Chapter 431 The Golden Moment
Chapter 431 The Golden Moment
The Golden Moment
"Has this place truly fallen?"
Huang Quan stepped out of the teleportation portal and subconsciously looked around.
This is Pinocchio's golden hour, where every minute and every second feels like gold is slipping away, and the relentless neon lights turn the artificial starry sky into a flowing cocktail.
The crystal chandelier reflected the pearly light of the roulette table, and the drunkard's maniacal laughter and the sound of jazz trumpets collided and shattered between the gilded columns.
There was no sign of it falling into ruin; it was still a place of extravagance and decadence.
Movies are still playing at the Crook Movie Park, children run around in the streets with candy in their hands, and the Easter egg machines for adults never stop running.
“Pinocone, the land of dreams, but I saw no dreams.” Adekt also stepped out of the portal and witnessed this scene of extravagance and debauchery.
"This is indeed a place of dreams, but not the dream of ordinary people."
The black swan looked around and suddenly smiled slightly.
"Furthermore, this place has already fallen."
Black Swan walked to the bar and gently tapped a glass on the counter. Ripples appeared in the glass filled with Sorida soda, reflecting the rotating gear lights on the ceiling.
Three ice pucks float in the glass, each embedded with a miniature star map.
Adek's white cloak flowed with data streams amidst psychedelic light and shadow as he twirled the chips he had just picked up.
The gold line at the edge of the chips is converting casino noise into numerical values.
He discovered something: "The sweetness of Tong Xie was mixed with the taste of rust."
The chip suddenly bounced toward the bartender behind the counter; the spinning metal sliced through the air, but burned to pieces before it even touched the apron.
The bartender's gold-rimmed glasses developed red cracks, and the eyeballs behind the lenses had turned into mechanical gears.
"A balanced scavenger, and a wandering ghost searching for its way back..." The bartender's voice distorted into the grinding sound of a bearing stuck.
Suddenly, the shaker shattered in his palm, and ice shards and absinthe liquid condensed into a rain of antimatter ice cones.
Adekert's cloak billowed like a crane's wings, and ice spikes hovered and shattered three inches from the corner of the robe, the ice fragments evaporating into purple smoke within the data.
At the same time, Huang Quan's scabbard touched the ground, and the power of nothingness spread along the gilded bar counter.
Wherever he went, the drunkard's maniacal laughter froze into plaster statues, and the hand holding the glass was frozen in the neon lights like a poorly made wax figure.
"Have you found a problem?"
"This place has simply been cleverly disguised by someone with ulterior motives."
"Right, Xingxiao?"
The moment Black Swan uttered these words, the entire Golden Moment trembled.
The building was collapsing, the amusement park was shaking, and every pedestrian on the street was turned into plaster.
At this moment, the flimsy facade that maintained Pinocchio's glamorous image quietly crumbled.
Xingxiao's true form rose from the center of Dream Plaza.
The harmony beneath her feet caused the dreamer to float like a puppet on strings, her silver hair entwined around her knuckles, and strands of hair dug into her neck, drawing black blood.
"Unexpectedly, the arbitrator also got involved."
"However, it doesn't matter."
"Pinocone, it's time for a new owner."
As Xingxiao's voice rang out, a stream of pinkish-purple memory essence surged from the Dream Master's palm.
The ceiling of the entire casino collapsed into a giant maw of starlight, and the velvet curtains transformed into tentacles that devoured light, chewing the crystal chandelier into a rain of shards of glass.
Adekert's white robe was suddenly illuminated by a surge of golden light on the scale pattern. "Balance, reset."
Suddenly, a black and white curtain appeared behind Adekett.
Sunlight bursting from the cracks in the floor tiles, the swallowed rays piercing the giant maw of the starry sky like golden spears.
Huang Quan placed his hand on the hilt of the sword, and an ethereal shadow instantly enveloped the entire area. Even the Puppet Dream Master was affected by this shadow, and his silver hair turned white in an instant.
"Warm-up complete."
