'So, this is the new you, huh.' the sound of buzzing echoed even as Jiko Ai advanced her huge plant body, Mei Wu standing next to the alraune's human body.

"That's right boss~! Call me Jiko Ai for now. I expect you want me to answer some questions about my threat level against you and your hive, and maybe towards your cute subordinates?" the alraune only looked at her 'boss,' the Queen Bee, who had reached them not even a minute after the Protector Bee went to tell the Gold-ranked bee about the latest development.

The Queen Bee had decided to fly quickly towards the two to both check on them, and see how Jiko Ai fares compared to Kasumi Ai when it came to attitude and temperament.

It was rather important, especially since she could feel the growing amount of alraunes and plant beasts, though thankfully, her Protector Bees and the rest of her subordinates were allowed to retreat without problem, without any harm befalling them from the miniature army of the alraunes that Jiko Ai managed to spontaneously create.

At least, that meant that this alter ego wasn't a blindly rampaging beast with no intelligence, so that was a good thing as far as the Queen Bee was concerned.

'You are quick, aren't you?' the Queen Bee buzzed, looking both curious and slightly threatening towards the alraune. 'I presume Kasumi Ai will be sober after this fight, and that you won't be taking over her body?' she asked, making it clear that she wasn't exactly thrilled by the development.

Mei Wu really understood her feelings. After all, she did have a bit of doubt about the Narcissism's promise, but she trusted her enough, and trusted Ai's love in her as well.

Jiko Ai only gave an amused look at the Queen Bee, even as she kept moving forward towards the battle against the Xie clan's elders, her army way ahead of her, yet not quite close enough to start the attack for real.

"Trust me, Queen Bee. Neither I nor Ai would want to harm you or your hive. I can feel gratitude, you know? Even if I could defeat you with my army, I still prefer that we both stay on good terms, even if only for practical purposes. Still, we would have to talk about the future later. Well, after I talk with Ai first about me and her, I mean." the alraune spoke to the Queen Bee, who nodded after some time.

'I will be waiting.' the Queen Bee expressed, feeling both unamused and serious.

"It's time. They will be attacking soon." Mei Wu warned the two, before she focused more, looking at Jiko Ai.

"By the way, what happened to the four disciples? I felt their Qi, faint as it was, from so far away, but now I seemingly can't sense them right now. I assume you killed them?"

The Narcissism though did not blink or waver at the question, nor did the answer she gave make her do so, as she looked unfocused for just a second before she got her bearing.

"One of my alraunes reached them. The aphrodisiac wasn't something they could deal with or resist. Though I have to admit that the way they ripped each other's clothes was amusing?"

Mei Wu felt herself shivering at the calm tone that response was spoken in. "Oh..."

"Honestly, they should have disobeyed the two elders and escaped the moment they were left alone. Then again, that's only with the benefit of hindsight. No doubt that they trusted the two elders to protect them... So how do you want me to deal with them? Kill them or...?"

Mei Wu resisted the urge to sigh. Why ask her such a thing? "I was the one who told Ai'er to let loose against the Xie clan search party, and I still stick to it. Do whatever you see fit with them, as long it isn't letting them escape, even if you wanted to use them as sex toys. Just keep their voices away from me in that case." she gave her opinion.

"As you say, though I think I would kill the two elders instead. As much as I'd like to use them as an infinite energy source since they are the strongest of our enemies, my true body is still not strong enough to deal with any nasty surprises they might have."

With that assessment, the trio continued their march, and soon enough, the fight began, as the three could sense the power pulsing from the Xie elders, as one of them immediately crashed to the ground with a loud boom that was heard even from where they were situated. Power easily detectable to them, especially for Mei Wu's terrifying Qi sensing skills.

"Interesting~ seems like Xie Yao decided to begin the battle once more. And killed a couple of my alraunes and a few of the weaker plant beasts as well~!" Jiko Ai commented, a cruel grin appearing on her face, seeing and feeling the fight through the eyes of her clones and army. "But, at what cost, I wonder? Not matter what, unless they suddenly learned how to fly, there would be no escape from my aphrodisiac and meat-hungry army of plant beasts."

'I never imagined that alraunes could be this scary.' Mei Wu admitted to herself. Well, she did believe them to be scary since Ai entered her life (or dragged the pink-haired woman into the alraune's life, more accurately), but she never imagined just how absurd an alraune's abilities are.

