Esper X Family – Chapter 463 – Once a Weakling, Forever a Weakling (27/40)

After Xia Lian’s mental power reached S-rank, her ability naturally underwent a transformative enhancement.

Previously, she could only convert a certain proportion of her own mental power into blood to serve as an activation condition.

At the same time, she could manipulate exposed blood for a variety of flexible applications.

Even blood belonging to other people, as long as their mental power didn’t vastly exceed hers, could be forcibly and brutally extracted.

If she were an utterly irredeemable villain, she could single-handedly slaughter an entire city with ease.

However, Xia Lian was a person with principles. Without those principles, when facing powerful enemies, she could simply extract blood from others to wield as a weapon against them.

The more people sacrificed, the more power she could obtain.

If this ability fell into the hands of someone with malicious intent, that person would undoubtedly become the bloodiest, most brutal figure in human history.

Fortunately, it was Xia Lian.

Or rather, fortunately, it was Xia Lian after she met Ye Yao.

After she had fallen into obscurity, the Countermeasures Bureau paid very little attention to her.

They simply felt that it wasn’t necessary.

After all, there was Ye Tong, who carried even greater weight than Xia Lian.

Now, Xia Lian had successfully broken through to S-rank and gained new definitive authority!

Blood is the source of life.

Humans who lose a significant amount of blood die rapidly.

But what about mental power?

For living beings, mental power is equally vital and can even be considered a source of life.

Once the concepts of blood and mental power are mixed up, Xia Lian could then convert external, unclaimed mental power into blood in proportion.

And just moments ago, Fang Tang had used her ability to command the insect swarm to self-destruct.

The insect swarm was created using the Swarm Mother’s mental power, and after self-destructing, that mental power became unrecoverable residue!

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In Xia Lian’s eyes, that residue was unclaimed “blood”!

Thus, the optimal combat environment had taken shape!

The dazzling fireworks of the insect swarm’s self-destruction under Fang Tang’s command had just dissipated, and the air was still saturated with dense mental power particles.

They were the remnants of the swarm’s destruction, like intangible dust motes.

Yet, in Xia Lian’s gleaming crimson eyes…

This dispersed energy was no longer ethereal dust. It was another form of blood!

“Blood Creation!”

Xia Lian’s cold, clear shout echoed across the battlefield.

As her ability engaged at full power, a shocking scene unfolded.

The vast, ambient mental power originating from the Swarm Mother seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, surging madly towards Xia Lian!

It was no longer formless and intangible. Under the rules of Xia Lian’s ability, it was forcibly “converted”!

In an instant, an impossibly thick, impenetrable mist of blood materialized from thin air, like a ruptured sea of blood flooding the heavens!

It blotted out the sky and shrouded the sun!

“Ew!”

Seeing this, Ye Yao, who was observing from afar, immediately showed a disgusted expression.

She recalled the miserable incident when she was blown apart by Xia Lian.

The visual impact was simply too overwhelming.

It was in no way inferior to the insect swarms summoned by the Swarm Mother.

The crimson miasma spread ferociously outward from Xia Lian’s center, instantly swallowing a vast expanse of the battlefield.

Sunlight was completely blocked out, and the entire world seemed to be submerged in a thick, warm soup of plasma.

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Even though it was a product of an Esper ability, it possessed all the properties of real blood!

The overpowering, nauseating stench of blood was so strong that even viewers watching through light screens from a great distance felt as if it could pierce the screen and assault their nostrils!

“Gah! What an explosive scene!”

“Whoa! A buddy of mine with hemophobia just collapsed!”

“This is suffocating! Is this really an ability a beautiful girl should have?”

“Just who is the villain here!?”

The viewers before the light screens turned pale, their stomachs churning.

Even the most bloodthirsty audience members felt intense physical revulsion.

Just a second ago, they were marveling at Fang Tang’s broken mechanics and Xia Lian’s heroic swatting away of the Swarm Mother with a hand of blood.

The very next second, they were deeply shaken by this boundless, bloody hellscape.

Xia Lian’s slender figure flickered in and out of sight within the churning blood mist.

Her crimson eyes glinted with cold, merciless light.

Where was any trace of elegance or ladylike grace?

She was clearly a bloodthirsty she-demon who had crawled up from the abyss of a sea of blood!

At the center of the battlefield, Xia Lian cared nothing for outside opinions.

To her, this sky full of blood mist was an inexhaustible armory.

With a mere thought, the blood, thick with the scent of rust, surged like living pythons from all directions, hurtling towards the Swarm Mother who had just clambered back up!

“Blood Explosion!”

Xia Lian’s voice was icy and devoid of mercy.

The thick blood enveloping the Swarm Mother instantly rippled with terrifying energy fluctuations, blazing with an intense crimson light!

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And then—

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion tore through the sky!

The violent shockwave even dispersed a portion of the blood mist, revealing a massive crimson vacuum zone.

Everyone held their breath, anticipating the sight of the Swarm Mother blown to smithereens.

Although Xia Lian’s use of her ability was somewhat viscerally disturbing, she was on their side!

Any method that could kill a powerful alien enemy was a good method!

Yet, as the smoke and dust cleared, the scene within made everyone’s heart sink!

The Swarm Mother’s colossal body had vanished!

In its place were tens of thousands of small flying insects!

Packed densely together, they resembled a pot of boiling oil, emitting a mind-numbing, hair-raising drone as they hovered at the center of the blast.

The carapace of each flying insect shimmered with neural patterns similar to those on the Swarm Mother’s main body.

Their compound eyes radiated a cold, unified will.

“SSS— GAAAA—!”

Ten thousand insects shrieked in unison, merging into the Swarm Mother’s signature furious screech!

It wasn’t dead!

Instead, it had split itself into an insect swarm!

Furthermore, they had evolved to be explosion-resistant, making each insect an explosion-resistant king. Given Xia Lian’s stat values, she couldn’t possibly harm them now!

Fang Tang attempted to seize command authority again, trying to force them to self-destruct.

But soon, she let out a puzzled sound.

“Hwuh? Huh? Huh…? Why isn’t there any reaction?”

However, she was destined to never know.

Only Ye Yao could understand this through intelligence doxxed by Tu Sheng.

The Swarm Mother’s innate racial talent was creating insect swarms and commanding them.

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But the swarm it split into was composed almost entirely of the Swarm Mother itself. They possessed a unified will and thus couldn’t be controlled by the talent that commanded subordinate insects.

Then, the Swarm Mother’s counterattack began.

It no longer created mindless insect swarms. Instead, it transformed itself into the swarm and attacked!

As the ruler of the insect race, it naturally possessed the ability to rapidly evolve.

No matter what kind of attack it sustained, its insect genes could quickly adapt and evolve entirely new functions.

Xia Lian’s immensely powerful Blood Explosion was now useless.

As the insect swarm broke through wave after wave of blood explosions and surged forward, Xia Lian felt a chilling prickle across her scalp.

Had the situation reversed so quickly?

Was she truly a weakling?

Fighting such a powerful enemy with only about five thousand mental power might have been too much.

White Catty, help! Save me!

Far away at Countermeasures Bureau Headquarters, Ye Yao sighed softly.

“As I said, once a weakling, forever a weakling. Go back and train some more.”

Commencing rescue mission!

Attribute Fission! Encouragement!

Author Note

The weather forecast says it will rain almost every day for the next 15 days, with only two or three days without rain. I hope the forecast is inaccurate, because I still want to go out.

Text: Is this happening???