Chapter 2980: A Sense of Shattering

It was said that shattering a rare, peerless work of art brought a different kind of beauty.

Although Fu Qian didn't entirely agree, the scene before him gave him a distinct sense of déjà vu.

A pure, flawless ring upon an equally flawless finger of flesh and blood—yet as fractures crept across both, they carried a strange, arresting impact.

Poignant beauty, regret, a sorrow that pierced straight to the heart, giving rise to an urge to stop the destruction—and an uncanny desire to let it continue.

'Seemingly familiar,' he thought.

Fu Qian naturally made no move forward, merely savoring that sense of shattering.

Yes, he had seen a scene just like this once before—a thousand years ago, during That Long Night.

Back then, while traveling together aboard The Ark, Su Gao had displayed a sensitivity far surpassing that of ordinary people under the wash of invisible tides.

Not only had her entire body been covered in cracks like these, but even her Transcendent Form had teetered on the verge of shattering.

It had reached the point where he was forced to hand her Sword Three Short of One, effectively playing the role of a blood pack.

'So she didn't eliminate the brokenness, but absorbed it?'

'Interesting indeed.' At the end of that night excursion, Su Gao had used Sword Three Short of One to draw quite a bit of blood from him.

The benefit was that not only did she recover rapidly, but she even experienced a rebuilding after destruction, faintly displaying the signs of a breakthrough.

Then came their return to the Birthday Party, where she completed her Divine Trait.

Looking at it now, the qualitative change represented by her official promotion to Tier 2 wasn't as simple as turning something broken back into something whole.

'You really shouldn't speak carelessly.'

Back when observing the changes in Su Gao's body, he had remarked that the fragments seemed to be integrating into a new order without actually healing, leading him to sigh that brokenness might be the true nature of porcelain.

Now, it seemed that a casual remark proved prophetic.

Even now, the cracks across Su Gao's body were shifting along with her movements.

The curves traced during this process were so intense that even someone as strong as Demigod Aike would likely find it unbearable just to look at them.

"It's very similar to back then," Fu Qian remarked.

Reflecting on the memory, he openly brought up the past.

Perhaps in a place like the Birthday Party, casual conversations on the road held little privacy and could easily be overheard. But since Su Gao's promotion was related to him, Old Man Stoss and the others could probably guess as much with their eyes closed anyway, so there was really nothing to hide.

"I felt the same way," Su Gao said. "But by the time my senses recovered back then, the cracks on my body had mostly faded, so I wasn't entirely sure."

She nodded, clearly remembering every single detail from that time.

"Now, this acts like a new Mythical Form," she continued. "And the biggest change brought about by mastering this fragmentation is that Echo has materialized."

And just as she had mentioned earlier, she was already controlling it with considerable ease.

As she continued her explanation, her shattered hand, along with the ring on it, rapidly healed, delivering a fresh wave of artistic beauty.

"In the simplest terms, if I am attacked—no matter the form—it will alter the trajectory of the fragments," she explained.

"Compared to Echo at Tier 3, this reaction is much sharper and more delicate."

...

"A very interesting change. Is this why you said earlier that Echo had been upgraded?" Fu Qian asked.

Although Classmate Su Gao had put away that sense of shattering, Fu Qian could easily imagine the scene and offered high praise.

"Yes, that's the most intuitive aspect," Su Gao replied. "And the shattered Echo not only gives me a higher degree of resistance to damage, but even to authority."

'Authority? That really is a qualitative change...' Fu Qian thought. 'Classmate Su Gao, you're becoming more and more heaven-defying.'

Even with Professor Fu's extensive experience, he was still deeply shocked in that moment.

As the dignified King of the Abandoned Prison, his understanding of authority naturally far surpassed that of most people.

The power of a true Deity practically represented absolute law within a certain domain. Yet, Classmate Su Gao was beginning to develop resistance even to that?

'Isn't this Divine Path of Echo a bit too ridiculous?'

Imagining a hunter of criminals who could roam freely amidst the Law, Fu Qian felt a deep sympathy for the future fate of lawbreakers, while simultaneously sensing a touch of dark humor.

'Now that's what you call a true lawbreaker.'

"So what does the Council think about this?" Fu Qian asked.

Amidst his musings, he couldn't help but wonder how the Night Watchers felt about her progress.

As an organization that could casually produce a New God, Fu Qian didn't doubt their authority when it came to ability testing.

Classmate Su Gao's claim of resistance to authority must have delivered a profound shock to them as well.

"The Council didn't have much to say. They just wanted me to suspend my work with the Yama Enforcer Squad and take some time to stabilize and observe my condition... at least until His Excellency the Speaker returns," Su Gao replied.

'Suspending her hunt for lawbreakers? It seems great minds think alike.'

And judging by Su Gao's words, the Night Watchers were clearly being vague about her Divine Path.

Rather than genuinely not knowing, considering they even had the ability to help find a suitable Divine Trait, it felt much more likely that they were holding things back.

Meanwhile, His Excellency the Speaker, Soral, had managed to make his presence known once again in all this.

'Is his knowledge really that vast?' Fu Qian pondered. 'He was the one who told Old Man Henry the name Meria before, too.'

'Or is it that certain matters are so crucial that they require a heavyweight like him to make the final decision?'

"That shouldn't be too long, then. After all, it looks like I have to wait for His Excellency to return as well," Fu Qian remarked.

Not voicing too many of his thoughts, Fu Qian offered a casual word of comfort.

"Mm... besides what I mentioned earlier, there's one more change. Through the imprints brought by the flowing fragments, I can replicate certain attacks to some degree," Su Gao said.

Nodding slightly, Su Gao switched hands this time. She poked her cheek on the side closest to Fu Qian, transforming that spot into her Mythical Form beforehand.

And exactly as she had said, whether on her finger or her cheek, the cracks instantly produced an exquisitely subtle disturbance.

As for the extra effect she mentioned—White Ring?

Fu Qian's gaze fell on that ring she had taken for free and never returned, noting that this ability seemed quite similar to the item's effect.

'Looking at it this way, keeping it in my hands would have been casting a pearl into darkness,' he thought.

Even so, Fu Qian didn't think Su Gao's increasingly unreasonable Echo effect was gained just because of this little gift he had given her.

At most, it was because their powers shared a common origin, providing her with some enlightenment. In essence, it was a manifestation that brought her closer to the true nature of power.

As for why she had gone to the extra trouble of canceling the Mythical Form on her other hand for such a simple demonstration?

It naturally wasn't just to let him see it more clearly.

With a little attention, one could notice that someone had just brushed past Su Gao's side again.

Only this time, instead of the glamorous woman from before, it was a little girl who had hurriedly rushed out from the side of the street.

Although her movements were lively as she half-walked and half-ran, she was undoubtedly also a "traveler" with an uncertain span of existence.

Just as expected, Su Gao treated herself like a source of pollution, subconsciously minimizing her impact on them.

"It seems this ring really suits you," Fu Qian said. "Let's see if this place suits me."

Fu Qian, on the other hand, had always possessed the self-awareness of a pollution source. Glancing at the arched door that matched the style of his Laboratory, he gestured for them to head inside to talk.