Fuli's assertion that Beelzebub wanted to kill Ei to obtain complete power was not baseless. When he was close to the girl just now, relying on the Outer Ways, he plundered a small portion of divine power from her.
The essence of that power was also Baal. Unlike the stolen Demon God Baal, this was the power of the God King Baal.
Baal was a deity with a very complex nature. In the widely circulated Ars Goetia of the 72 Demons of Solomon, He ranked first as a Great King of Hell. In Christian culture, He was the Prime Minister of Hell, one of the Seven Deadly Sins representing Gluttony, Beelzebub.
Milton's Paradise Lost depicted Him as a demon king comparable to God. He was the king ruling the East, possessing the ability to turn people invisible.
His voice was harsh. In legends, He was depicted holding a world-shaking hammer in his right hand, releasing thunder with his left, wearing a conical crown with two horns, and riding on thunderbolts.
But these were all rumors generated after the expansion of Christianity, typical smear tactics of monotheism degrading other mythologies into demons and ghost kings.
Baal's true origin was the Lord of the Canaanite pantheon ruling ancient Phoenicia, a great king and dragon-slaying warrior. He was Hadad, the Lord of Heaven controlling thunder, storms, hurricanes, the sun, and harvest. Believers respectfully called Him "Master" (Baal).
It was precisely this dual nature of two-in-one that led the Inazuma sisters, as Chrysos Heirs, to inherit a part of it respectively.
The older sister was the Demon King, and the younger sister was the God.
Therefore, Beelzebub, who stole the Demon King's power, appeared impatiently.
He longed to seize the other half of the divine power from Ei's body, fuse the two, and become a complete form comparable to YHWH in mythology.
How should I put it?
Even as an enemy, Fuli couldn't help but marvel at this guy's dog-shit luck.
Golden Blood is a dominant sign of a Chrysos Heirs. Any country with a bit of knowledge would strictly guard against it during newborn screenings to ensure no fish slipped through the net.
It's true that cases of postnatal awakening like the Inazuma sisters exist, but the probability is far lower than the awakening of natural Stigmata. Globally, having ten such cases in a century would be rounding up.
But it doesn't matter. This guy is going to die here anyway.
Fuli has never been stingy with tolerance towards dead people.
"Annoying look."
Regarding this tolerance, Beelzebub showed a considerable degree of dissatisfaction.
"Whatever."
Then he sneered. Like Fuli, he couldn't be bothered to waste emotions on a dead person.
An invisible field spread out centered on Beelzebub, rewriting reality like ink dropped into clear water, forcibly replacing the surrounding space.
The location of the three was no longer the rainy Lianshan Cemetery, but a bizarre and vast alien space.
Looking around, hundreds and thousands of human heads floated in the air, seemingly unsupported.
Sunlight pierced down, shadows cast on stones, motionless; suddenly they moved far away, coming and going quickly, as if playing with the visitors.
Gods have their kingdoms. This advanced barrier, similar in nature to a Reality Distortion Field, was the inherent territory of the Demon God Baal, the manifestation of the domain corresponding to mythology.
"Ugh!"
Ei clutched Fuli's hem tightly, her fingernails almost digging into the fabric, clearly frightened by this demonic scene.
She was, after all, just a girl who grew up in ordinary society. She was neither the supreme incarnation of thunder nor the silent seeker of eternal loneliness.
Having depended on her sister as an orphan and getting dragged into such changes for no reason, not fainting was already thanks to the hatred in her heart supporting her body. But under the overwhelming pressure of a Critical-grade, she couldn't do anything else.
Yes, Critical-grade.
Three years later, Beelzebub would be close to Critical-grade Breaker. Currently, he was a standard Critical-grade.
This is the norm on the Honkai side. Someone like Durandal reaching S-rank in just four years is the first in history; otherwise, Rita wouldn't be hailed by countless people as the limit of mortals.
However, this refers to pure training, not improvement through opportunities or external forces like Herrscher transformation or individual armaments. After all, a child with a gun can kill an adult, but that doesn't mean the former is stronger than the latter.
"Can you feel it? This power enough to crush ants!"
Beelzebub was confident in his power. He flipped his bamboo hat into the sky and laughed wildly, his messy short hair waving in the sound waves.
"If you had tucked your tail and scrambled before, this Lord might have shown mercy and spared your worthless life! Since you don't know life from death, then take your stupidity and wail forever in the depths of hell!"
