While Itsuki grapples with the labyrinthine puzzles within the enemy's mind, the exterior of World 4466 shudders under a tempest of pure violence.

  The Chief Executioner's headless corpse has spiraled into total chaos. Lacking a brain to coordinate tactics, it reverts to its most primal instinct which is total destruction. It swings a crimson energy sword wildly into the air, each slash tearing the dark clouds apart and leaving bleeding spatial rifts in its wake. Its fists pound the ground, collapsing the remaining skyscrapers and turning the surrounding area into a desolate battlefield.

  "Drag him away from here! Now!"

  Zhen Shan, currently inhabiting Reo's body, roars. His amber eyes blaze with fire as he pilots the mortal vessel through the air at supersonic speeds, leaving a streak of golden light behind.

  They descend, weaving through narrow gaps between ruined buildings, deliberately launching harassing energy strikes to draw the giant's attention away from the spatial rift where Itsuki hides.

  But the monster is not easily led. Seemingly sensing the danger in the small prey's taunts, its obsidian body suddenly swells. From every pore, thousands of black, slimy, thorny chains shoot out like writhing tentacles. They coil and twist, covering the sky and ground, transforming the area into a deadly forest of spikes that rushes furiously toward Reo.

  "You into bondage?"

  Zhen Shan snorts coldly. He stops in mid-air, spreading his arms wide. A burst of pure Taoist divine power explodes, radiant as the midday sun.

  "Heaven's Net and Earth's Web!"

  Tens of thousands of golden energy beams shoot from Reo's body, weaving together to form a colossal net of light. These beams not only slice through the black thorny chains like a hot knife through butter but also rush forward to bind the giant's massive limbs and torso.

  Sizzle...

  The golden light sears the black skin, tightening until the giant freezes, unable to move. It growls, struggling in vain.

  "If you packed such high-tier gear, why didn't you use it sooner?" Reo's voice echoes in the mind, tinged with reproach.

  Before Zhen Shan can answer, a horrifying scene unfolds, rendering Reo's question superfluous.

  Right at the giant's abdomen, the black flesh suddenly cracks open vertically. Black blood sprays out, and a gigantic mouth filled with jagged teeth is exposed right in the middle of its stomach.

  The roar from that mouth carries a massive shockwave, shaking the very fabric of space.

  As if hearing their master's call, hundreds of smaller Executioners, those who have been lurking in the shadows, rush out in unison. They do not attack Zhen Shan but charge straight for the giant's stump of a neck. They swarm, piling atop one another, compacting into a black mass that squirms and twists to form a grotesque pseudo-head.

  Then, that composite head opens its collective mouths and begins to tear madly at the golden light beams binding their master.

  Snap... Crack...

  The heavenly net shatters.

  "Fine," Reo sighs. "Pretend I didn't ask."

  Freed, the giant no longer cares about the golden fly buzzing in front of him. The compound head, rolling with hundreds of eyes, rotates, and it seems they have locked onto the true target.

  He turns sharply, ignoring Zhen Shan, and rockets toward the dark spatial rift hovering high above.

  "Not good! He's targeting Itsuki!"

  Zhen Shan grits his teeth. With no other choice, he is forced to intercept. Reo's body transforms into an arrow of light, slamming straight into the monster's chest.

  BOOM!

  An earth-shattering collision. Zhen Shan uses his full strength to push the giant back.

  The battle becomes more fierce and brutal than ever. Zhen Shan summons tens of thousands of light swords, hacking the giant into pieces and even severing dozens of smaller Executioners clinging to the monster's body. But every time he regenerates, the Executioner alters his combat algorithm.

  The mouth on his stomach spews thick black smoke, obscuring the Divine Sight. Simultaneously, it emits strange sound frequencies that disturb the nerves and create hallucinations.

  Zhen Shan slices off one of the giant's arms only to realize it is merely a smoke illusion. Meanwhile, the spiked tail whips heavily into his side from behind.

  "Dammit!" Zhen Shan flips in the air, then reaches out to rip the grotesque tail off.

  However, the nightmare does not end there. A small Executioner detaches from the composite head, flying high near the spatial rift. It uses its own energy to tear the air, creating a dark fissure that looks exactly like Itsuki's hiding spot.

  Then, it roars miserably, as if being attacked from the inside.

  Zhen Shan flinches, reflexively looking in that direction. "Itsuki?!"

