Chapter 73: Ke Mingqing: Death Crow? All of You, Come at Me Together

"I want everyone here to come at me together—use whatever means you like. As long as you can hurt me within one second, you win."

After having Giovanni deliver that line, Ke Mingqing observed everyone's reactions through the puppet's perspective.

The abandoned building remained shrouded in dead silence for a long time, as quiet as a night after a torrential rain.

A second later, a faint laugh broke the silence.

It came from Jiang Qingzi. He had his hands shoved into his school uniform pockets, head bowed as he chuckled softly, though he didn't say a word.

Everyone was simply waiting for the Pope to speak.

Lorenzo sat on a stone slab, his gaze fixed on the three paper figures resting on Giovanni's palm.

For the first time, a trace of surprise flitted across the perpetually expressionless Pope's face.

Ke Mingqing observed his expression, pondering inwardly.

Will the Pope try to steal this ability I'm showing off?

Logically, he should be very interested in it. But if he actually tries to steal it from me, he'll find he can't do it at all.

Because the Gate of Truth is a player skill, not a superhuman ability.

Still, the Pope wouldn't do something so despicable in front of the other members. After all, if he promises to let me join the group upon meeting his conditions, only to turn around and steal my ability, how could he ever maintain his authority in front of the others?

At this thought, Ke Mingqing quietly set his mind at ease.

"Very interesting—" Lorenzo finally spoke.

He looked at Giovanni and said unhurriedly, "I promise you, if the time exceeds one second, I will immediately halt everyone's movements and ensure they do not endanger your life."

Lorenzo paused. "But within this one second, I will not intervene no matter what happens. Do you understand?"

"Exactly what I want."

Giovanni's expression remained unchanged as he quietly met Lorenzo's gaze.

"My God, is this kid crazy?" The Bandage Man closed his manga and turned to look at Giovanni. "One second is enough time for us to kill him a hundred times over—oh, considering he's from the boss's hometown, how about we leave him with an intact corpse?"

"Since he said so himself," Jiang Qingzi finally stopped smiling and slowly raised his eyes to Giovanni, "then if I accidentally butcher him, you won't blame me, right, Boss?"

Lorenzo nodded silently.

Cosimo rested a hand on his hip and asked Giovanni with a smile, "Do you know what one second means to us?"

Ke Mingqing certainly knew. Giving these monsters one second was enough time for them to kill countless people.

In battles between top-tier super-human species, one second was by no means short. Two top powerhouses could easily exchange dozens of blows within a single second.

Those gathered in Death Crow were the most elite super-human species in the world. Even if an individual with the strongest physique on the planet stood here, enduring a joint attack from this group would likely result in only one outcome:

Death or being maimed.

But with the Gate of Truth in hand, he still had the confidence, and so he controlled the Theater Puppet to respond.

"I know." Giovanni remained expressionless. "I just want to see exactly what the members of Death Crow are capable of."

"Are those your last words?" Jiang Qingzi sneered.

Cosimo, clad in his butler suit, tilted his head and covered his face as he laughed, looking as though he couldn't hold it in.

He snorted, "If you think this is enough to prove your strength, then we'll play along. But I hope you won't turn into a corpse in a moment. Corpses can't act cool."

The members of Death Crow were unified in their stance, but the puppet master named Bai became the only person to offer words of caution.

She turned her red eyes toward Giovanni, warning him word by word, "Your name is Giovanni, right? Let me tell you right now, playing this kind of game with them will get you killed. No one will hold back. If you are harboring any false hopes, you will die a very miserable death."

Giovanni didn't even raise his head, his voice calm. "That's a good thing. Otherwise, this bet would be meaningless."

Bai arched her elegant eyebrows, casting her gaze down at him.

"Forget it. Do as you please. I won't participate in you little boys' squabbles."

Saying this, she turned her head to glance at Lorenzo. "Unless the boss demands it."

Lorenzo said nothing, tacitly allowing her to stay out of it.

Jiang Qingzi suddenly turned his head and said to the black mummy hanging upside down in midair, "Bandage Man, take Xiao Ling outside first." Obviously, he didn't want Bai Ziling to see the bloody sight of this man being ripped to shreds.

"Don't dump the babysitting job on me, you jerks."

Even as he complained, the Bandage Man scratched his head, retracted the bandage hanging above him, snapped his Shonen Jump shut, and flipped down from midair to land on his feet.

"Let's go, kid. I'll bring you back later."

The Bandage Man reached out and tugged Bai Ziling's shoulder, but Bai Ziling gripped Giovanni's pants tightly, refusing to let go.

