Although Wapol Xiao didn't want to accept it, the truth was right in front of him: in this battle of computation, Sebastian Xiao not only had the upper hand—he absolutely crushed him.
Every one of Wapol's attacks was effortlessly neutralized. Xi Hanmei, now wielding a Wapol-alloy battle axe he had no idea when she'd swapped to, charged at him wreathed in blinding golden radiation.
Wapol Xiao no longer had time to wonder how Sebastian Xiao's flesh-and-blood brain could overpower his cybernetic intellect.
Because Xi Hanmei stepped through the Dimensional Gate like a streak of light—her entire form blazing with radiant gold, looking almost angelic.
But that was when Wapol Xiao suddenly burst into triumphant laughter.
His steel jaws expanded to several dozen meters wide.
The super-electromagnetic cannon fused into his tongue, shrinking into a hyper-dense barrel that had already finished charging.
"I knew you'd aim for the head! Tongue-cannon—FIRE!"
A gigantic metal slug blasted out at one hundred times the speed of sound, carrying the force of a collapsing mountain. With enough kinetic energy to rival a nuclear detonation, even Marvel's Black King couldn't tank a hit like that head-on.
Xi Hanmei's only option—normally—would be to use the Dimensional Gates to dodge.
But Wapol Xiao had already calculated every remaining exit.
No matter how she moved, his follow-up shots would catch her.
"Don't be afraid. Close your eyes—and strike."
Sebastian Xiao's calm voice echoed in her mind.
Xi Hanmei didn't hesitate.
Snap.
Just as Wapol Xiao believed victory was his, Sebastian Xiao snapped his fingers.
A nearly invisible Dimensional Gate blossomed right in front of Xi Hanmei—perfectly hidden within her golden radiance.
The gate expanded instantly, swallowing the railgun slug whole.
A second gate opened behind Wapol Xiao.
Within 0.001 seconds, the slug fired back out as a beam of light—piercing downward through his lower back.
And in the same instant, Xi Hanmei's battle axe slammed into his hardened skull.
BOOM!!!
The Wapol-alloy axe shattered into several pieces.
Half of Wapol Xiao's head was cleaved clean off.
The railgun slug ripped through his chest, detonating inside him.
A towering mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and Xi Hanmei was blown backward by the shockwave.
She flipped through the air to dissipate the force, landed in a clean backflip, and exhaled.
"Shame—something interfered with my swing. But it should've been enough."
Even a misaligned strike should have bisected half his brain.
Not to mention the slug that cored his entire torso.
Anyone else would be paste.
"Well done—"
Sebastian Xiao patted her shoulder, proud but still cautious.
"But don't relax. Pirates are cockroaches. A 'fatal injury' won't kill them. Get ready for a long fight."
Pirates might be lacking in speed or technique, but when it came to vitality? Monsters. Even with their hearts pierced, even with half their head missing, they could still drag hundreds down with them.
And every Daluo-split Xiao was the protagonist of his own world. No way he'd die cleanly.
"Do you even hear yourself? 'A mere fatal injury'? Try giving me one and see—!"
Xi Hanmei completely dropped her ice-queen demeanor and ranted wildly. Holding her frustration in felt like choking on a mouthful of old blood.
"It's good you understand," Sebastian Xiao said to himself.
"Understand my foot, you idiot!"
BOOM!
A massive crash shook the arena as a charred, half-destroyed Wapol Xiao toppled over—still breathing.
Even half a head short, brain exposed as a slurry of circuitry and paste, chest blown open and sparking, lower body pulverized, he stubbornly clung to life. Mechanical crawlers scurried inside him, desperately attempting repairs.
"Damn it… I should've thought of that…"
His mechanical voice crackled through damaged speakers. His vocal cords were gone—only machines let him speak now.
He had finally remembered:
Marvel-style portals could redirect attacks.
"I call that move the Boomerang. How's my signature technique taste, brother?" Sebastian Xiao mocked.
"It's not… over… I'll be back!"
"With what? One more tap and you're done."
"Wahahaha! You think this is enough to defeat me?! Mechanical troops—ATTACK!"
Hundreds of mechanical reptiles poured out of his ruined torso. Each moved as fast as a mid-sized dog, armed with dozens of razor-sharp tentacles and capable of firing welding lasers and flames.
But instead of attacking—they formed a tight perimeter around Wapol Xiao, clearly preparing to defend him from Xi Hanmei.
"Wapol Slimming."
Wapol Xiao suddenly opened his mouth—
—and bit off his own head.
Then he devoured his upper body.
Then his lower body.
In seconds, he swallowed himself whole.
Only scattered parts clattered to the ground.
The entire time, the mechanical reptiles watched Xi Hanmei like hawks—ignoring her unless she approached. If she so much as took one step, they fired short-range welding lasers hotter than magma.
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