Chapter 378 – The Final Battle (1): Clash of Superpowers
“It’s nothing more than a few low-tier worlds banding together, exhausting everything they have to create a rat that can fight, only for it to come alone to the Ruler’s domain, attempting to challenge the majesty of a god. Ridiculous.”
“You all wish for the Order Cube to be restored to its original form using my body as its vessel. You’ve conspired to restore the universe’s order, but little do you know, I’ve been fully aware of your plans from the start. You’re just a few rats. Allowing you to crawl your way to this tribute meeting was merely to make you cling to false hope, only to then see with your own eyes your worlds lose all vitality as you hand over the fragment of the Order Cube.”
He already knew everything. Since there was no point in hiding it, Tu Ran stood up from Wuma Fenghua’s seat and walked toward the center of the hall.
The task at hand was simple: get Hache Bulu to swallow the fragment.
Would he willingly eat it? Impossible.
Even though he craved the energy of the Order Cube, he would never satisfy the wishes of a challenger in front of so many worlds. That would be a direct affront to his authority.
So, there was only one option: the most straightforward and brutal approach.
A fight. Beat him down, make him understand that if he didn’t swallow the fragment and absorb the energy of the Order Cube, she would keep grinding him into the ground.
As a bodyguard, stepping into the center of the hall without permission naturally drew the attention of the representatives. Wuma Fenghua exchanged a glance with her, a silent trust in her eyes, leaving the rest to her.
Wuma Fenghua returned to her seat, leaving Tu Ran alone at the center of the hall.
She tilted her head slightly, gazing at Hache Bulu, who sat in the middle of the three radiant golden thrones.
Her lips curled into a faint smirk as she spoke, “I’m offering it to you, and you refuse to eat. Are you really going to wait until you’re beaten so badly that you’re picking up your teeth off the floor before you scramble to grab it? Here’s a saying from the lower-tier worlds for you: Don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink punishment wine!”
The arrogant words undoubtedly provoked Hache Bulu, who was revered by all.
A small blue paper figure flicked from his fingertips and shot straight toward Tu Ran’s neck.
It was the same type of paper figure he had used earlier to silence the Green-eyed leader.
The paper figure’s four limbs swung as it appeared at Hache Bulu’s fingertips. In the next instant, it vanished, crossing space in the blink of an eye to reappear just one centimeter from Tu Ran’s pale neck.
Its speed was nearly impossible to guard against—if even the Green-eyed leader had fallen victim to it, one could imagine how swift and lethal it was.
The sharp edge of the paper grazed Tu Ran’s neck, leaving a thin crimson line. Just as it was about to cut deeper, an invisible spatial blade emerged, slicing the paper figure cleanly in half.
The now lifeless pieces of paper silently floated to the ground and, upon touching it, melted away without a trace.
Tu Ran stepped on the spot where the paper had vanished, lowering her hand after executing the [Space Cutting]. A sharp sting radiated from her neck. She instinctively raised her fingers, brushed over the wound, and glanced down at the smear of red on her fingertips.
“Not bad,” she remarked coldly, her icy gaze locked onto Hache Bulu. Her bloodied middle finger pressed against her palm, and the point of contact began to heat and burn. Finally, it emitted a golden glow.
Golden runes slowly spread over Tu Ran’s pupils, covering her irises completely.
[Luck Curse
Description: An ancient and unreliable secret technique that uses blood as a medium to curse the opponent, causing their fortune to decline and misfortune to follow.
Level: Intermediate.
Note: This was merely a supportive ability, so the user should not expect too much. Luck is insignificant in the face of true power.]
A flash of golden light flickered at her fingertips, accompanied by Tu Ran’s enigmatic smile and the soft utterance of “Boom” escaping her lips. The golden light exploded, blooming like a brilliant firework from her fingertip.
The explosion of golden light reflected in Hache Bulu’s deep blue pupils.
He felt impatient. He no longer wanted to witness Tu Ran’s bizarre antics. His patience had worn thin, and all he wanted was to kill this rat that had repeatedly challenged his authority.
Unbeknownst to him, at that moment, a void curse silently enveloped him, seeping into his life.
Hache Bulu raised his hand, and the guards, who had long been prepared, received their orders. They rushed out from all corners of the hall. Among them were the Green-eyed Tribe, the Red Crown Tribe, and the Bulu Sanda Tribe, each wielding their respective weapons, tightly surrounding Tu Ran in the center.
Tu Ran had no interest in wasting time with these lowly underlings. The [Space Cutting] spread out from her position, slicing through the surrounding guards in a perfect circular motion, beheading them.
Before their bodies could even hit the ground, Tu Ran raised her foot and kicked the nearest headless Green-eyed guard. Like a domino effect, the entire row of guards behind him fell one by one, clearing a narrow path for her toward Hache Bulu.
Tu Ran fixed her gaze on Hache Bulu, the corners of her lips lifting slightly to reveal a few white teeth. Her carefree posture was that of a hunter, determined to claim her prey.
She charged forward, her right hand extending, and her mental energy swiftly flowed from her limbs to her right hand. Clenching her fist, the mental energy filled instantly, and a massive halo surrounded her hand, growing brighter and brighter, until the steel giant arm of the silver mecha she owned emerged within the halo, faintly visible, overlapping with her delicate right arm.
