"…What do we do now?"
Even though hiding behind a man was humiliating, Zoya knew her limits. Sensibly, she tugged lightly at Chen Mo's clothes and asked in a small voice.
"Are you going to fight him?"
"Thanks for thinking so highly of me," Chen Mo said dryly, "but do you honestly believe I can beat a pure-blood Wendigo who's been fighting for centuries?"
Zoya choked on the question, instinctively glancing at the bottomless crater nearby—unable to refute him.
That brief clash, like something out of epic myth, had shown her what the "human-shaped catastrophe" from fireside tales truly looked like.
So without thinking, she'd assumed this man would inevitably end up in a world-shaking battle with that elder—both men, both monstrous—just like in the comics.
"For now, we should be thinking about how to slip away," Chen Mo said. "And I'll warn you up front—I can run. You, on the other hand, are probably screwed."
Ignoring the way Zoya stiffened behind him, Chen Mo craned his neck and peered past Patriot, scanning the distance.
They were close. And the Reunion forces surrounding Peterheim Middle School had clearly shifted all of their attention here.
Even Mephisto was lurking not far away to watch. The little lunatic might be crazy, but even he didn't dare approach Patriot while Patriot was in combat mode.
Chen Mo considered it, then watched the shieldguards inch closer. With a flick of his wrist, he swung his sword—and a towering wall of flame erupted skyward, cutting off their advance.
It also blocked their view into the inner area.
Whoosh—
Another halberd tore through the firewall and came straight for him. Fortunately, Chen Mo's guard was already at maximum. He raised his blade and barely managed to deflect it, forcibly twisting the weapon's trajectory so it slammed into a heap of ruined masonry to the side.
Chen Mo tightened his grip on [Ashes] and stepped forward.
"Go, now. Get inside. Peterheim Middle School is right up ahead. With everyone watching me, you'll be able to slip in."
"What about you?" Zoya asked, confused. "Didn't you just say you can't beat him?"
"Of course I can't," Chen Mo nodded. "But if I can't win, I can still run."
Then, as Patriot looked ready to unleash another "ultimate" with zero cooldown, Chen Mo moved behind Zoya and kicked her hard—sending her flying a long way.
"Stop dragging your feet like a—like a man," he snapped. "Get into the school and wait for me."
Watching her in the distance—rubbing her backside while nodding furiously at him—Chen Mo hesitated, then shouted anyway:
"Save me something to eat!"
No idea if she heard him.
Thud.
The dense ranks of shieldguards halted in front of the towering fire wall, and Patriot followed close behind them.
A halberd seemed to appear in his hands as if by magic. This time, it looked like the Wendigo intended to close in and go hand-to-hand.
But when Patriot reached the firewall, he suddenly stopped—abandoning the motion to cleave through the flames.
"You… who are you?"
"I really am a new recruit of Reunion, Mr. Patriot!" Chen Mo immediately raised his hands in a surrender gesture—though the cold, deadly sword in his grip never lowered.
"I was being chased for no reason by W, that Sarkaz mercenary. Mr. Patriot, you have to do something about this!"
Thud.
The only answer was the sound of Patriot's footsteps. The Wendigo strode forward without fear, walking straight through flames that had incinerated countless gangs.
Seeing his bluff was useless, Chen Mo's heart hardened—he braced for a fight.
After all, this was Patriot. Even Talulah couldn't last a single exchange with him.
And not the "only breathes fire" Talulah, either—the Talulah under the Black Snake.
For a guy who mostly relied on Draco physicality to bully weaker opponents, being forced to brawl with a Wendigo who'd fought for hundreds of years was just cruel.
It was like a low-rank player who only farms bots being forced to 1v1 the top-ranked king of the ladder.
"This flame…" Patriot's hoarse voice ground on. "You are Talulah… what are you?"
What the hell?
Staring up at the massive figure that blotted out the sky and swallowed him in shadow, Chen Mo made sure his mask was still firmly in place—then threw out the first nonsense that came to mind.
"You're right. I'm her father. I'm here to teach her a lesson. So, Mr. Patriot, please step aside and stop getting in the way of my important business."
As he spoke, Chen Mo used the distraction—and his sharp eyesight—to confirm that Zoya had nearly slipped into Peterheim Middle School amid the chaos.
Good. That meant he could start planning his own escape route.
But Patriot clearly didn't believe a single word.
"No. Talulah's biological father… is long dead. This is the truth she herself… confessed."
"And by the age visible in your exposed skin… you are younger than Talulah."
"However… I believe you and Talulah… are closely connected."
The exchange almost felt like awkward family "small talk," except every time Patriot's speech caught for a beat, the halberd in his hands rose higher.
By the time he finished, the weapon hung over Chen Mo's head like the Sword of Damocles.
In the shadow, Chen Mo's body went taut. He locked his grip on [Ashes], and his tail—twitching with anxiety—stood rigid.
He couldn't dodge. The moment he tried, Patriot would seize that instant and land a devastating hit.
And the pressure was suffocating. Even the "Conqueror's Haki" from One Piece didn't feel more oppressive than this.
"But… verification is required."
The moment the last word fell, Patriot's halberd came down.
Chen Mo raised his sword and met it head-on.
Boom!
The collision erupted like thunder—sudden, deafening.
A savage gale burst outward from Chen Mo, sweeping the entire block. Countless fragments and debris were ripped up and hurled into the distance.
At the center of the battlefield, the ground—locked beneath their deadlock—cracked outward in a spiderweb pattern.
The impact even formed a visible shockwave, pulverizing surrounding rubble and shattered walls.
The sheer force was like a raging beast tearing through the air and shaking the sky. Even FrostNova, watching from afar, couldn't keep her balance—her body rocked as if the world itself was trembling.
"That man… who is he…?"
This fight was beyond anything FrostNova could step into. She could only order the more disciplined Yeti Squad to push back the Reunion onlookers crowding around.
Chen Mo, meanwhile, was not doing well. Beneath the mask, his face twisted in strain as he fought to stop that downward cleave.
Patriot's strength felt like a mountain pressing onto his body—an ever-increasing weight that forced Chen Mo's knees to bend and drove his feet down into the earth, hammering the ground into a terrifying depression.
But he wasn't without a counter.
As [Ashes] ground against iron and sparks exploded, the weapon's internal "living" structure grew more violently active. Chen Mo pushed it higher and higher—forcing output beyond safe limits, right up to the blade's maximum.
And the result, manifesting outwardly, was the same phenomenon that had appeared once before:
A blazing sword of roaring flame.
With the radiant [Ashes] in hand, Chen Mo slowly straightened his legs. The difference in their builds was absurd—like an insect trying to shake a tree—yet he rose, inch by inch, steady and forceful. Heat poured off him, expanding outward in waves.
"Mr. Patriot—if you don't go rein in your people," Chen Mo said through clenched control, "they're going to die right here."
The ground was melting.
A rolling heatwave swept the entire district. Many Reunion fighters felt searing pain on any exposed skin, like they were being roasted alive.
Even the surrounding buildings began to soften and deform, like ice cream on a furnace. The once-dry, frigid air warped and shimmered under the scorching temperature.
A Draco's rampaging fire at point-blank range—so close even a Wendigo couldn't endure it for long.
Patriot pulled his halberd back and retreated several steps, never once taking his eyes off Chen Mo, now wreathed in flame.
"I did not expect… to see Victoria's royal bloodline… in this era."
"And moreover… a male."
"Pure-blood Draco," Patriot said, voice grinding. "You infiltrated Reunion. What… is your true purpose?"
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