Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 165: With my broken body, I turn into a blazing fire.

Chapter 165: With my broken body, I turn into a blazing fire.

She was like a phoenix, charging relentlessly into the Forgery, engulfed in blinding flames. Her left arm, due to the severe pain, first clenched tightly, then swiftly unfolded like a pair of wings, igniting the floor and the ceiling. Bathed in flames, she threw herself at them.

The Pseudo-Humans scattered in panic, avoiding the all-encompassing storm of destruction. Four or five who were too slow to escape scrambled from their seats, their exposed skin merely touched by the sparks before their entire torsos began melting like butter, rapidly contracting and dissolving. In an instant, their muscles were charred, they collapsed to the ground, struggling briefly before burning to death in excruciating pain.

Luo Zhi, unhurried, fixed a bayonet onto his rifle, grasped it with both hands, and thrust it forward at the oncoming Qiu Ran. Her body, ablaze, was instantly pierced in the abdomen, coming to an abrupt halt.

"What’s there to panic about? She’s just at her last gasp. A human body can’t last long in flames—you all just focus on extinguishing the fire. Let me consume her," he said.

The moment Luo Zhi’s words ended, a hand was instantly placed on the rifle.

Crack.

Luo Zhi looked up, the woman’s face indistinguishable within the inferno, her remaining flesh fueling the flames that grew ever more fierce.

Qiu Ran opened her mouth but said nothing. The bayonet melted into molten iron under the intense heat; the wooden stock of the rifle ignited. Luo Zhi’s pupils contracted as he hastily dropped the bayonet and retreated two steps, picking up a fire axe from the ground. Intending to turn around, he swung the axe handle with full force in an upward motion, aiming a clean cut at her remaining left arm.

Crack—

Li Aozi ripped open The Gate, barely stepping through, when Qiu Ran’s left arm flew high and landed in front of him.

Without an arm, Qiu Ran’s body lost balance, her movements became even more staggered. Luo Zhi weighed the axe, once again swinging it in preparation to smash down on Qiu Ran’s neck.

Thwack!

The fire axe struck her right shoulder. Qiu Ran’s figure stumbled, and no matter how hard she tried, she could no longer approach him.

Luo Zhi, maintaining his composure, smiled and in a voice identical to his own, said,

"Now, you won’t be able to advance any further—"

Before he finished, the sharp axe melted rapidly. The molten iron flowed down Qiu Ran’s shoulder, the cut cauterized by the intense heat, stopping the bleeding. Her pupils had merged with the flames, no longer capable of seeing clearly, but the axe handle was already alight.

Luo Zhi’s hands were scalded by the transmitted heat, forcing him to release the axe handle. The next moment, Qiu Ran slammed into the chest of her doppelgänger Pseudo-Human.

Bang!

Her vocal cords had been seared by the flames, and as she moved forward, the fire spread rapidly. One by one, the Pseudo-Humans ignited merely by getting close, the heat burning holes through the train’s ceiling; seats and wooden floorboards caught the surging flames. They screamed and fled backward, but they forgot that with the train moving at high speed, the wind too rushed from behind.

Luo Zhi’s pupils shrank. His body caught fire, powerless to stop the headlong charge of Qiu Ran. Now armless, Qiu Ran blindly surged forward, pushing his body into a supply carriage filled with all kinds of flammable materials.

Boom—

The swift combustion turned into an explosion, and the shockwave flipped Li Aozi to the ground.

The flames spread rapidly, separating Qiu Ran and Li Aozi with a sea of fire.

Li Aozi lay on the ground, staggering to his feet.

He had picked up Qiu Ran’s severed hand at the first opportunity, disregarding the scorching heat that burned his own palm, and extended his Neural Tentacles to extract Qiu Ran’s Arcane Energy with the Power Pod.

If Qiu Ran were to lose her Arcane Energy, then the flames she had ignited should also stop—most Arcane Energy effects could be halted by stripping the energy or killing the host.