Her ability.
[Fusion with All Things
Description: The user can temporarily merge with inanimate objects to acquire certain properties of the object, such as becoming as hard as iron when merging with metal, or turning into liquid when merging with water.
Level: Advanced.
Note: The fusion time and the degree of fusion depend on the user’s mental energy.]
Tu Ran successfully merged with the mecha granted to her by the Haenden Star System.
Her right arm, now infused with the mecha, carried the force capable of smashing a mountain with a single punch, and she hurled it toward the elevated platform specially prepared for Hache Bulu and the Green-eyed and Red Crown tribe leaders.
The Green-eyed tribe leader and the Red Crown tribe leader each fled in different directions.
Sitting in the center, Hache Bulu urgently released dozens of paper figures, sending them from all directions toward Tu Ran.
However, under the immense pressure exerted by the mecha, this wave of attacks was futile—like eggs striking stones, the paper figures had no chance to perform.
They were like thin blades shooting at a massive rock face, causing no damage at all. But they were alive, obedient to Hache Bulu’s command.
The paper figures trembled as their exposed parts attempted to drill deeper into the mecha’s arm, using the force. But it was too late. Tu Ran smashed them, along with the guards who hadn’t managed to escape from the platform, into the ground.
Juice mixed with dirt splattered everywhere. Tu Ran’s sense of touch was connected with the mech, and she could clearly feel the guards bursting under her hand.
The sound was crisp, yet sticky.
The crispness came from their bones shattering into dust in an instant, while the stickiness came from their body fluids exploding, their internal organs rupturing.
Was it disgusting? Yes, it was. But at this moment, cruelty filled Tu Ran’s mind. Killing Hache Bulu was her primary goal, and nothing else could distract her.
The three thrones, symbols of the ruler’s supreme status, had become gleaming ruins.
Hache Bulu had also escaped before Tu Ran’s fist arrived.
It was just a physical attack, after all. If the three tribe leaders had worked together, they might have been able to stop that punch from landing.
But they didn’t. In that crucial moment, the only thought in the Green-eyed tribe leader and the Red Crown tribe leader’s minds was: it was better for Hache Bulu to die.
The three main native tribes of the Rulers only needed to balance each other out; there was no need for one to dominate.
The Bulu Sanda Tribe had grown too powerful, already reaching a point of overwhelming dominance.
They needed an external factor, someone like Tu Ran, to weaken the strength of the Bulu Sanda Tribe.
And Tu Ran didn’t disappoint them. The second strike of her fist was aimed squarely at Hache Bulu.
Hache Bulu faced a giant fist, five times his own height, seemingly ethereal but deadly in its force. His toes scraped across the ground, seemingly drawing a few random lines, and a “human” figure, made of just a few lines, stood up.
The “human” quickly expanded, growing to twice Hache Bulu’s size, and a massive iron fist came crashing down.
To everyone’s surprise, the “human,” made of just a few lines, opened its arms and willingly met the fist head-on.
When they collided, the “human’s” shoulder lines bulged and trembled violently, resembling the muscles of an adult flexing under strain.
These few small lines actually held Tu Ran’s punch.
Hache Bulu stood beside the line figure, continuously injecting his mental energy into it. At this moment, it was his mental power that countered the full force of the mecha.
The two forces remained locked, neither side giving in. Hache Bulu quickly drew another line figure on the ground, followed by a third, both slowly rising to their feet.
Seizing the moment before the second and third line figures could fully stand, Tu Ran withdrew her attack, and the shadow of the mecha’s iron fist disappeared.
Just as the first line figure relaxed, Tu Ran lifted her leg and stomped down.
The first line figure panicked and stretched its arms out again to block, while the second and third figures, just getting to their feet, mimicked the first and raised their arms.
Seeing this, Tu Ran flashed a wicked grin, shifting the direction of her foot from a stomp to a kick.
The three line figures, along with Hache Bulu, were all kicked away in one swift motion.
The kicking attack wasn’t as strong as the stomp, but its destructive power was by no means weak.
Hache Bulu, kicked through the air, didn’t tumble like the line figures but instead managed to steady himself mid-air, landing gracefully. However, being kicked by a human from a low-level world in front of representatives from hundreds of worlds was enough to enrage him to the point of wanting to kill everyone who had witnessed it.
As he stewed in his fury, Tu Ran had already taken action again. She didn’t waste the opportunity to exploit his unstable mindset. Her fist descended once more, this time aimed at the three line figures still struggling to get up from the ground.
“Boom!”
A loud crash echoed.
Tu Ran felt a rush of satisfaction.
She slowly raised her fist, and the previously flat ground now had a deep crater. The three line figures, their bodies twisted, perfectly fit into the hole, as if they had returned to where they came from.
Hache Bulu severed his connection with the line figures and turned to look. Upon seeing the deep crater, he could no longer maintain the noble air he had held while sitting high above, nor the casual disdain he had subtly shown toward all the worlds.
His luxurious clothes were no longer pristine; the edges were stained with red, green, and blue blood. His silver-white hair, once immaculately styled, had become messy and disheveled, dusted with a layer of grime.
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