Kid, hurry up and move out of the way. I'm about to show off.

With this thought, Ke Mingqing quickly controlled Giovanni's body to crouch down. Reaching out to stroke Bai Ziling's snow-white hair, he stared into her eyes and said slowly, "Trust me."

Bai Ziling raised her eyes, quietly gazing at Giovanni's face from beneath her snowy bangs.

"Giovanni, don't die." Her red eyes didn't blink.

Ke Mingqing paused for a moment.

He suddenly understood. Bai Ziling must have already realized that Stroh, the vampire woman who adopted her, was truly dead, which was why she said those words to him.

"Of course," Giovanni said softly. "I will stay by your side, but if I can't join Death Crow, I'll have to leave you."

Not far away, Bai turned her head, her eyes lowered as she quietly watched the young man and the little girl.

Amidst the silence, for some unknown reason, she suddenly sneered. "What a sweet talker. You're obviously going to abandon her soon."

Her eyes flashed. "Some people are just like that. They always love making unrealistic promises, but never fulfill them."

She hopped down from the stone slab and slowly walked outside. Ke Mingqing had no idea what this woman's deal was, but he couldn't help feeling she held a deep-seated grudge against him.

However, Ke Mingqing couldn't be bothered to argue with her. He simply controlled Giovanni to turn his head and tell Bai Ziling, "Go on. It's dangerous for you to stay here."

Bai Ziling hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.

She let go of Giovanni's pants and followed the Bandage Man away. And so, only four people remained in the abandoned building: Giovanni, Lorenzo, Cosimo, and Jiang Qingzi.

"You need to mentally prepare yourself."

Lorenzo raised his gray-blue eyes to stare at Giovanni, seemingly trying to catch a hint of wavering in his gaze. "I won't attack directly, but within this second, I will attempt to control your mind and strip you of any ability to resist."

As his words fell, the Bible in the Pope's hands flipped open to a specific page, every single letter radiating a faint halo of light.

"It matters not," Giovanni said.

What happened next in that fleeting second would have probably felt as long as a century to Giovanni.

Jiang Qingzi waved his right arm and snapped his fingers. With a sharp crack, hundreds of razor blades wreathed in ghostly blue flames materialized in the air above him. Like a torrential storm of steel, they rained down upon Giovanni's figure.

At the same time, Cosimo's face suddenly bulged outward, transforming into a ferocious wolf's snout. His pupils narrowed into beastly slits, and pitch-black fur sprouted across his body.

With his swollen limbs dropping to the ground, he shot forward like a rabid wolf on the hunt.

Not far away, Lorenzo gripped the Bible, a dark light flashing in his eyes.

The ability he used was stolen from an Indian monk: "Supreme Sanskrit Mantra." Unlike the other two from Death Crow, his attack targeted Giovanni's mind.

Giovanni would hear countless monks loudly chanting scriptures in his ears.

Like the tolling of ten thousand bronze bells, the sacred mantra descended.

Any person with even a slightly weak mind standing there would bleed from all seven orifices and die on the spot.

But a miracle occurred.

Giovanni remained entirely unmoved. His face was as perfectly calm as always, as if his world was completely silent, or perhaps he had simply withstood the onslaught of the mantra.

"This is—"

Lorenzo's gaze flickered. He caught sight of what just happened. One of the paper figures hovering above Giovanni's palm faintly chanted, "Übermensch Philosophy."

In an instant, a faint golden light enveloped Giovanni's entire body, expanding outward like an invisible wall.

Simultaneously, Jiang Qingzi's magic blades carved sharp arcs like a heavy downpour, crashing toward Giovanni one after another, only to be blocked by that sacred golden light.

At this moment, the space around Giovanni was densely embedded with blades, making him look like a giant hedgehog.

It wasn't over. The pitch-black figure that followed immediately after was Cosimo. His razor-sharp wolf claws whipped up a biting gale, swiping straight toward the layer of golden light on Giovanni's body.

In his werewolf form, he could easily lift an entire apartment building; he was undoubtedly one of the strongest super-human species in the world in terms of raw physical power. Yet, no matter how hard Cosimo pushed, his claws simply couldn't advance a single inch further.

It was as if an insurmountable, unshakable mountain stood squarely in his path!

Cosimo looked up, astonishment in his eyes. His slitted beastly pupils reflected Giovanni's figure.

The young man in the flight attendant uniform stood quietly in place, entirely motionless, like a reef amidst a raging tide.

Giovanni's expression remained serene, and the look he gave Cosimo carried a hint of contempt.