"I believe we had reached a rather safe distance." Jiko Ai said, stopping in her tracks, as the group heard the sound of flames roaring, showing that the Saber-toother Blazing Tiger was still in the game.

They were close enough to see everything from above, as soon as the alraune used some of her Qi to make the trees around her large and wide enough to let her stand on them, much to Mei Wu's surprise, while the Queen Bee followed almost silently.

"Now, we watch the spectacle."

----------------------------------------

His body ached. It ached and hurt very badly.

Xie Yao truly wasn't feeling well at the moment. His body was severely damaged, and his qi pathways were really messed up. Even with the boost and support of his strengthening-type beasts, he knew that he was on a timer.

With the amount of the impurities in his body, and many parts of his body stripped of flesh due to Mei Wu's previous attacks, especially with the flesh of a whole fist stripped down to the bones, he knew that he won't live past this day, most definitely.

Unless the heavens suddenly decided to bless him and Xie Xiu, he knew they won't survive. Even the first attack he unleashed against the army of plant beasts that got too close, his Blunt Pressure, a powerful kick that could have easily killed a Level 4 [Champion], took more effort to kill the first silver-ranked alraune that was in his way.

His legs trembled, even if it was only slightly at that, and even then he got a nasty surprise when the he was hit by an overcharged electric beam from a Stunflower that had already formed right below the dead alraune.

Normally, he would have easily shrugged that level of attack, but with his damaged state, it felt as if the lightning of the heavens themselves was invading his body, and he got scorch marks all over his left leg.

"This is seriously problematic!" he screamed as he avoided a lightning beam from a different Stunflower, while blocking the vines of an alraune that got too close, a bronze-ranked one this time.

"Haa!" his body protested as he unleashed another devastating punch strong enough to generate shockwaves towards the unintelligent alraune, only to get blocked by a Treant Warrior who managed to protect the alraune, but its body got crushed in return.

Avoiding the vines that suddenly sprouted from the ground, he jumped as high as he could, letting his Saber-toothed Blazing Tiger do its job of cruelly burning these damned beasts alive.

He returned next to Xie Xiu, barely saving her from a growling alraune that unleashed a wave of poisons and aphrodisiac nectars on the woman.

Xie Xiu managed to hit the offending alraune with a deadly chop, decapitating it.

"You... you didn't need to help me..." she gasped with sharp breaths as she almost dropped to the ground, her Gargantuan Earth Worm protecting the two from further attacks with its huge body, though it was clear that it was wounded due to the poison of the alraunes, yet it protected its master with determination, along with the Venomous Viper and the Camouflage Chameleon that were fighting the increasing number of plant beasts.

The sound of fire roaring, flesh burning, and the hisses and growls were all around them.

He clicked his tongue as he stopped himself from spitting blood. Tanking that wave of poison with his already damaged body wasn't a good choice, but he had to do it.

"No need to lie. You're barely able to stand up as it is." he told her, and he was right. Xie Xiu felt rather weak, if she was honest. The effects of the aphrodisiac were still running through her body, and were not possible to purge yet. Her whole body was drenched by the nectar, really, thanks to the alraunes not giving a damn and letting said nectar to fall and paint the entire ground golden under and around their feet.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Normally, the exposure to this maddening amount of aphrodisiac nectars from the alraunes would have made even her lose her mind with lust, she would have stopped caring about anything but satiating the burning desire that consumed her body. She would have happily ripped her clothes and forced herself on Xie Yao then and there, resulting in their immediate demise, or at least hers, if he had no choice but to punch her head off.

Thankfully, she was Xie Xiu, and she had some tricks up her sleeve to stop that from happening, and she used a technique that would stop her heart and bodily functions for a while, deadening her ability to smell as well, thus stopping the overpowering scent of the alraunes' aphrodisiac nectars from destabilizing her mind more than it already was.

Unfortunately, stopping her own heart and body's functions meant that her abilities were severely weakened, and she wouldn't be able to perform at her best for so long. Not to mention that halting her heart body's functions for long periods of time would result in death.

In her mind though, being dead is better than losing herself to lust and becoming a sex toy for the Gold-ranked alraune and her clones.

"I know that, dumbass. You don't need to tell me." she gasped, clutching her chest. Exerting herself this much was surely accelerating her time limit.

'If only the Queen Bee could not sense my Gargantuan Earth Worm, then we would have finished Mei Wu and that alraune!' she grimaced inwardly.