Xingxiao tugged at his silver hair, and the dreamer crashed into the Clock Boy statue in the middle of the street like a kite with a broken string.
The bronze hour hand pierced the dreamer's lower abdomen, and the second hand stabbed into the collarbone. Before the blood could drip, it was swallowed by the black hole in Xingxiao's palm.
Antimatter energy flowed back up through the silver hair, turning the dreamer's pupils a vibrant, oil-like iridescent color.
"This is how you should play with toys that are in harmony."
Xingxiao grinned maliciously and tugged at his hair. The Dream Master's hands plunged into his own chest, and his ribs pierced through his dress, growing into a three-meter-long crimson bone spear.
"It seems she's gone mad." Black Swan had a bad feeling.
Before the fighting fully commenced, she immediately used the portal to run to the edge of the battlefield.
Because she knew that the battle that was about to begin was beyond her control.
She believed in Adek's power, and also in the Yellow Springs, the messenger of nothingness.
At this moment, the destructive power, wrapped around the spikes that had devoured the soul, tore through the air and pierced Adekt's brow.
Adekt reacted quickly, immediately dodging to the side, and as his white robe billowed, a gleam appeared in his left eye.
Just as the spike grazed her ear, Huang Quan had already drawn out a 5-centimeter-long blade.
Without a sound of collision, the center of the spike was instantly annihilated into nothingness.
"I will never let you draw your sword."
Xingxiao has realized that Huangquan is the biggest threat.
Nothingness remains as difficult to deal with as ever.
Xingxiao immediately controlled the remaining spikes to split into a rain of blood, and each drop of blood hatched a screaming nightmare ghost in mid-air.
Just as she was about to be struck by lightning, Adekert appeared before her.
"Switch, save".
Suddenly, Adekett's white robe turned amber.
With a "bang".
The protective shield deflected all the blood rain, and even after the energy explosion dissipated, the amber-colored barrier still shone brightly.
As an arbitrator and the messenger of balance, Adekt believed in more than just the path of balance; he mastered multiple paths of destiny.
Adekt swiftly drew an isometric cross with his fingertips, and at the same time, his aura changed once again.
"Switch to hunting."
"Balanced Hunting Lock".
The moment the words fell, the power of the Hunting's destiny erupted, and four golden threads pierced through the void, pinning down the puppet dream master's limbs.
Xingxiao didn't seem to be surprised much, and continued to command the Dream Master in battle.
Because she knew she didn't have much time left.
The blade of the Yellow Springs has already been drawn three inches from its sheath.
The trajectory of the blade as it left the sheath resembled a crack from a cosmic explosion.
The neon lights of the casino, the skeletal throne of Xingxiao, the gold patterns on Adekert's white robe—all colors were completely absorbed by that void rift.
The dreamer's figure froze in mid-air as the harmonious strings binding her snapped inch by inch.
As the gray marks spread to the dreamer's chest, the harmonious messenger suddenly disintegrated like a shattered porcelain doll.
The head rolled at Xingxiao's feet, its lips opening and closing stiffly, and a sound so faint it could barely be heard.
"The family...will live on forever..."
This was the last vestige of his consciousness as the dreamer, and also his belief.
"waste."
Xingxiao crushed the head with his foot, and the moment the matter splashed onto the white robe, the entire sky began to burn.
It wasn't flames, it was space itself collapsing and burning.
An aura of destruction has permeated the entire Golden Hour.
"The will to destroy..."
Adekter frowned slightly, the scale patterns on his white robe flashing wildly, and the golden light of the [Protective Barrier] enveloped his entire body.
The scabbard of Huang Quan trembled, and more ethereal shadows overflowed from the scabbard opening, corroding the splashing casino chips into empty voids.
At this moment, Xingxiao suddenly disappeared.
It wasn't teleportation; the memory of everything she passed through was destroyed.
She extended her right fist and slammed it into Adekett's face.
The fist dragged along the remnants of seven extinct stars, their charred cores bombarding the area like a swarm of meteorites.