Like a saint gazing at a hysterical beast.

Feeling the other's condescending stare, a furious crimson light flooded Cosimo's pupils.

"Roar—!!!"

The werewolf let out a hoarse, low growl as the pitch-black fur gradually spread across his entire body. But in that instant, his movements were halted by a cold voice from behind: "Stop."

Feeling the chill in the boss's words, Cosimo instantly regained his composure and stopped his charge.

The layer of golden light shrouding Giovanni vanished. Cosimo's wolf claws were stopped right in front of Giovanni's pupils, mere inches away. Yet, like some inhuman creature, Giovanni was completely untouched by the fear of death.

Giovanni's eyes stared at the wolf claws without blinking, acting as if they didn't even exist.

Silence reigned over the abandoned building. All noise disappeared in that split second, as though swallowed by that freezing voice.

"How could this be—"

Jiang Qingzi lowered his face slightly, staring in disbelief at the scene before him.

His magic blades evaporated within the scorching ghostly flames, exposing Giovanni to everyone's view.

Lorenzo didn't even look up as he stated calmly, "It's already over, Cosimo."

"Hiss..."

The half-wolf, half-human figure breathed out a hoarse, murky breath, and his body rapidly returned to normal. At this moment, the butler suit on Cosimo was torn in several places. Turning his wolf claws back into normal fingers, he rested a hand on Giovanni's shoulder.

After a moment of silence, Cosimo gave him a slight smile. "I'm genuinely impressed."

Meanwhile, standing not too far behind them, Jiang Qingzi was still caught in a state of shock and bewilderment.

In the past, he never could have imagined what kind of person would be capable of simultaneously defending against the combined attacks of himself, Cosimo, and the Pope—let alone walking away without a single scratch.

And yet, Giovanni had actually done it. That scene just now was like a miracle.

Just what is this guy's background?

Jiang Qingzi frowned, pondering inwardly.

It was far too convenient that such an immensely powerful superhuman had happened to find the runaway Bai Ziling and used her as a medium to approach the members of Death Crow. This was absolutely no coincidence.

Jiang Qingzi was confident that Lorenzo had definitely considered this as well.

But as he turned his head now, he couldn't discern what thoughts lay hidden within the Pope's profound gaze.

Like a heavily lagging robot, Giovanni only reacted at this moment. He swatted Cosimo's hand away and said lightly, "Just now, I really thought you planned to kill me."

Cosimo smiled slightly. "I was just spooked by you, buddy. So I got a little impulsive, yeah—it's a biological instinct. I'm practically half a wolf."

Be a good boy, won't you, you big dog? Ke Mingqing breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Giovanni ignored him, meeting the gaze the Pope cast his way.

"How did you do that?" Lorenzo asked.

Giovanni lowered his eyes, looking at the three paper figures on his palm.

"Each of my paper figures bears an ability corresponding to a philosophical theory," he explained. "That was just one of my abilities—no need to make such a fuss over it."

Lorenzo pondered for a moment, then asked, "'Übermensch Philosophy.' I heard your paper figure say that just now. Can this ability be used on other people?"

"Yes, as long as it's someone by my side," Giovanni replied.

"Understood—"

With that said, Lorenzo had already risen from the stone slab and started walking toward the second floor of the abandoned building. "Welcome to Death Crow. You are our tenth member."

Giovanni watched the Pope's figure depart, his black robes dragging across the ground before disappearing into the shadows of the stairwell.

He turned his head and asked Cosimo, "What do we do next?"

"Nothing to do for now." Cosimo stretched his back. "But just wait. We'll have work soon enough."

"What kind of work?"

"You'll find out in a few days. It might even draw over the Big Three of the magical girls," Cosimo said quietly. "Mentally prepare yourself, rookie. Don't go wetting your pants when the time comes."

Giovanni lowered his head, pondering inwardly, Are the members of Death Crow really targeting Tiamat's Comet Fragment?

That's going to be a problem. Blue Pigeon and Magical Girl Ember will both be participating in the escort team.

If I don't use my White Jack persona to inform Big Bro and Second Sis that Death Crow has already arrived in this city, my little sister and I will probably get chopped into pieces and fed to the pigs by these monsters.

Ke Mingqing was actually quite curious: if the Xia-Ke family and Death Crow clashed head-on, which side would emerge victorious?

At this thought, he suddenly felt a thrill akin to watching a cricket fight.

On one side, the Xia-Ke family. On the other, Death Crow.

This would be a brutal slaughter between two of the most powerful groups of monsters in the world.

When the time came, Leijing would become the grandest colosseum of all.