Bart stared in shock at the suddenly appearing Ye Chui. After hearing the words from his mouth, his face froze for a moment before he realised Ye Chui’s identity. He spoke with cold wariness, “You are Ye Chui!? What have you done to my brother?”
“Brother, I’m fine.” Evans walked out from the guild. He raised his hand, removed the mask from his face, and revealed Evans’s features. “These past few days I nearly died. Fortunately, Mr Ye Chui and his summoned Heroic Spirits saved me. Now I have gained brand-new power…”
“No, you are not my brother!” Bart shouted loudly. The brother he had watched grow up since childhood was a gentle youth. How could he be this strange armoured figure before him?
He swiftly drew his bow and nocked an arrow. With a whoosh, he shot an arrow straight at Ye Chui. According to the common power system of the Castro continent, Bart was a bow-swordsman, a swordsman who controlled sword qi to empower arrows. The arrows he fired were naturally not ordinary arrows but ones coated in sword qi, possessing extremely strong killing power.
Yet just as his arrow was about to strike Ye Chui, Evans suddenly appeared, blocking in front of Ye Chui. The thin sword at his back instantly unsheathed, precisely intercepting the arrow and splitting it in two. The halves embedded themselves in the ground on either side.
“You… you really cannot be my brother!” Bart’s face filled with horror. This only convinced him further that the person before him was not his brother, for his brother could never block his flying arrow. Overwhelmed by rage, he nocked and fired three more arrows in quick, agile succession towards Evans.
“Brother!” Evans cried out urgently. Bang, bang. He swept aside the first two arrows. For the third, he held his sword horizontally before his eyes. Pop. The incoming arrow was repelled by his power and flew back towards Bart with the same force and speed.
This was the power Ye Chui had granted Evans: [Flash].
Hattori somersaulted on the spot, dodging the arrow. The fury on his face subsided, replaced by a grave and cold expression. Once again he drew three arrows from his back.
Buzz.
The sword in Evans’s hand emitted a strange hum. He spun it once, then gripped the hilt reversed in his hand. He shook his head regretfully at Bart. “Brother, it seems the only way you will listen to me seriously is if I defeat you.” With those words, his body suddenly turned into a shadow, charging towards Bart like the [Assault] sword skill.
This was the [Shadow] skill Ye Chui had granted him.
Among the combat skills of short-swordsmen and swordsmen, [Assault] was the most commonly used. It concentrated power in the legs, exploding speed to the limit in a short time. The dark swordsmen of the Hanamura Magic Guild were especially proficient in it.
Yet the [Shadow] Evans now used far surpassed the speed of the Assault sword skill. His body became an afterimage, blending characteristics of dark magic. Bart’s pupils had only just caught Evans’s form when Evans brushed past him. The next moment, pain exploded in his abdomen, and blood sprayed wildly.
“Aaaah!!!” Pain turned Bart into an enraged beast. Once more he drew his bow and fired an arrow, this time aimed at the sky.
Whoosh. The arrow shot upwards, then burst like a firework in the air. The next instant, streams of light rained down like a meteor shower, smashing into the area around Bart’s body.
Ye Chui transformed into a flock of bats, flapping away to dodge the streams of light. He flew to one side to stand with Booth. He watched with admiration the bow-swordsman technique Bart used and muttered, “This move is used wrong. It could be remodelled into [Scatter].”
Booth looked at the somewhat eccentric Ye Chui, “…”
Evans nimbly dodged the falling streams of light. With a swing of his left hand, three cold glints flew towards Bart.
Bart hurriedly evaded. Puff, puff, puff. The glints struck the ground: three black cross-shaped throwing darts. Yet these darts were not physical objects but condensed from shadow magic and soon dissipated into nothing.
Bart had not expected the armoured man to dodge his streaming light arrows and possess such terrifying dart attacks. While quickly treating the wound on his abdomen, he watched Evans warily.
Evans’s left hand kept swinging, firing dart after dart endlessly towards Bart.
The magic spell [Dart] that Ye Chui had granted him could condense darts from magic with unlimited quantity.
In the Hanamura Magic Guild, the eldest son Bart had always been regarded as the heir to their father Sheryl, the one who inherited the bloodline. By comparison, his younger brother Evans had been somewhat idle, ambitious but lacking talent. Yet at this moment, after Ye Chui’s pioneering modifications, Evans’s abilities had been vastly enhanced, even faintly suppressing Bart.
It is worth mentioning that although no magic grimoire was visible on Evans’s body now, his power still came from a grimoire. Ye Chui had simply stuffed the grimoire into his modified mechanical body, so it was not exposed.
The two brothers engaged in fierce combat. Flying arrows and darts attacked each other incessantly. Evans’s darts were born from magic and were nearly infinite, but Bart’s arrows were soon depleted.
Soon he had only one arrow left.
Bart’s body suddenly retreated far back. His face grave, he looked at the arrow in his hand, preparing to nock it and once again activate the Divine Dragon Phantom. Yet his previous Divine Dragon Phantom had already been repelled once, and he was unsure if it would work again.