  Just that split second of distraction is fatal. The giant seizes the opportunity, swinging the glowing red energy sword in a semicircle. It sends Zhen Shan flying, smashing him hard into the ground, plowing through a long row of buildings.

  Dust billows up. The monster does not bother to pursue, continues to charge toward the real rift.

  In the moment suspended by a single thread, just as the colossal energy sword is about to crash down upon the fragile dimensional rift, Reo’s voice rings within Zhen Shan's mind. It is calm yet filled with urgency.

  "It is not looking good, Boss Tiger. We must stick to the plan."

  The Tiger God gives a slight nod. His amber eyes blaze with a blinding intensity. He stomps against the thin air, creating a supersonic boom, and launches himself forward at a speed that threatens to tear the eardrums.

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  CLANG!

  A cacophony of metallic collision echoes throughout the skies of Hell Beta.

  Zhen Shan, inhabiting Reo’s mortal frame, appears just in time between the Chief Executioner and the rift. He simply raises his left arm, encased in a thin layer of golden armor, to defend.

  The giant energy sword, tens of meters long and brimming with destructive power, is stopped dead by a single human arm. There is not a single scratch. Not a single tremor.

  The impact generates an arc-shaped shockwave that sweeps away every obstacle within a radius of several hundred meters. The smaller Executioners loitering nearby are blown away like dry leaves in a storm.

  However, it seems all efforts to intercept are too late.

  Seizing the moment while Zhen Shan is occupied with the colossus, the composite head formed from hundreds of smaller monsters separates. They shriek with manic laughter and flood into the pitch-black dimensional rift like a torrent of dark sludge.

  "It is over..." Reo whispers, though his voice holds no trace of fear. Just as it seems Itsuki’s sanctuary has been breached, something happens.

  The Chief Executioner’s entire body suddenly goes rigid.

  The energy sword in his hand trembles before dissolving into the void. The mouth on his stomach ceases its roaring, and the spikes on his back retract. He stands motionless in mid-air like a deactivated automaton.

  "Looking for this, big guy?"

  A familiar voice, dripping with mockery, resonates from behind the giant.

  Itsuki flies in slowly from the crimson mist. He reveals his true form as a Nine-Tailed Fox with pristine white fur, his nine tails fanned out wide. But the most striking feature is what floats behind him.

  A giant fox avatar woven from magical blue flames. In the avatar’s hand, it clutches the real head of the Chief Executioner. From that severed head, thousands of blue divine energy threads shoot out, jacking tightly into the severed neck and the acupoints on the giant’s body, transforming him into an oversized puppet.

  Upon seeing Itsuki appear, Zhen Shan slowly lowers his hand and dusts off the sleeve of his suit. He turns to face the dimensional rift now teeming with monsters.

  He snaps his fingers. The rift closes instantly, swallowing the entire swarm of small Executioners inside.

  It turns out the black rift floating in the sky is merely a fake. It is a spatial trap created by Zhen Shan. With Itsuki’s cautious and paranoid nature, he would never leave his crucial operating theater exposed so blatantly in the middle of a battlefield.

  "My my," Itsuki flies closer, his fox tail gently slapping Zhen Shan’s face, who is still in Reo's body. He smiles slyly. "Bringing this veteran Sensitive along was indeed a wise decision. The acting was quite immersive. I almost believed you guys were truly desperate."

  "You flatter me", Reo retorts in their shared mind, his tone equally sarcastic. "Next time, please hack a bit faster. My arms are sore."

  Itsuki controls the blue fire avatar to reattach the Executioner’s head to his neck. The blue energy threads glow brightly, healing the cuts and penetrating deep into the monster’s nervous system.

  The source code of his consciousness has been cracked. Now the Chief Executioner, the nightmare of Hell Beta, stands there bowing his head obediently like a housebroken pet dog. Every action and every thought of his lies completely in the palm of the small fox god.

  "Good boy," Itsuki pats the giant nose of the monster.

  Zhen Shan exits his combat stance and takes out his watch to check the time. His face remains serious as usual, but his eyes look less tense than before.

  "We have exactly fifteen minutes left to locate them," he announces, his cold voice serving as a reminder of the cruel reality.

  ***

  I slip back into Reo like a hermit crab finding the perfect shell. To be honest, maintaining that giant blue-fire fox avatar burns through FP terribly, no different from blasting the air conditioner at 16 degrees with the windows wide open. Possessing Reo helps me save a considerable amount of energy to focus on controlling that colossal puppet.

