I stared in shock at the spot where Z had fallen.

  The headless corpse lying on the ground suddenly burst into flames without any warning—as if an invisible person had doused it with gasoline while I wasn’t looking and then struck a match. And it wasn’t just the body: the pool of blood spreading across the ground and the scattered bits of brain matter also ignited violently, burning like fuel.

  Incredibly, even engulfed in fire, the scorched corpse—along with the blood and brain tissue—showed no signs of charring or damage. Far from being destroyed, upon closer inspection, it didn’t even seem like they were merely on fire. It looked more like they were transforming into flame itself.

  Yes—becoming the flame itself. I barely knew what I was saying, but these once-solid biological tissues seemed as though they had always been made of fire, and now they were simply returning to their original state.

  Then came a sight that made me doubt my own eyes even more.

  The headless torso, now visually flickering and ethereal like living flame, slowly stood back up right in front of me—the person who had just killed him—as if nothing had happened.

  He dazedly reached up to touch where his head should have been, found nothing, paused for a moment, then bent down, picked up the severed head lying on the ground, and cradled it in his arms.

  He—he could still move?

  The completely unexpected scene left me speechless. “You… you…”

  He had revived? No—had he ever actually been killed in the first place?

  Surviving decapitation—what kind of power was this? Immortality? But wasn’t he supposed to be a flame user? What did that have to do with not dying?

  He adjusted the head in his arms so its face pointed toward me. The ruined, slashed eye sockets seemed to stare directly at me.

  Then the intact mouth moved and spoke in a reflective tone: “I lay there thinking for a while, and finally figured it out… You were acting the whole time. You’re the mastermind behind all this, aren’t you?”

  How was he even speaking with his head separated from his body? His vocal cords shouldn’t be able to function at all!

  No—calm down, Kong Da. Calm down. This was the first time I’d encountered an esper who could keep moving after being decapitated, but in this world, that level of undying wasn’t actually that strange. His power clearly wasn’t flame manipulation after all—it was something far more mysterious. But so what?

  Mysterious powers were everywhere. Most agents and demon hunters, no matter how unwilling, had to face bizarre forces they couldn’t possibly comprehend. Real combat wasn’t like some clever battle-manga where you had to unravel the enemy’s ability puzzle to win. On a battlefield where nothing could be predicted, there had only ever been one reliable way to gain the upper hand—the method I had always relied on:

  Strike first!

  Without hesitation, I transformed into my full monster form and charged, swinging my blade-like arms. No unnecessary words, no wasted movements. In an instant—so fast that an ordinary person probably couldn’t even blink—my slashes rained down on Z’s body one after another, holding nothing back.

  The earlier partial-transformation strikes had prioritized stealth over power; this full transformation was all about maximum destruction.

  If Z thought I was limited to physical attacks, he was gravely mistaken. In monster form, my blades could not only destroy flesh—they could annihilate spiritual beings as well.

  In other words, I possessed the power to strike directly at the soul.

  Right now, with killing intent flooding my mind and every thought focused on attacking his soul, the mana concentrated on my blades was devastating. An ordinary person without mana would have their soul scattered to the winds just from a graze. Most espers lacking soul-related powers would meet the same fate.

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  Every slash connected. Z’s body instantly tore apart into pieces. I skidded to a halt behind him, ending my attack sequence.

  I had won…

  Just as that thought reflexively crossed my mind, Z’s voice came from behind me: “Physical attacks don’t work on me.”

  The moment the words reached me, my right arm and both legs burst into flame out of nowhere. The searing agony tore a scream from my throat.

  I could understand my right arm catching fire—Z’s blood and brain matter were still clinging to it. If the tissue splattered elsewhere could burn, then of course my arm would too. But why were my legs burning spontaneously? He wasn’t even looking at me!

  And earlier—why hadn’t he died?

  Still screaming, I twisted and collapsed. His figure came into view.

