Chapter 44: Zero, Bai
How much time had passed?
An hour? Two? A day? A year?
Or perhaps, just a moment?
Bai slowly opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by a distorted, rippling landscape.
Was she underwater?
She moved her arm, feeling a slight resistance.
She looked up, towards a faint light, refracted and warped by the water.
A transparent container…
And in front of the container, a figure in a white lab coat.
Who was it?
The figure approached, and Bai, as if drawn by an invisible force, also moved closer.
The figure, a woman, placed a pale hand on the container, her palm prints visible.
For some reason, Bai also reached out, her fingers touching the container, a phantom sensation of touch.
“Zero, all normal.”
A soft, melodious voice echoed in her ears, and in that moment, Bai finally saw the woman’s face.
A face she knew better than her own—
“Sister Neily.”
…
In the Shadow Realm, Isabelle stared in disbelief as Bai turned the dagger on herself, her [Soul Shadow] attack faltering for a moment.
But she quickly recovered, her resolve hardening. Even if Bai committed suicide, Isabelle wouldn’t lower her guard until she was completely erased from existence.
—Authority: [Soul Shadow], full power release!
Invisible, terrifying soul tendrils, radiating a destructive aura, reached for Bai.
But before they could touch her, a blinding flash of light erupted, incinerating them.
“What?!”
Isabelle stared at Bai, her pupils constricting, her heart skipping a beat.
The dagger lay on the ground, a single drop of blood staining Bai’s dress, the wound on her chest already healed.
And the faint transformation rune on her collarbone had shattered, vanishing completely.
Long, silver hair floated around her, her ethereal beauty flawless, her dark-gold eyes, devoid of emotion, fixed on Isabelle.
Neither holy nor evil, such concepts had no meaning for the silver-haired girl.
“This is… Bai!”
Although completely different from the light-brown-haired girl from before, Isabelle recognized her instantly.
And she understood.
She hadn’t wanted to kill the Bai who had approached Ara, the Bai Ara depended on, but this Bai.
Bai herself.
“She must be killed, now!”
Isabelle bit her tongue, forcing herself to focus.
This new Bai was clearly in a trance-like state, a perfect opportunity. If she missed this chance, she would be the one to die.
Unlike before, Bai’s aura was now immense, far exceeding the Calamity Class.
“At any cost…”
Blood trickled from Isabelle’s lips. She would even sacrifice the soul within this avatar to unleash her ultimate attack.
Soul tendrils, even more powerful than before, erupted from all sides, swarming towards the silver-haired girl.
…
Meanwhile, in another Shadow Realm.
Ara, a faint glint of dark gold in her eyes, held the pulse pistol.
Three Shadow Guards, their souls and bodies obliterated, lay in mangled pieces on the ground. The pulse pistol, infused with the Authority of [City Breaker], was devastatingly powerful, capable of severely injuring even a Calamity Class being with a single shot.
The remaining Shadow Guards hid, their earlier attacks futile, their bodies now maimed and broken.
Despair filled the Shadow Realm, fear etched on their faces.
“What do we do now?” a trembling voice asked.
But Ara’s attention wasn’t on them. She knew Bai was in danger.
She could sense her, nearby, yet in a separate space.
In her mind’s eye, Bai’s ethereal image solidified, transforming from the light-brown-haired girl back into the silver-haired girl she knew.
“Bai… is here!”
Ara raised the pulse pistol, loading another Psychic Energy Crystal, but this time, it wasn’t infused with [City Breaker], but—
“[Absolute Negation].”
“No! She’s going to destroy the Shadow Realm!”
The Shadow Guards realized her intention. Both Shadow Realms, created by Isabelle, were spatially linked.
If Ara destroyed this one, she and the Shadow Guards would fall into Bai’s Shadow Realm.
And that was exactly what Isabelle had wanted to avoid, the reason she had assigned ten of them to keep Ara occupied.
“Stop her!”
The Shadow Guards, their fear of Isabelle overriding their terror of Ara, charged.
But Ara didn’t attack.
She could see Bai, in the other Shadow Realm.
She could see even more.
The silver-haired Bai, trapped in a transparent container, just like the one Ara remembered, reaching out, her face streaked with tears.
Like that day, so long ago, when they had been separated.
“Bai…”
“Ara sees you…”
“This time, Ara won’t let go.”
All the Imperial Authorities, unleashed.
“[Absolute Negation]” “[City Breaker]” “[Shatter]” “[Illusion]” “[Time Stop]” “[Bloodfire]” “[Redraw]” “[Execution]” “[Lost]”
The seven Shadow Guards closest to Ara were annihilated, their bodies and souls erased from existence.
The Shadow Realm buckled, the landscape flickering, on the verge of collapse.
But the storm of power didn’t spread beyond the realm. Ara was in complete control.
“Bai, Ara is coming to save you,” she whispered, reaching out to the helpless, despairing Bai in her vision.
