Superhumans of the Dome City

At the same moment, at the other end of the sewage treatment plant.

A tall man in a mask picked up an orchid. A short, black arrow shot out from it, but before it hit its target, he grabbed it with one hand.

He scoffed and casually threw the arrow back. The weapon flew faster than Alice had expected, and its tip tore through her hunting outfit, grazing her arm and leaving a bloody mark.

"So this is your 'Divine Communication'? Ha..."

Alice didn't get angry at the other's provocation; only someone impulsive like Gongsun Ce would fall for such a simple taunt.

She had negotiated with the man before, feeling disdain for his arrogant demeanor but not losing her rationality. On the surface, she had confronted him head-on, but she had long been prepared in secret, hoping to provoke him into making the first move so she could gauge the true nature of his abilities. If it was a wide-range attack, she would retreat with Gongsun Ce immediately; otherwise, she would teleport the man in the mask to a distant location.

The Empire's Yiji Hall was the world's oldest Impermanence Skill society. This pair was from a distinguished background, and their coordination was naturally superior to her recent acquaintance with Gongsun Ce. If they fought a two-on-two battle, they were likely to be at a disadvantage. It was better to split the battlefield and fight independently.

Alice believed that the Superpower User wouldn't be easily defeated. However, she had not anticipated...

That the real trouble would arise on her end.

"You always speak with such a lofty tone. Is this a common bad habit among the people of the Empire?"

She took two steps forward, maintaining a suitable distance.

Carefully observing his movements, she prepared for any sudden ambush.

Relying on her own abilities, Alice had yet to suffer any real damage since the fight began. However, the enemy was also unharmed.

—Because Alice had no way of injuring him.

"How I speak is none of your fucking business."

The man simply admired the orchid in his hand, showing no concern for his opponent in front of him.

This was very strange because the Shadow Orchid had been in his hand for more than a dozen seconds. According to a Hunter's experience, the flower should have faded and vanished in a non-shadowy environment by now. Yet the flower still existed in the palm of the man, unaffected by the change in environment.

"So this is what your heart looks like. Boring and full of yourself," he said.

Retracting his previous words, it turned out that provocation was useful after all.

Temples throbbing with anger, Alice retorted, "Full of myself? You think you have the right to say that to others?!"

"The vessel of desire is the flower, the stipulated environment is the shadow, and the most important wish is to transfer, to escape," the masked man closed his hand, crushing the orchid into powder. "The desire is simple, the symbolism clear, easy to interpret, boring and mundane. In your heart, you see yourself as an elegant flower, but unfortunately, what nurtures you is the shadow beneath the light. Hence, your wish is to escape the shadows and move to a new world—"

The orchid turned into pale blue points of light and drifted away from his palm, while the masked man laughed heartily.

"Ha! Too bad the 'Dragon Slaying Skill' isn't about making dreams come true, it's just a technique using psychic power! What you desire and what you get often go in opposite directions. Even if you follow the advice of your predecessors step by step, the road you end up on is utterly different, why else would it be called the 'Impermanence Skill'? Just like your 'Divine Communication Skill', the wish to escape from the shadows is fulfilled, but the final destination is still another shadow!"

"You—!"

"Doesn't feel too good using that ability, does it? Out of the goodness of my heart, let me give you some advice, start by changing the way you conduct yourself, how about that?" the masked man shrugged. "There's a limit to being full of yourself, no beautiful flowers can grow in the shadows. You and those you disdain, in the eyes of others, are nothing but Hyenas operating in the dark, no different at all. Might as well scrap it and start over as a 'Shadow Hound' or a dark worm, might see a significant increase in power, hahahaha!"

Now, Alice finally understood Gongsun Ce's actions.

When something you care about is trampled on, when a side of you, you wish to keep hidden is brought up without any regard for your feelings, even the most even-tempered person can erupt in anger. It was a bit astonishing to her that Gongsun Ce had actually managed to exchange a few words with this guy; with his composure, it was an extraordinary performance.

"What 'Realm' does someone like you belong to then? The same 'Divine Communication' as me, or is it 'Manifestation'?"

Alice threw a short arrow with a flick of her wrist; the arrow embedded in the shadow orchid and shot out from behind the tall man. The masked man dodged the Hunter's attack with an agility as if he had eyes on his back, only laughing and saying, "What's it to you?"

That was the last straw that thoroughly enraged the Hunter.

"Do you even know what shadows are, expert?"

Alice's hand brushed across her waist, and three short arrows disappeared, shooting out from three different little orchids at the masked man. Whirling unsteadily on his feet, the masked man dodged the flurry of arrows with incredible footwork. But this time, the arrows didn't fall powerlessly; a flash of blue light skittered across the ground, and the arrows once again shot out from the man's back, side, and front!

"Oh?"

