A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

The night was deep, but Lijing Port No. 3 remained brilliantly illuminated. A lighthouse cast a massive beam of light over the pitch-black sea.

Two minutes earlier, in a corner of the port.

Black Magic Hand tipped on his top hat, took two steps forward, and mounted a giant gray pigeon. He glanced back at Giovanni, his tone lukewarm.

"Rookie, don't hold me back."

"Right back at you."

Giovanni replied expressionlessly, carrying Bai Ziling on his back as he climbed onto the pigeon.

The giant pigeon flapped its wings, shedding gray feathers over the port as it flew toward the four members of Team Blue Pigeon.

...

...

Blue Pigeon crouched slightly, looking at Top Hero. Moonlight pierced the scattered cirrocumulus clouds to fall on the injured man—Top Hero had lost an arm. He convulsed in agony, a pool of blood spreading beneath him.

Having escaped the "World of Words," the boy—Invisible Giant—and Shadow Woman could finally see Top Hero's condition clearly.

Both froze.

Invisible Giant broke the silence, his voice hoarse with shock.

"Hey! What happened to the spinning top guy?"

"Top Hero was attacked. The enemy is almost certainly from Death Crow... If he doesn't get treated immediately, he'll die."

Blue Pigeon answered, gazing west toward the giant pigeon soaring through the night sky.

"You take him and go. Leave the mission to Invisible Giant and me," Shadow Woman said coldly.

"No... The enemy is closing in on us. They're moving too fast; I don't think we can outrun them."

Blue Pigeon shook his head and bent down to hoist Top Hero onto his back. He turned to warn the other two.

"We're down a man. The opponent is incredibly strong. Absolutely do not underestimate them, and don't take them head-on."

"Cut the crap, stupid pigeon," Invisible Giant hissed. The boy with the star tattoo by his eye usually looked laid-back and carefree, but his expression was dark now.

He had very few friends.

Growing up in the underground streets, there was barely anyone he could trust. Most people down there were walking corpses, willing to do anything to survive.

Though he would never admit it out loud, ever since he was recruited by Hero Company, he had spent every waking day with these people...

Over time, he had actually come to see Top Hero, Shadow Woman, and Blue Pigeon as friends. And now, seeing one of those few friends brutally injured, fury surged in Invisible Giant's heart.

The boy looked up, anger flashing in his eyes. He spoke in a low voice.

"But I didn't plan on running anyway."

As he spoke, a strange light flickered in his eyes. A fierce wind swept past, whipping his bangs high into the air.

An invisible giant instantly materialized right in front of him, raising its massive arms.

The unseen giant blocked the wave of magic blades plummeting from the sky.

In the very next second, however, thousands of blades rained down in a torrential downpour, piercing straight through the giant's body.

The flesh on the giant's surface was stripped away entirely, and its body erupted in blue flames, looking like a sacrifice upon an altar.

Invisible Giant froze. He hadn't expected the giant he took such pride in to be shattered in less than two seconds.

A trail of blood trickled from his nose, staining his upper lip red.

"Fuck you."

The boy sneered viciously and wiped his nose. A smear of red stained the back of his hand.

He accelerated the invisible giant's regeneration by overdrawing his own life force, desperately holding off the torrential rain of blades.

"Idiot, don't face it head-on!"

Blue Pigeon didn't just stand by. He lunged forward in a flash, tackling Invisible Giant out of the way.

The next second, the magic blades tore completely through the giant's body. They rained down upon the ground along with invisible splinters of bone and flesh, letting out heavy thuds.

Shadow Woman was stunned. She hadn't expected the enemy's assault to overwhelm them before they even saw his face.

They were on completely different levels. She understood that clearly now.

At the same time, the giant gray pigeon soaring through the night sky dove straight toward the three members of Team Blue Pigeon.

From atop the pigeon's back, Black Magic Hand looked down at them and slowly raised a hand.

Three massive magic wardrobes instantly materialized behind Blue Pigeon, Invisible Giant, and Shadow Woman. The doors flew open, and dark chains shot out to bind them.

"Watch out—"

Shadow Woman reacted with blinding speed.

A black lake rippled outward from beneath her feet, instantly swallowing the shadows of all three heroes.

Shadow soldiers rose from the depths one after another, appearing right behind them. They were snagged by the chains and dragged into the brutal execution wardrobes instead.

Then, bayonets pierced through their bodies in a rapid barrage.

Squelch—!!!

Before the shadow soldiers could even make a sound, they were sliced into countless pieces and shattered into black mist. The magic wardrobes, now riddled with holes, slowly faded away.

