When Duanmu Huai embarked on his return journey, Gion... everything appeared normal.

Well, after Cthugya was devoured, Duanmu Huai only needed to rewind time to the previous evening when nothing had occurred. So, the Gion that had been originally flooded was now restored to its original bustling Flower Street.

Duanmu Huai naturally acquired the Ancient Essence of Cthugya and decisively chose to fuse with it.

After all, he came for this exact purpose.

Upon fusing with Cthugya's Ancient Essence, Duanmu Huai also gained Cthugya's ability — devouring.

At first glance, this ability might seem unrelated to flames. But this is quite normal; flames are merely a manifestation of Cthugya, just like the black flame from Predetermined Death that Duanmu Huai used during the God of Destruction. Devouring is the essence of Cthugya, whereas the flame is the expression of that essence.

As mentioned before, Cthugya devours the spirit, not the physical body. Therefore, when it burns and devours something, it's more like eating chestnuts or walnuts, destroying the outer shell with flame, then scooping out the delicious core inside to consume it whole.

However, Cthugya's devouring ability only affects the spirit and not the informational level like Shadows — well, one could say it's specialized against Nyarlathotep.

If it were anyone else, Cthugya might not find it as easy to devour them, but since Nyarlathotep loves playing these mental tricks, who else would it target?

However, this move is not without its problems because devouring the spirit means absorbing the opponent's memories and emotions. Indeed, at the instant Duanmu Huai fused with Cthugya's Ancient Essence, the spirits, memories, and emotions of those civilizations Cthugya had devoured, along with the memories and spirits from Nyarlathotep's clones and other Ancient Dominators, all rushed into Duanmu Huai's mind.

Can Duanmu Huai withstand it?

Of course not. Duanmu Huai's spirit is still purely human and not an indescribable Ancient Dominator like Cthugya. Fortunately, Duanmu Huai had anticipated this — he still has Shadows!

The characteristic of Shadows is that they can scan and store information, functioning like a giant server. When Duanmu Huai needs information, he can simply retrieve it from the Shadow. So, when the massive information devoured by Cthugya surged toward Duanmu Huai like a tsunami, Duanmu Huai swiftly packed it all into the Shadow server.

To be honest, after completing this step, Duanmu Huai was drenched in cold sweat. However, he would definitely not integrate these spirits with himself. As an Ancient ability, Shadows themselves have the power to transform. In other words, Duanmu Huai could completely transform himself into another person according to the data stored in the Shadows.

For instance, if he wanted to become an idol, he could just scan and transform into a youthful and beautiful girl idol. From top to bottom, inside and out, exactly identical.

But Duanmu Huai had never used this ability, and the reason is simple. When Duanmu Huai transforms into that person, though his memories remain his own, his way of thinking and emotions convert to those of the scanned person.

For example, if that girl idol is afraid of mice, Duanmu Huai isn't. But when he becomes that girl idol and sees a mouse, he would scream in fright.

So the problem arises, what if when Duanmu Huai returns to his original self, he becomes afraid of mice as well?

The spirit is a bizarre thing, impossible to ascertain. Duanmu Huai didn't want to take such risks, preferring instead to exert energy creating a Shadow clone rather than transform himself. Based on his experience, Judges who confidently think everything is under control usually end up failing.

Thus, it's wiser for him to proceed cautiously.

As such, Duanmu Huai wouldn't fuse with the devoured spiritual powers either, treating them as data packed in Shadows. He plans to activate the God of Destruction's Power to thoroughly incinerate them after the trial concludes and he returns.

Regarding this, Duanmu Huai recalled a past mission, a typical story where a Hero battles a Demon King. Interestingly, that Demon King specialized in mental manipulation but never revealed it. When the Hero Squad fought against the Demon King and nearly vanquished it, the Demon King swiftly executed this technique, forcibly switched its soul with the Hero's, killed the body where the Hero's soul was transferred, and then returned victoriously as the Hero who defeated the Demon King.

However, this was the Demon King's true plan. Subsequently, under the guise of the Hero, it indulged wantonly in that country, corrupting the Queen, Princess, and General Ji of the country, even transforming the former Adventure Squad members into loyal subordinates of the Demon King.

Eventually, the Hero became King, commanded his army to sweep across the planet, eliminating all opposition, and became the world's ruler.

This task captivated players, especially the thrilling idea of corrupting princesses!

Unfortunately, since it's an online game, players could only speculate based on records without vivid recollections, slightly regrettable.

Of course, thrilling as it may be, the Extinction Order still needs to be issued afterward.

