"I... can't control myself..." The heart-demon, once roused, rampaged through Xiao Qianxue like wildfire in dry pines; her will, already wobbling after brainwashing, got smothered till it vanished.

"Dad... Mom..." Grief cracked her mind like a shattered mirror; now she only wanted to strike at any living thing, like a storm lashing every tree.

"Cloud-Binding Blade Art—Sakura Wind-Edge Slash!" Qingxing shouted, her Ghostdance tachi blazing like a shard of sun. "I don't care who you are—you die!" The white sheen over the silver-haired girl frothed like storm foam.

Whoosh—the tachi and wielder lunged at Xiao Qianxue; a few sakura petals drifted like rain, and Qingxing with Ghostdance were already past her, too fast for naked eyes.

Blood spurted from Xiao Qianxue's lips like a crushed rose. The Bloodgod Claw bore a clear gouge, yet it knit itself like flesh mending under a slow moon.

"Xiaoxue!" Lin Fan bolted to the red-haired girl like a gust outracing thunder.

Boom—an irresistible aura erupted from Xiao Qianxue like a volcanic shockwave.

"Ah!" Lin Fan hit the wall like a ragdoll in a gale; this time, the hole bit deeper like a hungry maw.

Qingxing tried to root her stance like an old pine, but a sudden surge flipped her and slammed her into the wall like a catapulted stone.

"AAAH!" Thick blood mist cloaked Xiao Qianxue like a storm tide; the crimson in her eyes no longer just chilled—it was hell yawning open like a pit.

Her monstrous aura strangled courage like a noose. "Blood Demon Form!" Her gear melted to blood mist, yet its strength tempered like iron quenched and reforged in flame.

Qingxing had barely risen when a streak of blood mist flashed into view; she hoisted Ghostdance on reflex like a shield under lightning.

Bang! The silver-haired girl staggered back several steps like a skiff hammered by surf; even berserk, she who had edged Xiao Qianxue now couldn't hold the line.

Before she could breathe, another ribbon of blood mist scythed in from her flank; she barely raised the tachi before it swatted her skyward like a windblown leaf.

"Flashstep!" Blood traced her lip like spilled wine; Qingxing swallowed pain and tried to blink away like a startled swallow.

Xiao Qianxue moved like a chain of afterimages, leaving wisps of blood mist like torn clouds. Whoosh—the bandages on her body snapped toward the silver-haired girl like hunting snakes, and the escape that should've ripped the air got netted tight.

"Come here." Bound by bandages like ivy on stone, the silver-haired girl was reeled toward the blood-demon Xiao Qianxue like a fish to a hook.

"Tsk tsk, what an amusing little life." Stage-2 Xiao Qianxue finally spoke; the bell-bright lilt was gone, replaced by a low, scornful murmur like smoke curling from embers.

"Eye of Dread!" As they closed, the silver-haired girl's slit pupil widened like a hunting cat’s. Seconds ticked like dripping water, yet the bandages kept shrinking the gap, and her terror-gaze hit like arrows into fog.

"Oh? Interesting, but useless on me." Facing Xiao Qianxue felt like staring into hell's furnace; chill crawled over Qingxing like frost at dawn.

"Enough. You can die now." Purple-red fire bloomed in Xiao Qianxue's left hand like a demon sunrise, and she reached for the girl's heart like a talon.

"Power of the Forest, Thorn Bind!" Vines of thorn shot from Lin Fan's palms like green lightning toward Xiao Qianxue.

"Hm?" Her left hand snagged like a hawk's talon in a net, Xiao Qianxue looked back at Lin Fan like a wolf scenting a rival.

"You... you feel familiar." The bandages unwound from Qingxing like an ebbing tide and snapped back; she dropped from the air and, spent from berserk backlash, blacked out on the floor like a felled birch.

The blood-mist wings on her back beat slowly like carrion crows, drifting to loom before Lin Fan; the hell-forged girl stood over him like a nightmare made flesh.

"Why's there still a bug?" Xiao Qianxue tilted her head like a curious predator, lifted her left hand at the Doctor huddled in the corner, and whispered, "Die."

The Doctor had watched them brawl like a wildfire and was about to slip away. "What—? Uwaaah!" His blood thrashed in his veins like trapped eels, as if a vast maw were sucking it dry.

Bang. His vessels and skin burst like overripe fruit; every drop flew to Xiao Qianxue and folded into the blood mist wreathing her like a scarlet halo, leaving a colorless, ruined husk like bleached driftwood.

The sight sent Tang Shaoyu—fresh from the ice barrier—scattering in soul and spirit like startled birds. "Holy hell—Lin Fan can't take that!"

"Shaoyu, take Qingxing and go. I'll hold her!" Lin Fan shouted, conjuring thorns like a bramble storm to bind Xiao Qianxue.

"Don't push it." Tang Shaoyu flew to Qingxing, scooped the silver-haired girl up in a princess carry like lifting a cloud, and shot out through a random hole. "Why’re you so light!" he muttered, studying her face mid-flight like a curious sparrow.

"You do look familiar, but killing you sounds better." Xiao Qianxue's aura shuddered like an earthquake, and every thorn shattered into grit that pattered down like cold rain.

"Xiaoxue, do you really not remember me?" Lin Fan stared at the girl before him, his heart cramping like a clenched fist; his fault, his carelessness, had dragged her into this ruin like a house swept by flood.

Bang! A slab of blood mist smacked his chest like a tidal board. "Yeah, hit me like that!" he roared, bracing through it, as blood ran from his mouth like a red thread.

"Weird man." She said it like wind through teeth, but her hands never slowed. Bang, bang, bang—jets of blood mist hammered Lin Fan like piledrivers sinking stakes.

He couldn't hold it; a great mouthful of blood sprayed out like a crimson fan, and he toppled away like a felled pillar, life or death unknown.

"So strange. Why can't I finish him?" Xiao Qianxue stared at her trembling hands like leaves in a gust, baffled, not noticing two tears sliding from her crimson eyes like melting frost.

"I'm... crying?" She felt something slide down her cheeks like spring rain, touched it, and found tears like pearls.

"Xiaoxue, I'm sorry..." Lin Fan gathered the last shreds of strength like coals in cold ash. "Let me be the one to save you..."