"Let go of me."

Invisible Giant shoved Blue Pigeon away and scrambled to his feet again. His eyes blazed with the light of a new star.

"Roar—!!!"

The invisible giant let out a furious roar. Looking like a skeletal frame wreathed in blue fire, it charged forward and raised its hands to grab Black Magic Hand.

Black Magic Hand didn't even lift his head. He snapped his fingers. The giant gray pigeon beneath him immediately shot forward in a spiraling dive, colliding head-on with the giant.

A seemingly frail pigeon crashing into a five-meter-tall giant.

Shockingly, their raw power was completely equal. The two forces deadlocked for a moment.

But the next second, the pigeon opened its beak, and a small figure in bizarre clothing squeezed its way out. The little figure opened its mouth and spewed out a veil of blazing fire.

The blue flames burned furiously, boiling the air into a haze of white smoke. The invisible giant threw its head back and roared in agony amid the fire.

No matter how much life force Invisible Giant overdrew, the giant's regeneration could not outpace the scorching flames.

Its body crashed into the earth, smashing out a deep crater and triggering a series of deafening shockwaves.

"Animal!"

Invisible Giant ground his teeth and let out a low growl.

Blood seeped from the star tattoo by his eye, and cracks began to form across his skin. At the same time, new flesh rapidly grew over the giant's skeleton, followed by layers of blue scales.

Watching this unfold, Blue Pigeon thought to himself, 'So espers pushing past their limits really does raise their ceiling.'

The invisible giant forced itself off the ground once more. It raised its massive arms and clamped its thick hands around the pigeon's head.

In the next instant, the giant tore the pigeon's head clean off. Feathers burst out like a flurry of snow, drifting toward the sea under the moonlight.

"Cough..."

Invisible Giant's eyelids fluttered shut. Facing off against an A-Rank Superhuman single-handedly for this long had pushed him far beyond his physical limits.

Blood poured from the cracks on the boy's face, dyeing half his cheek red. He slowly slumped to his knees and lost consciousness.

The giant vanished into thin air at the exact same moment, like an illusion that had never existed.

"Stop struggling... It will make your deaths much easier."

Black Magic Hand spoke expressionlessly. He strolled out from the cloud of falling feathers as if taking a leisurely walk.

Blue Pigeon stayed silent for a moment before turning to pat Shadow Woman on the shoulder. He whispered to her.

"Shadow Woman, his target is me. If I run, he'll definitely chase after me."

He paused and glanced toward Giovanni. "Then, you find an opening to capture that pretty boy in the flight attendant uniform. It's the only way we can save Invisible Giant."

Blue Pigeon based this plan on a simple fact: Lorenzo had ordered Black Magic Hand to capture him alive. Because the supreme leader was interested in Blue Pigeon's ability, Black Magic Hand wouldn't just let him escape.

Shadow Woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Take Top Hero and go."

Blue Pigeon immediately left Invisible Giant and Shadow Woman behind and spun around. With a thunderous boom, he transformed into a streak of dark blue lightning, carrying Top Hero as he sprinted into the distant night.

Shadow Woman moved to Invisible Giant's side. She gathered him in her arms and wove a cocoon of shadows around them.

Wave after wave of shadow soldiers swarmed in to form a layered shield over the massive cocoon. But it was useless. Magic blades wrapped in blue fire plunged from the sky, ripping the cocoon to shreds.

Yet when the cocoon broke open, Shadow Woman had already grabbed Invisible Giant and briefly sunk into the shadow lake beneath her feet.

Hidden within the depths of the shadows, she observed the outside world.

The shadow soldiers raised their shields to block the falling magic blades, dissolving back into darkness one by one.

"That little blue bird is trying to run. I'll go after him." Black Magic Hand watched the retreating streak of blue lightning. "The boy is out of the fight... That leaves only the woman in black. I'm leaving her to you."

Giovanni nodded. "Get lost."

Black Magic Hand shrugged. "Keep Ziling safe, or I'll settle the score with you."

With that, he pulled off his top hat again, summoned another giant gray pigeon from inside, and rode it into the night to chase down the fleeing streak of lightning.

Giovanni and Bai Ziling were left behind.

Giovanni looked up, watching as Shadow Woman slowly emerged from the shadow lake.

A cold wind swept past as their eyes met.

The corners of her eyes were violently dark. Even though her face was obscured by shadows, raw fury and killing intent bled out through the thick gloom.

The darkness beneath the woman's feet rippled outward like a sprawling lake, the blackness churning like raging waves.

