Chapter Twenty-Five: Trapped by Intelligence, Defeated Twice in Succession

There was no time to react at all. Qi’s heart and dantian had already fallen victim. The piercing screech of whirlwind grinding against bone armor resounded. Bone fragments scattered, blood splattered across the sky, and two whirlwinds, having torn through Qi’s body, lost their force and transformed into two falling figures.

A solitary moon, bone wings pale and stained with blood, supported the image of a youth whose chest and abdomen bore two gaping holes. Amidst the blood-stained heavens, countless monstrous insect shadows swirled, and two beast-like figures, supported by the swarm, plummeted downward.

It was as if the scene froze. When the world resumed its motion, an unexpected tableau unfolded: the youth with two gaping wounds did not lose consciousness or fall to the earth. Instead, with a wave of his hand, two crimson beams flashed again, piercing two identical foreheads before anyone else could react. In the next instant, those two identical bodies turned to white light and reappeared beside the other “Little Strong” members.

The situation changed in a blink. Where all thought the matter settled and Qi doomed, he dispatched the two beasts that had wounded him with a flick of his wrist. All twelve of the “Little Strong” group had their pupils contract. They’d encountered or heard of such undying beings before—the Immortal Duo of the Dawn Organization—but even they had their weaknesses. Yet the otherworldly youth before them was as unfathomable as an abyss.

While Shino stood dazed, Qi had already burst out of the insect cloud, black hair flying wildly as the sky once more rained black. Shino’s brows furrowed. Realizing his explosive tags had no effect among the insects, he conceded decisively. In a flash of white light, Shino and the mass of insect corpses vanished, returned to their original spot. Behind his sunglasses, Shino’s eyes narrowed. Strangely, the insects he’d just seen die were alive again, as if the battle had been nothing but a dream. Casually, he shared this information with his teammates, who began to whisper among themselves.

Qi took a moment to recover his body, then resumed meditation to restore his energy. His opponents grew stronger with each round—was this the pattern? Though he’d been wounded in each fight, and twice suffered injuries that would be fatal to an ordinary person, he felt no fear for the battles ahead. He had confidence. He had hidden cards to play.

Next to step forward were Shikamaru and Choji. Shikamaru wore his usual lazy expression; Choji munched continuously on a seemingly endless supply of snacks.

By now, the sun had risen—a new day had begun. Facing away from the dawn, Qi couldn’t see this gorgeous scene and felt a touch of regret. Across from him, the two adversaries began to move. What puzzled Qi was that the youth named Shikamaru approached alone at a slow, deliberate pace. Qi readied himself, but Shikamaru stopped, forming a series of peculiar hand signs.

Qi didn’t understand what these gestures meant, but his earlier battles had taught him: when these signs began, some strange technique was sure to follow. He dared not act rashly, opting instead for stillness. This, as it turned out, was his first and greatest mistake.

Bound by Shikamaru’s shadow, Qi realized too late the danger of this bizarre attack—using shadows as weapons was something he had never even heard of. The hand signs and techniques of these twelve were indeed novel and intriguing.

The shadow’s grip was strong, but Qi’s own strength was monstrous. Even under the binding jutsu, he forced the shadow apart, striving to regain control over his body.

Shikamaru increased the binding force, engaging Qi in a tense stalemate. Choji, well-practiced in their teamwork, swallowed a special pill the moment Qi was caught. His body swelled, transforming into a five-meter-tall giant. “Super Human Boulder!” The enormous form, covered in shuriken, spun into a massive rolling ball, barreling toward the immobilized Qi.

Qi faced the oncoming giant with a grave expression. Not daring to underestimate his foes, he exploded with triple strength, breaking free of the shadow. He spread his wings, preparing to take flight, but once again the shadows ensnared him. Shikamaru had laid a trap: the shadow split, one part attacking head-on, the other lurking to the side. At the moment Qi broke free, the shadow coiled around him again. The longer they could delay him, the better their chances.

Breaking free once more, Qi was met by the thunderous charge of the Human Boulder, which he managed to deflect with fourfold strength. Yet, no sooner had the ball rolled past him than it turned and bore down on him again. Each time he tried to take to the sky, the shadow would reel him back, trapping him in a seemingly endless loop.

With a cold laugh, Qi burst free again, his body suffused with quadruple strength. Wings beating, he finally left the ground—only for Shikamaru’s lips to curl into a matching sneer. Choji, prepared in advance, leapt with surprising speed, his massive form eclipsing the sky above Qi and moving even faster than him.