He was lying. Whether Fuli ran or not, he would definitely kill him in the end.
Before entering Shenzhou, Fuli used a relatively advanced disguise method. It didn't change facial details drastically but could completely alter a person's temperament and first impression, making uninformed people unable to associate him with his original appearance.
As Sunday's biological sister, Robin had long heard of the Hyperion's deeds, which was why she could recognize the boy's disguise at a glance.
Beelzebub obviously couldn't. In his eyes, Fuli was just an unlucky guy with no background.
He might spare Robin due to fear of the Vatican's influence, but the rest, including that annoying Masked Fool—hee hee, he was going to kill them all cleanly!
As if responding to their master's mindset, the countless floating heads suddenly opened their empty sockets, their mouths splitting open to emit silent screams of pain that pierced directly into the soul.
At the same time, Beelzebub grasped at the void. A huge naginata wrapped in violent hurricanes and destructive thunder condensed out of thin air.
Filled with divine power, the naginata's size extended infinitely until it became a pillar of light connecting heaven and earth.
"Die! Hahahahaha!"
He raised both hands high and slashed down fiercely. The torrent of light destroying all phenomena tore through the atmosphere, carrying world-ending divine might as it crashed down brazenly towards Fuli and Ei, whom he held in one arm, intending to annihilate both of them along with the space itself!
Due to the dual nature, as long as Ei, the aspect of God King Baal, died, the divinity residing in her would naturally seek another host. There was no need to go through the trouble of usurping Golden Blood like before.
Unexpectedly, this strike that should have been certain death failed to achieve the effect Beelzebub imagined.
Clang——!
A crisp sound of metal clashing pierced the roar of thunder and wind.
"You seem to look down on me quite a bit."
The raised Plasma Kagehide blocked the heaven-piercing naginata, like an ant raising a toothpick to stop a crashing giant tree.
A flash of blade light. No earth-shattering explosion. The seemingly invincible wind and thunder naginata collapsed silently into wisps of breeze and wandering electric arcs like a popped bubble.
"But it doesn't matter."
Fuli's figure vanished from the spot like a ghost, his voice sounding eerily beside the enemy's ear. "Because I look down on you too."
"Wha—"
Setsuna Blade · Infernal Demon-Breaker!
Rip!
Beelzebub, his pupils shrinking abruptly, only had time to turn his body slightly before the god-speed unsheathed slash surpassing time severed one of his arms at the shoulder.
"A bit of a pity."
Standing where he was, Fuli flicked the blood off his blade, glancing sideways at the enemy panting heavily while clutching the wound in the distance.
If the opponent had reacted any slower, his head would have rolled.
"Aaah! Bastard! Impossible! You guy, why are you also Critical-grade!"
Beelzebub gritted his teeth and cursed while clutching his wound. Demon God power surged, and the flesh at the break writhed and proliferated wildly like a living thing. In the blink of an eye, a new arm had grown.
Reasonably speaking, this level of regeneration was nothing to him.
Surprisingly, that face, which had become increasingly twisted after devouring the Golden Blood, was now pale.
Setsuna Blade · Moon Hidden in Light, a new sword technique awakened after injecting the Htr modification agent, dealt mandatory percentage damage upon hitting a target.
Normally, the percentage of damage dealt would be significantly reduced when hitting higher-level enemies, and best when attacking enemies of the same or lower level.
Beelzebub's reaction was undoubtedly one from receiving an attack of the same level.
In other words, the current Fuli was officially evaluated as reaching Critical-grade.
This was a natural result. He had stated more than half a month ago that he was about to advance. After so long, if he were still stuck at A-rank Breaker, that would be the work of invisible high-dimensional hands rigging the game.
This was also why Fuli lent the Pact of Otto-Vera to Wendy. Like the fragment of the Lance of Finality, that thing was of little use to him now.
Fuli had never lost a battle between the same level. Just like now, after only two exchanges, the fellow Critical-grade Beelzebub had already been beaten to half health.
"Where's your arrogance from just now? Bring it out again for me to see?"
If it were anyone else, Fuli would never be so chatty during battle.
Beelzebub was different, and the Herrscher of Dominance was different. Fighting them, he felt uncomfortable if he didn't mock them a bit.
His movements naturally didn't lag; rather, with his clear state of mind, they became sharper.
