By the time Jie Ming collected the final floating step, the fluctuations from the battle had become so clear that he no longer needed spiritual perception to detect them. Explosions, the sharp whistles of energy shocks, and sounds resembling the heavy breathing of a massive beast poured continuously from the depths of the space.

He slowed his steps, pressing his presence down to zero with the Great Void Step.

Like a weightless shadow, he silently slid along the gray ground toward the edge of the battlefield.

The core of this space was larger than he had imagined.

It was a circular hall with a diameter exceeding five hundred meters, its interior an open expanse of gray-white flat ground.

At the center of the hall floated a massive sphere of light. Its color hovered between pale gold and milky white, pulsing unsteadily like a burning heart.

Countless fine, ever-changing patterns covered the surface of the light sphere. With every pulse, it sent out a ring of energy ripples.

Professor Victor Raine stood directly beneath the light sphere.

His silver-framed glasses reflected the sphere’s color. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows, revealing dense runes covering his forearms. The runes appeared to emerge from beneath his skin, flashing in sync with his heartbeat.

His hands pressed against a floating array, his ten fingers moving continuously between the runes, as if playing an invisible piano.

Each time he pressed a rune, the light sphere’s pulse would shift subtly. The entire sphere was being finely adjusted under the precise control of his fingertips.

The three powerhouses from the Spirit Medium Association stood less than fifty meters from the light sphere.

The President stood at the front, his Storm Strange fully unleashed.

However, his attacks were not aimed at the professor, but at the monster positioned in front of him.

It was a humanoid entity pieced together from flesh, metal, and Strange fragments, roughly three meters tall. Its body surface was covered in bone-like armor. Its arms were not normal limbs, but two thick flesh pillars ending in hammer-like shapes. Every swing generated howling gales.

The President’s lightning struck its body, exploding into blue arcs across the shell, but the monster only staggered back a few steps. The cracks on its shell healed completely within seconds.

The female reinforcement’s sonic shock hit it, causing its body to tremble violently, yet its feet seemed nailed to the ground and did not retreat even one step.

The male reinforcement launched a flanking assault. His Strange transformed into a black shadow, attempting to bypass the monster and strike the professor directly. However, the seemingly bulky monster reacted with unbelievable speed.

Its body spun fiercely the instant the shadow approached the professor. The thick flesh pillar swept across, smashing the black shadow back.

The three took turns attacking. Various Strange powers detonated throughout the hall.

Yet the monster remained between the professor and the light sphere, like a self-repairing wall.

Although the monster showed no intent to attack, its defensive capability was exaggerated.

Its body grew increasingly rough under constant injury and healing. The shell’s color shifted from gray-white to deep gray, and the patterns on its surface became denser.

Its resistance to the trio’s attacks also grew higher, to the point where the three could not break through its defense at all.

The President’s expression was extremely ugly, because he recognized this monster.

“Collins!” His voice cut through the explosions and thunder, carrying an almost pleading tone. “Do you still remember who you are? You are a member of the Spirit Medium Association! You have protected this city for over twenty years! Do not let a madman destroy your final shred of consciousness!”

The monster’s body paused.

The flesh pillar that had been about to smash toward the female reinforcement stopped in mid-air. Its head slowly turned toward the President.

On its face, which was twisted to the point where its features were nearly unrecognizable, the mouth opened and let out a sound like something was blocking its throat.

Although the sound was not loud, the President heard it.

Seeing its reaction, the President’s eyes brightened slightly, and his voice grew louder.

“Yes, it’s you! Collins! You’re still in there! You can hear me! You can still control yourself! You don’t need to block for him. We can help strip that Strange from your body. The association’s technology can do it…”

The monster’s body shuddered violently.

The mouth on that face opened again. This time the sound was clearer, though still indistinct.

The President could not make out what it was saying, but Jie Ming’s spiritual perception caught it.

Jie Ming’s expression grew interested, because that syllable was not directed at the President, but at the fused Strange itself.