  We circle the ruined area like vultures looking for corpses, even though we are technically a rescue squad. The giant Executor, now as obedient as an oversized puppy, looms behind us, his pitch-black shadow blotting out a corner of the sky.

  "Itsuki, over here," Zhen Shan’s voice rings out, deep and steady. "Found them."

  I squint in the direction his finger points. To the West, amidst the desolate battlefield caused by the earlier duel, an old office building stands miraculously tall. Not a scratch, not a single fallen wall section. Truly, heaven favors fools, or perhaps their luck has not yet run out.

  Through Reo's sharpened senses resonating with Divine Power, I immediately perceive three familiar auras. A tense wolf, a worried cat, and a human boy so terrified his soul wants to leave his body.

  "Are they... getting into an elevator?" I frown, sensing the movement of the light specks.

  "They probably found a working elevator to get home," Zhen Shan sighs with relief, the tiger ears on his head twitching slightly. "Thank goodness."

  "Found them, that is good," Reo’s voice echoes in my head, sounding visibly relieved. "Well, let's head back too. I am starting to get sleepy."

  But in that very moment, a cold thought runs down my spine, making Reo's hair stand on end.

  "Wait..." I mumble. "Are you guys absolutely sure that elevator will take the kids back to Universe 1031?"

  Zhen Shan freezes in mid-air. He turns to look at me, his amber eyes wavering.

  "You mean..."

  "Exactly," I say quickly, my voice beginning to panic. "It is highly likely they were chased by the Executors, running blindly, and cornered into hiding in that building. Playing the elevator game again is just a desperate, Hail Mary move! That elevator is not pre-programmed with coordinates like the one at the Keio Hotel!"

  "Makes sense," Reo chimes in, adding fuel to the fire. "What if they are unlucky and press the wrong floor, or the elevator malfunctions, and they end up lost in some Alpha, Gamma, or Omega hell? Finding them then would be a logistical nightmare."

  The prospect of continuing a game of multiverse hide-and-seek, writing tons of explanatory reports, and burning through the budget to travel between worlds appears vividly before my eyes.

  "NOOOOOO!!!"

  I scream miserably, drowning out the rumbling thunder of World 4466.

  "DRAG THEM BACK NOW! EVEN IF WE HAVE TO TEAR THIS HELL APART, GET THEM OUT OF THAT METAL BOX!"

  Without another word, the three of us, me inside Reo, Zhen Shan, and the giant Executor, simultaneously accelerate, rushing toward the Western building like ballistic missiles.

  But fate seems to enjoy mocking us.

  "Too late!" Zhen Shan shouts, eyes glued to the building. "Spatial energy is spiking! A warp jump is about to happen from the elevator car! They are about to vanish!"

  "Not a chance!"

  I grit my teeth, focusing all my spiritual force on the giant puppet behind me.

  "BIG GUY! GET IT OUT FOR ME!"

  At my command, the Chief Executor lets out an earth-shattering roar. He charges without slowing down, swinging a pitch-black arm as thick as a pillar straight into the 24th floor of the building.

  BOOM!!! CRACK!!!

  Reinforced concrete crumbles like dry cookies. His giant hand thrusts deep inside, groping around, and then the coarse fingers clench tight.

  With a violent jerk, he tears the entire elevator system, including the car, the cables, and part of the surrounding concrete frame, right out of the building. The scene resembles a bratty child ripping a necklace off a doll's neck.

  The spatial jump is brutally interrupted. The teleportation energy dissipates into the void.

  The giant cradles the "toy box" in his hand, slowly lifting it high to where Zhen Shan and I are waiting.

  I let out a long sigh, feeling as if a thousand-pound weight has been lifted. My limbs tremble from excessive energy consumption. I fly closer to the distorted elevator car, hovering before the jammed doors.

  I reach out, grabbing the edge of the twisted metal door and yanking hard.

  SCREECH... SCREECH... BANG!

  The elevator door flies off, revealing the space inside.

  I put my hands on my hips, flashing a smile that I consider to be the friendliest possible, even though Reo is gasping for air like he is suffocating.

  "You kids hide too well," I say, my voice full of managerial warmth (and a hint of threat). "You made us search until we were out of breath. Next time you play hide-and-seek, remember to enable location sharing."