"How many times has the Black Smoke gathered now?" A cold, middle-aged man in purple daimyo attire stepped onto the city wall, observing the mythical battle that had been raging for a day and a night.
"Lord Kaneshiro, the Black Smoke has been killed eleven times by those two divine beings, but Kabane are gathering from all directions. We don't know how many Kabane are around Xianjin Station anymore."
"We've been surrounded by Kabane!"
The samurai reported to the middle-aged man, his voice trembling.
"My concern is whether the battle over there will affect Xianjin Station, and if it does, whether the Kōtetsujō can break through the Kabane encirclement and leave."
Kaneshiro Yokawa said with a heavy voice.
If the Black Smoke were to come towards Xianjin Station, Xianjin Station certainly wouldn't be able to hold.
Moreover, that Black Smoke was too bizarre.
Originally, the Black Smoke would only form a nest when a large number of Kabane gathered, giving birth to a core. This core would then gather and devour all surrounding Kabane and humans, becoming a fused monster.
However, even after those two divine beings, who descended from the heavens, had slain the Black Smoke's core eleven times, the Black Smoke still persisted.
The Black Smoke shouldn't have appeared in the first place, and it's acting so abnormally.
And the mythical power displayed by the two divine beings.
What has happened to the world? Why are so many Kabane gathering together, trying to kill those two divine beings? What are the Kabane collectively afraid of?
"Gods?" A young girl in a red kimono, playing with a handball, blinked her eyes as she watched the distant battle: "Why—I feel, my heart hurts so much?"
The young girl covered her chest with her palm, and faint, almost imperceptible light seeped out from her clothes.
"It's as if something in my head is telling me, I must kill them?
"Miss Mumei, are you feeling unwell?" A gentle young girl in a light pink dress noticed the guest her father had invited, who was beside her.
Her father said that the other party had an unusual background, seemingly connected to the Shogunate.
"I'm fine, Miss Ayame, I feel like something big is about to happen. I feel that if those two divine beings are killed, the Black Smoke will definitely come towards Xianjin Station."
Ayame Yomogawa clasped her hands over her chest, anxiously watching the two figures who had been fighting for a day and a night.
"The two divine beings who came from the sky, you must win."
Those two divine beings must have descended from the heavens to save people.
At this moment, a young steam mechanic stealthily climbed onto the top of the city wall.
"How amazing! If only I could, no, if only I had even a little bit of that power, I would kill the Kabane, kill all the Kabane."
"Ikoma—hurry down! If you get caught, the samurai will beat you." A chubby boy whispered.
"I'll watch a little longer, I finally found a chance to climb up."
"What did you see?" The chubby boy asked in a low voice.
"Corpses, so many Kabane corpses, and huge, pitch-black monsters."
"Just as the samurai said, those two divine beings are so powerful. That monster keeps getting shattered and then recovering."
"Roar, roar, roar, roar—"
Piercing roars accompanied by light appeared. A distorted air cannon emerged from the Black Smoke's mouth, aimed directly at Xianjin Station.
The young boy who had secretly climbed onto the city wall was instantly shaken off by the aftershock and fell.
"Ahhh—"
"Flame Breathing! Ninth Form, Esoteric Art · Purgatory—"
A dragon made of flames charged towards the heart of the colossal monster formed by a multitude of Kabane.
Rumble!
The monster was shattered in just one second of stalemate, revealing the 'Kabane' that served as its core. The fire dragon directly devoured this Kabane.
The flames, so hot they could melt steel in a single breath, incinerated the 'Kabane' to ash in less than two seconds.
The Black Smoke, having lost its 'core', instantly collapsed, transforming back into individual ordinary Kabane. These Kabane roared and surged towards the two individuals.
As far as the eye could see, the ground, stretching far into the distance, was covered with a layer of Kabane minced meat, but countless crimson eyes still appeared from all directions, and the roaring sounds formed a cacophony that drowned out all other noise.
Sanemi Shinazugawa gasped, gripping his nichirin blade, which was full of nicks: "Hey, hey! How many times will this disgusting thing revive! How many more of those glowing-hearted monsters are there!"
"I only have two nichirin blades left."
"Healing potions and stamina potions are also used up. If this continues, we two will fall here, Kyojuro!"
Kyojuro Rengoku glanced out of the corner of his eye at Xianjin Station, which was not very far, only less than two thousand meters away.
"But if we leave, so many Kabane and the Black Smoke will surely turn that city into hell. Everyone in the entire city will either be eaten or turn into Kabane."
"I cannot do that."
He and Shinazugawa could leave directly, but if they did, everyone in the entire city would die, and he absolutely would not allow it.
Even if it meant death, he would fight to the last moment.
"Shinazugawa, you leave. It's regrettable that I just arrived in this world and will fall here before I even began to act.
Sanemi Shinazugawa was enraged: "Kyojuro Rengoku, what kind of joke are you making, telling me to run away?"
Purgatory Anjuro shook his head: "It's not escaping, but rather to better help more people."
Sanemi Shinazugawa watched as the Kabane began to gather again, forming a small mountain; the Black Smoke was about to reappear.
He and Kyojuro had just descended from the sky, and within minutes of landing, an endless stream of Kabane had surged from all directions.
Originally, he and Kyojuro had intended to lure these Kabane away.
But as soon as they tried, some Kabane rushed towards Xianjin Station.
There was nothing they could do; they were stuck there.
"Tch, if we're going to die, we'll die together. It's just that I won't be able to explain it to Lord Xia Wei."
They didn't know that at this moment, Xia Wei was in the sky directly above them.
"What do you mean? Targeting me?"
Xia Wei's face was cold as he spread his divine sense.
The world will is everywhere; as long as one releases divine sense, communication is naturally possible, provided the world will is willing to communicate with you.
Waves of will squeezed in from all directions.
The general meaning was: foreign Gods, leave; this world does not welcome you, nor does it need you.
"Hmm?" Xia Wei couldn't help but widen his eyes as he felt the will fluctuations, finding it incredible.
"This will—it's actually biased towards monsters like Kabane?"
"Are you crazy? Not favoring humans, but favoring living corpses made from humans?"
Xia Wei frowned, instantly realizing why this world held such strong hostility towards the Gods.
He was biased towards humans, or intelligent humanoid life. In his view, humanoid and beautiful races were those he liked, and thus also part of the will of the Gods.
The world will is biased towards Kabane, wanting to gradually turn all humans into Kabane.
"So it wants to turn all humans into Kabane, and then evolve 'new humans' from Kabane to advance the world to 'First Order'."
Xia Wei sneered: "If it were before, I might have just taken the good humans away and abandoned this world."
"But you have already shown such great malice towards me and my dependents."
"Therefore, I have decided to replace you, this 'world will'."