They couldn't even attempt to escape by having her beast move under the ground. Sure, it might give them some time to put some distance, and the Gargantuan Earth Worm was rather swift for its size, but it wasn't in the best shape, seeing the wounds it had on its body. It won't be able to move as quickly as it could, and the Queen Bee could easily catch up to it.

Unfortunately though, she didn't have more time to think of what to do, as she sensed the Gold-ranked Alraune's qi rise. That alraune didn't really try to hide herself as she was standing on the top of a giant tree, with Mei Wu and the Queen Bee accompanying her.

And then, the two elders felt and saw it. Power, power was being charged. Sunlight was being charged, morphed into lightning, and condensed. An electric ball nearly three meters in diameter was being created by Jiko Ai, about to be unleashed as it was compressed enough it was barely the size of her finger, almost impossible to see from the distance between the two elders and the Gold-ranked alraune.

The other lower ranked alraunes though didn't stop their attacks even as Jiko Ai prepared her move, following Jiko Ai's will to bind and disrupt Xie Yao and Xie Xiu's movements.

The nectars that were filling the soil suddenly started rising and hardening, only barely halting their moments for a split second as their legs became immobile.

"Damn it!"

"No!"

Xie Xiu and Xie Yao cursed as the alraune's attack was unleashed, a thin yet extremely dense beam of lightning filled with pure Qi, and there was no doubt that if hit, it would pierce the body of the person it targets.

Xie Xiu doubted that even her Gargantuan Earth Worm would be able to fully tank it. Her beast was admittedly sturdy, but it wasn't that sturdy against that. Xie Yao would have been able to stop such an attack, had he been in a better shape, but the old man was already dying and he couldn't take such attacks so casually anymore.

Jiko Ai though didn't target the two elders, nor did she attack the Gargantuan Earth Worm, or any of Xie Xiu's beasts. Instead she targeted Xie Yao's Saber-toothed Blazing Tiger.

To her, that beast was the most annoying one with its AOE flames, as they could burn and harm her army the most, in her opinion. Not to mention, with its disappearance, her most terrifying skill -other than her aphrodisiac nectar and the Division Propagation skill- would be allowed to activate without any interferences or disruptions.

The fiery beast, already wounded and poisoned from the continuous battle against the army of the plant beasts, along with the poison in its system, couldn't dodge in time.

A small hole was created where its stomach was supposed to be, its body pierced from the back to the front, with a massive electric shock messing with its nervous system.

It roared pitifully, pain invading its body as its legs spasmed and twitched, and it fell on the earth, right as another beam pierced its head.

"Nooo!" Xie Yao yelled with sorrow, attempting to unsummon it, hoping against hope that it was still alive. His beast cannot die! His companion must not die!

It was irrational, and contradictory to his solemn acceptance of his own death, but emotions were not supposed to be rational. The death of a dutiful companion was still disliked no matter what. It wasn't something that one could just accept so easily.

Yet, it was futile. He felt the link between him and his summon disappear like a painful electric shock hitting his head, almost forcing him to fall to his knees.

The pain of his loyal beast, a companion that was with him for years, if not decades, one that he spent a long time training, helping it level up from a mere Normal-ranked beast into a Silver-ranked one, finally biting the dust in front of him was agonizing. And it gnawed at his heart and soul.

"Watch out, you old fossil!" Xie Xiu shouted as her Venomous Viper protected her partner from another torrent of poison while he was still reeling from the death of his summon, the one whose corpse, still warm, was immediately picked up by the alraunes and was encased in a sphere of sweet-tasting nectar before being rapidly thrown towards Jiko Ai, who gladly consumed it with her monstrous plant body.

"You bitch!" Xie Yao's rage rose to an absurd level seeing that stunt, and for a few moments, he lost all the ability to reason or think. This action will not be forgiven!

So what if what he would do is irrational? So what if he would do something suicidal? He was already going to die, so what's the big deal of choosing how he died!?

"You idiot! Don't! She's purposely taunting you!"

"Leopard's Brutal Hunt!" his Qi exploded as he ignored Xie Xiu's panicked tone, jumping so fast, almost flying, and nearly crossing half the entire distance between him and the damned Predator Rainblossom Alraune in less than three seconds.

"Grand Rhino's Fist!" His body bulged, almost painfully from the stress, wounds expanding and blood spurting with violent vigour as his already damaged body couldn't handle the amount of power he was forcing, the impurities in his Qi surging through his blood vessels, and every cell, making even the few seconds of flying to be an adurous and painful endeavor.