“Can’t… retreat…”

Then all expression vanished from that face, as if someone had used an eraser to wipe away everything that belonged to a “human.” Eyes, mouth, eyebrows—all parts capable of expressing emotion became smooth, textureless surfaces.

The monster straightened once more. The halted flesh pillar resumed its swing, smashing toward the female reinforcement with even greater force than before.

A trace of grief flashed across the President’s face.

He knew Collins could not hold on much longer.

With every injury and every healing, the fusion between the Strange and his own being deepened another layer.

Once he completely lost his sense of self, he would no longer be Collins, but would become the monster itself.

Jie Ming stood behind a stone pillar extending from the gray ground at the edge of the hall. His gaze shifted away from the monster and onto the professor.

Victor’s expression was very calm.

He watched the three Spirit Medium powerhouses bombard the monster relentlessly, without the slightest fluctuation in his expression.

His fingers continued moving rapidly across the array, the runes at his fingertips emitting steady blue light.

His gaze would occasionally leave the array and fall upon Collins.

He was observing how much longer Collins’s body could last, how far the fusion between the Strange and the host had progressed, and how much more time it could buy him.

The rhythm of the trio’s fierce assault grew faster and faster.

The President had pushed his Storm Strange to its limit. The lightning illuminated the entire hall as bright as day.

The female reinforcement’s sonic shocks shifted from single-direction strikes to full-coverage bombardment. Every shockwave caused the monster’s body to stiffen briefly.

The male reinforcement’s black shadow attacks became even more cunning, specifically targeting the freshly healed cracks on the monster’s shell and creating new wounds each time.

The fused monster finally began to falter.

Its shell was covered in dense cracks under the continuous barrage, and its healing speed slowed noticeably.

The cracks spread from the surface to the depths, from localized areas to the entire body.

Its movements also began to distort. The swings of its flesh pillar lost strength, and its footsteps started to stagger.

Seeing this, the three simultaneously increased their attack intensity.

The President’s lightning transformed into a thick blue pillar of light, slashing straight down from the ceiling.

The female reinforcement’s sound waves coiled around the thunder, shooting precisely toward the monster’s chest.

The male reinforcement’s black shadow turned into dozens of sharp spikes, circling the lightning and piercing the monster’s body from all directions at once.

Facing the trio’s combined strike, the monster’s body suddenly stiffened, then began trembling violently.

Countless cracks appeared across its shell. Dark liquid sprayed out from the fissures, pooling into a puddle on the ground.

It still stood, blocking the space between the professor and the light sphere.

But its body had begun to collapse.

The professor’s mouth twitched slightly, revealing an expression akin to a sigh.

“What a shame,” he said softly, almost to himself. “Still a bit short. My technique… is still not perfect enough.”

He withdrew his fingers from the array.

Then he reached out and grasped the light sphere above his head.

The moment his fingers touched it, the light sphere exploded open like blooming petals.

Countless cracks appeared across the sphere’s surface. Milky-white light poured out from the gaps, submerging the professor’s entire figure in a blinding halo.

The runes spread from his forearms, climbing up his arms to his shoulders, then from his shoulders to his chest and back, and from his back across his entire body.

His skin became transparent beneath the runes, clearly revealing how the blood vessels and muscles underneath were being rearranged and restructured by some power.

The professor’s body began to deform within the light, as if countless tentacles were extending from him.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the light to look at the monster that had already begun collapsing.

“You’ve worked hard.”

His voice was soft, yet it echoed clearly throughout the hall, every word distinct.

The monster’s body shuddered violently.

The mouth on its now expressionless face opened once more.

This time, the sound it produced was clearer than any before.

It was a human voice—old, hoarse, carrying a tone of near release:

“…Professor… forgive…”

The monster could not finish speaking. Its body completely collapsed.

The shell shattered into countless fragments. Dark liquid sprayed out from between the pieces, exploding into a massive black splash on the ground.

At the center of the splash, a thin, hunched body wearing a patient gown fell.

It was an old man.

His hair was graying, his face covered in wrinkles, his lips blue, and his eyes tightly shut.