Plasma Kagehide drew a circular trajectory in the air. A pitch-black sun appeared in front, surrounded by dark red with rising and falling light flames, looking like a solar corona.
"Setsuna Blade · Forgotten River Guard."
The moment it formed, the aspect of void erupted with terrifying gravity. Except for the little white rabbit Ei, whom Fuli kept holding with one arm, everything around was involuntarily sucked towards that pseudo-black hole that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
"Damn it!"
Beelzebub was naturally no exception. Roaring, he stabbed his feet and naginata into the earth, but was still dragged forward by the irresistible gravity.
Just before being sucked into the sword range, a hideous smile flashed across his face.
The space behind him suddenly split open, and a giant Beelzebub mouth with ghastly fangs, seemingly capable of swallowing heaven and earth, appeared out of thin air.
It emitted a suction force more terrifying than the aspect of void, attempting to swallow Fuli and Ei in his arms instead.
"Haha! Playing this trick in front of the Demon King of Gluttony, is your brain flooded—Ugh?"
Beelzebub stopped mid-sentence, his eyes instantly going blank.
This was Setsuna Blade · Boar-Deer-Butterfly, released by Fuli using the Shadow-Trailing Sword as a carrier, cutting the enemy's will and making them lose the will to fight.
A Critical-grade would only be affected for an extremely short time, but in a life-and-death struggle at close quarters, even a millisecond of stiffness was fatal.
Fuli sheathed his sword, his movements smooth and flowing.
Immediately, his body sank slightly, left foot stepping forward, and he turned into a stream of light, crossing paths with the oncoming enemy.
"Sakura · Scatter!"
As soon as the voice fell, sharp wounds dense as cherry blossoms burst open simultaneously on Beelzebub's body surface, as if cut by billions of invisible blades at the same time.
Golden blood shot out like a fountain, instantly dyeing him into a little golden man. With a thud, he fell forward to the ground with an expression of disbelief.
Behind him, the massive phantom of the Demon God also let out a roar. After fluctuating violently for a moment, it finally dissipated unwillingly.
The mythological territory was lifted, heavy rain occupied the world again, and the two returned to the unfamiliar Lianshan Cemetery.
During the battle, the negative power of the Demon God Baal had been acting on Fuli.
Like the Reality Distortion Field, the unfolded mythological territory could not only suppress the invader's moves and abilities but also create the combat environment most suitable for oneself.
If it were any other Critical-grade without similar abilities, naturally countered by the enemy, the probability of defeat would be extremely high.
Regrettably, Fuli not only had the invincible Golden Armor but also held the Stigmata of Void transferring 80% of space attribute effects, the Stigmata of Thunder ignoring 80% of thunder attribute effects, and the Stigmata of Death immune to 80% of body interference effects.
With the blessing of multiple permanent traits, the excellent home field carefully created by Beelzebub for himself became a slaughterhouse where Fuli swung his blade at him wantonly.
And since the battle is over, it's time to run.
The unfolding of the mythological territory undoubtedly sounded the highest alarm over the city. The monitoring room of the Taixu Front's Canghai Branch must be shaking with alarms right now, and the elite troops of the Anti-Honkai Administration were already on their way.
But before that—
Fuli casually threw the man, who had only one breath left, in front of Ei, who was squatting with her head in her hands.
"Kill him."
He sheathed his sword, his tone as plain as discussing what to eat for dinner.
Based on current information, Inazuma Makoto's death had nothing to do with Director Hu Tao.
Fuli wanted to say this, but he couldn't get over that hurdle in his heart.
It's too damn eerie.
Therefore, he wanted to give Ei an explanation on behalf of Kiana, such as yielding the culprit's head.
"K-Kill him?"
Ei lowered her head dazedly upon hearing this. Her pale purple eyes reflected the tall figure paralyzed in the muddy water, covered in blood, looking at her with terrified and despairing eyes.
"Yeah."
Fuli nodded, then frowned as if remembering something. "What, you don't plan to forgive him with some melodramatic mindset of 'when will retribution end', do you? Or are you worried about legal sanctions for killing? If it's the latter, you don't need to worry. In any country, stepping onto the Honkai side means giving up the rights of an ordinary person. No one will even help collect your corpse if you die on the roadside."
"N-No..."
"Then afraid of blood? Worried you're not strong enough to cut? Or lack a handy tool?"
