Boom!!!
The man's body was hit as if by an invisible battering ram, slamming into the alloy wall once again with a dull, massive thud.
The wall instantly buckled, forming a clear human-shaped indentation.
"Tsk, aren't you annoying?" Pardofelis's figure appeared like a ghost at the spot where the man had just been standing. Her delicate face was written with impatience, and her cat tail flicked irritably, the tail blade carving dangerous cold glints into the air.
The man struggled to slide from the indentation to the ground, and another large mouthful of blood surged out, staining the cold floor in front of him.
Then, he lowered his head with difficulty, his pupils shrinking violently from extreme horror.
At the position of his heart on his chest, a hole the size of a bowl had appeared. The edges were smooth, as if precisely erased by some invisible force—no mangled flesh, only a heart-palpitating void.
"Cough... cough... how... is this possible?!" His voice was hoarse, filled with an unbelievable breakdown. "Aren't you a space-type user?! My spatial compression... my spatial barrier... why are they all ineffective against you?! My attacks... even if you hide in a subspace rift, they should still be able to lock onto you!!"
Hearing this, Pardofelis rolled her eyes, her blue vertical pupils filled with pity as if looking at an idiot.
"Ha? Who told you I was space-type?" She stood with her hands on her hips, her small cat ears twitching with a matter-of-fact innocence. "I never said what my ability type was. You guys were the ones guessing blindly, and you were so enthusiastic about it. Do you really think you're prophets?"
"Impossible!" The man's eyes looked ready to burst as he tried to use his last bit of strength to prop up his body in protest. "Instantaneous movement! Spatial tear! Subspace stealth! Every one of these you've displayed... which one isn't a top-tier spatial superpower?! Apex Entertainment's analysis reports... and what I saw with my own eyes..."
"Heh," Pardofelis interrupted him with a short, cold laugh.
She stepped forward with the characteristic pressure of a feline, slowly closing in on the man.
The sound of her footsteps was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent space, each step feeling like it was treading on the man's frayed nerves.
"So? What you saw and what you analyzed is just your own wishful thinking, isn't it? Since when did I need to submit a report to explain my ability to you?"
Watching the approaching Pardofelis, the man took a deep breath. His eyes briefly turned subtle for a fleeting moment.
But soon, that subtle feeling vanished, replaced by labored breathing. With a voice full of unwillingness and a thirst for the truth, he asked Pardofelis:
"Then... your superpower... what is it exactly? At least... let me die understanding..."
"Want to know?" Pardofelis tilted her head slightly, her pale blue pupils flashing with a cunning light in the dim environment.
Then, the corners of her mouth slowly curled into a wicked smirk. "Fine, my mood today is... well, barely considered okay? Then I'll show some mercy and tell you."
She held up a slender index finger, her voice carrying a playful emphasis: "But—this is for you alone. Everyone in the audience, it's time to exit the stage~"
Before her voice had even faded, she gave a crisp snap of her fingers.
Snap!
Accompanying that light sound, all the hidden surveillance cameras currently working around them instantly went dark. The concealed microphones emitted a faint popping sound, and even the miniature vital signs monitor and communicator on the man simultaneously let out a wisp of blue smoke, becoming completely paralyzed.
The entire area was instantly shrouded in a silence isolated from the outside world.
Seeing this, the man reached out in terror toward an inconspicuous device at his waist. It was a specially made encrypted recording terminal, which was now scalding hot with a pitch-black screen; no matter how he operated it, there was no response.
It wasn't physically destroyed, but the precision circuitry inside had clearly been mysteriously and utterly burnt out by some invisible force during that snap of the fingers.
"This... this isn't a spatial ability that can achieve such precise destruction!" he cried out, sounding completely incredulous.
He couldn't understand! This kind of precise strike that ignored physical barriers and instantly paralyzed all electronic equipment far exceeded his knowledge of ordinary spatial superpowers.
