"Meeeooww—!!"
A sharp, piercing cat cry, like a child's weeping, exploded across the flat ground.
At the former red rock location.
A giant beast erupted from the earth!!
The beast stood over three meters tall, its entire body covered in ink-black colouration, with powerful quadrupedal limbs treading deep purple flames - proof of highly concentrated magical power burning beneath its feet.
As the magical power burned, three pairs of black demonic wings extended from the beast's back.
Additionally, pure white tail flames flickered from its black cat tail that forked into two tips at the end.
Cat yokai!
Even among feline yokai, this was a rare upper-tier yokai race, naturally possessing strong talents in demonic arts, immortal arts, and barrier techniques. Upon reaching adulthood, they could wield power comparable to Hero Rank, truly a natural-born Great Yokai.
As a mixed blood of yokai, demon, and human, Kuroka had surpassed the limits of any single race. After complete yokai transformation, she possessed power that could rival the Underworld's Satans.
Almost simultaneously with that piercing, sharp cry, a giant claw burning with deep purple flames tore through the air, unleashing a massive conical energy mass that violently slammed toward Luo Shu.
In that instant, Luo Shu appeared to be struck directly by the giant claw, and deafening explosions erupted.
"Meeow?!!"
Kuroka, who had unleashed this attack, sensed something was wrong. Her pupils instantly narrowed to slits as she stared in shock at the human beneath her palm.
At that moment, Luo Shu's right hand gently patted the collar of his short-sleeved shirt, brushing off non-existent dust there.
Meanwhile, his left hand was slightly bent, blocking the giant beast claw striking from the left, effortlessly intercepting the attack without even shifting his footing.
"The force is considered upper-tier among Great Yokai. Beyond that, you actually mixed three fundamentally different powers - demon power, immortal power, and magical power - concentrating them for explosive release to achieve greater destructive force."
"I must say, this is quite an interesting concept!"
Luo Shu slightly raised the corners of his mouth, lifting his gaze to look with amusement at the astonished giant cat face:
"However, it's too disorderly."
"Whether it's demon power, immortal power, or magical power, you haven't grasped the most essential aspects of any."
"What difference is there between such an attack and a gentle breeze?"
As Luo Shu's words fell, the completely yokai-transformed Kuroka's fur bristled entirely. Almost without hesitation, she opened her mouth and spewed forth the demon poison she had accumulated over time in a breath attack!!
After expelling the demon poison, she immediately flashed backwards in retreat, while the immortal art clone she had separated earlier tacitly leapt high into the air at that moment, its entire body covered with pale purple technique patterns.
As it turned out, before fully transforming into a yokai, Kuroka had transferred the long-prepared spatial teleportation technique to the decoy that had been covering for her main body, allowing it to continue drawing the technique. Seizing the moment she attacked Luo Shu, she completed it, thus preemptively preparing an escape route.
For Kuroka—a former test subject kept by the demon nobility of the Naberius family, who had slain a demon lord in rebellion and was now hunted by the demons of the Underworld—such complex technique manipulation was almost instinctive.
Even if the technique completed this way couldn't precisely control the teleportation destination, facing Luo Shu, a powerful enemy of unknown origins, and realising after a brief probe that she was no match for him, Kuroka naturally chose to flee.
Even though she knew Luo Shu likely held her sister's life in his hands, it made no difference.
After all, only by staying alive could she find a chance to rescue her sister.
The pale purple technique instantly unfolded, enveloping Kuroka's surroundings.
In the blink of an eye, Kuroka's figure vanished into thin air.
Witnessing this, Luo Shu merely wore a faint smile, bent his wrist, and silently extended his hands, counting down:
"3, 2, 1!"
The moment he reached "1," Kuroka, who had already reverted to her human form, plummeted from the sky, landing perfectly in Luo Shu's outstretched arms.
Instantly, Kuroka's expression, which had just been relieved at her narrow escape, froze in disbelief as she stammered:
"How could this be..."
Facing Kuroka's confusion, Luo Shu replied with a feigned smile:
"I'm not particularly skilled at manipulating space, but I can certainly bestow you with enough misfortune."
The core ability of the Child of Apocalypse, Apocalypse, somewhat resembles the manipulation of fate.
Such power could not only bestow others with certain death but also grant them sufficiently unlucky, yet non-lethal, misfortune.
And just now, the moment Kuroka attempted to escape, Luo Shu had bestowed upon her the misfortune of falling right into his arms.
Against beings incapable of grasping concepts, such a minor trick was almost guaranteed to succeed. As the target, Kuroka had no means of resistance whatsoever.
"The ability to manipulate luck..." Kuroka immediately grasped the key upon hearing this and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile: "What a cheat-like ability, meow~"
In response to Kuroka's cutesy trailing tone, Luo Shu simply smiled and said:
"Well then, this beautiful cat yokai lady, from now on, you are my captive."
As he spoke, Luo Shu switched to his left hand, holding Kuroka's slender waist with a single arm, while his right hand now held a deep red leather collar, which he gently waved before Kuroka.
"I suppose Miss Kitty will obediently wear this amusing little accessory?"
Seeing the collar in Luo Shu's hand, Kuroka's expression froze for an instant.
As a cat yokai with keen perception, she could clearly sense a particular power attached to the collar.
But precisely because she sensed it, she now felt so awkward.
However...
Kuroka glanced at the collar, then at Luo Shu's smiling face, and finally resignedly took the collar, unfastened it, and proactively fastened it around her own slender neck.
Seeing the cat willingly fall into the trap, Luo Shu released Kuroka, letting her drop to the ground, then turned his head to survey their surroundings:
"The mischievous one has been dealt with, so next is the real business."
At this, Luo Shu narrowed his eyes, gazing towards the eastern direction.
Just then, Sun Seto, beside him, frowned and said:
"It seems like something is coming?"
Hearing this, Kuroka, now wearing the collar, looked in the direction the two were watching and immediately saw a greyish-white line appear on the distant red earth.
As the greyish-white line drew closer, Kuroka realised it wasn't a line at all, but a massive wave composed of vast amounts of greyish-white water.
A wave of this scale... Kuroka's expression twitched, her charming face full of speechlessness and disgust:
"No way, how can there be a tsunami in a place like this————!!!!"