Fuli looked around, picked up the mud-covered shovel, and stuffed it back into the girl's hands. "His abilities have been sealed by me. No need to worry about not being able to cut his head off."
Setsuna Blade: Binding Form · Rain of Four Lights. The target hit would have all energy activity in their body temporarily suppressed.
A Critical-grade in peak condition would take some effort, but in this state, Beelzebub had no chance of turning the tables.
The person involved also realized this, his look at Ei changing from terror to pleading.
"Mmph! Mmph mmph mmph!"
Tears mixed with rain and blood flowed down. His wretched appearance might actually arouse indiscriminate sympathy from some bleeding hearts.
Ei did not have any.
"Kill him?"
She held the cold shovel handle, her knuckles turning white from force, muttering to herself, "Just... kill him?"
Fuli blinked, not reacting at first.
Until he chewed over the overwhelming hatred and desire for destruction behind that sentence—suppressed to the extreme and about to erupt.
"Heh..."
A short, cheerful laugh burst from the boy's throat.
That laughter carried the surprise of discovering an unexpected treasure, the correction of his own prejudice, and the pure excitement of witnessing some power breaking out of its cocoon.
To be honest, before this, Fuli really didn't have much of a favorable impression of this girl named Inazuma Ei.
What types of women had he interacted with before?
Kiana, Mei, Durandal, Rita...
They were strong, wise, fiercely resilient, or elegantly fearless. Without exception, they all shone with some undeniable, powerful presence.
Surrounded by such a group of dazzling stars, Fuli had long formed a subconscious perception: Only by showing certain qualities can one gain my attention and recognition.
And Ei, what was her image before?
A weakling trembling in fear, unable to even speak properly.
A numb person who seemed only capable of passively accepting fate, unable to even generate the thought of resistance.
Such a person, no matter how powerful her strength and potential, Fuli would not recognize.
Like a sailor accustomed to stormy seas, facing a calm shoal, although bearing no malice, it was hard to resonate.
But now,
Just now!
When that sentence, squeezed out from the depths of her soul, suppressed to the extreme—"Just... simply kill him?"—echoed in the rain, the cowardice in those pale purple eyes receded like the tide. Replacing it was a flame of hatred hot enough to burn everything, rolling like lava before a volcanic eruption!
That wasn't physical brute force, nor the sharpness of intellect, nor the majesty of Herrscher authority.
It was a more primal, more essential, and more shocking power.
It was the bloodstained blade finally revealed by the forced-silent lamb after witnessing the slaughter of her kin!
It was the flames of revenge under a seemingly weak shell, sufficient to support her crossing the abyss of hell just to drag her enemy into eternal darkness!
So, Fuli's laughter was both an applause for this awakening of mindset and a recognition from the bottom of his heart.
He looked at Ei's back, trembling slightly from gripping the shovel too tight. There was no longer any alienation in his eyes, replaced by a burning light close to appreciation, like discovering an uncut gem.
Just kill him?
"No! Of course not!"
The boy's voice rose steeply. He suddenly opened his arms, as if conducting a grand symphony of revenge.
"Beat to death, stab to death, pounce and kill, slash to death, burn to death, crush to death, strangle to death, chop to death—however you please!"
"No limits! Do your best! Use the most painful, most cruel methods you can think of! Return every bit of pain! Every kind of despair! Every drop of blood and tears your sister suffered!"
"A hundred times! A thousand times! Ten thousand times back to him!!!"
The roar was like thunder, exploding in the rain curtain!
Almost simultaneously, ear-piercing sirens approached from afar.
Blinding searchlights tore through the rain and swept across the cemetery. Heavily armed soldiers of the Anti-Honkai Administration surged up the mountain from all directions like a black tide. Several armed helicopters hovered in mid-air, their cannon muzzles flashing with cold light!
Fuli turned abruptly, facing the Administration troops surging from down the mountain.
With one hand, he slammed the Plasma Kagehide heavily into the muddy ground, drawing a long line. The blade hummed, and invisible Honkai energy fluctuations exploded outward with him as the center, pushing away the cold rain in a circle.
"Listen, Inazuma Ei. You only have half an hour to deal with it."
His gaze was like a torch, his voice penetrating the rain and sirens, echoing clearly across the mountainside.
"But trust me, in this half hour—"
"Even if the King of Heaven comes, he won't be able to cross this red line I just drew!"