It was the only way; perhaps there was a chance to stop it.

The Neural Tentacles were singed by the high temperatures, but what was that pain compared to the urgency? As he kept extracting, he finally heard the sound he’d been longing for—

[Supernatural Capsule Activation]

[Arcane Energy extracted from target]: [Spontaneous Combustion]

Rating: Omicron (Ο, the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet)

[Active Effect]:

Mode One: Purify Filth: Consume Arcane Energy to grant ’Accelerated Oxidation’ effects to any theoretically combustible objects you designate, with your palm as the center. This ignores the surrounding oxygen deficiency, forcibly generating high temperatures.

If the target is a living creature, it is granted ’Burning State,’ suffering magic damage equal to 7% of its current maximum Health Points every second and receiving a corresponding slowdown effect based on its Will attributes.

When the target is a carbon-based lifeform, magic damage is converted to true damage.

Mode Two: Cleansing Humanity: Instantly consume 50% of your Arcane Energy to create an area of extreme high temperature and pressure in front of you, covering 10×10 cubic meters, resulting in substantial magic damage and secondary physical damage.

After the field lasts for five seconds, all oxygen within it will be completely depleted, with parts of the ground turning into ’molten terrain,’ lasting up to 40 minutes.

If life forms with Constitution lower than 10 points are within it, regardless of other attribute assessments, they are instantly granted [Incineration];

[Incineration]: In this status, the recovery of life is forbidden, and 10 points of Constitution are permanently stripped away.

Note: Targets that die due to Incineration will have their corpses turned to ashes, and their bodies are prohibited from resurrection.

Note: This status will cause true damage to the Undead Clan and carbon-based life forms.

"You should live on like a fire, enduring the long night, never extinguishing."

High temperatures and flame-based Arcane Energy always possess immense destructive power, yet those who employ them are often gentle and friendly.

Just like elephants, whales, and other creatures that boast massive size and infinite strength but have a mild and approachable nature.

The flames in the carriage gradually extinguished. Li Aozi, dragging his long sword, hurried forward. Along the way, he continuously saw the ground melted into pools of black tar, with a few hard fragments remaining.

The corrupt, pungent stench of burning filled the air, like rotten eggs boiled in water, fierce and sharp against the eyes and nose, immediately stimulating tear glands to secrete tears to calm the fiery pain.

At his feet, half-dead sludge occasionally wriggled toward him. These scorched Pseudo-Humans could no longer use their camouflage ability. Before they could struggle a few times, they collapsed on the ground, disintegrating into scattered debris.

"Qiu Ran... Qiu Ran..."

As Li Aozi walked to the middle of the carriage, the explosion had all but destroyed everything around him. The windows were shattered, and the fierce wind constantly surged in, bringing with it swirling white snow and sand.

There was no sign of life here. Neither Pseudo-Humans nor living people could have survived the explosion. The wind whistled through the torn windows and crevices, emitting a piercing shriek like the cries of evil ghosts. But he still did not give up hope, flipping over the overturned and broken seats and cabinets, his gaze sweeping over every corner.

Finally, when he reached the end of the carriage, he saw a figure kneeling on the ground.

Qiu Ran was kneeling, her body charred by the fire.

"Qiu Ran!"

Li Aozi rushed forward, a surge of intense elation swelling in his heart. He dropped his weapon, elation releasing the pressure inside him in an instant. Forgetting caution and care, he slid ungracefully to his knees and reached out to help her up.

Crack—

As soon as his palm touched the charred body, Qiu Ran’s form instantly crumbled and collapsed. The fierce wind swirled, and immediately, the carriage was filled with gray ash.

Li Aozi opened the palms of his hands, both stained with the black ash.

—That wasn’t snow; it was the ashes of completely burnt remains.

The fire took away Qiu Ran’s life, and the wind took the fragments of her body, mingling them with the frost snow, scattering them between heaven and earth.