Zhao Yao"s eyes were glowing red when he made his reappearance. However, the target of his mind control was not any of the stunned fugitives in the car. It was Ares, who was comfortably nestled in his arms.
With a content meow, Ares climbed onto his shoulders. The cat wrapped his paws around Zhao Yao"s neck and rested his face against the apostle"s cheek.
In this moment, his deflector field was activated. It covered both him and Zhao Yao completely, engulfing them in its safety.
Ho Hao Cang"s downfall had been a valuable lesson for Zhao Yao. He knew that for the force field to work well, it had to coat every inch of him like cling wrap. This was why even the soles of his feet were now enveloped by it. This created a hairline gap that kept him from touching the ground.
It took a lot of trial and error for him to defeat Ho Hao Cang. Difficult it may be, the process had taught Zhao Yao how to utilize this power to make maximum impact.
Once he was completely protected by the field, he heaved a sigh of relief.
No matter what happened next, he would be safe.
In the battle of superpowers, there is never a greatest one. Even the most destructive powers had their weaknesses. Even the most negligible shortcoming could cost your life.
Victory was not guaranteed for the strongest, but the infallible.
This was Zhao Yao"s maxim. It was why he derived this security protocol when Ares ended up in his hands. He had to put safety first.
Now that he was in the protective embrace of the deflective field, the fun can begin.
He looked at each of the wanted fugitives in the eye and smirked.
He beckoned them with his finger, "C"mon, let"s get this over and done with. Show me what you"ve got."
Barbie was the first to charge forward. Her gift of self-revival made her the perfect candidate for the frontline. She could sacrifice her own life for her team with little consequence. Each death lengthened the time it took her to resp.a.w.n, but that was reset every 24 hours.
She hurled herself at Zhao Yao without a second thought, dagger in hand.
He did not flinch or shrink away. Unfazed, he raised his hand, fingers spread, before clenching them into a tight ball.
"All senses go!"
Elizabeth"s power allowed him to rob a person of all of the five senses. He was able to cast perfect illusions that do not feel any different from reality.
Ah Wei and Sun Meng watched in stunned silence as Barbie, Nessie, and G.o.d of Death"s two parasitic hosts fell to the ground.
Zhao Yao watched the scene unfold in surprise as well. His powers worked on everyone except for Sun Meng, who remained on her feet, conscious and gaping.
"Hmm?" he narrowed his eyes, then unleashed the skill again.
Sun Meng was completely unaffected.
"How is this possible? How can she be immune?" Zhao Yao wondered.
At the same time, Sun Meng was thinking about the exact same thing.
"How is this possible? How can he be immune?"
When Zhao Yao had reappeared to taunt them, she immediately tried to put him to sleep. The operative word here is "tried" because she never succeeded. She had no clue that he was repelling all attacks coming his way with the deflective s.h.i.+eld.
Sun Meng"s immunity was not a result of a superpower, but something far simpler.
It was just good preparation.
She had raised Elizabeth. She knew well the ragdoll"s temperament, preferences, and, more importantly, abilities.
"Lizzie"s powers are manifested through sound waves."
With this in mind, she had stuffed a pair of plugs into her ears before the car pulled up by the cafe.
Right now, she took advantage of Zhao Yao"s momentary shock to rush towards Nessie. She fished for her only spare earplugs and put them on for him.
There was only one person she could save and she had to be smart about it. Only Nessie"s offensive capabilities and shape-s.h.i.+fting stood a chance at victory.
"How is this possible?! Elizabeth"s power has reached a point where I can concuss them with one hit and yet, she stands," Zhao Yao thought in disbelief.
His train of thought was disrupted when he noticed movement from the heap of fallen fugitives. Nessie had opened his eyes and transformed himself into a jet of water. He cut through the air, heading straight for Zhao Yao.
"Yes!" Sun Meng cheered.
The jet of water was fast, furious, and deadly. It was powerful enough to pierce through flesh and steel. There was no way Zhao Yao could escape now.
She watched as Zhao Yao casually waved a hand. The movement was small, but the impact it made was immense. The sphere of energy that left his palm collided with the jet of water in midair, which resulted in a loud explosion.
Sun Meng"s jaw fell open as the powerful stream disintegrated into pelts of water that fell to the ground like rain.
"No!" she cried, "This is impossible!"
Nessie"s high-pressure jet could cut through steel. How could it be stopped so effortlessly?
Zhao Yao clenched and unclenched his fist, a satisfied grin on his face.
"The deflective field is perfectly malleable. It can cling to my skin as protection, but it can chalk up some serious damage too. Rapidly contracting, then expanding it, will launch a rush of destructive energy at the opponent. If Ho Hao Cang used it this way, he would"ve been a lot harder to defeat. But I guess he couldn"t risk doing that at the expense of exposing his other supercats to damage."
The waterworks that fanned out in the sky regrouped in no time, this time in the form of a dragon. It let rip a loud roar before speeding towards a nearby fire hydrant.
Zhao Yao clenched his fist again, unleas.h.i.+ng Elizabeth"s power. It had no effect on the dragon.
The reason for this was simple. This skill attacked the brain. It warped the target"s senses and derailed their grip on reality. In liquid form, Nessie lacked a brain that Zhao Yao could affect.
The dragon hurled itself at the fire hydrant once, then twice, then thrice. It kept going until it was finally knocked to the ground.
A gus.h.i.+ng tower of water immediately shot skyward. The dragon snaked around it, gradually merging and melting into it. It grew and ballooned in size, eventually emerging as a 10 meter tall, 1-meter wide dragon, a malicious look set in its eyes.
"Little worm, you are messing with the wrong guy," it stated.
A deafening whirring was sounded. There was a rumble in the sky as a ma.s.sive whirlwind formed around the dragon.
Sun Meng held her face in her hands as the gusts of wind repeatedly whipped at her. She felt like she was about to be lifted into the air.
"G.o.dd.a.m.nit!" Ah Wei swore as he looked up at the intimidating dragon in the sky,
He shouted into his phone, "You guys better get here right now. That waterbending idiot is going batsh*t crazy. He"s going to destroy the entire street."
Zhao Yao remained silent as he watched the dragon circle the sky, drawing closer. He curled his fingers into his palm and a ripple ran through the defensive field tightly wound around him.
As it charged towards him, he did not run.
He seemed unfazed by the fact that this dragon was made up of ten tonnes of water. It was enough to flip a truck or crush a person to death.
All he did was to raise his right hand, which was clenched into a fist, and throw a punch towards it.
"Jesus Christ, has this kid gone mad?" Ah Wei thought to himself, his heart hammering against his chest.
He was gaping at the scene unfolding before him. He wanted to speak or to yell at Zhao Yao to run, but all the words were stuck at the base of his throat.
Zhao Yao"s punch launched a force field in the direction of the dragon. It headed straight for its target. When it made contact with the dragon"s head, it exploded with a boom.
It was as if a bomb had gone off. The dragon"s form disintegrated, reducing it to showers of water that fell to the ground like raindrops.