Seeing Bart’s stance, Evans likewise held his sword horizontally before his chest, preparing to activate Divine Dragon Phantom once more. Their Tide Empire bloodline allowed them to summon phantom beasts for combat, and their fighting style had always been rather singular, merely treating phantom beasts as ordinary summoned creatures. However, Ye Chui had remodelled Evans, fusing phantom beast power with swordsman power to create the powerful technique [Slash], capable of immense killing and destructive force.
That was far stronger than Bart simply attaching Divine Dragon Phantom to his arrows.
“Enough!”
Just as the brothers were about to clash with another wave of Divine Dragon Phantoms, Ye Chui had no choice but to intervene. The power of Divine Dragon Phantom was somewhat enormous, and Ye Chui did not want his castle accidentally blown up. He used [Divine Might Null] to instantly appear beside Bart. Bart, whose full attention was focused on Evans, had no defence against Ye Chui’s sudden move. Before he could react, Ye Chui’s hand was already on his head. Mental magic [Dizziness]. The next moment, Bart’s body swayed and he collapsed unconscious to the ground.
Seeing this, Evans seemed somewhat regretful as he sheathed his sword. Incidentally, although that sword was originally his, Ye Chui had modified it to some extent. Now it was more like a tachi than a sword. Ye Chui had named it “Dragon Ichimonji” (PS: Genji’s weapon).
Evans walked to Bart, crouched down, and checked his brother’s injuries.
Inside the guild, Debbie, Green, and the others had long since come out to watch this bizarre battle. Seeing Ye Chui knock Bart unconscious, they all gathered around. Booth glanced over the crowd, yet her eyes noticed several strange figures mixed among them. Among Ye Chui’s summoned mad scientist legion, Tony and Banner aside, Ultron and Vision were clearly not human at all.
Puppets? Booth thought secretly. Puppets were magical constructs used for combat. Some powerful puppets could even awaken their own intelligence.
Seeing the fallen Bart, the scientist legion crowded around curiously. Evans bowed respectfully to the four scientists with a fawning expression.
“Your battle just now was very good, though you still got slightly injured.” The tall and menacing Ultron examined some scratches on Evans’s body and said, “We should build the body from vibranium. That way it would be completely flawless.” He looked at Ye Chui with a conspiratorial smile and said, “I think we need vibranium…”
Heroic Spirits’ languages were normally incomprehensible. Apart from Ye Chui, no one else could understand the words of the One-Punch or Speedy Tang Boss Heroic Spirits he summoned. However, Heroic Spirits from the Marvel universe had no such restriction.
“That’s enough. No need for vibranium!” Ye Chui refused with a speechless expression. As the hardest metal in the Marvel universe, the point cost to exchange for vibranium was simply insane: one gram for one point!
He would only exchange so much vibranium if he had points to burn!
Still, forging a vibranium greatsword for Guinevere was worth considering. Hmm, and getting a vibranium brick for Green would be good too.
As his Heroic Spirits, they all obeyed his commands, yet they retained their original personalities. For example, Ultron’s obsession with exchanging for vibranium made Ye Chui feel he had ulterior motives, so of course he would not tie his own hands.
“It seems our successes these past few days have been excellent. I think we need wine and beautiful women as a reward.” Playboy Tony Stark requested from Ye Chui, smoothly winking flirtatiously at Booth.
Then he was frozen into an ice sculpture.
Banner was very interested in the fallen Bart. He bent down to examine Bart’s body and, upholding the spirit of science above all, said, “His constitution is similar to Evans’s. His bloodline seems to contain a summoning contract with a divine dragon phantom beast. Very interesting… Can we dissect him to take a look?” Noticing Genji’s tense expression after removing his mask, Banner hurriedly added, “Don’t worry, we can definitely reassemble him afterwards!”
At that moment, Bart suddenly opened his eyes.
As the eldest son of Hanamura, Bart possessed extremely strong power and willpower. After being hit by Ye Chui’s [Dizziness], he actually shook off the spell’s influence in just a few minutes and regained consciousness. The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a group of oddly shaped people surrounding him, and he had just heard someone say they wanted to dissect him for research.
This instinctively made Bart tense. He still clutched the arrow from before he fainted. In that instant, he sensitively leapt up from the ground and grabbed the person who appeared weakest nearby, namely Banner, as a hostage, pressing the arrow against Banner’s neck. “Nobody move, or I kill him.”
Everyone’s bodies stiffened.
Then Ye Chui looked at Bart with the loving expression one gives an idiot.
Bart backed away step by step while holding Banner hostage.
At Ye Chui’s signal, everyone on his side retreated a few steps.
“Brother, please let him go!” Evans urgently pleaded with Bart.
“Evans…” Bart looked at Evans with a complicated expression. After fainting once, he seemed calmer. This armoured man might really be his brother, for only their bloodline could summon divine dragon phantom beasts. Yet this brother felt indescribably foreign to him. His voice cold, he said, “What exactly have they done to you!”
“I’m fine now. The important thing is, brother, please don’t hurt Teacher Banner!” Evans said anxiously.