Left with no choice, Qi unleashed fivefold strength, landing a direct punch on the rolling mass. But it was like striking cotton: his fist sank into the ball, only to be sent hurtling back to earth in the next instant. The Human Boulder crashed down, then circled back, repeating the process and battering Qi, who was still bound.

Qi struggled to escape, but made little progress. Caught within a tiny space, he was like a caged beast—fighting desperately but to no avail. If flight failed, he tried tunneling underground; if that failed, he charged at Shikamaru, attacking with throwing knives and fists, but could not get close enough to touch him.

With escape seeming impossible, Qi decided to drag things out. He remembered that the chubby one’s strength came from swallowing a pill—so all he had to do was wait for the effect to wear off, and then he could counterattack. But once again, things didn’t go as he expected. As the first pill’s effects waned, Choji popped another, different pill, swelling further to a towering eight meters. The force he now displayed forced Qi to unleash sixfold strength just to withstand the onslaught.

The situation was dire. Qi’s expression grew grim, but he was given little time to think. His predicament lay in the shadow’s binding; without it, the Human Boulder would be of little threat. One misstep at the start had led to missteps at every turn.

Only one chance remained. Eyes narrowing, Qi watched the ball charge him again, and this time flung ten dim red beams. Yet his power had waned, and his accuracy faltered; the beams glanced off the boulder, disappearing from sight. He had tried piercing it before, but the attack lost most of its force and rebounded from its unnatural defense.

With his injured body, Qi parried another crushing blow, then raised a bone wall from beneath his feet. Though it couldn’t stop the Human Boulder, it would slow the shadow, which would have to go around. Qi dashed right, the shadow already reaching for him. Leaping up, his own shadow, illuminated by the morning sun, slid out of range of Shikamaru’s control—but, due to the angle, headed toward Shikamaru’s position.

Shikamaru smiled, having anticipated this. His shadow split, reaching out to intercept and force Qi back to the ground. The Human Boulder came bounding in again, springing with reckless abandon. If not for the guarantee of resurrection at full strength, Qi was certain they wouldn’t be so reckless—but there was no “what if.”

Forced to land, Qi hurled a piece of metal as the shadow closed in.

“Choji, grab him,” Shikamaru suddenly called.

At his words, the metal object burst into a blinding white light, enough to dazzle anyone. Shikamaru’s vision was temporarily lost, but for the Human Boulder—if it even had eyes—it didn’t matter. At Shikamaru’s command, a metal wire studded with shuriken whipped from the ball, flying toward Qi.

Qi laughed heartily, dodging aside. The flashbang grenade was one he had stolen from the Japanese military, and its purpose was not merely to blind Shikamaru. The flare erupted between Qi and Shikamaru, allowing Qi’s shadow to slip free of Shikamaru’s grasp. Without the shadow’s hold, Qi could turn the tide and repay the favor.

His laughter and movement ceased abruptly. He realized he was bound yet again. His shadow had obviously escaped Shikamaru’s reach—how could this be? Disbelieving, he looked back. The flashbang’s brightness was nothing to him, so he saw clearly: his shadow had been pinned to the ground by the metal wire flung from the Human Boulder.

No time to think—the Human Boulder struck, slamming Qi into the ground once more. Only then did he notice that Shikamaru’s shadow and the wire’s shadow had merged. In such a brief moment, they had unraveled his escape plan—what calculation, what tacit cooperation! Qi was truly stunned.

When his mind opened under his control, his computational ability could surpass even a supercomputer. But calculation was just that—without wisdom, speed alone was useless. Thinking fast without a plan was pointless. Yet Shikamaru, without extraordinary speed or mental arithmetic, relied on sheer intellect to outmaneuver Qi.

Their levels were different, Qi thought, but in the end, victory would still be his. He smiled confidently.

A throwing knife, silent and invisible, plunged into the back of Shikamaru’s head. This was Qi’s first and final move—strength breaking skill. The flashbang and all his actions were to divert attention; he’d hoped the twofold plan would work—either escape or take Shikamaru down. He had underestimated Shikamaru’s intellect and failed to escape, but his opponent hadn’t anticipated the knife that, after a silent 360-degree arc, came for his life from behind.

In the end, Qi was one move ahead—strength overcoming wit. Freed from Shikamaru’s binding, Qi instantly shrugged off the Human Boulder and soared into the sky.

“Falling Meteor Blade Rain!”

As the meteor shower descended, the Human Boulder swallowed the final pill, body swelling to ten meters. Limbs outstretched, he roared, crouched, and leapt in a last desperate struggle toward Qi.