I'm bound to the World-Destroying Witch

Chapter 71. Friends should not be deceived.
"You seem very happy?"

Xia Feng looked puzzled. He really hadn't expected the old man's reaction. Shouldn't the old man be upset if his magical artifact is copied?

It's like my wife was cloned and then...
"Tsk~" The old man patted the dust off his clothes and slowly got up, his hoarse voice full of mockery, "Foolish boy, it seems you don't know that your life has already entered its countdown."

As he spoke, he held up three fingers and slowly lowered them one by one, while grinning and counting down: "3—"

"2--"

"1--"

As he lowered all his fingers, the old man frowned and said in a deep voice again, "1!"

"."

The two figures, one in black and one in white, had already approached him.

He was sweating profusely: "1!!"

A cold wind gently swept through the dark forest, and under the blood moon, a line of crows flew slowly across the horizon, like a row of black dots.

Xia Feng seemed to understand something and smiled kindly: "You're not waiting for me to be devoured by the evil power inside the demonic armor, are you?"

The old man's face stiffened, his mind blank. What was wrong with this guy?! He wasn't a Calamity User, yet he showed no reaction to such a high concentration of Calamity Power?!
Damn it! His turbid eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light, and he appeared directly in front of Xia Feng with a bloody light and afterimage.

"Does he really think I, a third-tier spirit master, am a pushover!" He sneered inwardly, his figure instantly transforming into eight blood-red figures wielding crimson lightning, surrounding the central man and woman from all directions. In the blink of an eye, the eight became sixteen, and the thirty-two completely sealed off the entire space.

"If you don't let me go, you two bastards won't get away with this!"

"Die, all of you!" A vast sea of ​​blood-red lightning illuminated the dark forest, but amidst the old man's mocking shout, the light that was about to explode—came to an abrupt halt!

The forest instantly returned to darkness, and the old man stood there stunned. One by one, his clones turned into bolts of lightning and disappeared.

He felt a sudden drop in spiritual pressure within him as he became disoriented, and he collapsed to his knees as if he were completely exhausted.

He sensed it in horror and found that the connection between him and the B-grade spiritual artifact was gone! The disappearance of the Vermilion Bird Demon Armor caused his spiritual pressure to drop back to the second-tier level, and at the same time, he was paralyzed.

"What happened?! Where's my magical artifact?!" Realizing something, he looked up angrily, "How come my magical artifact is gone?!"

"Why is it gone? It's because your magical artifact was fake, of course~" Xia Feng patted the fiery red armor with the Vermilion Bird engraved on his chest and smiled, "But mine is the real one!"

"..." The old man slowly opened his mouth wide. "What the hell?"

He'd never seen anything so outrageous in his thirty-plus years of life! This guy surnamed Xia's ability wasn't copying at all! It was stealing?!
A magical artifact that steals another's magical artifact. How can such a monstrous magical artifact exist in this world?!
The old man was stunned. His Vermilion Bird Demon Armor was extremely rare even among B-grade spiritual artifacts! And now it had been stolen just like that?!

Mu Qingtong, who was standing to the side, was equally surprised and turned her head to look at Xia Feng thoughtfully.

She never expected that Xia Feng's magical artifact abilities, besides copying and optimizing, also contained such a monstrous ability.

Even before achieving Saintly Release, a magical artifact possesses three outrageous abilities; even an S-rank artifact couldn't achieve this.
"Therefore, Mr. Xia's magical artifact is very likely the same as mine, an alpha-level artifact that doesn't even exist in the ranking system!"

Mu Qingtong blinked and stared intently at the man beside her, her elegant golden eyes curving slightly.

After awakening her spiritual weapon, she searched through countless historical records but found no information about alphas. Even the empire's current top combat force only possesses S-rank spiritual weapons.

It's as if S-class represents the pinnacle of humanity.

However, her artifact information clearly indicates that she is an alpha.

She had always thought she was the only special one, but after meeting Xia Feng, she finally understood.
Geniuses are produced on a production line, and Xia Feng and she are clearly from the same batch.

"In the sixth round, the levels of the spiritual weapons are evenly matched." She smiled faintly and nodded thoughtfully. The score is now 6:5, and I am slightly behind him.

Feeling the intense gaze from the side, Xia Feng glanced at the woman in the black dress: "Why are you staring at me like that again?" Mu Qingtong smiled without saying a word, but the heat hidden in her crescent-shaped eyes grew stronger, while on the surface she still stared at Xia Feng with a cool and gentle gaze, as if she wanted to see every detail of Xia Feng's handsome face.

After thinking for a moment, she suddenly asked, "So, is your ability to steal?"

"What robbery? Don't use such harsh words. I'm just distinguishing the genuine from the fake!"

Mu Qingtong couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then can you steal my spiritual weapon?"

"How could you ask such a question? You're my friend."

Xia Feng shook his head, speaking with righteous indignation, "A friend's weapon is not to be trifled with. I, Xia Feng, am a gentleman and would never steal a friend's magical weapon!"

Mu Qingtong: "."

Ignoring Xia Feng's nonsense, she roughly deduced, "So you can't steal it. It seems there really is a level restriction."

The paralyzed old man stared blankly at the two chatting, his eyes lifeless. He was filled with despair, wishing he hadn't helped Lister.

That damned Lister! If it weren't for this lousy Duke's incomplete intelligence, how could he, the dignified Eighth Master of the Divine Calamity Society, have fallen to such a state?

I was prepared to chop off this guy surnamed Xia's head without a second thought, but I didn't expect this guy to have so many outrageous trump cards up his sleeve, he's truly despicable.
"Alright, old man, it's time to send you on your way." Xia Feng held the blood-stained knife to the old man's neck.

"Wait, wait!" The old man craned his neck back desperately, shouting in terror, "I still have a use for it! Really, I can tell you how to use the Vermilion Bird Demon Armor, and this armor also has many side effects, I can tell you all of that!"

"side effect?"

Speaking of this, Xia Feng suddenly remembered that the Vermilion Bird Demon Armor has a very evil side effect: it makes people age and become smaller.

Presumably, this old man turned into this state due to the side effects.

Youth and length are a man's assets, and Xia Feng didn't want to lose what he was so proud of. Well, he was mainly proud of his moderate height.

After thinking for a moment, he focused his mind, pressed his hand against his chest armor with anticipation, and whispered, "Optimize."

The optimization capabilities will evolve in the direction he desires, but he cannot control the specific optimization details.

I just hope to get the result I want.

With anticipation, he received new information.

[Under Optimization]

[Selected Spiritual Artifact: Vermilion Bird Demon Armor]

[Optimization successful!]

[Introduction: Death is rebirth]

[Grade: B (Optimized Version)]

[Spiritual Release - Armor → Vermilion Bird Armor: When worn, your combat awareness, strength, reflexes, and movement speed are increased by 200%. Two Vermilion Bird fire feathers sprout from your shoulder blades, granting you 300% high-speed flight ability. In fire elemental fields, your movement speed is increased by 301%~400%. Furthermore, the armor's form can be freely transformed.]

[Spiritual Rebirth → Nirvana Rebirth: After your physical body dies, you can choose any location within a 100-meter radius to reassemble your body. At the same time, you will temporarily inherit all the attribute amplifications of the 'Vermilion Bird Armor', and your spiritual pressure state will jump one rank (but cannot jump to the Venerable level). Limited to 30 minutes.]

[Note 1: After using 'Rebirth' once, you must wait 30 minutes before you can use it again. You cannot force it to be used.]

[Note 2: Each use of 'Rebirth' will result in a brief period of complete paralysis, lasting approximately 30 seconds.]

(End of this chapter)