The agonizing pain she anticipated never came.
Astra slowly opened her eyes, only to be greeted by the sight of Hummingbird’s freshly severed wing lying on the ground.
Was I… saved?
“You piece of trash! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
A furious roar echoed across the plaza, immediately drawing both Astra’s and Evelyn’s attention.
Seeing Astra’s tear-stained face and Evelyn coughing up blood on the ground, an uncontrollable rage surged within Li Qianqiao’s chest.
“You lowly animal… How dare you sever my noble body!”
Li Qianqiao completely ignored Hummingbird’s indignant questioning.
Right now, all he wanted was to butcher this monster!
Ever since he moved in with the Proxy siblings, Li Qianqiao spent his free time collecting Astra Yao merchandise.
Thanks to Belle’s recommendations, his phone was absolutely packed with Astra’s hit songs.
Whenever he had downtime after finishing a commission, he would scour the Inter-Knot to learn everything about Astra’s career and backstory.
The more he learned, the more he liked this lively, energetic girl.
She was passionate, generous, and gentle without losing her playful spirit.
She possessed breathtaking beauty while still keeping her innocent maiden’s heart.
But now…
“You fucking son of a bitch! How dare you bully her?!” Li Qianqiao pointed his Faiz Edge straight at Hummingbird, his expression underneath the helmet completely twisted in pure, unadulterated fury.
Anyone with half a brain could tell just how astronomically pissed off he was.
Clutching its severed stump, Hummingbird cautiously took a few steps away from the two girls, its eyes locked dead onto Li Qianqiao.
I’m severely wounded now.
If I try to finish off the girls, it will undoubtedly trigger that lunatic.
Furthermore, there’s a bizarre, destructive energy rampaging inside my body!
Cold sweat poured down Hummingbird’s face.
An inexplicable, primal terror toward Li Qianqiao suddenly gripped its heart.
He can actually kill me!
The moment that thought surfaced, it completely shattered Hummingbird’s composure.
Ever since its evolution into an Orphnoch, besides ‘That Man’ and the absolute certainty of dying if swallowed by a Hollow, absolutely nothing in this world had ever made it feel genuine fear!
Li Qianqiao stepped past Hummingbird to stand directly beside Astra, ensuring there was plenty of distance between the monster and the girls.
Seeing Evelyn’s horrific injuries up close, Li Qianqiao’s blood boiled.
Thankfully, it seemed she had only temporarily lost her mobility; the strike wasn’t fatal.
Damn it!
I only took off my Faiz Gear to leave it on the bike for a little bit, and this happens?!
Looks like I’ll have to keep this belt strapped to my waist permanently from now on!
“A-Are you…”
Astra’s soft voice snapped Li Qianqiao out of his thoughts.
He turned around and crouched down, looking directly at Astra’s dirt-smudged face.
“Miss Astra…”
Evelyn weakly raised an arm to shield Astra, but Astra gently held Evelyn’s hand and shook her head.
“I know who you are. You’re the most rampant criminal in New Eridu right now. Are you here to take my life too?” Astra’s eyes dimmed slightly, as if she had already resigned herself to her tragic fate.
Li Qianqiao raised an eyebrow under his helmet.
He didn’t expect his ‘grand reputation’ to have reached Astra Yao’s ears.
Was this what they called being infamous?
Li Qianqiao planted his sword into the ground and stood back up. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“I’m not going to hurt you. On the contrary, I actually really like you.”
This sudden, confession-like declaration caused a deep blush to spread across the beautiful idol’s face.
Her eyes darted away, too shy to look directly at the armored man in front of her.
I’ve heard thousands of declarations like this before… why is my face burning up?
“Therefore…” Li Qianqiao pulled the Faiz Shot off his belt, inserted the Mission Memory, and shot a deadly glare at Hummingbird, which was currently looking for an escape route.
“I’m going to take this piece of trash that bullied you and beat him to an absolute pulp!”
In the blink of an eye, Li Qianqiao vaulted high into the air like a descending meteor.
Raising the Faiz Shot, which had transformed into its Knuckle Mode, he brought it crashing down toward Hummingbird.
Caught completely off guard by Li Qianqiao’s sudden ambush, Hummingbird frantically threw several steel feathers to intercept him.
Li Qianqiao completely ignored the barrage, taking the incoming attacks head-on.
However, when the feathers struck Li Qianqiao’s armor, the bloody lacerations Hummingbird expected didn’t occur.
Instead, there were a few sparks… and that was it.
Not even a single scratch was left behind!
Hummingbird couldn’t believe this beast of a man dared to face tank its attacks!
Even solid steel would have been torn open by those feathers!
Landing heavily, Li Qianqiao delivered a devastating haymaker straight to Hummingbird’s face.
The raw kinetic force of the punch was so immense that Hummingbird actually felt its facial bones crack!
“Enough! Did you really think I was some soft persimmon you could just squeeze?!”
