Volume Two: The Youth of a Thousand Masks—Truth in Disguise Chapter Seventy-Five: Shattered and Broken

“Found it. This is the spatial node.” Guided by her spatial powers, Luli Kazama located the node. It was at the site of an old shopping mall, on the first floor.

“This place is crisscrossed with access. If we try to destroy it, we might get interrupted,” Jiang Feng remarked, glancing around.

Kazama nodded. “I’ll have to use my powers to attack it bit by bit. It’ll take about fifteen minutes.” As she spoke, she extended her palm and began to channel her energy toward the node.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t notice us,” Jiang Feng said.

No sooner had he spoken than a thunderous crash echoed out—a wall collapsed, and out of the dust strode a dull-eyed copy of Curran, roaring like a beast driven by instinct. The rubble, already precarious, began to rain down from the ceiling with each reverberation of the power in his voice.

Kazama’s mouth twitched. “Jiang Feng, are you a jinx?”

“I wish I weren’t!” Jiang Feng replied helplessly. He sighed, drew his long blade from its sheath, sweat beading on his brow. “Focus on breaking the node. I’ll try not to die.”

It should have been a heroic gesture, but the words he chose made him sound more like a coward, rather spoiling the moment.

Though this was only a copy, Curran’s main body had left behind enough of its instincts to make him recognize the threat Kazama posed at the node. He charged straight at her.

Jiang Feng swallowed hard and exhaled sharply. Here it came—he had to stop him. Gripping his blade with both hands, he readied himself. Unlike Hoya, whose twin-bladed attacks were all aggression, Jiang Feng’s single-bladed style was about stability. He lacked Hoya’s raw force and daring, but he excelled at analysis.

“His charge is powerful; I can’t block it head-on. My blade’s neither sharp enough, nor are my powers strong enough—I probably can’t even cut through his body. Only the boss, that monster, could hack an ultimate form like this to pieces in an instant. My job is to break his charge. Where’s his weakness? When charging, his body pitches forward—he must be off-balance!”

With resolve, Jiang Feng rushed forward as well. He needed strength and speed to make an impact. As the two were about to collide, Jiang Feng suddenly leaned back and slid low—a daring slide tackle.

Mist Slash!

Wind energy gathered around his blade like a billowing cloud. The powerful edge, redirected by the slide, swept down and struck at Curran’s legs.

Clang!

The clash rang out like metal on metal. Sparks flashed off the blade—his defenses were indeed formidable. Jiang Feng hadn’t severed Curran’s legs, but it was enough.

The cloud-mist power clung to Curran’s legs, yanking them forcefully as the blade made contact. Curran’s upper body lunged forward, but his legs were swept out from under him; he crashed face-first to the ground.

He did it! Jiang Feng rejoiced. He scrambled to his feet and shouted, “Hey! Picking on a girl? Why don’t you try me first, you one-horned idiot!”

His trembling voice carried little weight, but the copy, lacking intelligence, was nonetheless infuriated by his taunt. Abandoning Kazama, he charged at Jiang Feng instead.

“Oh no! I’ve overdone it!” Jiang Feng sheathed his blade and bolted, shouting back, “Don’t worry about me—keep smashing the node! Once you break the space I’ll be safe! I really do need the boss to protect me!”

“Can’t you stay cool for just a bit longer?” Kazama sighed.

Jiang Feng would have liked to keep up the act, but his strength simply didn’t allow it.

Curran’s charge was fast, but just as Alice could easily dodge and toy with her opponents, Jiang Feng could stay safe as long as he kept moving.

He felt like a magnet for danger—was a few words really worth this much trouble? Wasn’t the boss supposed to tank?

He dashed upstairs, using every bit of terrain to his advantage, turning the pursuit into a game of parkour, making Curran look like a clumsy ape.

“Haah, haah, Kazama, are you done yet? I can’t keep this up!” Though he’d managed to avoid being hit, Jiang Feng was exhausted. The team’s third-strongest member was busy breaking the node, and as the weakest, he’d already lasted an impressive amount of time.

“Almost there, just hang on!” she called.

“I…I can’t…hold it any longer!” He came to a halt, wiped sweat from his face, and drew his blade. “Damn it, not running anymore. Live or die, let’s do this!”

Just as his feeble strike was about to land on Curran, a sound like shattering glass rang out—the world itself fractured.

Alice and Reilimi, having confirmed they had indeed killed Curran, found the world had not vanished. Instead, it was again just the two of them.

“Wow, Reilimi, your bomb was really powerful!” Alice exclaimed, staring at the gaping crater.

“It was all right. My storage box is nearly empty. If that hadn’t worked, I’d have had to admit defeat,” Reilimi replied.

“Hey, did you hear something break just now?” Alice asked.

Before Reilimi could answer, their world began to collapse. The three pocket worlds were interconnected—destroying any spatial node triggered a chain reaction.

Hoya had already regained consciousness. Using a knife, he cut away his overgrown hair—styling was out of the question. Hoya was talented, but barbering was not among his skills; his hair now looked as if it had been chewed by a dog.

“I can’t believe this. We went through all that trouble to kill the guy, and we still can’t get out?” He injected himself with an energy shot—he always carried hundreds. If not for the limits of physical storage, he would have used them all before every battle.

“Let’s keep looking. There might be another way out,” Yudie Shangguan encouraged.

A crisp sound echoed—the last pocket world met its end.

The six were returned to the original world. To Hoya’s surprise, he was the only one injured. Where was his dignity as president? Where was his pride?

“Well done, everyone. Not a single part missing,” said one of Hoya’s “spare parts.”

But before he could react, Jiang Feng rushed over and clung to him, wailing, “Boss, I’ve had such a rough time! I held off that ultimate form for fifteen minutes all by myself—my legs are about to break! Thank goodness Kazama broke the node in the end, or I’d really be done for!”

Hoya was at a loss. How on earth was he supposed to comfort a bawling man? With gentle words? That felt a bit off.

“All right, all right, stop crying. You’re getting snot all over me!” was all he could say.