Qin Ming, along with Kasamoto Eri, had fought their way up from the bottom together, constantly cooperating in battle.
But facing her like this—directly opposing each other—was a situation Qin Ming had never encountered before.
Kasamoto Eri's enhanced bullets had astonishing penetration power; even Qin Ming's steel body couldn't easily withstand them.
Especially after she activated her dinosaur form, Kasamoto Eri became nearly all-around powerful.
Her attributes were already high to begin with, and now she was strengthened by the evil spirit.
Facing Kasamoto Eri, Qin Ming found himself a bit flustered for the first time.
Wielding a hand axe wildly, constantly chasing Qin Ming with relentless attacks, and occasionally throwing grenades, this version of Kasamoto Eri's evil spirit wore a crazed smile.
"Why do you keep running? Why don't you fight back? Because I'm possessing your companion now! You don't dare hit back, right? Afraid of hurting her? But I'm not afraid of hurting you! I... pfft!"
Before she could finish, Qin Ming, who had been chased all along, suddenly found an opening and threw a powerful punch.
The blow was like a cannonball, hitting Kasamoto Eri's abdomen squarely. The impact lifted her legs off the ground, leaving her hanging from Qin Ming's arm.
Caught off guard by the attack, the evil spirit possessing Kasamoto Eri lost control, widening its eyes in shock and opening its mouth so wide its tongue nearly fell out.
It looked up at Qin Ming in disbelief. The spirit's expression was stunned, seemingly not expecting Qin Ming to be so ruthless even against his own companion.
Qin Ming ignored the spirit's shock completely.
Afraid to hit? Maybe he'd hesitate with others.
But hitting Kasamoto Eri? He thought he never hit hard enough.
Left hook! Right hook! Then another left hook!
Both arms moved in rapid succession, delivering a barrage of punches aimed straight at her abdomen.
Suspended in midair, Kasamoto Eri's body bent into a lobster-like shape. After only a few punches, she was seriously wounded.
Sensing things going badly, the evil spirit possessing Kasamoto Eri immediately fled her body.
Dodging Qin Ming's grab, it wildly charged toward another target: Angel, who had already distanced herself far away after sensing danger.
Seeing this, Qin Ming's face turned pale, and he rushed toward Angel.
Though he was willing to fight Angel and wasn't afraid she'd die.
Because characters summoned by the King of Fighters manual could revive, it wouldn't affect them permanently.
But the problem was, Angel was no weakling! Especially her signature "People's Elbow" attack—it was like a missile exploding right in your face!
Even with his blood mist transformation, if she landed a hit—especially a strengthened version of it—he would probably be heavily injured on the spot.
If it weren't for the King of Fighters manual's limitation that summoned people couldn't be retracted, Qin Ming would have wanted to pull Angel back immediately.
As the howling wind blew, the evil spirit rapidly approached. Angel, noticing this, darkened her expression, realizing that even the distance she'd purposely put between them was useless.
So she decisively activated her gloves, instantly releasing all the paralyzing electric charges stored in her electric gloves to prevent the spirit from using them.
Then she directly collided with the speeding evil spirit.
With a buzzing sound, the two instantly fused. But the situation where Angel was completely controlled did not happen.
Instead, Angel let out a muffled grunt. Her legs gave way, and she sat down heavily in a squatting position.
She clasped her head with both hands and groaned softly. Her attributes showed a "possessed" status.
Because the evil spirit was connected to the Dark World and had nearly infinite mental strength, yet it couldn't control Angel as it had Kasamoto Eri.
This was partly because Kasamoto Eri was taken by surprise, while Angel had been prepared.
And partly because Angel's life experience was just too unique.
Despite Angel's playful, carefree demeanor as the white-haired girl, she was no ordinary person.
Don't forget—she came from the NESTS organization! And she was one of the very few survivors of their genetic modification experiments!
She underwent countless high-intensity surgical modifications—no one knew how much inhuman torment she endured, how many severe rejection reactions she suffered.
This had resulted in Angel possessing an extraordinarily high tolerance for pain and exceptional mental resilience.
Even Kasamoto Eri, a hardened military officer who had danced on the edge of life and death, couldn't compare to her in this regard.
After all, if she hadn't been that resilient, Angel would've died long ago like the other test subjects under those brutal genetic surgeries!
The evil spirit, afraid that Zhao Honghua the exorcist might have some kind of countermeasure, didn't dare try to possess her. Thinking Angel would be an easy target, it thought it had grabbed a soft persimmon—only to find it had bitten into a rock!
As for why it didn't try to possess Qin Ming? The reason was simple: the evil spirit, born of dark power, couldn't possess a creature of darkness!
Seeing Angel struggling in pain, Zhao Honghua, who had just rushed over at high speed, lit up. She thrust her treasured sword into the ground with force.
With lightning erupting, she unleashed her ultimate move: Summon Thunder Dragon!
Countless bolts of lightning burst forth, locking in on Angel from all directions, trapping both her and the evil spirit inside her—now under resistance and unable to escape!
After completing the setup, Zhao Honghua suddenly looked toward Qin Ming.
Qin Ming, dashing over, didn't hesitate in the slightest and growled out:
"Don't hesitate! Do it!"
As he spoke, blood swirled around his palm and transformed into a sky full of blood-colored light, shooting directly at Angel.
Seeing this, Zhao Honghua didn't hold back either. Gripping her sword hilt tightly, she channeled the lightning into a full-power output.
Neither of them showed any mercy just because Angel was on their side. The raging lightning and the sky filled with blood arrows rained down onto Angel all at once.
Qin Ming's blood arrows weren't a big deal—the evil spirit wasn't afraid of such power.
But Zhao Honghua's lightning was different. As a Taoist priest, her inner power was the evil spirit's natural nemesis.
Angel let out a sharp, sky-piercing scream under the full lightning bombardment.
The evil spirit inside her tried to flee, but due to Angel's soul resisting with all its might, it was temporarily sealed within her body and couldn't escape.
Only when Angel finally died under the lightning did the spirit break free—but by then, it was already severely wounded.
Realizing something was wrong—that these people were all lunatics, utterly ruthless even toward their own allies—the evil spirit panicked and flew straight toward the Gate of Darkness.
It had originally planned to unleash its dark power and forcibly devour this entire world for a massive feast. But now, all those thoughts were gone. All it wanted was to retreat and abandon this place.
But escaping wouldn't be as easy as arriving.
It had already lost a subordinate at their hands, even if the damage technically came from its own side.
There was no way Qin Ming would just let it go.
Reaching out, Qin Ming grabbed hold of the spirit's body, trying to forcefully stop it.
But the spirit was ruthless too. Realizing it was caught and seeing the female Taoist rushing in from the other side, it decisively tore off that part of its body.
With the resolve of a warrior willing to lose a limb to survive, the evil spirit broke free of Qin Ming's grasp and dove into the cave with a swish.
Only then did it finally let out a breath of relief.
Unfortunately, that breath came too soon—before it could fully relax, a shadow suddenly fell from the sky.
The next second—Qin Ming actually descended from above, leaping down after it!
And in his hand was the peachwood sword he had snatched from Zhao Honghua!
With a single slash, he brought the sword crashing down on the spirit's head!
Qin Ming never held grudges—because he always settled them on the spot.
(End of Chapter)