If the shadows at her feet usually resembled a placid lake, right now they were a storming sea.

Countless shadow soldiers suddenly materialized. Led by a knight mounted on a shadowy warhorse, they marched toward Giovanni. The earth trembled and roared under their advance.

Giovanni showed no fear. A paper puppet suddenly appeared in his palm.

Muttering phrases about "how to step out of the cave," the puppet chanted:

"Soul Chariot."

["Soul Chariot" (from the philosopher Plato): Summons a phantom white horse representing reason, or a phantom black horse representing desire, to charge in a target direction.]

"Black horse."

The second Giovanni spoke, a deafening horse's neigh washed over the port's air like a crashing tide.

Immediately after, a massive phantom black horse came stampeding from the distance, effortlessly trampling the entire shadow army in its path.

For some unknown reason, all the shadow soldiers seemed to lose their strength. They collapsed to their knees, their forms flickering in and out of existence.

[Notice: Esper constructs, "Shadow Soldiers," have entered a sunken state.]

The moment Giovanni shifted his gaze away from the system panel, he noticed something wrong—Shadow Woman had vanished.

"Giovanni," Bai Ziling warned softly, pointing in a direction.

He followed the girl's fingertip and saw Shadow Woman already attacking from his flank.

She drew a Nepalese Dagger from her waist and slashed diagonally toward Giovanni's neck.

Another paper puppet appeared in Giovanni's hand. The little doll looked ecstatic, throwing its arms up and shouting:

"Eternal Recurrence!"

In the next fraction of a second, Shadow Woman's body was forced backward in time to where she had been one and a half seconds ago, violently expanding the distance between her and Giovanni.

Giovanni watched her quietly.

Shadow Woman froze for a moment, her mind quickly regaining its calm.

Captain Blue Pigeon had instructed her: she had to capture Giovanni alive if possible. That was the only way to threaten Black Magic Hand.

Right now, Blue Pigeon was being hunted down by Black Magic Hand, buying her time. How could she fail to do this one thing?

At this thought, Shadow Woman took a deep breath and slowly raised her head. She controlled a swarm of shadow snakes to slither out from the lake, coiling forward to surround her enemy from all sides.

However, it was just a distraction to draw his attention.

Shadow Woman dashed forward close to the ground once more. Like a drifting curtain of darkness, she nearly blended into the blackness beneath her, making her movements almost impossible to track.

Giovanni caught the movement from the corner of his eye. He could easily use Superman Philosophy or Allegory of the Cave to escape. But he had no intention of doing so.

'Yes... just capture me like this,' Giovanni thought.

Shadow Woman lunged at him with the terrifying speed of a ghost.

However, at that exact moment, Bai Ziling stared at Shadow Woman. Like a cat entering hunting mode, the girl's crimson pupils widened and turned to slits.

She leapt off Giovanni's shoulder, shooting straight toward Shadow Woman.

In mid-air, the girl's nails instantly sharpened, transforming into bone blades as viciously sharp as knives to parry the incoming strike of Shadow Woman's dagger.

Clang—! The two clashed, sparking the metallic ring of crossing swords. Shadow Woman overpowered her—she was, after all, nearly a B Rank superhuman.

But a second later, Bai Ziling relied on her nimble frame, flipping backward into the air to dodge the slashing blade.

She landed squarely behind Shadow Woman, reached out, grabbed her shoulders, and wrapped her slender arms tight around the woman's throat.

Giovanni stood stunned.

In the next moment, the white-haired girl raised her fingertips, intending to sever Shadow Woman's neck.

"Bai Ziling, stop," Giovanni commanded just in time.

Bai Ziling froze. She was very obedient. The blood-red hue of her eyes instantly faded, and her fangs retracted slightly.

Shadow Woman seized the opening. She brought her dagger up and stabbed a gruesome, bloody gash into the girl's shoulder.

Bai Ziling let out a muffled grunt. She forcefully tightened her grip, choking Shadow Woman until the older woman lost consciousness before slowly releasing her.

Giovanni glanced at Shadow Woman's limp body slumped on the ground.

"Phew..."

Bai Ziling lowered her head, panting softly.

Giovanni didn't speak. He just stared at her in a daze.

The girl's eyes were hidden beneath her snow-white bangs. Blood poured from her shoulder, staining her pale dress and skin red. But a second later, something bizarre happened.

The spilled blood slowly flowed in reverse, re-entering and filling the wound on her shoulder. In mere moments, her skin was completely restored, as though she had never been injured at all.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow at the sight.

