Qin Musheng, the closest to the scene, suddenly sprang up and shouted, "Stealing a corpse right under our noses—let's see how many lives you've got to spare!"
Boom!
A Thick Blue-White Lightning bolt tore through the air above the Black Flames, instantly scattering the fire and striking Bach through the scorched hole.
"Ahh!" A sharp scream rose from below, then everyone felt the aura down there vanish fast.
"Hiding his presence—no wonder he could sneak this close." Deng Mengcheng narrowed his eyes; as the Mental-type among them, at this range he could still sense everything.
Hum! A ripple spread from his body, unseen by any of them on the mental plane.
A white mental double, identical to Deng Mengcheng, stepped out beside him; with a shift of its foot it flashed to the edge of the pit.
'Let me see who you really are!' The mental double dove into the hole.
Black Flames still licked the soil around him, carrying a faint threat—but only a faint one; after all, he was a Mental-type powerhouse.
Underground, Bach stuffed a glob of Black Liquid into his mouth while scrambling toward the sewer ahead.
His body was charred; the lightning had done a number on him.
"Once I finish devouring this flesh, I'll show you all!" Bach snarled, thrilled to finally stand tall after hiding so long.
Retreating from HQ City never crossed his mind; the Monster Association had posted Flesh-and-Blood Beings here to slaughter, and they surely had safeguards against escape—only by obeying the Association could he survive.
The Black Liquid fused with his body, sending his power skyrocketing.
Rrrrip! Bach's frame suddenly swelled, bursting the pipe.
Behind him Deng Mengcheng gave chase, his mental double upright, legs planted in the sewer floor.
"Found you—your head is mine!" Deng Mengcheng's double shot forward.
The newly empowered Bach instantly sensed the odd ripple behind him.
A wicked grin split his lips. "You'll be the first to fall!"
Hum! Torrents of Black Flame gushed from Bach, forming one-metre-long hounds of fire that charged Deng Mengcheng.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The fiery hounds snarled and pounced on the mental double a dozen metres away.
Deng Mengcheng's face turned grave. "He can actually see me."
Facing the pack that clogged the pipe, he swept an arm and hurled a white spear of mental energy.
Thud-thud-thud! The spear skewered every hound and streaked toward Bach.
Bang! A black-flaming palm smashed the spear just before impact.
Bach tore through the pipe and turned, grinning at the mental double. "Little kid, hope you can handle what I've got!"
Hum!
To Deng Mengcheng's shock, the scattered hound-flames merged into a black serpent that lunged at him.
'His aura's jumped at least tenfold—this is insane!' Gritting his teeth, Deng Mengcheng jabbed a finger and a half-metre white cube appeared.
Bang! Cube and serpent collided; the cube vanished, the serpent—halved—kept coming.
While the mental double fought Bach below, Jiang Ao arrived at a ruined building guided by its signal, Qin Musheng close behind.
Not far off, Deng Mengcheng's real body stood eyes-shut, Li Junya standing guard.
"Right here!" A whirlwind sprang into Jiang Ao's palm like a spinning drill, and he slammed it into the ground.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
The whirlwind bored through the rubble, flinging dirt in every direction.
In moments it carved a hole over ten metres deep; at the rim Qin Musheng's left arm glowed with crackling blue-white plasma, ready to strike.
While the pair focused on Bach below, a kilometre behind them atop a twenty-storey building…
…stood a pitch-black, two-metre-tall, four-armed monster, powerfully built, masked in white, eyes dark voids, watching silently.
Countless surveillance cameras ringed the area, yet none detected him.
Liu Zhiyuan stared that way; after absorbing flesh he had rushed over, only to find others had snatched it.
Bang! A boom of thunder cracked in the distance; the next second a flaming old man appeared.
Jiang Ao and Qin Musheng besieged him while the unseen mental double harried from the side.
Rumble—! Their clash split the ground, sending gales, lightning and Black Flame raging.
With five chunks of flesh, Bach actually held off two top Level Fives plus a Mental-type—if only briefly.
'Five pieces make him strong, but no qualitative change—he won't last.' Liu Zhiyuan glanced at Bach, then at the eyes-closed Deng Mengcheng.
He leapt, dropping straight off the rooftop.
Swoosh—he melted into the building's shadow like water, silent.
An instant later, a ripple stirred in Deng Mengcheng's shadow a kilometre away.
Swish! A black arm shot from the shadow, spearing for Deng Mengcheng's heart so fast Li Junya beside him hadn't noticed.
"Damn it!" Deng Mengcheng's eyes snapped open; as a top Mental-type he'd kept watch even while split—leave it to Li Junya and he'd be dead already.
Brilliant white light erupted from him; he no longer cared who got hit, unleashing his full mental power to block the strike.
The white flash swallowed Liu Zhiyuan behind him and Li Junya beside him.
Liu Zhiyuan's vision blazed white, searing pain lancing through his skull; for a moment he lost all bodily sense.
"Aargh!!" Yet at such close range how could he quit? He roared and drove his arm forward.
Thud!
Guided by last-second sense, his arm plunged into flesh.
"Ahh!"
"Aaaah!"
Two screams rang out. Deng Mengcheng stared, face twisted, at the black hand punched through his chest, dripping blood.
Beside him Li Junya clutched her head, writhing on the ground from the mental blast.
Hum! A White Cross of pure mental energy formed above Deng Mengcheng's head. Contorted, he roared, "Shatter!"
Half-emerged from the shadow, Liu Zhiyuan saw the cross; his barely recovered mind stabbed with pain again.
Without hesitation he yanked his arm free and sank back into the shadow.
Bang! The cross slammed the shadow, and the purely mental weapon cratered the ground beneath.