Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

(Damn it! Why did I have to provoke such a monster?)

(…Damn it, thank goodness it wasn’t me.)

(I'm never eating ice cream again!)

(This world is really chaotic.)

……

Tomie and the others were either panicked, gloating, or genuinely sighing.

No one expected that going out for a stroll in the circus would lead to encountering a demon who controls the rules of death, and eating an ice cream would result in turning oneself into the ice cream.

How could a god or demon who can see immortality as nothing appear so cheaply?

(I'll give it a try.)

Tomie Moro's thoughts entered subtly, without any extra emotion.

She closed her eyes.

As consciousness sinks deeper, one visualizes the melting body shedding its skin, flesh, and all illusory appearances, revealing its most essential skeleton.

That was the White Bone Contemplation that Amamiya Rin had practiced for many years in the Dream Realm. Although she followed a completely opposite path to Amamiya Rin, her attainments in Buddhist practice were in no way inferior to Amamiya Rin's.

The skin and flesh peeled away, and the tendons and veins were stripped away.

Tomie Kawakami's bones had a translucent, candy-like appearance; it wasn't bone structure, but rather a sugary sheen.

Deeper still, in the very marrow, the source of life, which should have been vibrant and alive, is gradually fading into a milky white. It's not death, it's not injury, it's change.

Deeper, beyond matter, beyond cells, beyond all names and forms.

She saw—emptiness!

It's not the emptiness of Buddhism, but the true emptiness where there is nothing at all.

There are no curses, no spiritual power, no cause and effect. There is only a naked, unreasonable "that is so." So is Fal. So is ice cream. So is Tomie.

From time immemorial, it's as if she were ice cream all along.

Tomie Mara opened her eyes.

(I can't tell.)

After a moment, Tomie Maro finally spoke.

(That's not a force I can understand; it's illogical and unpredictable. It's like someone has inscribed the concept of ice cream into every single cell of her body. That's a force at the level of rules, irreversible.)

The dimension in which the demon resides is clearly higher than that of the being named Tomie Kawakami. Even without a hierarchy, the power of matter transformation can restrain a cellular-level immortal being.

For a moment, [Fujiang Network] was completely silent, with only a sense of relief spreading among the crowd.

Fortunately, a scapegoat was caught off guard beforehand; otherwise, who knows if I might have accidentally eaten that ice cream and lost my life sometime during the day.

Inside the tent, most of Tomie Kawakami's body had melted away.

Her left arm was severed at the shoulder joint, turning into a pool of milky white liquid that dripped down the seat. Her right leg disappeared below the knee, revealing flesh and blood that were also melting.

"Ah Lin...!"

She looked at Yu Gonglin, and for the first time, her beautiful eyes were devoid of calculation, mockery, and that condescending arrogance.

Only fear!

For the first time, the being named Tomie Kawakami showed signs of fear of death.

Amamiya Rin heard the sound.

Although my eardrums were damaged, intense pain, like waves crashing against my skin, surged through every inch of my body.

But his spirit never wavered, and his unwavering willpower allowed him to clearly hear Tomie Kawakami's cries for help.

The Ripple Breathing Technique operates at its limit, with an inexhaustible life force slowly undulating between the broken meridians.

The strength generated was insufficient to lift an arm, to move a foot, or even to open the eyes.

But it was enough for him to slightly turn his head and turn his ear toward the direction from which the sound came.

Those blood-stained eyelids trembled slightly as they gazed at Tomie Kawakami's still-melting face.

As Tomie Kawakami gazed at Rin Amamiya, who was battered and bruised, her panicked and helpless expression gradually calmed down.

Their eyes met silently, without a word.

Tomie Kawakami slowly closed her eyes, her remaining body flowing and dissolving, gradually turning into a cool, milky-white liquid that slowly spread and disappeared into the dim corner of the stage.

"It can still move?"

Babylus looked at Amamiya Rin, a genuine surprise flashing in his eyes.

This body no longer possesses the physiological conditions necessary for survival. Any other living being would have been a pile of dead flesh by now.

"That's... amazing."

Babyrus murmured, his eyes gleaming with greed once more.

However, when his gaze swept over the ice cream truck, greed immediately turned into anxiety.

With this guy around, he couldn't easily win over this beautiful soul.

The air inside the tent solidified into invisible amber.

Babyrus stood in the center of the stage, his gaze shifting between two mangled bodies. One was melting away, the other should no longer be standing.

His lips twitched slightly, an emotion even more unfamiliar to him than anger—hesitation.

The ice cream truck stopped at the edge of the ripped tent, and the white-haired demon sat in the driver's seat, his swirling eyes reflecting everything on the stage. He neither attacked nor left, but waited.

At the very moment when the three parties were deadlocked—

"boom--"

An invisible force tore the canvas at the top of the tent apart from the outside in, and a huge shadow swept across the sky, the sound of wings flapping like muffled thunder.

Everyone looked up at the same time.

A giant, jet-black bird, its wingspan obscuring the opening at the top of the tent, its feathers gleaming with an eerie metallic sheen in the dim light.

Its eyes were amber, like molten gold, and the chaotic stage below was reflected deep within its pupils.

The giant bird folded its wings and swooped down.

The enormous body began to shrink and deform in mid-air, its bones rearranged, and feathers shed into its skin.

The moment she landed, she transformed into a slender female figure.

Her long black hair fell to her waist, and her features were exactly the same as those of Tomie Kawakami, but her temperament was completely different. Her eyes were calm and deep, as if they had been polished by the long years, shedding all the impetuosity and sharpness, leaving only a kind of composure after experiencing vicissitudes.

Blackbird's gaze swept across the stage, lingering briefly on Babirus and the white-haired man, without any emotional fluctuation.

Then, she looked at Amamiya Rin.

With a flick of his wrist, a thumb-sized gem slid from his palm and was tossed into the air toward Amamiya Rin.

The gemstone is deep blue, translucent, and has a shimmering light flowing inside, like a solidified nebula.

The moment the gemstone landed on Amamiya Rin, it shone brightly.

A deep blue halo spread like ripples from the center of the gemstone, extending along Amamiya Rin's arm and throughout his body.

Wherever the light stream passed, tattered clothes were torn apart, replaced by precisely fitted pieces of armor.

A red breastplate emerged from the chest, its edges outlined with silver-gray lines.

The shoulder armor extends outwards and has distinct angles.

Arm armor, leg armor, wrist guards, combat boots... every piece of armor solidified in the light, covering his body perfectly.

The helmet was finally completed, and the visor fell down, covering his blood-stained face.

Armored in silver and red, Seven armor, fully dressed.