There was no longer any breath of life in his body.

It was Collins.

The President took a step forward, then stopped.

He looked at the thin corpse on the ground, his lips moving, but ultimately no sound came out.

Then he raised his head, his gaze piercing through the light to stare at the professor.

“Victor Raine.” His voice was low, as if squeezed out from the depths of his chest. “Do you know how many people you have destroyed?”

The professor did not answer.

He simply stood quietly at the center of the light, watching his own body change bit by bit, like a bystander.

The three association powerhouses did not give him any more time.

The President had no interest in hearing his reply. He swung his hand down fiercely. The power of his Strange condensed into a thick bolt of lightning, slashing toward the professor’s head.

The female reinforcement’s sound waves and the male reinforcement’s black shadows followed right behind. Three different types of power intertwined in the air, forming an unavoidable attack.

Then, a red net appeared before them.

It was a net-like barrier somewhere between solid and liquid, formed from countless tiny blood droplets.

The net’s patterns were extremely fine and dense. Every thread was so thin it was nearly invisible to the naked eye.

Yet their quantity was overwhelming, spreading outward from the professor’s body surface and covering hundreds of meters around him in milliseconds.

The President’s lightning struck the net. Blue arcs dispersed along the threads in all directions like water flowing into countless tributaries. The energy was diluted, scattered, and ultimately vanished.

The female reinforcement’s sound waves struck the net without even creating a ripple.

The male reinforcement’s black shadows tried to slip through the gaps in the mesh, but those gaps automatically contracted the moment the shadows approached, firmly blocking them outside.

“Blood Net!” The President’s voice rose sharply, trembling with anger. “The Disaster Grade Strange that once destroyed more than half of Middletown City is actually in your hands!”

The male reinforcement’s expression also changed.

He was no stranger to Disaster Grade Stranges. He himself was a Spirit Medium who controlled one.

But the aura of this Blood Net was completely different.

Even at the same Disaster Grade, the pressure this Blood Net gave him felt as though they were not on the same level.

“How can this guy be so strong at the same Disaster Grade?!” His voice carried a trace of disbelief.

No one could answer him.

After blocking the trio’s attacks, the Blood Net began to contract and deform.

The fine threads, as if alive, gathered toward the center and wove themselves into a human shape.

First the skeleton, then the muscles, then the skin…

In just a few short seconds, a humanoid figure made of blood-red material stood before them.

The face was Victor Raine’s face.

If the professor’s previous expression had been “calm,”

Then the expression on this blood-red face was one of indifferent emptiness, like an existence that had transcended human emotion looking down upon a group of ants.

The professor, now restored to human form, did not direct his gaze at the three Spirit Medium powerhouses.

He did not even glance in their direction.

His eyes passed over the President’s head, over the shoulders of the male and female reinforcements, and landed behind the stone pillar at the edge of the hall.

Jie Ming sighed inwardly.

He knew he had been discovered.

It was not because he had revealed any flaw, but because of the Blood Net.

The moment this Strange appeared, Jie Ming’s All-Purpose Eye had detected the issue.

In addition to the visible red threads, countless nearly imperceptible thin lines radiated outward from the Blood Net’s main body, covering every corner of the entire hall.

This was a rare, physically-based full-coverage search.

Each of those transparent lines was an extension of the Blood Net’s perception system. Anything that came into contact with them—whether tangible entities or intangible energy—would be sensed by it.

The Great Void Step could blend into the environment, eliminate energy fluctuations, and make others overlook his existence.

But it could not make Jie Ming “non-existent.”

Of course, Jie Ming had ways to avoid such detection.

But… there was no need.

The professor’s gaze paused for an instant in the direction where Jie Ming was hiding.

Then he blinked.

The three Spirit Medium Association powerhouses vanished simultaneously, directly “shifted” away from their positions by some force.

Jie Ming’s spiritual markers showed they had been teleported to another region of this sub-space, at least several kilometers away.

For a moment, only two people remained in the hall.