"Shangshang, are you trying to scare me to death and inherit my account?"
Guinaifen patted her chest.
For a moment there.
She really thought the Ten-Lords Commission had come for her!
Sushang chuckled: "I was just watching your live stream and thought I'd play a joke... come on, adjust your mood, let's continue."
"This bad guy finally showed his true colors!"
Guinaifen pinched Sushang's cheek as revenge.
Continuing the story.
At this moment.
Cirrus let out a triumphant, maniacal laugh.
"Hehehe, hahaha~"
"Thank you, esteemed judges, for clearing the obstacles and gathering the Heliobus fragments for me."
"I told you I would leave your body, little pawn~"
Green flames burst out from Stelle's chest.
And the escaping Heliobus below all converged towards the sky.
Cirrus was not picky.
It unceremoniously devoured all these Heliobus powers!
Soon.
It transformed from a small flame into a massive fireball looming in the sky.
At the center of the flames was its one evil, mocking eye.
"I feel..."
"Unprecedented—"
"Power!"
"Pawns, shall we play another round?"
The fallen ghost officers moved like marionettes.
Surrounded by clusters of ghostly flames, indicating they were completely controlled by Cirrus.
[Entering Battle]
[Cirrus cannot be targeted or attacked. When any other enemy unit is defeated, Cirrus will lose a portion of its health.]
Following the endless stream of Netherworld Guards into battle.
Guinaifen couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow!"
"This Cirrus's battle mechanic forces us to deal with waves of enemies!"
"We're doomed, we can't win~"
"I admit I was too loud earlier. What we're missing now is a top-tier Erudition DPS!"
...
"What a coincidence? I just unlocked Argenti after completing [Night of Universal Hallucinations], and now I see this situation?"
"Is there a possibility that Yu Ling will design an ultimate-level dungeon next, where we'll need to constantly clear waves of enemies?"
"Jing Yuan, Himeko: Please release this dungeon soon, thank you!"
"Why can't we just attack Cirrus directly? This guy is way too good at drawing aggro!"
"I wish I could jump into the screen and punch it!"
"With all due respect, if such a crisis really happened on Luofu, all of us here would undoubtedly be pawns in Cirrus's hands."
"What are you talking about? With our constitution! We'd struggle just climbing five floors… If Cirrus dares to control me, I'll make sure to drain a unit of its energy."
"I'm tired from work. Let Cirrus control me and work for me instead…"
...
In the courtyard.
Huohuo was nervously following the live stream's plot.
Unlike the others.
She was practically on the front lines.
If the [Creation Furnace] really malfunctioned, this could very well be the situation they'd face in the future.
Moreover.
Huohuo didn't want to see her in-game self get defeated!
Tail sighed beside her, "Look, look!"
"I told you earlier, just let me swallow it whole. Would've been easier."
"Now, this situation is hard to resolve."
"Little Huohuo, I bet you're going to run off to find help next."
Huohuo stammered nervously, "P-probably."
Her eyes were glued to the screen.
The situation looked dire now.
Perhaps… even escaping wasn't an option.
Sure enough!
The ensuing plot.
Left Huohuo gaping in shock.
Xueyi seemed severely injured, hunched over, with one arm hanging limply.
"This demon… is really troublesome…"
"It's absorbed too many Heliobus…"
"If we try to weaken it bit by bit, we'll exhaust ourselves before we can win."
Tail let out a disdainful laugh and said, "It's not necessarily hopeless, puppet…"
"As it said itself, when Heliobus fuse, they form a fragile balance."
"You know what to do, right, Huohuo?"
Tail looked at Huohuo.
"B-but…"
"What are you afraid of? If I'm gone, won't you be able to live the life you want?" Tail said in a nonchalant tone.
At that moment.
Outside the screen.
Huohuo was utterly shocked!
Shouldn't they be running away now?
What did Tail mean by that?
A bad premonition suddenly arose.
She clenched her fists tightly.
Biting her lip.
Wanting to keep watching, yet fearing what she might see…
Meanwhile, Tail narrowed his eyes.
It never expected this!
In this game.
It would actually make such a choice!
Was this still itself?
Shouldn't it be standing back, watching the little girl Huohuo and that puppet judge make fools of themselves?
Why… had it become so righteous?
"It must… must be because I can't stand that Cirrus!"
"There's no way I'm thinking of self-sacrifice for the safety of this little coward!"