“These people deserve to die!” Bart said furiously. The arrow in his hand pressed harder, already drawing blood on Banner’s neck.
Then…
Bart suddenly realised something was wrong.
The body of the person he held hostage seemed to be growing larger? He looked at the man he had judged weakest: the man’s white skin was rapidly turning green, and his body was expanding at extreme speed, tearing through his clothes.
In panic, Bart thrust hard, trying to pierce Banner’s neck, but his arrow could no longer penetrate the green skin.
In an instant, the originally average-sized human transformed into a green giant. Hulk turned around, looked down at Bart, and gave a cold smile.
Bart: “…”
He stiffly looked at Evans, trying to walk over. “Little brother, you really are my brother…”
Then his leg was grabbed by the green giant. Bang, bang, bang. He was swung left and right, slammed repeatedly into the ground.
Ye Chui broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly dismissed the summoning of these Heroic Spirits. He thought to himself that this Bart had terrible luck, choosing the most terrifying one among them as a hostage. A few more slams and he would probably be crippled… Though he really wanted to continue some modification research, if both sons were modified, that half-step Saint Magister Sheryl would truly come looking for Ye Chui to fight to the death.
After unlocking the Marvel universe, through several trials Ye Chui had learned that the power level of Marvel universe Heroic Spirits was not particularly strong in this magical world. Someone like Captain America with his vibranium shield had a comprehensive rating of only about seventy points. Iron Man ranged from seventy to two hundred points depending on the armour. Vibranium and steel suits all counted as magical constructs.
Among them, Hulk was the strongest Heroic Spirit, exceeding five hundred points in strength.
Bart fainted again on the ground. This poor man had his eyes rolled back, tongue lolling out, making a splendid funny face…
Evans confirmed Bart was not dead, then bent down, hoisted Bart onto his shoulder, and bid farewell to Ye Chui and the others. “From now on, Hanamura will live peacefully with Arbitrary Name. I will handle brother and father. I believe they will not cause trouble again.”
“Mm, off you go. If you ever become dissatisfied with your current appearance, come find me and I’ll change your skin.” Ye Chui nodded in agreement.
The reason he had modified Evans, apart from satisfying his own modification urges, was mainly to avoid conflict with Hanamura. Of course, to prevent his modified warrior from ever turning against him, Ye Chui had also planted some insurance magic arrays inside Evans. If he ever drew his blade against Ye Chui, his bodily functions would automatically shut down.
Evans carried Bart on his shoulder and quickly headed towards the Hanamura Magic Guild.
It was morning. Though there were few pedestrians on the street, the fight had still attracted considerable attention. People stopped to watch.
Ye Chui told everyone to return to the castle. Only then did he have time to look at Booth and wonder what she had come for today.
“I’m leaving the Star Empire today.”
Booth answered, “I was originally a bit worried you couldn’t handle the Hanamura Magic Guild, but now it seems there is no need to worry. Your methods… are truly astonishing. Even gods could not do what you have done.”
“You’re leaving today?” Hearing Booth’s words, Green immediately grew nervous. These past few days he had tried several times to find Booth, but Black Phase Servant had blocked him saying Booth was recuperating, which had made him rather anxious.
Booth smiled at Green and said, “So before I leave, I want to leave beautiful memories. Green, will you spend today strolling the imperial capital with me?”
…
The sun had already risen fully. Morning sunlight sprinkled over the bustling city.
Booth and Green prepared to begin their date before parting. Before leaving the guild, Green suddenly remembered his guild’s unreliable style, so he specially said to everyone, “Can you all please not interfere today? I mean… don’t secretly follow us!”
From the excited expressions on Debbie and Leisha’s faces, he had already guessed what they planned to do.
“Have fun with Booth. Rest assured, we absolutely will not interfere.” Ye Chui promised with a righteous face.
Green looked at Ye Chui doubtfully. After a moment he still nodded, thinking the guild leader probably would not be that bored… Soon he and Booth disappeared beyond the guild.
Debbie, Leisha, and Celestia immediately grew restless, preparing to disguise themselves and tail them.
Yet Ye Chui blocked them with a face full of justice. “What are you doing? What are you doing? They’re on a date. You mustn’t always interfere. It makes it so there is no privacy in the guild at all. What if Green blames us later?”
Debbie looked unwilling. “Ye Chui, aren’t you curious what they’ll do?”
“Of course I’m curious, but if we follow and get discovered, Booth gets embarrassed and angry and dumps Green directly. Do you think Green will resent us for life?” Ye Chui explained with a very reasonable expression.
Debbie and the others all felt there was indeed some risk and looked disappointed for a moment.
Then…
“So…” Ye Chui’s tone suddenly changed. A strange magical device appeared in his hand. “With this Redwing, none of that is a problem. Remote monitoring, live broadcast, absolutely covert, and we can record the footage to rewatch later!”
After unlocking the Marvel series, Ye Chui could exchange all kinds of modified black technology from the movies through the mall.
This Redwing was the auxiliary equipment Falcon used in the films (Captain America 3), the perfect tool for peeping!