He had miscalculated. He hadn't expected Bai Ziling's combat instincts as a vampire to be this sharp, nor was her regeneration speed anything to scoff at.

Giovanni turned and scanned the area, catching sight of the unconscious Invisible Giant in the distance.

'So much for the "kidnap Giovanni" plan. As for Blue Pigeon, I guess I'll have to handle it myself,' Giovanni thought. 'I have to make Jiang Qingzi let me go.'

Only then did Bai Ziling lift her head. She carefully met Giovanni's eyes and asked softly:

"Giovanni... am I a bad girl?"

Giovanni was quiet for a moment. "You did very well. Otherwise, I might be dead right now."

"I just..." the white-haired girl justified, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum, "I just didn't want you to die. I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"I'm the one who should apologize. I let you get hurt."

Giovanni spoke softly, reaching out to stroke Bai Ziling's head.

He bent down slightly and hoisted the girl onto his back once more. As he walked toward Black Magic Hand's position, he focused his consciousness onto Blue Pigeon's perspective.

...

...

Carrying Top Hero on his back, Blue Pigeon became a streak of blue lightning as he sprinted past wooden cabins. The night had grown late. The deep blue moonlight hit the ocean as the waves surged and crashed.

He was running at incredible speed, every cell in his body pushed to maximum vitality. Right now, all he could hear was the howling of the night wind. In the very next second, the sound of something piercing the air ripped through the space behind him.

'He caught up this fast?'

Blue Pigeon snapped his head back. A magic knife traced a beautiful arc through the air, carrying the moonlight with it as it shot straight toward him.

The blade pierced Top Hero's back. It drove straight through Top Hero's sternum and struck Blue Pigeon's helmet dead-on, forcibly slicing the bird beak clean off the mask.

It seared a blackened, bloody burn mark into his cheek.

"Bro, leave me..." Top Hero rasped. "I'm not going to make it... At this rate, neither of us will."

Blue Pigeon let out a long breath. He set Top Hero down and turned around to face Black Magic Hand directly.

"Finally realized you can't run away?" Black Magic Hand tilted his head slightly.

"What if I told you I wasn't planning on running?"

As Blue Pigeon spoke, a gloomily-faced little paper puppet suddenly materialized in his left palm. It was the philosopher Hegel.

He clenched the puppet tightly in his left hand, hiding it from Black Magic Hand's sight. The next instant, leaning forward like a moth drawn to a flame, he launched himself straight at the enemy!

But from Black Magic Hand's perspective, this exact scene played out very differently. Blue Pigeon's split-second movement felt like watching an hour-long documentary about sprinting. He even clearly saw every minute twitch of the hero's muscles before the launch.

"If you want to die, I'll oblige..."

Black Magic Hand spoke calmly, tilting his head as he watched the streak of lightning creep toward him at an agonizingly slow pace.

He snapped his fingers. A dense veil of magic blades formed in the sky, poised to drop like the guillotine over an executioner's block.

But in that exact millisecond, the little paper puppet in Blue Pigeon's left hand moved.

"Master-Slave Dialectic," the little puppet mumbled.

Immediately after, a faint, almost invisible black light coated the bodies of both Blue Pigeon and Black Magic Hand.

["Master-Slave Dialectic" (Can only be used on a target when at least two of your attributes are lower than theirs; inverts one random attribute between you and the target for 1.5 seconds)]

[Following a check, the player's three attributes are all lower than the opponent's. Skill conditions met.]

[Notice: The "Speed" attribute of the player and the A-Rank Superhuman "Black Magic Hand" has been temporarily reversed. Black Magic Hand's Speed attribute is now: C++ Rank; Your Speed attribute is now: A Rank.]

"This is..." Black Magic Hand instantly froze.

In that split second, Blue Pigeon—who had been impossibly slow just a moment ago—suddenly accelerated. He morphed into a bolt of lightning so fast the naked eye could barely track it, vanishing across the port.

Quickly, Black Magic Hand realized something was horribly wrong. He found that his own neural reflexes were becoming sluggish.

Compared to before, his body felt like it was filled with lead. It was as if... his neural reaction speed and physical agility had suddenly dropped by a factor of ten.

The world fell into absolute silence. He could only see the afterimages the opponent left behind and the crackling arcs of electricity.

'Why... have my reactions gotten slower?'

Panic struck Black Magic Hand's heart. He couldn't even see Blue Pigeon's real body anymore, only a lightning-wreathed phantom weaving through the air.

Fortunately, he had already prepared the veil of magic blades overhead. A second later, hundreds of blades rained down. And then, the most unbelievable scene occurred.