Before Adek could react, his protective shield shattered like an eggshell.
Having taken the punch head-on, Adekt's retreating figure created golden ripples in the void.
Xingxiao didn't stop; he countered Huangquan with a backhand.
She knew she couldn't let Huang Quan draw his sword.
Huang Quan frowned, and could only raise the scabbard, which was not yet fully drawn, to fight Xing Xiao's fist head-on.
With a loud "bang," the annihilation shockwave from the collision swept away half of the Kroc Film Park.
The mechanical dolls in the Hanubang themed pavilion melted into molten iron, the Clock Boy statue broke in half, and the stained glass windows of the Morning Dew Mansion exploded into glazed snow.
"Nothingness is indeed terrifying."
"I wonder what that guy, Fenfeng, is thinking."
Xingxiao looked at the broken finger bone that had disappeared from his fist, where the black blood had dripped and corroded into a black hole.
She possessed a power of harmony, and the dreamer's severed finger grew from the spot where it had been cut off, while wings of bone and flesh, pieced together from the remains of those who had died in Pinocchio, unfolded behind her.
The hurricane whipped up by the wingspan swept the ruins high into the sky, and the Pinocchio Dream Barrier shattered like glass.
In the real universe, radiation cascades down like a waterfall, gamma rays scorch the remaining buildings, and concrete boils and bubbles in the radiation.
At that moment, Adekert walked over step by step, and his white robe suddenly lost all color.
Suspended in the radiation storm, the phantom of a hunting arrow lit up in his left eye, while a totem of a protective shield appeared in his right eye.
"Balance, twins."
The forces of preservation and hunting erupt simultaneously under the influence of balance.
Seven giant amber shields swirled around him, while the light spear in his hand pierced Xingxiao's throat with the speed of a cascading waterfall.
Star Howl's wings blocked the light spears, and its claws tore apart the giant shield.
But the new shield instantly solidified from the void, and the trajectory of the light spear swirled and struck Xingxiao.
The two chased and fought amidst the shattered fragments of a dream, each collision of the light spear and claws unleashing a dazzling flash.
At this moment, Huang Quan's sword was fully drawn.
She walked through the void rifts toward Xingxiao's true form, the gray trail trailing behind her blade automatically swallowing the radiation storm.
Wherever it passed, even destruction was erased into absolute nothingness.
Xingxiao realized something was wrong, immediately abandoned Adekt, and echoed the cries of harmony on its wings as it crashed into Huangquan.
At the very moment of colliding with the Void Blade, all matter within a hundred miles was shattered into elementary particles.
The wreckage of advertising signs turned into quantum bubbles, and the solidified plaster statues of pedestrians shattered into molecules before completely annihilating.
Meanwhile, Adekt's spear of light pierced through Star Howl's left wing, and the protective power crystallized and erupted at the wound.
Golden clusters of crystals pierced through the bone and flesh membrane like a thicket of thorns.
"hateful......."
Xingxiao frowned, and a torrent of antimatter gushed from her wound.
Adek was thrown through seven layers of spatial barriers, his white robes scorched in the destruction.
Huang Quan's blade strikes did not cease; the ethereal shadows spread along the drill bit's grooves, and Xing Xiao's flesh and bone wings began to disintegrate.
The void of nothingness spreads like a plague, and the flesh and blood wings, a harmonious combination of many, are wailing.
Xingxiao shrieked and detonated half of its wings, the shockwave forcing Huangquan back three steps.
The space where the three of them were located had completely broken away from the dream, floating between the Sea of Memories and the Void Turbulence.
Beneath their feet lay the burning ruins of Pinocchio, above them stretched the starry sea of the real universe, and they floated in the gap between dreams and reality.
From Xingxiao's broken wing, fleshy tentacles extended, and at the tip of each tentacle opened a single, crimson eye.
"I'll show you true destruction..."
The single pupil on its wing spun into a black hole, beginning to devour the shattered fragments of the surrounding dream.