Hummingbird stumbled back, clutching its face.
Pure rage ignited in its eyes, “I have no deep grudge against you! Why do you insist on trying to kill me?!”
But the only answer it got was a size 12 armored boot straight to the chest.
Startled, Hummingbird retaliated with a kick of its own.
The two strikes collided mid-air, the sheer force of the impact sending visible shockwaves through the surrounding air!
Seeing his surprise attack blocked, Li Qianqiao suddenly exerted more force, viciously kicking Hummingbird away.
During the split second the monster was staggered, his fingers danced across the Faiz Phone keypad with blinding speed.
EXCEED CHARGE!
Hummingbird watched in horror as the lethal red cone strike rapidly closed in.
Not daring to take it head-on, it desperately tried to evade.
CLANG—!
Li Qianqiao frowned.
The strike had completely missed Hummingbird and instead smashed into a nearby streetlamp!
As the streetlamp crashed to the ground with a deafening thud, Li Qianqiao looked up to see Hummingbird already hovering high in the air.
He had seen it clearly.
In the split second before the blow landed, Hummingbird had violently sprouted a massive pair of wings from its back, dodging the attack with terrifying speed!
Hummingbird flew erratically in the air.
Having lost an arm, it was struggling to maintain its balance.
Suddenly, the steel feathers on its remaining arm completely shed, morphing rapidly until a razor-sharp short sword formed in its grasp.
It was supposed to be dual blades… but that bastard chopped off my other arm!
Veins bulged on Hummingbird’s forehead.
It didn’t care about anything else anymore.
Locking onto Li Qianqiao, it dive-bombed toward the ground.
“Aerial Ace!”
Hearing the name of the attack made Li Qianqiao instantly start roasting the monster in his mind.
Wait, did you cross over into the wrong franchise?!
Isn’t that a Pokémon move?!
Watch out, Nintendo is going to sue your ass for copyright infringement!
Also, how the hell are you even using your wings for this?!
You’re literally just diving at me with a knife!
Despite the internal monologue, Li Qianqiao’s physical reaction time was flawless.
Attacks like this, assuming Hummingbird were fully prepared (and not getting ambushed), were incredibly easy to dodge.
Li Qianqiao simply executed a smooth combat roll to the side.
Hummingbird cleanly missed Li Qianqiao.
However, seeing its attack fail, the monster didn’t give up.
It stomped the empty air as if it were solid ground, violently ricocheting straight back toward Li Qianqiao!
“What the fuck!! Geppo?! This is completely unbalanced! Devs, please nerf!”
The next second, a massive shower of sparks erupted directly from Li Qianqiao’s back!
Li Qianqiao hit the dirt hard.
It felt as if he had just been sliced open by a rusted, tetanus-infused blade; a searing, burning pain radiated across his back.
Hummingbird flew back into the air, an uncontrollable, manic smirk plastered across its face as it pointed its short sword downward:
“You are indeed strong, but it’s a pity you crossed paths with me! My power has been fully unleashed! I am now invincible!”
“I acknowledge your strength! Out of all the humans I’ve encountered, I am willing to call you the strongest! Human, state your name!”
Li Qianqiao propped up his trembling body and sneered in utter contempt:
“Hehehe… don’t you know? The last guy who claimed to be ‘invincible’ ended up stopping his thoughts entirely! And who the hell do you think you are, trying to act like Madara?!”
Hummingbird had absolutely no idea what Li Qianqiao was referencing, but it could clearly sense the heavy mocking tone in his voice.
“Human—!”
Hummingbird instantly flew into a blind rage, diving down to kill Li Qianqiao with everything it had!
“Hahaha, now this is getting interesting! If I had just killed you with one slash earlier, wouldn’t that have been way too boring?!”
Li Qianqiao finally stood up straight, tightly gripping the Faiz Shot Knuckle.
His face was lit up with absolute excitement.
“Then I guess I won’t hold back anymore either!”
COMPLETE!
The two thick chest plates of Faiz’s armor opened up, revealing his red core.
The red Photon Blood flowing across his body shifted into a sleek silver, and his massive glowing yellow eyes turned a menacing red.
It’s time for Axel Form!
“I said I was going to beat you to a pulp, and I absolutely will!”
Hey, everyone!
You might be wondering why it’s taken me so long to update.
The answer is pretty simple: I’ve been feeling a bit burned out lately, so I decided to take some time off and recharge.
Now I’m back!
That said, I’m going to change my upload schedule.
Instead of trying to stick to “at least one chapter a day” or “one chapter a week,” I’ll be uploading whenever I feel like it.
That means the schedule will be pretty chaotic—sometimes you might get 2–3 chapters in a single day, while other times it could be just 1–2 chapters in a week.
I think this approach will help me avoid burnout while letting me focus on delivering the best chapters I can.
Thanks for sticking with me and supporting the story.
See you in the next chapter!