On the port, a bolt of dark blue lightning roared through the torrential rain of magic blades, weaving between them without suffering a single scratch.

The dense barrage of blades only grazed past his head and sides. Blue Pigeon dodged with effortless grace. He moved through the blades like a tempest, exploiting every microscopic gap to slip by completely unscathed.

It was like he was walking through the seams of the world.

Watching this, an expression of total disbelief finally cracked Black Magic Hand's face.

He knew perfectly well this wasn't luck. Blue Pigeon's speed had genuinely surpassed the falling speed of the blades.

In the blink of an eye, Blue Pigeon closed the distance, striking right in front of Black Magic Hand like a pitch-black lightning snake.

A punch supercharged with black electricity smashed straight toward Black Magic Hand.

A fierce wind slammed into his face, feeling like a roaring train was about to run him down. Black Magic Hand's pupils contracted sharply.

Only at that exact moment did he manage to react, violently throwing up his metal-gauntleted right hand to catch the fist mere inches from his face.

Sometimes speed could translate directly into power. Empowered by extreme velocity, Blue Pigeon relied purely on the momentum of his sprint to gain the upper hand in the collision.

With a sharp crack, Black Magic Hand's talon-like metal gauntlet shattered.

Thick, pitch-black electricity sprayed outward in an instant, drifting through the air like waves of heavy ink. The electric light illuminated both their faces for a brief flash as it scraped past Black Magic Hand's owl mask and neck.

Amidst the roar, a corner of Jiang Qingzi's mask broke apart, and a bright red cut opened along his neck.

'I... I'm bleeding. From an opponent this weak?'

Black Magic Hand was stunned for a second before his brow furrowed.

A magic wardrobe abruptly appeared right behind him. The doors flew open, and the instant he stepped backward into its shadows, the wardrobe vanished.

Blue Pigeon leaned forward slightly, gasping for air. That had already been his absolute limit.

Master-Slave Dialectic only lasted for 1.5 seconds. Now, his and Jiang Qingzi's speed had swapped back, erasing his fleeting advantage entirely.

Immediately after, the magic wardrobe materialized behind Blue Pigeon, and Black Magic Hand slowly walked out of it.

"Our leader ordered me to capture you alive," Black Magic Hand said calmly. "Don't struggle. You've already done very well... Though I don't know how you pulled that off, very few people have ever managed to injure me."

Blue Pigeon stayed silent for a moment.

The ocean breeze blew past, sending sharp pangs of pain through both of their wounds.

Black Magic Hand took a deep breath and raised a hand to wipe his cheek.

Walking away with a wound from such a weak opponent was a tremendous humiliation. He might even be mocked by the other members of Death Crow afterward.

But after a short silence, Black Magic Hand chose to speak in an even tone.

"I admire you... If you surrender here, I can recommend you to the leader. He might just give you a chance to join Death Crow."

Blue Pigeon turned around and suddenly laughed. "Who the hell are you insulting?"

He tilted his head, staring at Black Magic Hand. "Who the fuck would want to join Death Crow..." 'I'm already in it, brother,' he added silently in his heart.

Black Magic Hand fell silent. Then, he lowered his head and let out a mocking scoff.

"Suit yourself."

A magic blade abruptly tore through the air beside him. Coated in blazing blue fire, it shot directly at Blue Pigeon.

Blue Pigeon's body couldn't react in time, but he had anticipated the attack. He whipped his head to the side with blinding speed. Even so, the blade shattered his mask, and the shrapnel sliced open his cheek.

With a spurt, fresh blood stained his face red.

He turned to flee, but a massive magic wardrobe manifested right in front of him. Layers upon layers of chains slithered out from inside, securely binding Blue Pigeon's arms and legs.

Blue Pigeon fell to one knee.

There was nowhere left to run. Black Magic Hand walked over, step by slow step, his pitch-black cloak dragging against the ground.

Looming over him, Black Magic Hand looked coldly at the chained figure.

"Still going to run?"

Yet the exact moment those words left his mouth, he looked through the shattered remnants of the mask and saw... Blue Pigeon's face.

Behind the owl mask, Jiang Qingzi's pupils rapidly shrank.

"How is this possible... Why is it you..."

Amidst the absolute silence, Black Magic Hand subconsciously took a step back, staggering like a kite with a snapped string as he muttered in dumbfounded shock.

Because the face right before his eyes was one he couldn't possibly be more familiar with:

—Ke Mingqing.

And in the next second, the boy pinned to the ground in his broken helmet raised his eyes, staring deeply at him with an expression of pure, unadulterated fury.

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