Along with the roar, countless lightning bolts gathered together as if forming a huge white hole that devoured everything on the ground. Be it kindness or malice, justice or evil, in the face of such a power that was almost like a natural disaster, there was obviously no value in discussing it.
"That guy … Is he for real?"
On the rooftop hundreds of meters away, Shana's eyes widened. Although Tang Hao seemed to have won, she was still a little worried, so she followed him. In the end, before she could catch up with Fariagni, the sudden lightning strike forced her to stop in her tracks.
It was a power of a natural disaster, but it was not a natural disaster. At least, normal lightning strikes would not be so dense, and it would not have such terrifying power. Even if it was the Flaming Mist Warrior, she did not think that anyone could reach this level of power.
Instead of saying that it was a human's power, it was more like … it was like God's punishment!
"I'm afraid that her power has far surpassed the average Red World Devil King." The pendant on Shana's chest flickered slightly, and even Alastor's voice became deeper than usual. "If it's just in terms of instantaneous destructive power, even among the ancient Red World Devil Kings, few can match up to her."
"So, what if it's a Demon God?"
Shana turned her head and saw Tang Hao walking over with a smile. She then looked down at the pendant, seemingly a little curious.
However, Alastor did not answer her directly. Instead, he said, "Although her explosive power is very strong, such a large-scale attack will inevitably consume a lot of her Power of Existence. Moreover, she seems to be a little unfamiliar with the way she uses her Power of Existence … Hmm, she really has weakened."
As his voice fell, the lightning circle on the opposite side began to gradually shrink, and the lightning pillar also flickered. In a few blinks of an eye, all the lightning had completely converged, revealing a scorched land. In the middle of the street, Fariagni had already disappeared without a trace. Only Misaka Mikoto was still standing there. Then, she swayed gently and her body fell backward weakly.
Pa!
The lightning circle had dissipated, but there were still traces of it on the ground. From time to time, tiny lightning could be seen jumping up and down from the ground. Tang Hao could feel some numbness running on the ground.
"How is she?"
"It's nothing. I'm just exhausted."
Tang Hao squatted beside Meiqin and shook his head.
At this moment, Meiqin had lost consciousness, but there were no external injuries on her body. After checking, Tang Hao believed that the attack just now might have consumed all her strength, causing her to temporarily fall into a state of shock … From this, it could be seen that Alastor was right. Even though Meiqin's current strength had surpassed most Red World Demon Kings, such a large-scale attack would still place a certain burden on her. Naturally, she could not be compared to a demon god.
However, Tang Hao believed that this was the result of Meiqin's deliberate creation.
At that time, Faliagni was already an arrow at the end of its flight. Just a Thunderbird was enough to make him fall to the ground. To kill him, there was no need to use an ultimate move like Thunderfall. With Meiqin's personality, she would not kill easily. Even if the opponent was the cruel and tyrannical Red World Demon King, when she made up her mind to kill the opponent, she would probably feel guilty.
Tang Hao could understand this kind of feeling very well. When he killed someone for the first time in Noyogami's world, he also felt a strong sense of disgust and discomfort. However, because the person he killed was scum, he was not that kind. He had a clear conscience, and as the number of times he killed increased, he gradually got used to it.
"Anyway, the sky in this city can be clear for a few days …"
Tang Hao raised his head and said with a smile.
…
"Shana, you're back!"
Sakai Yuji's house. Although Sakai Yuji did not participate in this Hunter Crusade, it was related to the survival of the entire city after all. He could not sleep peacefully, so he had been sitting at the door and waiting. When a small figure appeared in front of him, he immediately ran forward.
"Is the battle over? Has the enemy been eliminated? Misaki City doesn't need to disappear anymore, right? Are you okay? "
Sakai Yuji asked a lot of questions in one breath.
Shana lowered her head and suddenly felt annoyed. She immediately shouted, "Urusei Urusei Urusei! Shana, Shana, don't call me so intimately! "
Then she rushed into the house angrily.
