[Of course, Cirrus's help wasn't free. She made a deal with Xueyi: as long as she helped everyone defeat the Wrathful Flame, Xueyi would petition the Ten-Lords Commission on her behalf to grant her freedom.]
[The Wrathful Flame might be immensely powerful, but its weakness was a childlike mentality. Its only obsession was settling the score with the general. Taking it down would only require three sentences.]
[With that said, she borrowed Stelle's body to ascend to a high point and began shouting toward the Wrathful Flame enveloping the skies above Fyxestroll Garden.]
["Wrathful Flame! Wrathful Flame—! The duel with the general can wait. How about you and I settle things first?"]
[A faint voice drifted from the distance, gradually becoming clearer in the wind, laced with disbelief: "You're… Cirrus? Little trinket, what makes you think you can challenge me?"]
["I've already turned the garden into my battlefield and made the Ten-Lords Commission's lackeys into puppets! The moment the general arrives, we can restart that battle from back then. Why fight your own kind right now?"]
[Cirrus mocked that what the Wrathful Flame controlled was nothing but a rabble. Then she began boasting about herself: "By a stroke of luck, I've possessed an excellent chess piece—one who once drove away Phantylia! An absolutely perfect chess piece!"]
["…Phantylia?… Phantylia! I remember now! I remember! I want a chess piece that good too!"]
[Sure enough, just like a child who wants any interesting toy they see, the Wrathful Flame immediately took the bait.]
["Feel free to send your Nether Envoys after me. If they can defeat this nameless guest I'm possessing, I'll willingly let you swallow me and contribute my strength to your battle against the general. What do you say?"]
["It's a deal! My chess pieces and I are coming for you right now!"]
——
Chainsaw Man
"Hahahaha, this Wrathful Flame idiot is hilarious! Way easier to fool than you, Denji!"
Watching the Wrathful Flame get completely hooked by Cirrus on the screen, Power slapped her thigh, laughing so hard she doubled over: "When is this great one gonna run into a dummy like that! Hm… probably not anytime soon though? Idiots like this would get killed by devils in no time flat even if they were one."
"Hey hey! Power, why'd you drag me into this?!" Denji grumbled from across the dining table, opening a can of beef while protesting at Power.
"It's your fault for being so stupid you got tricked by that evil woman Makima! Hmph hmph… If you had even one-tenth of this great one's intelligence, you wouldn't have been played by her."
Power propped her chin on her finger, the corner of her mouth curling into an infuriating smirk: "If this great one were the Wrathful Flame, I'd just possess the whole lot—Fu Xuan, Yukong, Bailu, Qingque, all of 'em! Then force the general to show himself!"
"Forget it. You're no match for the general."
"Who said anything about fighting the general head-on? This great one would use Fu Xuan and the others as hostages. If the general doesn't behave, I'd kill 'em. Once I control the general… this great one could strut around the Luofu however I want!"
"Then this great one could eat meat every day, raise the Luofu's consumption tax to 100%, lead a fleet to rob the Interastral Peace Corporation, and become the richest evil—wait, no, the richest Heliobus in the galaxy! Hahaha! And then I'd put a bounty on Kafka!"
"Huh? What does Kafka have to do with it?" Denji just felt Power's daydream was jumping all over the place.
"Because she looks a lot like Makima!" Just thinking of Makima sent a shiver through Power; her body trembled involuntarily. "This great one doesn't want to see anyone in the galaxy who even resembles her!"
"Of course~ If that day ever really comes, Denji… this great one will approve you to grope boobs! Yukong, Fu Xuan, Bailu—anyone you want! Heck, if you wanna grope Jing Yuan's chest, this great one will allow it too~"
"Tch, I'm not interested in guys."
Even though he said that, mentioning groping boobs still made Denji's face turn unavoidably red.
"Denji, this great one thought of you first for such a good thing! Shouldn't you be grateful and worship this great one?" Like a little girl waiting for praise, Power couldn't help shaking her head smugly.
"Oh, thanks." Denji replied casually.
"You're welcome." Power grinned wickedly. The next second, a blood-formed dining fork appeared in her hand. With lightning speed, she speared all the beef from Denji's can, skewering it like barbecue.
Then, right in front of Denji, she shoved fork and meat into her mouth.
"Just take it as your token of sincerity, Denji. This great one won't forget you if that chance ever comes… if it ever does."
——
[Next came facing off against colleagues controlled by the Wrathful Flame. This made Huohuo hesitate to act. After a moment of silence, Xueyi pulled the two aside and handed a magical artifact to Stelle.]
[The artifact was called the "Moon-Hiding Gourd," specially designed to contain split Heliobi. Additionally, she hoped Stelle could protect Huohuo well and show mercy to their Ten-Lords Commission colleagues.]
[With her instructions complete, Xueyi parted ways with Huohuo and the others. Once all the Heliobi were suppressed, they would regroup and enter the "Binding Evil-Subduing Array" at Qingqiu Terrace together.]
[On the way, Huohuo curiously asked Cirrus: "The Wrathful Flame is so powerful—why would it so easily agree to split itself apart?"]
[Cirrus simply chuckled: "The stronger one is, the more carelessly they underestimate their opponents… Conversely, sometimes weakness is the path to survival."]
[As expected, along the path Stelle and the others encountered many Nether Envoys possessed by the Wrathful Flame. But possession clearly hadn't strengthened their physical resistance—two whacks from Stelle's bat knocked them all out cold, and collecting the Heliobi was effortless.]
[Before long, the gourd was nearly full.]
[The two headed to Qingqiu Terrace as agreed. From afar, Huohuo saw Xueyi standing together with Guinaifen.]
[Huohuo was relieved Guinaifen was safe, but the moment she took out the artifact, Guinaifen said she wanted to take a closer look at the Ten-Lords Commission's demon-exorcising tool. Tail reacted instantly—he was about to tell Huohuo to back away and not let her near… but it was already too late.]
[Guinaifen snatched the artifact. A flash of cyan light gleamed in her eyes as she raised the gourd high—"Bang!"]
[The jade-like gourd shattered in an instant. Streams of cyan ghostly flames burst from the fragments, coalescing in midair. The intermittent, wind-hidden voice of the Heliobi echoed excitedly across the skies above Fyxestroll Garden, while the biting cold wind whipped everyone's clothing into wild fluttering.]