  He stood there completely unharmed, still cradling the head in his arms as it continued speaking to me: “I was planning to show you this form earlier, but then you suddenly fired that gun… I see now. That demon that ambushed me from behind was testing whether I could sense attacks from my blind spot, wasn’t it…”

  He trailed off, murmuring thoughtfully to himself.

  Impossible. My blades had clearly sliced through his body—why were there no new wounds? More importantly… my soul attack had no effect! Worse—he hadn’t even noticed his soul being targeted!

  No—I had to deal with the flames on myself first!

  I hurriedly swung my left blade and swiftly severed my own right arm and both legs. The excruciating pain was unbearable, but compared to letting the fire spread to my torso, this was tolerable. Given time, this monster body could regenerate the lost limbs.

  Everything happened in the blink of an eye. For now, I had no intention of trying to kill Z again. Wasting effort on an opponent who couldn’t be killed no matter what I did was pointless. If necessary, I could always assassinate him later. Right now, I needed to escape—using shadow transfer!

  At my mental command, the surrounding shadows surged toward me like a tide. I had to get out fast. Z’s attack speed was no joke, and the power behind it was overwhelming. Even a tenth of a second’s delay and I’d be incinerated on the spot.

  But I was still a fraction too slow. Z’s flames arrived instantly.

  Once again, I couldn’t see where they came from—and this time they didn’t even start on the surface. A terrifying heat erupted from deep inside my chest and abdomen, as if someone had teleported gallons of boiling water straight into my stomach. The internal agony and pressure forced my mouth open involuntarily.

  My vision went black. Sound vanished. Then something exploded outward from my mouth, nose, eyes, and ears in a frantic rush.

  I understood—it was flames… Flames had manifested directly inside my body and were erupting outward!

  At the same moment, every muscle in my body seemed to rupture, leaving me completely paralyzed. Only one thought remained in my mind—

  He could actually summon his flames directly inside my body? This was outrageous!

  But… I wasn’t dead yet. Logically, with that intensity, I should have been incinerated instantly. Even now I felt myself teetering on the edge of death, my consciousness battered by unbearable pain. Yet I still lived. He had held back. That was his biggest mistake.

  The surrounding shadows were still obeying my earlier command. As flames gushed from my seven orifices, the darkness on the ground opened a portal. Gravity pulled me in and I fell through.

  “Shadow Transfer” activated successfully. I entered the world of shadows.

  Unlike the vibrant real world, the shadow realm had no light, no sound—just an abyss-like void similar to the deep sea. This wasn’t because my eyes and ears had been burned away; the place itself was that barren. I couldn’t even sense up, down, left, right, front, or back—only a vague feeling that “I seem to be moving somewhere.”

  Ordinary people without the ability couldn’t even think or survive here; the concepts of time and space simply didn’t exist. Even for me as the user, it was extremely dangerous—one misstep and I could become lost forever, unable to return to reality. The only places I could transfer to were locations I had physically visited in the real world.

  Z had once mentioned a spiritual connection between himself and his flames. Yet back in the cavern beneath the fifteenth-floor room, that connection had been severed.

  Why? Obviously—because that cavern was an alternate space that didn’t exist in reality.

  The shadow realm I had entered was likewise an otherworldly space unbound by real-world rules. No electromagnetic signals could reach here, and Z’s link to his flames must have been cut off as well. Proof: the flames tormenting my body extinguished rapidly once I entered the shadow space. My tortured mind finally regained a sliver of clarity.

  I focused my mana on my eyes and ears. Soon I sensed vision and hearing returning. Then, as if surfacing from water, I emerged from the shadow realm and arrived at a familiar place.

  This was the abandoned construction site Z and I had investigated earlier. I had transferred directly to the upper floors of the unfinished building. Since construction had halted, the higher levels consisted only of the skeleton—no ceilings, no walls, just layers of crisscrossing gray reinforced concrete beams.

  Getting here… should be safe for now. I let out a temporary sigh of relief.

  The shadows condensed into prosthetic limbs, giving me temporary replacements for my right arm and legs so I could stand.

  Suddenly, a ripple of mana appeared nearby.