"Dieeee!" he yelled, exerting all his power in his fist in one attack against the blasted alraune that was smirking at him, as if she made a joke that only she would find funny. He would wipe that smirk off her face -both her human and beast faces- and punch a hole through her. This time, he would make sure to wipe that smug expression for real!

Jiko Ai though only grinned further.

"You're full of openings."

He could only widen his eyes as his power left him. Once more, he felt his power being suppressed, negated, forced to stay dormant. He didn't even need to know what he was told to sense the mocking tone in it.

In his blinding rage, he had forgotten that Mei Wu was with her, and that the human woman's ability could suppress and nullify another person's Qi.

It still wasn't enough to forcefully dismiss his Metal Rhinoceros and Violent Ogre for longer than a mere second, but for just that single, split second, Xie Yao became as weak as a normal human.

Same strength, same durability, and more importantly, same fragility.

His body only continued its flight due to the momentum it was already having, but sadly, the remaining distance of a dozen meters mattered little against the alraune, now that he couldn't defend against her.

For only a couple seconds, he was at his weakest.

More than enough for the alraune to end the fight, swinging a dozen sharp, long vines with utter viciousness, vines sharper than any mortal blade could be, and filled to the brim with powerful and dense Qi. A normal person would get sliced by any of them with no resistance.

The Predator Rainblossom Alraune's attack was brutal and merciless. Faster than anything he could even perceive due to how weak he felt. The damage done to his body, and the impurities in it made it all the more clear. And he knew that this would be the end of it, as the vines made contact with his currently fragile, easily destructible body.

Four limbs sliced, head decapitated, and his torso cut into two. And to add the insult to the injury, each of his legs and arms were also cut in two as well.

In just one split second where he was at his weakest, his body was brutally sliced. His body though, cut and ruined as it is, still flew towards the alraune, the momentum not at all stopped by the alraune's attacks.

'No.' he thought in panic and rage, trying desperately to defy his enemies even in death. 'I refuse to die just like this!'

He was decapitated, and his death was guaranteed, that much he understood. But unlike how mortals would die in a second after being decapitated, warriors could actually survive a few seconds after thanks to their qi and supernatural strength, as long as the brain or soul themselves were not destroyed.

He was no different, and he would use that time as best as he could!

Even as blood gushed from his body parts, even as staying conscious was becoming difficult, he pulled every drop of strength and qi he could muster, defying the Apoptosis, forcing his body to use every ounce of power he had.

His two strengthening-type beasts once more re-established the connection that was about to be cut off due to Mei Wu's attack, and his limbs still tried to obey his commands. Body parts growing in size due to the effects of his Violent Ogre, and power increasing for only a few more seconds, his flight continued, with only one meter separating him and the alraune's lower gigantic, and grinning mouth.

"Sorry, but I have no interest in your self-destruct attack."

And then, the Jiko Ai's lower mouth opened, as a torrent of freezing, ice-cold water was unleashed, consuming all of Xie Yao's body parts along with his blood in the air, and freezing them solid. Jiko Ai's usage of the Frose plant-type beast's ice and water attacks were completely unexpected for him to defend against.

Not that he could have defended anyways.

His last stand failed to even reach her. And then, he finally was grasped by the cold hands of death, with a determined expression still on his face as he died.

"Did he die content in defying us, I wonder?" the alraune mumbled to herself, resulting in Mei Wu looking at her oddly.

"Jiko Ai? Are you alright?"

The alraune only shrugged, even as she controlled her vines to swallow the lump of ice where Xie Yao's body was imprisoned inside.

"I am alright, Wu-chan. Just felt the desire to act deep and philosophical all of the sudden."

Looking down, she saw that Xie Xiu was still doing well enough, even if she sustained some injuries, though the majority of the wounds were tanked by her beasts.

At that, she found herself giving a small grin.

"Soon enough, the remaining flames of the Saber-toothed Blazing Tiger will be elimined, and my Parasitic Spores will begin to spread and make contact. She and her beasts will have nothing remain of their bodies."

Mei Wu and the Queen Bee watched as the alraune smirked in amusement. "So, think we can now move closer? With Xie Yao dead, and Xie Xiu already on her last legs, I believe there's no danger."

'As long as you and she stay alive and not get crippled, I couldn't care less.' the Queen Bee stated as Mei Wu nodded.

"Well then." Jiko Ai moved at a blistering speed towards Xie Xiu's location, "let's end this battle."