The masked man's movements never stopped, but his eyes saw clearly. More orchids sprouted from the ground, undertaking the task of transferring and then relaunching the arrows before they hit the ground. This operation required predicting the trajectory of each arrow in advance — a feat remarkably precise, yet bizarrely the flowers blossomed not in his or Alice's shadow, but like ordinary plants, sprouting from the ground!

"Expanding the concept of shadow to places untouched by light, huh? That's somewhat clever."

The so-called shadow refers to the place that light cannot reach, the darkness of no light. That could be the dim pocket of clothing, the shadow under a metal object, or the land devoid of sun. That is to say...

"Every space unlit by the night sky is my domain!"

Alice threw three short arrows again, the doubled quantity of Demon-breaking Arrows tracing intricate trajectories, weaving around the masked man's side into a deadly, impenetrable net of death!

"Shadow Orchid, Youlan Sea."

Thousands of orchids blossomed in an instant, appearing in the grass beside the road, growing on gray stones, and sprouting from the concrete walls of buildings. Everywhere their gaze fell was filled with the pale blue of fresh flowers, and in the blink of an eye, the area had become a sea of orchids!

This was the method used to encircle the tall man with mere arrows — creating flowers everywhere, there would always be a way to re-launch the arrows from any angle. Now the masked man looked even more disheveled than when he had fallen to the ground, his coat covered in slashes, and several large holes torn in his shirt at the chest and abdomen. Yet the man was not panicked, he scoffed: "What a petty woman you are, not even a word of thanks for my kind advice, and now throwing a tantrum here!"

"Why not reflect on the way you speak instead!"

Alice's figure vanished on the spot and instantly appeared behind the man. She struck out slyly at the masked man's back, her eyes burning with rage like flames!

After locking down his movements with Demon-breaking Arrows, Alice was ready to launch a real attack. Teleporting a creature is a delicate task, even a slight mishap could result in irreversible consequences. Alice intended to do just the opposite; as she had shattered the quay at the docks, she was set to tear the man's body apart by an erroneous teleportation!

The masked man laughed rather than getting angry: "Ha! Are you really going to strike me hard?"

"Did you call me a hyena?" shouted Alice angrily, "Then let me show you the way a hyena fights!"

The tall man ignored the arrows about to pierce him, and he paid no attention to the Hunter's hand reaching for his right side. He simply held up a finger.

"Not bad, woman, isn't this more interesting?"

Alice's hand and the short arrows were about to touch his body, the masked man seemed also ready to use his superpower, and at that moment—

Dozens of murky high-pressure water streams shot out simultaneously from afar, away from the battlefield!

The streams sliced through the lawn like blades, chopping the fresh green tips evenly, and the buildings that stood in their path were equally split in two by the powerful liquid blades. The wild dance of water lines divided the whole area into unevenly sized pieces, where touching the edge meant certain death. Lurking assailants had gone all out, determined to ensnare both combatants in their net during their fierce struggle!

"Tsk."

Alice's clicking tongue sounded from afar. The water blades struck empty space, the Hunter walked out from the distant flowers, tightly grasping someone's shoulder.

In the final moment, Alice decisively abandoned her imminent attack, choosing instead to shift herself and the Empire's expert together. After all, she bore a heavy responsibility... she couldn't let an internal fight among experts deter her from the most deserving target to be killed.

The masked man was sizing up the enemy who had launched the water knives — they were a dozen bizarre creatures. Each possessed the head of a lion, the tail of a snake, and the body of a goat, and their bodies were composed of murky sewage with an unbearable stench. They moved silently, as light as a stream of water.

The masked man didn't utter a word, and Alice couldn't help but say: "What's your expert opinion on this?"

"Boring to the core, even more uninteresting than your flowers. Impermanence Skill is not disgusting skill; achieving such a form only proves that this madman has problems with his intelligence." The masked man waved his hand disdainfully, as if swatting flies, "Waited so long to see such a thing, what a piece of garbage!"

The beasts lunged silently at the two, and the tall man flicked his finger. In an instant, the chimeras formed from the sewage all stopped in their place.

"Truce. Do whatever you like, I won't waste my time here."

The masked man threw a bundle of objects that Alice instinctively caught.

"Here are your arrows."

After all this, he turned his back on the Hunter, ignoring the wild beasts immobilized beside him, and ambled away nonchalantly.

Alice looked at the objects thrown by the man, which were six neatly arranged black short arrows. The man had managed to catch the fluttering arrows in the previous instant, but Alice, standing right beside him, had completely failed to notice the man's action...

What exactly was this man's ability? The worshippers of the giant dragon had attacked, but this self-proclaimed expert walked away instead—what had he come here for?

Alice felt rare confusion. Just as she was about to pursue the strange man to get to the bottom of it, her mind flashed back to the Superpower User who had parted ways with her not long before.

"Damn, Gongsun Ce!"

Alice turned her head toward the direction of the sewage pool, just in time to see a massive amount of sewage explode towards the sky. Far away the booming sounds were continuous, like thunderbolts.