The clockwork boy's gear fragments, Hanu's mechanical arm, even the shattered protective shield of Adekt and the hunter's arrows were all crushed and sucked in.
The black hole expanded rapidly, stretching and elongating the void of the underworld, like a spider web stretched taut in the void.
Adekter realized something was wrong, and his white robe suddenly burst into flames.
The balance pattern on the hem of the robe disappeared completely, replaced by a hunting star trail tattoo on the left half of the body and a protective barrier totem on the right half.
"Balance and Overloaded Fate".
He made a fist with both hands, and a hunting arrow formed from a light spear appeared in his left palm, with the arrowhead wrapped in a vortex of the Milky Way; his right palm formed a giant amber crystal shield, with the pattern of the Great Wall of Stars engraved on its surface.
The moment the arrow struck the edge of the shield, the shield cracked open, revealing the ring-shaped aiming star.
"Twin Judgments".
As the hunting arrows left the bowstring, the protective shield simultaneously disintegrated into billions of fragments.
Each fragment propelled the arrow forward, causing the arrow shaft to ignite with primordial fire as it rubbed against the void.
Xingxiao's one-eyed black hole was pierced by the arrow, collapsed into a singularity, and then exploded with a roar.
The shockwave tore apart the rest of her body, revealing the core of the destruction.
Besides the devastating storm, a person is also sealed inside.
The head of the Oak family, Sunday.
But Huang Quan couldn't care less about that anymore.
She raised her katana and aimed it at Xingxiao.
"It's time to end this."
The voice of Huang Quan pierced through the roar of the explosion.
The ethereal flow flowing along the blade of the katana suddenly contracted and solidified.
It is no longer an empty crack, but a concrete "nothingness".
"No, that's impossible!"
"Me, and my fleet."
“They can get here in just three minutes if I give the order.”
"My fleet... wait? Where is my fleet?"
Xingxiao tried to send a message to the antimatter fleet hidden in the asteroid belt, but to his surprise, he didn't receive a single reply.
"how is this possible?"
"Where is my fleet? What happened?"
Before Xingxiao could figure it out, an absolutely ethereal trajectory slashed towards him.
Xingxiao's eyes widened as the destructive core at the center of her body began to operate frantically in an attempt to resist.
The torrent of antimatter surged forth like a tsunami, but before the trajectory of "nothingness," even antimatter wailed and dissolved, like snow being poured on boiling water.
The aftershocks of Adekert's [Twin Judgment] had not yet dissipated; the hunting beam shot from his left eye pierced through Xingxiao's limbs like golden nails, while the protective chains projected from his right eye entangled the Destruction Engine.
With a sharp "clang," Huang Quan's blade fell without any resistance.
Without a deafening explosion, Xingxiao's body was split in two from the middle, the cut as smooth as a mirror.
The two halves of Xingxiao's body floated in the void, with no blood flowing from the crack, only antimatter particles constantly dissipating.
As Xingxiao's two halves landed, the rift in Pinocchio's starry sky began to slowly heal.
Adekter descended to the ground, his white robes returned to their pristine state, and the scales reappeared.
He gazed at Huang Quan's retreating figure as he sheathed his sword, the gold thread on the hem of his robe slightly askew.
"Balanced battle damage assessment".
"The Star Howl's traces have been erased at a rate of 99.7%, and the Harmony Order has caused the dreamer to completely perish, reducing the completeness of the Pinocchio dream to 41%."
A hint of doubt appeared on Adekett's face.
Is there still 0.3% of Star Howl remaining?
Before Adekter could figure it out...
The two halves of Xingxiao's body that landed on the ground underwent changes.
The left half of her face was still frozen in a ferocious expression, while the right half of her face showed a strange smile.
It's obvious that the person who made that smile wasn't her.
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Thank you all for your previous concern. The author's health has improved considerably, and I am gradually able to catch up with updates. Thank you all for your support during this time.
Finally, let's go back to the original post: Hi, hi, hi, o(=?w<=)p⌒☆
20demayo