Chapter 1060: In Need of Miracle
Qilin took a deep breath, staying where he was as his body quickly turned metal—he had used Iron Skin from the living puppet Wang Weiyan.
Not gonna run? Might as well!
Wang Zikai clenched his fists.
Now all metal, Qilin swung his fist to meet Wang Zikai’s punch. The collision of their fists made tremendous energy ripple outward.
At the end of the day, Qilin was still more of a spellcaster than a fighter. While he was buffed with the many Talents from the living puppets and the energy supplied by Lord of Puppets, he still fell awfully short facing Wang Zikai—the top physical fighter, bar none.
The impact shattered Qilin's arm bones segment by segment, rupturing his internal organs. Even with his feet pressed hard into the ground, he skidded back several meters, leaving thin trenches in his wake.
Wang Zikai pressed his advantage, unleashing a storm of punches.
Though clearly outmatched, Qilin fearlessly traded blows while using psychic pressure to slow Wang Zikai. Even though it barely damaged him, it reduced his attack speed just enough for Qilin to keep pace.
They exchanged fierce strikes.
Wang Zikai's punches flew swift as wind, now incorporating techniques learned from Nine Frost.
Qilin's metal body absorbed hit after hit, cracks spreading across its surface.
They fought and ran through the dried lake bed, leaving only afterimages and gusts of wind. Energy ripples marked their path like footprints in the air.
In ten seconds, dozens of crushing blows were exchanged.
Qilin caught Wang Zikai's right fist, his eyes darkening as he channeled all his energy into Puppeteer.
Puppet Tune!
Wang Zikai froze, his eyes dimming momentarily.
It works! Qilin’s heart soared.
He knew Eidos didn’t work on Wang Zikai, but he still had Puppeteer!
The reason he fought Wang Zikai in melee range even though he knew he couldn’t defeat Wang Zikai this way was to stamp Wang Zikai with pieces of a contract brand with every physical contact. While slow, the theory was sound, especially with Lord of Puppets' dominating threads amplifying the Talent's effect.
Qilin felt his psychic power dove into Wang Zikai’s body in strands. Yet a flash of coldness severed all of them.
It fails?!
Wang Zikai’s eyes regained their light. His lips curled into an arrogant scoff.
I’m God Kai!
How dare you clown me with your little tricks?!
Zhang Wei! Zhang Wei must have guessed that Qilin might use Puppeteer on Wang Zikai and thus given the young man sufficient suggestions to resist the Talent.
Qilin tried to retreat, but it was too late.
Wang Zikai's left punch crashed into his chin, launching him like a firework. Then he leaped after him, driving a downward kick into Qilin's abdomen. The man plummeted, smashing into the ground to form a crater.
“Die!”
Wang Zikai followed, slamming his fist into Qilin’s chest.
Qilin didn’t even have the time to get up and dodge it. He crossed his arms to shield his chest instead.
Red energy soared heavenward. The crater expanded as the ground cracked and fissured further with splattering rocks.
“Agh…”
The shattering earth nearly drowned Qilin's scream. His metal arms crumpled under Wang Zikai's punch, his chest threatening to cave in.
Grim Reaper’s Spear!
Wang Zikai used his lethal move without hesitation. Three crimson stings shot out of his fist, piercing into Qilin’s chest—avoiding the heart, of course.
Qilin lived, but the bone stings should have blocked his energy pathway, preventing even the slightest movement, let alone Talent usage.
“Ha, now you know how amazing I am!” Wang Zikai kept Qilin pinned, breaking into a self-satisfied smile. “I can’t kill you, but wait until my brother…”
He trailed off, noticing the smile on Qilin’s face.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Lucky…” Qilin said weakly. “Is so strong.”
“Huh?”
Wang Zikai didn’t understand.
The moment before Wang Zikai’s bone stings pierced him, Qilin had deactivated his Talents to steal Gao Yang’s Lucky.
He didn’t know how the Talent worked, but in that split second, he saw no hope of turning things around. He could only hope for a miracle.
Lucky sounded like it, didn’t it?
He had no choice but to make his greatest gamble yet.
And oh, did Lucky deliver Qilin a miracle.
Wang Zikai’s bone stings failed—not even Wang Zikai knew that the Grim Reaper’s Spear had a one in ten thousand chance of failing.
And with Lucky, Qilin was granted that rare chance. His body was pierced, but his energy pathway wasn’t sealed.
In that instant, he stole Lovely Lamb's Damage Transfer and channeled all his remaining energy into it.
While holding Qilin down, Wang Zikai suddenly felt the overwhelming damage stored in Qilin's body surge into him like a lightning bolt.
“Aghhh!!”
Not even the supposedly unkillable Wang Zikai could take the terrifying damage. He couldn’t do anything other than howling in pain.
It was a shame that Lovely Lamb had been saved from being a living puppet around ten seconds ago, so Qilin had to steal Damage Transfer through Lord of Puppets, meaning he only had access to the Talent for six seconds.
Without that time limit, he could have transferred everything to Wang Zikai—all his damage and exhaustion, save for Equivalent Exchange's impending toll.
Six seconds later, Wang Zikai collapsed. Though the transferred damage wouldn't kill him, his automatic defense mechanism forced his unkillable body into a deep recovery coma.
Qilin had shed much of his injury, but his energy remained depleted.
He kicked Wang Zikai off him and jumped out of the crater, sparing the man no glance. Equivalent Exchange would soon kill him. He wasn’t going to waste another second or any energy.
His eyes locked on Gao Yang and Qing Ling, who weren’t far from him.
Gao Yang sat slumped, unable to fight at all.
Qing Ling fared not much better. She crouched on the ground, having exhausted herself to provide Wang Zikai some support.
Neither could imagine that Wang Zikai would be taken down instead when it had seemed like a landslide victory in his favor.
Mouth filled with blood, Gao Yang shouted at Qing Ling. “Leave me! RUN!”
Qing Ling paused. She could guess that Qilin was reaching the time limit. She could still move if she pushed herself. She picked herself up and ran.
Qilin gave chase.
Houseau3's ThoughtsThis must be what a lot of the antagonists feel like when a protagonist keeps getting back up and surviving. SERIOUSLY.
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