"Fang Lian, a horn just grew out of your head."
At that moment, his comrade across from him spoke with some surprise.
"A horn?"
He froze for a moment, then touched his forehead. Sure enough, he felt something protruding.
"Who would've thought you could awaken an ability at a time like this?"
His commanding officer appeared beside him, not particularly surprised.
It was just an ability, after all.
"Tell me—can you continue fighting?"
"Yes, sir!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he shouted loudly.
"Good."
The officer nodded with satisfaction.
Compared to ability awakening, what mattered most right now was defending the city's perimeter—preventing even a single mutant beast from entering the city and harming the citizens within.
At the same time, deep in the wilderness outside Cloud City—
Before the Spiritual Energy Revival, this had been a road leading to other cities—extremely flat.
After the Spiritual Energy Revival, no plants had grown over it. It maintained its pre-Revival appearance.
Interestingly, though humans no longer traveled this concrete road due to mutant beasts, the mutant beasts themselves had grown fond of the flat path.
Even powerfully strong mutant beasts wouldn't exert their strength here to damage this road.
If any section was damaged, mutant beasts that had awakened earth-type abilities would proactively repair it.
And here, at this very place—a person stood.
To be precise—a man dressed in traditional clothing. He wore a flowing white robe. Though the fabric wasn't of the highest quality, it was spotlessly clean and pristine, making him appear untouched by worldly dust. A jade pendant hung at his waist—equally translucent and crystalline. He looked like a young master from an aristocratic family.
Interestingly, a sword was strapped to his back.
No excess decoration. Just a sharp longsword.
"A swordsman really does need to wear traditional clothing."
"When the breeze blows and your hair floats slightly, then the sword light flashes—isn't that way cooler than wearing modern clothes?"
"Not quite accurate. It's mainly because I'm rather handsome. Other people couldn't pull off this feeling."
His gentle voice spoke absurd words—even somewhat narcissistic.
This situation didn't last long. He slowly looked at the different species of mutant beasts gathering ahead, placed his right hand on the sword hilt behind him, and slowly drew the blade. The sharp sword light was extremely dazzling under the sunlight.
"RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE..."
Tens of thousands of mutant beasts ran continuously. Under their tremendous force, even the ground trembled slightly.
Chu Han gripped the sword hilt and watched these mutant beasts with cold indifference. Then he withdrew a peculiar card from his chest.
On the card was a strange image—a longsword bound by countless chains, with a star engraved on each side and a moon below.
He closed his eyes slightly, tossed the card into the air, and swung the longsword in his hand through several flourishes. His mouth chanted:
"O Clow Card concealing the mysteries of the sword's power, reveal your true strength before me!"
"Seal, release!"
The instant his words fell, he thrust the blade sharply toward the card's center. In that moment, the Clow Card radiated incomparably dazzling brilliance.
The Clow Card—The Sword.
It symbolized the quest for truth, retribution, and sometimes destructive power.
Feeling the longsword seemingly merge with his very being, Chu Han's face couldn't help but show a smile.
This sensation—this feeling of the sword being an extension of his own body—was truly wonderful.
This was also the power he needed most.
As a Beast-Type Tyrannosaurus ability user, he possessed terrifyingly formidable physical capabilities. His talent was also extremely powerful—even within the Spiritual Energy Bureau, he qualified as Second Sequence.
Following the normal trajectory, he should have joined the Spiritual Energy Bureau to realize his life's value.
Until—while buying something at a street stall—he discovered this brooch.
The seller said he'd found it in the wilderness. Since it looked decent, he'd decided to sell it.
He'd even joked with Chu Han about suspecting it might be something precious.
He'd burned it with fire, soaked it in water, even struck it with lightning-type abilities—but nothing happened.
Blood binding was the first thing he'd tried. Completely useless.
This was probably just a simple brooch. Either that, or he lacked the karmic connection.
If Chu Han wanted it, he'd sell it cheap.
So he'd bought it. He didn't even know why he'd bought it.
Clearly, judging by the brooch's appearance, it was more suitable for women.
Originally, he'd just set it aside. But on a whim, for some unknown reason, he'd wanted to wear it and see how it looked—and then his spirit was invaded by an external force?!
He'd even fought a battle with that sword in his mind. What appeared was a woman wielding a sword. Though stronger than ordinary people, her strength was limited. Anyway, she wasn't as strong as him—but her technique utterly destroyed him.
If not for his body getting stabbed with seven or eight holes, at which point his heart hardened and he thought "stab however you want"—then directly seized her sword—he probably wouldn't have won.
Just absurdly ridiculous.
Him—a Second Sequence Tyrannosaurus ability user, an extraordinary individual—injured to this extent.
It seemed like more than just technique. That thing possessed other powers too.
After winning, when he woke up, this strange card had appeared on his stomach.
Then through browser searches, he'd found the card's origin—an anime.
Cardcaptor Sakura.
The Sword Card from among the Clow Cards.
Though it was a magical girl series, he'd watched it with great interest.
He'd even ordered a magic wand online, planning to play around with the incantation.
However, he still had some shame. He knew that playing with it at home was fine, but doing so outside would definitely be embarrassing. To disguise it, he'd specifically bought a sword.
The Sword Card, after all—not using a sword definitely wouldn't work.
Combined with his powerful physique amplified by his ability, he was confident facing any enemy.
The memories flashed through his mind in an instant. Chu Han gripped the longsword and looked coolly at the mutant beast horde ahead.
"Come."
"Meow~~"
A black shadow flashed past. Beneath the cute meow and adorable appearance were cruel, emotionless claws.
The next second—
"SLASH!"
A silver light flashed through the air. The black shadow was directly severed in two mid-flight.
"As long as I believe I can cut it, then nothing under heaven exists that I cannot cut."
"No enemy cannot be cut. Nothing cannot be severed."
"This is the Sword Card!"
The blood scent spreading through the air made his body somewhat excited. His Tyrannosaurus ability activated unconsciously. His body's surface was covered by a layer of cyan-black scales.
"Die!"
Between First Sequence and Second Sequence existed an unimaginable gap.
The most critical point was that any First Sequence powerhouse possessed the ability to protect an entire city single-handedly!
Even against a Beast Tide—as long as the enemy lacked mutant beasts of equal rank—they could resolve it alone in a short time.
But Second Sequence couldn't. Even against merely weak mutant beasts, wanting to eliminate them alone required an extremely long time—might even be impossible. They could die from exhaustion of stamina and spiritual energy.
However, he now possessed such capability.
(End of Chapter)