This mission demonstrated that those playing with the mind are inherently sinister, so Duanmu Huai had no intention of actually devouring Nyarlathotep. It was likely planning to nourish Cthugya with its clones and reverse control over it. Hence, Duanmu Huai only hoped to cause Nyarlathotep to retreat, as once it knows a person with Cthugya's power exists on this planet, it will most likely choose to flee.

For Duanmu Huai, that would suffice.

Admittedly, from Duanmu Huai's perspective, using this ability against Nyarlathotep is secondary. Its best use is against Obsessive Sin and Cunning Deception!

Duanmu Huai had always been troubled on how to deal with these pests. Brutal Wrath and Corrupted Foil were manageable, as the God of Destruction's power excelled against them. But Obsessive Sin and Cunning Deception were trickier, as they, like Nyarlathotep, favored underhanded tactics rather than direct confrontation.

To handle such entities, one must strike their sore spot — nothing pains them more than directly devouring their spirit.

Especially for Obsessive Sin, Duanmu Huai hadn't any effective strategies to combat its perverseness until now. Directly devouring its spirit would rob it of experiencing any sensation, undoubtedly a hellish torment for Obsessive Sin.

However, further attempts are necessary to fully master it.

Moreover, after returning this time, Duanmu Huai brought quite a scare — surprise to the girls.

"Uh... Brother? What's this?"

Looking at Duanmu Huai, who was posing in a bodybuilding stance with his upper body naked, Shajuye looked bewildered, Xie Sita remained silent, while Yuko Shionji and Abigail were both equally perplexed.

"Hum hum, how about it? Isn't it quite striking?"

Duanmu Huai raised his arms.

"I've got the Azure Dragon on my left, the White Tiger on my right, the Ox at my waist, and the Dragon's head on my chest! Whoever stands in my way will be shattered, even Buddha can't stop me..."

"Is the teacher back?!"

However, before Duanmu Huai could finish his sentence, the office door was suddenly flung open by Mianmu Zuoniao, slamming right into Duanmu Huai and interrupting his words.

"Huh? Teacher, what are you doing standing here?"

"Nothing much."

Duanmu Huai rubbed his nose; it was fortunate that he wasn't holding a machete.

"By the way, why get tattoos?"

With a coffee in hand, Xie Sita commented indifferently.

"Isn't this rather cool? I just thought I'd give it a try, it's just stickers anyway, not real."

Of course, Duanmu Huai was bluffing. Actually, after absorbing the abilities of Cthugya, Duanmu Huai felt that his Ancient abilities were a bit too numerous to distinguish. Hence, he decided to manifest them in the form of tattoos, making it more convenient to remember and use—like setting hotkeys in a video game.

The Azure Dragon on the left arm is Shadow, the White Tiger on the right arm is Cthugya, and the enormous Dragon head on his back represents Thousand Eyes, Thousand Throats, and Thousand Whiskers.

Since Duanmu Huai is tall, his back is quite broad, making the Dragon head even more impactful. Those with high inspiration, upon further inspection, can see that the Dragon head tattoo is actually composed of countless eyes, whiskers, and gaping mouths... Moreover, they are constantly wriggling.

Yes, it's a special kind of nightmare for anyone with a fear of clusters.

"Pretty cool?"

"That's right, I watched a pretty popular movie over in Kansai."

"Oh, the Dragon Among Men? I watched it too... Are you talking about how the protagonist reveals his tattoos during fights?"

Upon hearing this, Shajuye realized.

"Exactly, exactly."

Duanmu Huai nodded. While killing time in Gion, he had also watched the film, and he had to admit that the scene where the protagonist quickly strips off his clothes to reveal his tattoos was indeed quite impressive. So when Duanmu Huai wanted to set hotkeys, he thought of this.

In the future, he'd simply strip and show his tattoos during fights. How cool!

"But..."

"But?"

"I have always wondered, the protagonist in the movie wears a suit, how can he take it off so easily? Isn't a suit difficult to remove?"

Shajuye shared her doubt, while Duanmu Huai tilted his head.

"Really? I find it quite simple."

Just grabbing and tearing the clothes open does the trick; for Duanmu Huai, it takes no effort at all.

It's just a bit hard on the clothes.

But his clothes are printed by Shadow.

So, it's no problem at all.

"Really... I just find it difficult..."

Duanmu Huai didn't pay much attention to Shajuye's muttering. He raised his right hand, clenched his fist, and felt the scorching devouring power flowing within.

Heh heh heh... Now Duanmu Huai can hardly wait to find Nyarlathotep for a fight.

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