"Bingo~ You've finally gotten a little bit smarter." Pardofelis nodded with satisfaction, like she was praising a clumsy student.
She leaned down slightly, approaching the man who was trembling from pain and fear. She extended a gloved index finger and, in an almost tender gesture, lightly tapped his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.
"My ability," her red lips parted, her voice soft like a lover's whisper yet cold like a death sentence, "is actually very simple. Just two words—"
"Copy."
Those two words exploded in the man's mind like a thunderclap.
"As long as it's someone I've come into contact with..." Pardofelis straightened up and stretched her body languidly, as if talking about the weather. "The superpowers he or she possesses will become like this—"
She snapped her fingers casually, and a small cluster of ghostly blue flames danced out of thin air, then transformed into a miniature electric arc that wrapped around her finger before vanishing with a pop.
"A part of my power library. I can use whichever one I want, whenever I want. Understand?"
"No... that's impossible!" The man let out a heart-wrenching roar, mixed with pain and the madness of a collapsing worldview.
"A heaven-defying ability like that... how could your body possibly withstand it?! Rejection at the genetic level... the load on your mental strength... the conflict between these superpowers would be enough to tear you to pieces! How much of a price do we have to pay to awaken a superpower... how could it... how could it be so easily... stolen by you?!!"
He couldn't accept it! The spatial superpower he had spent his entire life honing and took pride in was spoken of by the opponent as if it were a candy that could be taken at will!
"Sigh," Pardofelis looked at the hysterical man on the ground and let out a helpless sigh, a trace of nearly mocking pity flashing in her pale blue cat eyes. "That's why I said you're stupid. The body can't withstand it?"
She spread her hands with an expression as if asking 'do you even need to ask'. "Then wouldn't it be fine to just copy a superpower like body strengthening, cell regeneration, or energy coordination? Here, like this for example."
Following her words, a layer of pale gold luster instantly covered her skin and then quickly faded, followed by a surge of exuberant vitality and toughness that flashed by.
The man was completely stunned. This logic that transcended common sense utterly overturned his understanding of the superpower system.
Anger, jealousy, and the powerlessness of being completely crushed overwhelmed him.
"It seems you still don't believe me." The bit of hypocritical pity on Pardofelis's face vanished, leaving only cold mockery. "Then... use your own power to experience it for yourself."
She slowly raised her right hand, her five slender fingers spreading elegantly, and then—clenched them tightly!
Buzz—!
In an instant, the space around the man let out a groan as if it were overstretched, and an indescribable, terrifying pressure crushed in frantically from all directions!
"This... this is my spatial collapse?! No—!!!" The man instantly identified the essence of this power; it was precisely his proudest killing move!
Only, the intensity being applied to his body at this moment was several times more terrifying than when he was at his peak!
His eyes threatened to burst from their sockets, and his body emitted the tooth-aching sound of shattering bones.
He wanted to struggle, wanted to activate his superpower to resist, but as soon as the spatial energy in his body was mobilized, it was completely suppressed by that copy which originated from the same root but was despairingly powerful!
Pardofelis stood a few meters away, watching coldly. There was no ripple in her pale blue vertical pupils, only a trace of indifference as if a task had been completed.
Boom—!!!
A dull, massive sound rang out.
The man's roar stopped abruptly.
In his place, there remained only a flat meat pie compressed to less than half a meter high, a mixture of flesh, shattered bone, squeezed and deformed clothing, and equipment.
A viscous, dark red liquid slowly seeped from the edges of this unnamable object, staining a patch of startling crimson on the floor.
Pardofelis wrinkled her small nose in disgust and used her hand to fan away the non-existent smell of blood.
She glanced at that masterpiece as if she had simply stepped on a bothersome cockroach.
Immediately after, she revealed a smile as if a scheme had succeeded and muttered to herself:
"That was quite the performance, but compared to my acting skills, you're still a bit green."