A Miracle Master’s Magic is often subtle and unseen. They kill and then vanish, their deeds and reputation hidden.

This is usually the case.

Miracle Masters believe that the true power of a Miracle Technique can never be judged by its outward appearance.

A Miracle Technique might look pathetic, but actually be profound beyond measure.

Other techniques might seem as fierce as a tiger, but on closer inspection, they’re all bark and no bite.

Anything is possible.

Yet, right now...

When the Mighty Man named Zheng Shan, holding two Large Curved Sabers burning with black flames, began to spin rapidly.

When a gale arose, sending the Night Guards on the street stumbling and unable to keep their footing.

When the blue-gray flagstones from the street and the clay tiles from the roofs were ripped up by the gale and swept toward the Mighty Man.

When the morning light, which had been filtering through the tattered Shadow Puppetry screen, was once again blotted out by a dark, oppressive tornado.

"Fuck! Get back!"

Jun Buxiao had wanted to say it was all for show—that a Miracle Master’s Magic could never be this absurd; he wasn’t the monster Feng Bei, after all.

He had wanted to comfort himself and others with these thoughts.

But as the hurricane-like attack coalesced around the Mighty Man, the tornado filled with rubble and debris howling until his ears rang, the words died on Jun Buxiao’s lips, leaving only a single word: "Fuck!"

The expression of a Night Guard suddenly changed. As if by a magic trick, he pulled a second painted bone mask from behind his back and put it on.

He was the real Jun Buxiao!

Jun Buxiao had been hiding among the Night Guards all along, using a shadow double to face Zheng Shan. No one would have ever guessed that the real Jun Buxiao looked, on the surface, like just another ordinary Night Guard!

"Hee hee hee! Come and get me, come and get me! Green grass swaying, green grass growing, Heaven’s fraying, Earth’s not knowing! Daddy and Mommy made a baby! The wind blows low, the grass does bow, can you guess where Mommy and Daddy are now?"

With a strange laugh, Jun Buxiao sang the nonsensical ditty. He danced with the glee of an Actor, and no one could see the twisted, terrified expression beneath his mask. His hands blurred into afterimages as his scissors tore swiftly across the ground, sending tentacle-like shadows slithering behind the unconscious townspeople.

At the same time, Jun Buxiao reached behind his back and with a flick, unfurled a huge black cloth into the air. The cloth spun as it descended, completely covering the stunned Night Guards and Constellations.

One by one, the townspeople, now "possessed" by the shadows, sprang to life. They scrambled toward the spot covered by the cloth, trampling over each other until they had formed a living human wall.

The black cloth, which had just been bulging with the outlines of a dozen or so people, suddenly went slack. It fluttered powerlessly to the ground, the silhouettes of the people gone.

"DRAGON... TAIL... SWING!"

It all happened in a flash. Zheng Xiu’s "nuke" was finished charging. From within his spinning perspective, he caught a glimpse of Jun Buxiao using the townspeople as a human wall and cursed inwardly.

Zheng Xiu’s "nuke" was in his hands; it had to be unleashed. Amidst the spin, his arms swelled, muscles knotting like solid rock. With a rattle, the chains extended. Black lightning flickered faintly over one saber as he thrust it forward, bringing it to a dead stop. Then, carried by the rotational inertia, the other saber slammed violently against the first Large Curved Saber.

The twin sabers crashed together. The resulting black sparks and lightning drew long, thin lines across the shadow screen. From a distance, they looked like cracks in space itself.

BOOM!!

The sound of the clashing sabers was like a clap of thunder. In the thunderous, raging wind, roofs were peeled off house after house and flung into the sky.

After the thunderclap came a continuous series of explosions and rumbles. The entire town was engulfed in a swirling cloud of dust raised by the gale. Even with his mask back on, Jun Buxiao could no longer maintain the screen for his Shadow Puppetry. In an instant, the black shadows were torn to shreds. Zheng Xiu had no time to spare for the "Challenge Successful" prompt flashing before his eyes. With the Feng Bei scroll on his back, he spread his wings and shot through the tear in the screen. His figure vanished into the morning light, and against the rising sun, he became a tiny dot in the blink of an eye.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

In the vast General Town, only Dou Xie remained standing, perfectly unharmed. He clutched a few torn pages in his hand, staring dumbly at the ruins before him, motionless for a long time.

Zheng Xiu had unleashed his attack facing the city gates, and Dou Xie had been standing right behind him. In that instant, only he had a clear view of what happened.

Thump.

Dou Xie’s knees gave out, and he collapsed to the ground. His gaze was unfocused as he muttered, "Too... too strong!"

As the rubble and debris that had been swept into the air began to fall back to the ground.

The street was now a scene of utter devastation.

WHOOSH!

A pile of rubble in the center of the street suddenly and bizarrely buckled upward. A black cloth shrank from large to small, retracting into Jun Buxiao’s hand, where it became a tiny shadow between his fingers in the blink of an eye.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

The dust hanging in the air made Jun Buxiao cough uncontrollably. He struggled to open his eyes and command his men, "Everyone, be careful! After a move like that, he must be a spent arrow at the end of its flight! He’s nothing to fear!"

Perhaps even Jun Buxiao himself found it hard to believe his own words. But logically speaking, a Miracle Master’s Casting is not without its Restrictions. A Miracle Technique of this magnitude must have unimaginable costs. Jun Buxiao was sixty percent certain that since this man wasn’t Feng Bei, the only way he could have performed such a Miracle Technique was by burning his life force, consuming his lifespan, severing his own limbs, and destroying his internal organs.

To put it simply, Krypton Life.

’That’s right, Krypton Life,’ he thought. ’That Mighty Man must have used Krypton Life to be so incomparably fierce.’

"Quick! Spread out! If he’s dead, he must be buried under the rubble! Whoever finds that scroll will receive a reward from the Night Lord and fill the vacant Constellation spot!"

The Night Guards who had barely survived the "Mighty Man’s storm" were already terrified and had lost all will to fight. But the promise from Upper Four gave them a new reason to press on. A few took the lead, and influenced by the herd mentality, the rest of the Night Guards spread out. They held their Miracle Techniques at the ready, carefully searching for any trace of the Mighty Man and the scroll.