"Uh …"
Sakai Yuji scratched his head with a blank look on his face. Although he and Shana had different opinions in the beginning, after Tang Hao enlightened him, he began to try to understand Shana from her point of view. Although Shana had a bad temper, she was not an unreasonable person. Gradually, the two of them reached a consensus.
At least, she was not so fierce when she left.
Could it be that something had happened?
Sakai Yuji walked into the house and went to the room that originally belonged to him, but was forcibly occupied by Shana. He found that there was no one in the room, but there was a faint sound of running water on the other side of the corridor. Only then did he see that the bathroom light was on, and Shana's coat was casually thrown on the bed and the floor.
"Is she taking a shower …"
Sakai Yuji shook his head and walked to the bed to pick up Shana's clothes. Then, he saw a fiery red pendant.
"Alastor."
"Yes, I'm here."
Sakai Yuji stared at it for a while and finally sat down. He couldn't help but ask, "What happened to Shana?"
"She must have been shocked."
"Shocked?"
"As an assassin with fiery hair and scorching eyes, she doesn't have the strength to match her name. She was humiliated in the battle and couldn't refute it. Although she won, she didn't use her own strength to defeat the enemy, and in the end, she didn't have the chance to prove herself … She is a child with strong self-esteem, and she has been like this since she was young, so it's better for you not to provoke her now."
"I see …" Sakai Yuji replied. Although he didn't know the details, he had a general idea. Listening to the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Alastor, did you and Shana live together since you were young?"
"You can say that … She encountered an 'unfortunate accident' when she was still a baby, and was adopted by my assistant. Because she has excellent qualities, she was raised as a fire mist. Until twelve years later, when an incident happened, she signed a contract with me, and since then, her body has stopped growing."
Sakai Yuji was stunned. "Shana … She is only twelve years old?"
"That's not it. It's been about two years since we signed the contract."
"Then she is only fourteen years old …" Sakai Yuji suddenly understood why Shana had such a personality.
She encountered misfortune when she was young, and after leaving the normal society, she was raised as a fire mist. She was only fourteen years old, but she already had such skills and combat strength. Obviously, she had received all kinds of training when she was very young, and even the people she came into contact with were fire mist warriors or people from the red world. When this concept was deeply ingrained in her, when she entered the normal human society, she would naturally be different from ordinary people.
Perhaps, compared to Shana, he was luckier.
Although the real him was already dead, at least before he died, his life was still considered happy.
"Sakai Yuji."
"Yes?" The deep voice pulled Sakai Yuji back from his thoughts.
"This is Shana's secret. Even if she wants to tell you, she should tell you herself. Do you know why I'm telling you this?"
"Why?"
"Because you are different. In these two years of wandering adventures, we have also met many Torches like you. When they found out that they were just Torches, they either screamed or gave up on themselves. In order to continue living, they did everything they could to maintain their lowly existence. But you are willing to sacrifice your existence to save others. "
"I don't want to praise you for this, but it is true that in Shana's short life as a fire mist, you are the most special torch she has ever met. Just like how our appearance caused you to come to this world from your ordinary life, your existence also affects Shana."
"I am … affecting Shana?"
"That's right. Although I don't know if this influence is good or bad, she is indeed starting to become different from before, and this is something I can't do. "
"Why?"
"When we signed the contract, I told her that I won't teach her how to fight. She needs to figure out how to become a fire mist by herself. This is also what I want to tell you. Although I am not responsible for guiding you, now that the threat to this city has been eliminated, Shana and I will continue our journey and leave this place soon. Before that, I want to ask you … Sakai Yuji, what kind of Mystis do you want to become? "
"I …"
Sakai Yuji was stunned. He never thought that Alastor would say something like that to him. Also, compared to this question … would Shana leave?
…
Bang!
