Heroines, I'm Really not the Devourer
Chapter 61: Why do I feel like something’s missing?

Chapter 61: Why do I feel like something’s missing?

Qing Long felt a chill run down his spine. He knew that if he let Wukong unleash his full power, he wouldn’t walk away alive. This battle, meant to be a clash between the younger generation, risked escalating into a conflict between great powers if his aunt decided to intervene. He had no choice. He had to go all in.

His opponent was arrogant, convinced of his superiority. He openly despised him.

*’Could I exploit this weakness?’*

Even if he couldn’t fully wield his law yet, he still had one card left.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The power of [Bone of Transcendence] allowed him to push his state beyond its limits for a few precious seconds. Enough, perhaps, to turn the tide.

His palms clenched, and a blinding light burst from his hands. Two contradictory energies swirled within, dancing in perfect harmony.

"Embody the balance of forces with the sun and moon in your azure claws. The Arbiter of Dharma," he whispered.

On his forehead, a Yin-Yang symbol lit up, pulsing with an ancient, deep rhythm.

Wukong furrowed his brow. He lunged forward, his staff ready to strike.

Time seemed to slow.

*Eight Trigrams: Qian*

Qing Long released the energy stored in his palms. A swirling vortex of pure white and abyssal black rose around him, merging the opposing forces of sun and moon. His body spun in this celestial Qi storm, tracing a deadly path toward his opponent.

For a moment, he thought he had struck Wukong.

But just as his attack was about to engulf him, crimson lightning erupted around the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

Instantly, Wukong moved with inhuman speed, his body blurring, untouchable. He gripped his staff with disconcerting fluidity, twirling it before smiling triumphantly.

"You thought it was impossible to dodge an attack that slows your target and covers a wide area?" His voice was calm, almost amused.

Qing Long’s heart sank.

Wukong stood motionless at the center of the energy maelstrom, spinning his crackling staff, his expression still relaxed.

"Too bad for you," he continued. "My law just happens to... make the impossible possible."

His staff expanded in a fraction of a second, reaching a titanic size. With a fluid motion, he hurled it with monstrous force.

The weapon, imbued with purple lightning, pierced through Qing Long’s attack as if it were a mirage. The energy split in two, unable to resist Wukong’s power.

The staff hurtled toward Qing Long.

Disarmed and defenseless, he watched the weapon come straight at him.

The next instant, a golden hand shot out and violently pulled him to the side.

Qing Long tumbled to the ground, his breath knocked out.

He looked up, his gaze meeting that of the figure who had just saved him.

"Huh?"

***

**POV: BaiShe**

The red sky.

The crimson sand.

A sea of blood stretching endlessly.

"Where the hell am I?"

My chest ached terribly, and when I looked down, I saw something strange. My torso was cracked, almost translucent, and at its center gleamed a symbol... an inverted cross.

"This mark... I feel like it means something to me."

A fracture.

A sinister sound echoed as the world around me tore apart like shattered glass. Before I could react, an invisible force violently sucked me into a vortex of green mist.

My skin burned, my bones felt twisted under unbearable pressure. I sensed something strange, a corruption seeping into my soul. Yet, after the initial rejection, a sudden familiarity overwhelmed me.

Floating in this hell of corrosive mist, I turned and saw below a sea with a boiling surface. Something lay dormant there. I slowly brought my face closer and leaned over the water.

What I saw made me doubt my own mind.

Long black hair.

Green scales along my neck.

And that symbol on my forehead...

An Omega.

*’Where did this appearance come from?’*

"...Wait, who am I?"

Sounds echoed around me, disjointed voices, broken, as if from different worlds.

"Jorm... Tsu... Eth... Linf... Bai...?"

Why were these names so familiar, yet so distant?

I raised my trembling hand to touch the symbol etched into my flesh.

*Aaaaaaarrrrhh*

A scream tore through my throat.

Excruciating pain exploded in my skull, as if thousands of needles were piercing my brain.

I felt something crawl up my left arm. Instinctively, I tried to tear it off, but a new, searing pain shot through my right palm. A moment later, a terrifying sensation gripped my back, as if my spine wanted to rip out of my flesh.

My heart raced, a burning fire in my chest.

"What’s happening?!"

My head was going to explode.

All around me, the world fractured, changing at a terrifying speed.

A flowering hill, covered with swords planted in the ground.

An endless starry sky where celestial bodies collided in cosmic chaos.

Then again, a sea of blood.

The corrosive green mist swirled around me.

Stars stretched to infinity.

Swords planted in red sand.

Everything overlapped, everything blended.

"Aaaahhhh!"

"My head!"

"I’m going insane."

***

"Kuh-"

I jolted awake, gasping.

The gilded, sculpted ceiling above me immediately told me where I was.

"My room..."

My gaze remained fixed on the luxurious ceiling as my breathing gradually calmed.

"That was one fucked-up dream..." I muttered to myself.

*’I even forgot who I was, just for a moment.’*

Using this law was far too dangerous at my level. I sighed, relaxing as my thoughts grew clearer.

But something was wrong...

"Wait... Shouldn’t I be in the ruins?!"

"I see you’re awake."

A female voice caught my attention. I turned my head to the side.

"...Ling’er?"

She was sitting beside the bed. When she saw me awake, she stood with an indifferent air, but her gaze gleamed with icy contempt.

"Don’t expect me to thank you."

She tossed a small flask of elixir at me.

I tried to catch it, but the searing pain that shot through my body prevented a smooth motion. That’s when I noticed the tight bandages on my chest and the unbearable soreness in all my muscles.

’ Why do I feel like something’s missing?’