes, only a deep boredom, contempt, and indifference towards trash.

Kong Jiu has always held this attitude towards Manchu remnants and Japanese.

That look was more humiliating to the proud Danqiu than if she had been killed outright. It was a humiliation that trampled her dignity underfoot time and again.

Although her swollen phoenix eyes were filled with pain, they still burned with flames of resentment and unwillingness.

"What? You're not convinced?"

Kong Jiu caught the hatred in her eyes and sneered.

With a sudden flick of his wrist, the iron rod swung down again.

"Bang!"

The blow landed squarely on Danqiu's left shoulder.

"Snap!"

The sound of bones cracking was clearly audible and chilling.

Danqiu let out a muffled groan, and her entire left arm drooped limply at an odd angle, unable to be raised again.

"It's not over yet."

Kong Jiu found this one-sided beating very interesting, and even somewhat addictive.

He didn't rush to kill, but instead, like a clumsy sculptor carving a failed work, he struck again and again with the stick.

"Stand up! Is this the spirit of the Great Manchu Empire?"

"Bang!"

thigh.

"Keep performing magic! Where's your paper doll?"

"Bang!"

Back.

Each blow avoided vital points, yet each brought extreme, bone-deep pain.

Danqiu rolled around in the mud and water, her screams gradually fading away.

She tried to summon a new paper figure, but the moment her finger touched the talisman, the paper piece that had just flown out was stomped into the blood and grime by Kong Jiu, and crushed to pieces.

despair.

Utter, bottomless despair.

The difference in strength is too great.

The intruder's spiritual power was simply unbelievable, and his beast-like, keen combat instincts were even more terrifying.

Without any contest of magic, this man simply destroyed all of his prized shikigami with that big stick!

"Loving Japan is really stress-relieving; it's made me feel much better."

Kong Jiu seemed to have finally gotten tired of playing. He stood up, stretched his neck, and raised the iron rod high.

This time, he aimed at Danqiu's head.

Fresh blood slowly slid down the iron rod, dripping onto Danqiu's swollen eyelids, warm and foul-smelling.

In that instant, the shadow of death enveloped him.

Danqiu's pupils, which had been dilated due to the excruciating pain, suddenly contracted, and the instinct for survival overwhelmed everything.

No! I can't die here!

If Danqiu were outmatched and died at the hands of a C-level psychic, she might be able to accept it.

But we absolutely cannot die at the hands of this barbarian who hasn't shown a single trick and only knows how to use brute force and spew foul language!

Absolutely not!

She bit her tongue, and with the last bit of strength in her body, she pressed her intact right hand against her heart!

The fingernails dug deep into the flesh, and blood seeped out, quickly staining an ancient and sinister talisman hidden in the palm of the hand.

"Offer my blood as a sacrifice... offer myself as a sacrifice... come forth!!"

Danqiu let out a piercing roar, a sound like a female fox caught in a trap, hoarse and broken, yet filled with a desperate madness and resolve.

hum!

A beam of dark blue light shot up from her chest without warning, even forcing Kong Jiu to take a step back.

In the light, a graceful fox, its body radiating a faint blue glow, appeared.

This was not one of those crudely made paper puppets, but a spiritual being with a physical form, every hair clearly visible, radiating a chilling spiritual pressure.

My guardian spirit!

It was not large, only the size of an ordinary fox, but its eyes were like two deep, bottomless sapphires.

When it looked at Kongjiu, its eyes contained a vortex that seemed to freeze the soul.

That was a spiritual shock that struck straight to the soul.

The vortex spun, instantly drawing in Kong Jiu's mind.

Kong Jiu's raised iron rod froze in mid-air, and a moment of emptiness appeared in his eyes.

"Right now!"

Danqiu didn't know where the strength came from; perhaps it was the survival instinct that squeezed out the last potential in her cells.

Ignoring the excruciating pain that felt like her bones were breaking, she sprang up from the mud like a venomous snake making a desperate last stand.

arms!

That man's strength was entirely due to that C-grade spiritual weapon!

This man possesses such a spiritual object; he must be a spiritualist on the "path of alchemy"!

These types of psychics are extremely dependent on external objects. Once their natal spiritual objects are removed, they become toothless tigers, and the outcome is still uncertain!

That was the only chance to turn things around!

"Let go!!"

Danqiu roared hoarsely, using the momentum of his forward charge and a sudden burst of strength from both hands to grip the iron rod in Kong Jiu's hand tightly.

Kong Jiu, in a daze, loosened his grip slightly.

Oh!

The iron rod flew out of his hand!

Holding the heavy stick, Danqiu lost her balance and staggered back several steps, almost falling.

A flash of black light, and the stick in his hand quickly contracted and deformed, eventually returning to its original form.

Danqiu clutched a thick, ancient book, "The Jade Record," tightly in her arms.

At the same time, the blue fox in mid-air let out a desperate cry and transformed into a stream of light, returning to Danqiu's body.

As the blue fox disappeared, the emptiness in Kong Jiu's eyes also quickly faded.

He shook his head violently, as if he had just woken up, and looked blankly at his empty palms. Then he looked up at the disheveled woman a few meters away.

The woman, covered in wounds and with a bruised and swollen face, was clutching her book and laughing maniacally.

"Ha...haha...cough cough!"

Danqiu coughed violently, spitting out bloody sputum.

She strained to tug at the corners of her mouth, revealing an extremely ugly, distorted, yet provocative and gleeful smile.

"A psionicist on the path of alchemy... your natal spirit artifact has been sold; your fate is sealed!"

She screamed, her voice filled with the pleasure of revenge.

Then, she frantically mobilized the remaining spiritual power in her body, her fingers trembling as she opened the book in her arms.

It's her turn!

It was her turn to use this powerful C-grade spiritual artifact to beat the opponent until he knelt down and begged for mercy!

Sure enough, she saw an unpleasant look appear on the intruder's face.

Was it fear? Was it regret?

I advise you not to watch it.

Kong Jiu's voice came over, sounding somewhat strange.

Danqiu was overjoyed!

The more the enemy opposes, the more it proves that you are right!

He's scared!

He didn't want to control this power!

"Go to hell!!"

Without further hesitation, she flipped through the pages, her fervent gaze sweeping over the words on them.

Once you understand it, once you master the incantation within...

however.

The moment those distorted characters, which did not belong to the human language system, pierced her eyes.

The world has collapsed.

That was not writing; it was the whisper of the abyss, an indescribable terror, a manifestation of the chaotic nature of the universe.

In just a moment.

The mental impact of those blasphemous words was like a red-hot iron rod, plunging deep into her brain and churning it wildly.

This impact was several times, even hundreds of times, greater than the physical damage caused by Kong Jiu's dozens of blows!

That is a truth that mortals cannot look directly at.

"Uh... Ah... Ga..."

Danqiu made an unintelligible gurgling sound from her throat.

thump!

The Jade Record slipped from her weak hands and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Danqiu's eyes rolled back instantly, her pupils dilated to the extreme, and her consciousness was instantly severed.

Two streams of blood flowed from the corners of her eyes, followed by blood from her nostrils, ears, mouth... blood spilled from all seven orifices.

She was like a statue whose soul had been ripped away, kneeling down straight, then face down, crashing heavily into the dust, and falling silent.

Kong Jiu stood there, watching this scene, sighed helplessly, and shook his head.

"I already told you, that's a book for madmen."