Nothing much to say, just swatted away with a single sword strike.
Among the Eight Demon Sorcerers, Hsi Wu was the most baffling. Aerial combat was certainly an advantage, but his scrawny little arms and legs made it obvious he didn't even belong in the same art style as the others.
Putting everything else aside, the mere fact that some people actually shipped Jade Chan and Hsi Wu was enough to prove how different he was.
But he was also genuinely weak. After taking a basic attack from Zenith's sword, he just lay on the ground and refused to get up.
Shendu snapped back to his senses and prepared to charge over for some hand-to-hand combat with Zenith. However, without even the Ox Talisman, he couldn't escape the fate of being swatted away by a single sword strike.
Looking at Bai Tza, an idea popped into Zenith's head.
Bai Tza was the Water Demon, and in the original show, she had transformed into liquid multiple times. In that case, would Minecraft's game logic classify Bai Tza as a liquid, or simply categorize her as a fish?
There was only one way to find out. Zenith pulled out an empty bucket—leftover from a failed MLG water bucket trick—and scooped it directly at Bai Tza.
With a loud splash, Bai Tza vanished into thin air, and the bucket in Zenith's hand was suddenly filled with water featuring a little icon of Bai Tza's head.
Looking at the text label hovering over it, Zenith's mouth twitched. "A Bucket of Bai Tza? No way, that actually worked."
Tso Lan felt a bit dazed. Floating in midair, he used his gravity manipulation to hurl surrounding objects at Zenith. "Bai Tza, what are you doing hiding in a bucket? Come out!"
However, Bai Tza remained completely unresponsive, as if she were dead, and was promptly tossed right into Zenith's inventory.
'Looking at it this way, water buckets basically have a special attack bonus against marine life,' Zenith thought. 'Who cares what kind of creature it is? As long as it's classified as a fish, it just takes one bucket.'
After this brief exchange, the demons still standing on the battlefield were already harboring thoughts of retreat. Even though they possessed the power to move mountains and drain seas, fighting right now felt like they were stuck in a tutorial level.
"Powerless to fight back" was the perfect description for them. This was completely unplayable! The guy was one-shotting them like toddlers; how were they supposed to compete?
Run. Better to run early than late. They could just find a corner to hide in for a century or so, and once Zenith died of old age, they could come back out and rule the world just the same.
Xiao Fung remained obediently squatting on the ground, while the other demons used whatever means necessary to get as far away from Zenith as possible. Some flew, some ran, but aside from the Sky Demon Hsi Wu, the others' escape speeds were honestly nothing to write home about.
Zenith didn't exactly have any AoE crowd-control abilities or cloning techniques to deal with multiple targets at once, but he did have his own most familiar method.
"Time is about to accelerate."
Trying to run after offending Zenith? Zenith hauled the demons back one by one, placing a wooden boat under each of their feet. By the time the time acceleration stopped, all the demons were horrified to discover that they were completely trapped like fish on a chopping block, unable to move a single muscle.
Except for Xiao Fung.
Xiao Fung had shapeshifted into a human and walked over to Zenith with a fawning expression. "My lord, I didn't make a move. I just didn't have any way to report them, otherwise I definitely would have tipped you off in advance."
Zenith seriously suspected that Xiao Fung had developed Stockholm Syndrome. How did a perfectly good demon end up like this?
The Eight Demon Sorcerers had been enslaving humanity together since ancient times. Even though Zenith was probably eighty percent non-human by now, he definitely still identified as one.
Therefore, regarding these eight demons with considerable combat power, he only had one policy: wine and dine them, chop off their heads, or take them in as dogs.
"Come on, come on, time to eat your bones, boys. Xiao Fung, show them how it's done!"
Xiao Fung's true form was a giant toad. Hearing Zenith's words, he immediately reverted to his original form and hopped over to eat the bone right out of Zenith's hand.
Perhaps because his obedience level was already so high, it only took one bone for a flurry of little red hearts to pop up above Xiao Fung's head—the universal Minecraft sign of a successful taming.
Take-them-in-as-dogs plan: success!
Looking at the stack of bones in his hand, Zenith suddenly remembered that he actually had a legitimate dog friend: JoJo...
Iggy from the JoJo universe!
That bro was living it up as a dog emperor in the Overworld every single day, enjoying himself way too much. Why not just bring him along to the next universe?
Shifting his gaze back to the remaining demons, Zenith tossed the bones in his hand. "Alright everyone, be good and open wide. If you don't eat up, I'm going to have to take coercive measures."
Make us your dogs? No way! Demons had their pride too. They were once the rulers of the world—arrogant and haughty!
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
And so, by the time Serie locked onto the coordinates and teleported over with Uncle's group, they were greeted by the sight of the demons rolling around on the ground, exposing their bellies.
"...Can someone tell me what happened? Zenith, isn't this a bit too much of an eyesore?!"
Since they were all on the same side now, Zenith simply returned the original twelve Talismans to Shendu, instantly restoring him to the number one combat powerhouse among the demons. However, in terms of status, the chief lackey Xiao Fung still reigned supreme.
"It might be an eyesore, but they're pretty useful. Don't let their weird appearances fool you; their actual strength is nothing to scoff at."
Zenith handed the seven demons over to Serie's management, while he opened a portal right there, preparing to take a trip back to the Overworld.
Uncle looked around. "Uncle does not see Daolon Wong anywhere."
"He ran away. Without the Talismans and without the demons, we have to leave a little face for this world's Dark Chi. Otherwise, if the balance of Yin and Yang is broken, some other nasty guys will definitely pop up."
Zenith explained. He was preparing to run off as well. The Oni Mask arc and the Drago arc could wait for later. As long as Daolon Wong remained as an anchor, the rest of the Dark Chi characters wouldn't make an early appearance.
As for himself, hadn't he mentioned earlier that his mentality was becoming a bit problematic? Zenith was ready to set off for a new universe right now to recalibrate his mindset.
No mods, no overpowered abilities, no doing whatever he wanted. To be honest, Zenith was still a bit unaccustomed to the idea. But thinking about it, it also sounded pretty fun—like starting a brand-new save file.
Serie stayed behind to study magic. She still hadn't fully figured out the matter transmutation magic and the elemental creature summoning magic. Once she mastered those, it would be another massive upgrade for the SPW Foundation.
As for Zenith, he currently had no need for a power boost. If he really wanted to, he could take his modded Talismans right now, go wipe out that One-Punch Zombie from the Legends mod, and craft the ultimate rule-bending armor set.
But there was no need. Zenith had already realized that being too overpowered ruined the fun of the game. Descending with the invincible posture of a god would genuinely get boring over time.
Time to go home, find the dog, and head off to the new world!
Iggy was also excited. He had lived a peaceful and wealthy life for far too long, and occasionally, he wanted to go out and find some fresh excitement.
This time, the blocks used to build the portal were copper. Zenith stepped inside, and in an instant, he entered a new universe.
Since he had declared that he would only use vanilla survival items this time, Zenith preemptively stored all his non-vanilla items into his backpack and left them in his room.
He changed into his long-unworn Netherite armor and brought only a small amount of vanilla supplies. Aside from necessary food and some metal resources, he didn't even bring things like Enchanted Golden Apples this time. He only took a few Shulker Boxes filled with potions as his means of healing.
"The 'Try Not to Use Modded Items Challenge' starts now. I'll do my best to stick to it, because I really don't want to play DC empty-handed from scratch."
That would just be pure torture.