"Why? Why? Why … "
In the bathroom, Shana was showering in cold water. She punched the wall and kept asking herself.
Ever since she became a Fire Mist Warrior, she had been through countless battles in the past two years. She always thought that she was a Fire Mist Warrior that could fight on her own until tonight's battle … She was powerless against the Hunter. If it wasn't for Tang Hao and the others, she would have been defeated.
Even though they managed to defeat the Hunter in the end, when the lightning struck down from the sky like divine punishment, everyone else paled in comparison.
Just like in a competition, only the champion would be remembered by the people.
Although she did not want to compare herself with Misaka Mikoto, she could not help but do so. She was a Fire Mist Warrior, and she had Alastor, the Red Devil King as her contractor. She also had Sakai Temiza, the one and only Noble Relic. She had all the powerful elements, but why … did she still feel so weak?
What kind of Fire Mist Warrior am I?
What am I missing?
Shana walked out of the bathroom with such thoughts in her mind until she returned to her room.
"Shana?" With Shana's arrival, Sakai Yuji returned to reality and stood up instinctively.
Shana lowered her face and gritted her teeth. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not doing anything, I'm just …"
"You're not doing anything? Then why are you holding my underwear in your hand?! "
"Ugh …" Sakai Yuji was startled. He looked down and saw Shana's underwear in his hand. He had wanted to tidy her up just now.
"Wait! Let me explain … "
"Urusai!"
With a furious roar, the girl seemed to transform into a flying person as she leaped into the air and kicked Sakai Yuji's face.
Bang!
If it wasn't for Torch, someone might have died tonight.
…
"Mikoto is asleep?"
"Yes, she's just exhausted. She should be fine after a night's rest."
While Sakai Yuji was being beaten up by Shana, Tang Hao and Youzhu were in harmony under the same night sky.
"Did you see it?"
"What?" Tang Hao was about to sit down when he suddenly paused and shook his head. "Of course not! Don't talk nonsense. I carried Mikoto into her room and put her to sleep. I came out immediately. I didn't see anything. I'm not the kind of person who takes advantage of others … "
Before he could finish, Youzhu rolled her eyes and picked up her phone. "I'm talking about this."
"Huh?"
"I just checked the mission progress and noticed that the karma points have changed again."
"Oh … I see." Tang Hao let out a sigh of relief. What are you talking about? If you don't tell me what you saw, how would I know what you're talking about?
Tang Hao thought to himself. At the same time, he took out his phone. When he saw the karmic points on the mission interface, he could not help but widen his eyes.
"How … how is this possible?"
Karma points with Shana: 48
Karma points with Sakai Yuji: 15
Before this, because Tang Hao's reputation with Sakai Yuji had reached the level of [Worship], their Causality Points had also increased by a lot, reaching 15, which was three times more than what he had with Shana. But now, in just one Hunter Crusade, not only did Shana catch up, she even surpassed Sakai Yuji by two to three times.
"Isn't this speed a bit too fast? Is it a bug? "
Tang Hao scratched his head. He couldn't understand what was going on.
"Actually, I just thought about it. This karma point might be a bit different from what we initially thought."
"Oh?" Tang Hao looked up at Youzhu.
"First of all, when we came to this world, we were quickly trapped in the Sealed Isolation, and our powers are not immune to it. In other words, if it wasn't for your second soul, we would have died as soon as we arrived. Isn't this a bit too difficult for the hard mode?"
"If that's the case … Hmm." Tang Hao rubbed his chin and nodded. Indeed, the rules of this world were self-contained. Even a strong person like him who had fought against the suppression force could barely escape with the help of his second soul. If it were any other group member … other than Zi … Mei, whose age and strength were both a mystery, even Kaguya would have died on the spot.
After all, Kaguya was only immune to death, but he could not be immune to disappearing.
If even the second strongest person in the chatroom was going to die, then the difficulty of this dungeon was indeed a bit abnormal.
