"Bear with it; this is going to hurt a lot."
Extreme Evil Method: Annihilate Water Light!
In his first clash with the "transformed" Ryan, Tartaglia used the double-headed spear, formed by combining his twin blades, to deliver a horizontal slash towards Ryan, simultaneously activating the Riptide Mark.
Although Ryan blocked Tartaglia's slash with his measuring heaven ruler, the previous Riptide Mark exploded on his chest, cutting a circle around his body like a sharp blade, tearing Ryan's clothes.
"It doesn't hurt!"
After speaking, Ryan used the extra arms that grew from his armpits to grab Tartaglia's weapon, while his original two hands held the golden jiao scissors and thrust them towards Tartaglia's chest.
"It actually hurts a lot, doesn't it? Don't be so stubborn..."
The head on Ryan's left-rear side grimaced in pain, retorting Ryan's words.
"The force is acceptable."
Tartaglia, at some unknown point, had conjured a water shield, blocking the golden jiao scissors that Ryan thrust forward.
"Hmm...?"
However, Ryan then exerted more force, and Tartaglia's water shield was directly pierced, the sharp scissors pointing straight at his heart.
Tartaglia immediately released his grabbed weapon and gripped the incoming scissors with both hands.
Subsequently, purple electricity spread from his hands along the scissors towards Ryan.
"..."
Seeing that the attack failed and Tartaglia was counter-attacking with Electro element power, Ryan immediately used the connection of immortal arts to make the purple four-armed phantom attack.
Feeling the threat approaching, Tartaglia slightly tilted his head and happened to see a fist coming straight at him.
Why is it slower than before, and even the element power is much weaker... Bang—!
Tartaglia released the scissors, crossed his arms, and formed a shield with both Electro and Hydro elements, blocking the punch.
'It's not an illusion; this force is indeed weaker than before...'
After blocking the punch, Tartaglia instantly pulled back a few steps as if teleporting, forming a long bow from purple electricity in his hands and drawing it.
However, when the bowstring was drawn, the arrow condensed on it was still Hydro element.
Extreme Evil Method: Demon Bullet Flash!
A Hydro element arrow was shot by him. Ryan subconsciously wanted to block it with his giant measuring heaven ruler, but the arrow exploded in mid-air before it even hit.
The impact of the water flow was stronger than before, but Ryan, who had taken the Three Heads Eight Arms Pill, was only staggered and pushed back five or six steps, not blown away.
But Ryan, steadying his body, also realized the problem: Bosacius's shadow seemed to have weakened significantly... "What's going on? My arms increased; shouldn't it be a better fit...?"
Ryan mumbled in confusion.
Although he temporarily gained the power of three heads and eight arms, and his brute strength seemed not inferior to Tartaglia's, he was completely a novice in combat. To defeat Tartaglia, he could currently only rely on the combat power from Spirit Invocation.
"Although we have more hands, it's a bit too many."
Just as Ryan was confused, the head on his right-rear side spoke up to remind him.
"Too many where? Aren't there just four?"
The head on the left-rear side, due to vision issues, could only see the four arms behind Ryan, so he was a bit confused.
"Too many...?"
Hearing the reminder from the right-rear head, Ryan seemed to understand.
"Yes, Uncle Bosacius has four arms, which is double our original number of arms."
The right-rear head ignored the left-rear head's confusion and explained to Ryan.
"And now we have eight arms, still double, and besides that, we also have two more heads than Uncle Bosacius, so the compatibility has further decreased."
The right-rear head continued to explain.
"..."
After hearing "his own" explanation, Ryan completely understood why the purple phantom had become weaker.
He had previously been focused on increasing his arm count to improve compatibility, but he forgot that Uncle Bosacius also only had four arms.
Now, the power of three heads and eight arms indeed made him stronger, but he, who didn't understand the way of combat, had no advantage against the combat-proficient Tartaglia, especially after Tartaglia's Delusion was unleashed, greatly increasing his speed and strength.
"Too many hands and heads...?"
With "his own" reminder, Ryan quickly thought of something.
He still rummaged through his qiankun bag, and this time Ryan took out another pill.
[One Head Two Arms Pill (3-star · Rainbow): Upon consumption, immediately discard excess limbs and enter a one-head, two-arm state. Reattaching the discarded limbs to their original positions can restore the normal state.]
Consuming this pill now had two possibilities: one, the effect of the Three Heads Eight Arms Pill would be completely nullified, as if he had never taken it.
The second was to discard the excess arms and heads, returning to his original state, but still retaining the power of three heads and eight arms.
This power of three heads and eight arms was not just about Ryan growing arms and heads; Ryan genuinely felt his body had become stronger, which was why he wasn't injured when hit by Tartaglia's Demon Bullet Flash.
But for Ryan, even Uncle Bosacius, who had four arms, had decreased compatibility, and summoning other uncles would likely result in even lower compatibility. Therefore, the most important thing was to restore compatibility to enhance his combat power.
Without much hesitation, Ryan popped the One Head Two Arms Pill into his mouth.
"Sorry, but too much time has passed. I don't have time to waste with you anymore."
Just as Ryan swallowed the One Head Two Arms Pill, Tartaglia, who had just pulled back a few steps, appeared beside Ryan as if blinking, and once again slashed horizontally at Ryan with his double-headed spear.
Ryan seemed unable to block, watching helplessly as the double-headed spear cut through his abdomen, directly splitting his body in two.
"...?"
Before he could finish his slashing motion, Tartaglia paused for a moment in a daze after seeing the body split in two.
How sinister, too sinister. Why does this person's combat power fluctuate so much, and even his body's toughness is sometimes hard, sometimes as fragile as paper...?
Tartaglia never expected that his slash would actually cut Ryan's body open; even an ordinary person wouldn't be so smooth, would they?
As Tartaglia was in a daze, Ryan's body, split in two, floated in the air.
Then, three heads separated from Ryan's neck and floated in the air, followed by the six extra arms.
After the hands and heads separated, Ryan's tail also separated from the coccyx of his lower body.
The lower body, with only two legs remaining, fell to the ground and reconnected with the upper body, which had only two hands but no head.
As for the three separated heads and six arms, two arms floated on either side of each head, making the three heads into three independent entities.
One head, two arms—it was truly so.
"...?"
Although Tartaglia wore a mask, it was clear that he was wide-eyed beneath it.
'By Her Majesty the Tsaritsa, even the most vicious monsters I've hunted weren't this bizarre and creepy...'
Just then, the tail, which had split from the body, wiggled in mid-air and flew to the headless body.
Then, with a splice, the position above the neck became the tail's.
"So cool! This look is so cool! I can fly!"
The head that was originally facing Ryan's left-rear side, now better called Yun Zuo Xu, excitedly waved his hands and spun in a circle in the air.
That floating sensation was somewhat similar to a certain white-haired flying object.
"Aside from the strange body, our strength and speed have both increased, and we can move separately. This is the ideal form."
Yun You Xu, on the other side, also nodded after looking at his hands.
"Oh! We have an advantage now that there are more of us! Charge! Let's take down this bad guy who's after Rex Lapis and Paimon!"
Having somewhat adapted to the one-head, two-arm state, Yun Zuo Xu excitedly flew towards Tartaglia.
"Be careful, don't be reckless."
Yun You Xu quickly followed.
Ryan scratched his head, first looked down at the tail that had taken over his body, and then also flew towards Tartaglia.
"..."
Tartaglia watched the three heads flying towards him from the air. Having experienced countless battles, this was the first time he felt such terrifying pressure...