"16 years old… that man wasn't lying, huh?" I muttered.

"She's the same age as me," Xiang Peng blinked in surprise. "Welp, you know what they say. There's always someone better, and there's always a sky beyond the sky as we know it."

"Reaching the Holy Emperor stage at only sixteen years of age…" Feng Mian murmured. "Compared to her, we're…"

"Hm… 14, is it?" Ling Xin murmured, observing the girls around me. "Not bad. You can't be said to be an unparalleled genius, but having two innate elements is already good… for a human, anyway."

Then, she turned to me. "As for you, Xuan Kai-kun… hehe~"

Her flirtatious smile made me slightly uncomfortable as she licked her lips, but I didn't point that out.

"… Let's get down to business," I cut in. "We have to beat you to complete the preliminaries, correct?"

Ling Xin smirked. "Yes. But you witnessed that fight just now, no? Are you sure you still want to battle me? When I fight, I fight to kill, y'know…"

I snickered. "It's not like we have much of a choice, now that we're here."

However, contrary to my expectations, Ling Xin shook her head. "No. You can leave if you want to."

"Huh? You're saying we can just give up here if we don't want to die?" Yu An Yan raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Indeed. Had it been any other group, I would've slaughtered them all, but…" her gaze was focused on me, and me only. "I like you, Xuan Kai-kun."

"W-W-W-What?!" Lan Xiao Su blurted out in surprise at her sudden confession. The other girls dropped their jaws at her words.

Ling Xin laughed heartily. "My, my, how cute… but it's true. I don't want to kill you, you see. But if you insist…"

"Sorry, but I don't like you," I replied coldly without the slightest bit of emotion on my face.

For a moment, the smile on her face disappeared.

"… I see. Then…"

In an instant, she vanished from her original spot and came up beside me. My eyes widened in shock as she whispered seductively into my ear.

"Don't blame big sister here for being merciless, mkay~"

"…"

In the next moment, she was back to where she had originally been standing. The whole process happened instantly.

"What will it be? The ten of you, altogether, or one at a time?" Ling Xin asked with a confident smile on her face. "I suggest the former if you want any chance of winning… not that you'll win anyway, hehe."

The girls turned to me for help. I replied without any hesitation.

"All ten of us, toget-"

"Master," Mei Gui interrupted.

"What…?"

"Please allow me to fight this woman one-on-one."

"This…"

Then, she sent me a telepathic message.

[I wish to test out the limits of my Apoxyia form using her, Master.]

I see… so she is planning on using Ling Xin as a tool. Daring indeed.

"… Alright," I said, giving my approval.

Mei Gui nodded and stepped forward to face Ling Xin. "… Prepare yourself."

"Ara ara, quite the interesting choice, Xuan Kai-kun, sending one person to deal with me. Aren't you overconfident, little girl?"

Uh… actually, she's far older than you, being the sister of the origin of all creation, but…

"… Save the talk."

The two of them moved a little further away from us, to the center of the pillars. There, Ling Xin created a green dome just like the one she had used earlier. It was some kind of Sound Magic to prevent loud noises from getting out too far, though not completely.

"X-Xuan Kai? Why would you do that?" Feng Mian asked in puzzlement.

"Fighting her with all ten of us together would be easier, no?" Yu An Yan added.

I sighed. "Relax. Mei Gui has a plan… and besides, now that I think about it, fighting her with all ten of us at a time may not actually be the best move here."

"How so?" Lan Xiao Su inquired.

"Have you all forgotten what happened last time we fought her?" Obsidia cut in, answering in my stead. "She wrapped us all up in her Shadow domain and nearly killed all of us."

"… Nya, I dyon't knyow what you guys are talking about…" Amane whimpered. She didn't know who Ling Xin was, after all. We only recruited her after the whole ordeal with Ling Xin, when Mei Gui got taken away.

"All you have to know is that Ling Xin will be tougher than any other opponent we've encountered so far," I explained. "However strong you think she is right now, in reality, she's many times stronger. That's all I can say."

"Wow… even Xuwan Kwai can't beat her?"

I scoffed. "If I could, I would. Even though I can take on Golden Monarchs, fighting Holy Emperors is still well outside of my reach."

I then turned to Leena. "Leena, use the artifact to call your group members over."

"H-Huh? A-Ah, yes!"

She appeared to have been in a daze, which I just snapped her out of. Apparently, she was extremely interested in our conversation with Ling Xin. I don't think we revealed anything important about my powers, but… now she knows I'm really strong in reality, and can fight opponents realms above my current stage. She must've already thought so anyway though, after the incident with Kun and Ning Yi - I just confirmed it with my own words.

Leena did as I instructed, and did her best to speak in an AI-like voice.

"Warning: 2 days remaining."

Those words boomed across the snowy biome, but Ling Xin and Mei Gui who were inside the green dome didn't seem to have heard it. Turning to the fight, I looked back at Leena, who was now spectating as well. Deciding that if this continued, she would see something she shouldn't have, I hit her on her neck again, rendering her unconscious once more.

I felt bad for doing this twice in a row to her now, but… it is what it is.

The other girls saw me do this but didn't complain. Instead, they just all sighed in pity for poor Leena.

But there were more important matters right now. I turned back to the ongoing duel between Mei Gui and Ling Xin.

*****

- Mei Gui's Perspective -

So far, the fight was about even. I haven't activated her Apoxyia form yet, but at the same time, Ling Xin didn't seem to be taking this seriously at all. All the spells she threw at me were easily absorbed using the power of Chaos, much to her surprise.

"Hm… that's an interesting ability you have," she murmured. "It's almost similar to what Xuan Kai-kun had done last time to my domain."

Last time, when we were engulfed within this girl's domain of darkness, we had only managed to break out thanks to Master successfully casting the Forbidden Spell known as Zero, which I taught him. However… what I was doing right now was different. I was merely absorbing the spells she was throwing at me, which were all only Level Two or Level Three ones.

"Perhaps it's time to step it up a bit, hm?" Ling Xin smiled as she put her mask back on and flew up into the air.

"Legendary Shadow Magic - Raven's Fury."

The portrait of a black raven appeared above her, its wings shooting out hundreds of sharp black feathers towards me. If I got hit by even one, it could be fatal - chances were, they had some kind of dark energy within them that acted similar to poison.

I reached out my hand and tried to absorb it, but it seemed that I couldn't. Master's understanding of Chaos was still too low for me to absorb such powerful magic. When he had fought against Xuan Yang, he was able to absorb the Legendary Magic there because Xuan Yang had not fully mastered it yet. However, this girl was deserving of the title 'expert' when it comes to Shadow Magic. Her understanding of the element makes her spells far more strong and pure, rendering my currently still-weak Chaos energy unable to control it.

Looks like I have no choice but to use that.

I slammed the ground with my palm and concentrated hard, despite the deadly barrage of raven feathers flying my way.

Forbidden Magic - Zero.

A bright white flash ensued, as the raven and its projectiles all got erased to nothingness.

Ling Xin smiled as if she had been waiting for this.

"There it is… that flash from last time. I didn't expect you to be able to use it too, though… was it a bi-product of being converted by that mad man, perhaps?"

This girl had been the person to kidnap me and force me to undergo changes, nearly completely suppressing the Chaos energy within my body and mind-controlling me. If it wasn't for Master breaking me out of that seal when he did, there's no telling how hypnotized I would've become.

"No…" I replied calmly. "But if you do wish to see the product of being converted by that accursed dead bastard, then… I shall show you."

I closed my eyes again as I slowly got up from the ground, and I chanted in my mind.

Apoxyia Form - Activate.