At that moment, Cirrus appeared in the sky, looking down and shouting, "Hahaha! Trailblazer Pei Guang? Thank you all for defeating Furynox's puppets. Thanks to you, Furynox's power has been significantly weakened! And now, it's time for you to witness my true strength."
As she spoke, every Heliobus in Fyxestroll Garden began getting absorbed by the suddenly-appearing Cirrus. Pei Guang looked up at her with confusion. "I have just one question: where exactly have you been hiding all this time?"
Hearing this, Cirrus responded proudly, "Me? I've been hiding above your heads the whole time. You humans never think to look up."
While boasting, Cirrus mocked them further.
After escaping the illusion, she had taken advantage of everyone's distracted attention to flee—though not randomly. She had flown straight up.
At first, she had intended to hide at a higher altitude. But then she realized that no one in Pei Guang's group even bothered to look up. So she simply followed them through the skies.
While observing their combat styles, she patiently waited for them to weaken Furynox. Now that Furynox was weakened, she had become the strongest among all the Heliobi.
At this moment, she absorbed Furynox's power, and the combination of her own strength and Furynox's gave her an even greater boost. Cirrus began drawing in all the Heliobus energy within Fyxestroll Garden.
Her body swelled, her power surged. Once all the Heliobus had been gathered, she would absorb the life of everyone in Fyxestroll Garden, and then, eventually, face the General of the Xianzhou Luofu in battle again.
Along the way, she had memorized every one of Pei Guang's tricks: the bizarre coffee, the strange sneak attacks… They might've worked the first time, but now that she was on guard, how could they work again?
As for those firearms? Maybe they could push her around when she was weak—but now, she felt invincible.
Thinking of this, Cirrus burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Trailblazers? Ten-Lords Commission judge? Today, I'll show you what true invincibility looks like!"
The thought of finally wiping out Pei Guang's group filled Cirrus with unbridled glee.
At first, Stelle looked a bit nervous. But when Cirrus said the word "invincibility," Stelle suddenly smiled.
"Ah Guang! Did you hear that? She said she's invincible."
Pei Guang replied calmly, "Relax. She just cursed herself with a debuff. She's done for. But Huohuo, are you okay?"
Cirrus was still absorbing the nearby Heliobus. Watching this scene, the bit of confidence Huohuo had built up completely collapsed. Fear overtook her once more.
"I-I'm fine…"
Tail said, "She's not fine at all. Look at her: scared stiff. Hilarious~"
Tail never missed a chance to mock Huohuo. But seeing her like this, Pei Guang stepped in and asked, "Huohuo, you're scared, aren't you?"
Huohuo nodded, though she still gritted her teeth and tried to stand firm.
Pei Guang looked over at Cirrus: who was still in the middle of her transformation. Not truly invincible yet, but Pei Guang didn't bother interrupting. It wasn't about giving himself a better opponent: he had a reason to let her be.
Then, looking at Huohuo's expression, Pei Guang patted her on the shoulder. "It's alright. I understand. Huohuo, do you trust me?"
Hearing his question, Huohuo nodded. Though they hadn't known each other long, her trust in Pei Guang was very high. That had a lot to do with the positive reputation of the Xianzhou Alliance, and even more with everything Pei Guang had done with her since they met.
Seeing Cirrus finish absorbing the Heliobus and prepare to strike, Pei Guang crouched down, reached his left arm behind Huohuo's back—and scooped her up in one smooth motion.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Huohuo's face instantly turned bright red. Tail also spoke up with a sharp tone, "You punk! What are you planning to do to Huohuo?!"
Pei Guang said, "Relax. I won't do anything to you. Trust me—and more importantly, trust yourself."
Huohuo said, "I… I trust you, but I…"
Pei Guang said, "Don't say anything. Just do exactly what I tell you to do. Remember: you're far stronger than you think you are."
At that moment, Cirrus, that giant eyeball, had finished absorbing all the Heliobus it could. It was smug, boastful, and began mocking Pei Guang as he approached with Huohuo in his arms.
"Oh? You're coming closer? Trying to curry favor with me by offering up this little girl and her Tail? Hm~ I'm a generous being. If you hand them over and kneel down to kowtow a few times, I might just let you leave Fyxestroll Garden."
Pei Guang didn't reply. Instead, he summoned the Creation Furnace. Seeing it, the Heliobus mocked him again.
"No way, no way: don't tell me the famous Trailblazer really thinks a few mere Jinzhou constructs can hurt me?"
Pei Guang responded, "I'm not trying to hurt you with this. I'm just…"
The Creation Furnace extended a hand and lifted Pei Guang and Huohuo up. As they were raised to face level, Cirrus showed no fear at all: at this moment, it felt its power had reached its peak.
It could clearly sense Pei Guang's strength, and it believed he could be crushed with a squeeze. The Stellaron within the girl's body might be troublesome, but even that was manageable.
Now, it believed victory was already in its hands. In its mind, no one short of the Luofu's General could rival it—below the General, it was invincible.
It was a little curious what Pei Guang was planning, showing up like this with a girl in his arms. A toilet plunger? Meaningless. Was Pei Guang actually planning to stab it with that thing?
Cirrus wasn't bragging, but that kind of trick might've worked when it was weak. Now? It feared no plunger.
Huohuo had buried her head deep into Pei Guang's chest. As they closed the final distance, only centimeters away, Pei Guang spoke.
"Huohuo, look up!"
Huohuo obediently looked up, but the moment her eyes met the enormous eyeball just in front of her, she nearly fainted from fright: if Pei Guang weren't holding her, she might've collapsed right there.
Cirrus, still intrigued, watched to see what Pei Guang was going to do. It was eager to devour them all, but it also wanted to see what tricks he had left.
Sensing Cirrus wasn't moving yet, Pei Guang calmly held Huohuo and said, "Alright, Huohuo! Slap it twice."
"Eh?" Huohuo was startled by the order. But then she remembered what Pei Guang had said earlier. Combined with all the confidence he had helped her build along the way, even in her peak fear, her body moved on instinct, driven by that trust and belief.
"Smack, smack!"