"Of course, the difficulty might have been chosen with your second soul in mind …" Youzhu added, "But without any hints, it's a dead end, and there's only one way to solve it … Although I don't know what mode it used to be, it's not strange for such a difficulty to appear in the hero mode."
"Hmm, you're right …" Tang Hao looked a bit awkward. "Then why is it like this?"
It can't be because of me again, right?
"I didn't quite understand it before, but after seeing the change in the causal point, I kind of understand it."
Tang Hao did not speak and listened carefully.
Youzhu said, "In our initial understanding, causal points are entanglement of cause and effect. Perhaps it can also be understood as correlation, which is why we subconsciously get close to the main characters in the story. As the two parties intersect, causal points are indeed generated. However, this can't explain why a battle would produce more than 40 causal points. So, I think we've understood it wrong from the beginning. "
"What do you mean?" Tang Hao frowned as he did not understand what she meant.
Youzhu picked up a book and said, "I just read the first part of the novel, which is the battle between Shana and the Hunter. In the novel, Shana defeated the Hunter and obtained part of the Hunter's Noble Phantasm. She also improved as a Mist Warrior. The most important thing is … the relationship between her and Sakai Yuji. Through this battle, the two of them were able to understand each other. They went from being cold to being intimate, something like that."
"Then, because of our interference, the hunter was killed by Mikoto, and his relic was destroyed. Some of the relic not only affected the life and death of Shana and Sakai Yuji, but it also affected the ending of the story … In other words, if we leave this world now, will Shana, who lacks the relic and battle experience, be able to win when she encounters a new enemy?"
"Also, without the Azure Altar, the most important relic, will the ending of the story still lead to the Realm of Nothingness?"
"I see." Tang Hao suddenly understood. In the end, it was still the same phrase that had been used so many times — the butterfly effect.
Their actions in this battle had affected some things, and these things would affect the development of the future, changing everyone's fate … It was like some games. Perhaps a single item was missing, or perhaps a single sentence was missing, and the ending you were heading towards might change from a perfect reunion to a BAD END.
For example, when Cold Cicada cried.
That was why the karma points with Shana increased so much.
"But, why didn't Sakai Yuji's karma points change?"
"Because the change was brought forward." Youzhu closed the book and said, "Although Sakai Yuji is kind, he has a big flaw. For example, his EQ is too low, and he's a little hesitant. Although I don't want to criticize others, his personality did cause some unnecessary trouble in the early stage of the story."
"Yeah, I know that." Tang Hao nodded. Although he did not read the novel, the anime, especially his relationship with the girls, made it seem like he was two-timing. He kept swaying between Shana and Kazumi Yoshida, and the scenes of Natsuki's photo album made him look like a scumbag.
Of course, in Tang Hao's eyes, this wasn't a big problem. After all, they were all men. If it was him … I want them all!
"However, because of your appearance, or perhaps because of your guidance, his personality has changed in advance, so before this battle, his causality points with us have always been higher than Shana's, and this battle has nothing to do with him, even the matter of the zero time particles, it's the same whether he says it or not, so his causality points have not changed."
"So, what does this have to do with difficulty?"
"Of course it does." Youzhu nodded. "Because if we use this butterfly effect to generate karma points, we don't even need to have direct contact with them, as long as what we do can affect them. For example, if you had enough power to save Hirai-san, then Shana wouldn't be able to enter her existence. Then, how many karma points would be generated?"
"I can't calculate the data, and I can't do the scenario right now. But with this logic, as long as we do it properly, we don't even need to have contact with a powerful enemy to generate a large number of karma points. This is the balance of difficulty."
"Yeah … makes sense."
Tang Hao rubbed his chin and nodded. Then, he had an idea.
"After hearing what you said, I suddenly had a bold idea. Since we don't need to have contact with Shana, we need to be able to generate karma points with her. As long as this matter can affect her, then … if we steal her man, will there be a lot of karma points?"
Youzhu: "…"
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