Cirrus's voice rang out: "I'm bored, bored. These little pawns are too dull. Why don't you join in, how about that?"
Suddenly, a burst of red light erupted from the giant eye.
Green flames immediately emanated from Xueyi and Stelle.
Both of them clutched their heads.
Resisting the force that sought to control their minds.
But their bodies were involuntarily sucked into the air.
Stelle managed to resist for a moment, but soon succumbed completely.
Xueyi gritted her teeth.
A red aura burst from her body!
Two black shadows shot out from her side.
Several interlocking chains tightly bound Stelle, who was almost sucked into Cirrus's mouth.
On the other side.
She thrust a triangular spike into the ground.
Anchoring herself in the middle, firmly holding on.
The barrage of comments exploded with excitement!
…
"Xueyi is so cool!"
"Sister Xueyi is so reassuring, ahhh, I'll repay your life-saving grace with my body~"
"The Stellaron! Do something!"
"I've got a Stellaron inside me, Cirrus, you really dare to absorb it?"
"I'm down (sad)"
…
Meanwhile.
Huohuo was crouching, secretly wiping away tears.
Tail's ears were standing straight up in anger.
"Useless thing, you…"
"Pull yourself together!"
Huohuo shook her head, crying, "Wuwu, this thing just won't die…"
"We're doomed…"
At this moment.
Even Xueyi was struggling to hold on against Cirrus's suction.
The chains were being dragged forward fiercely!
"Don't you still have… have me?" Tail bared its teeth.
It transformed back into Huohuo's tail.
Huohuo then noticed the seal on the tail.
In a moment of resolve.
She mustered her courage and made a decision.
She tore off the seal on the tail!
Tail was free once more!
It let out a loud laugh.
"Goodbye, Huohuo!"
With that.
It charged straight at Cirrus!
Like a cannonball, it crashed into Cirrus's form.
The once overwhelming Cirrus was struck as if by lightning!
The red light in its eyes was replaced by a blue glow.
"You… bastard! What are you doing here? Get… out of me!"
[Battle begins]
This time.
When Cirrus tried to activate an enhancement skill for its pawns, the screen displayed [Nothing Happened]!
Cirrus roared in anger, "You, ahhhh… get out of me!"
Tail's laughter rang out, "Cirrus, why don't you try absorbing me too?"
"Are you insane? Why are you helping humans?!"
"A reason? Do I need one? If I must have one—"
"It's because I can't stand a fool like you who only plays tricks!"
At that moment.
A prompt appeared on the screen.
[Huohuo is also a judge of the Ten-Lords Commission! I'll keep supporting everyone with talismans!]
"No, I can't let Tail's efforts go to waste!"
"Spirit, spirit talismans, heed my command!"
"Spirit talismans, spirit talismans, spirit talismans!"
Huohuo finally pulled herself together!
In the form of a support skill, it periodically restores health and removes debuffs for three teammates.
Little Gui clearly didn't expect this.
The battle against the Heliobus would end up being so intense!
"Lord Tail... it really, I'm crying!"
"Keep it up, Huohuo."
"I'm going to crush you, Cirrus!"
Without the buffs applied by Cirrus.
These controlled enemies returned to their normal strength.
After eliminating several waves.
The health bar of Cirrus above was finally depleted!
Cirrus screamed as it ascended into the air.
Eyes wide open!
Extremely unwilling!
A burst of intense light erupted from its body.
"Boom!"
Flames rained down.
It seemed that everything had come to an end.
Huohuo's tears couldn't stop flowing.
"Tail..."
A line of text appeared on the screen.
[An unexpected Heliobus disaster turned into a rain of fire. Cirrus took advantage of the chaos to possess a Netherworld Envoy, but was promptly controlled by the Ten-Lords Commission. However, the whereabouts of Tail were nowhere to be found...]
Guinaifen was stunned.
"Wait, is it really over just like that?"
"Lord Tail is gone?"
"Yu Ling, give me back Lord Tail!"
...
"This part was so cool!"
"To think, in the end, it was Lord Tail who sacrificed itself to save us..."
"It was always protecting Huohuo, after all."
"Now Huohuo doesn't even have a burning tail anymore."
"I'm really crying! Lord Tail, your tough talk but kind heart was truly consistent to the end."
"Help! Is Lord Tail really gone?"
"Nooooooo [crying][crying] I loved it so much..."
"Wait, that's not right. I heard from a friend that this is a Space Comedy?"