newbobooks Chapter 337: The Depths Of The Abyss
Chapter 337: The Depths Of The Abyss
While the three were walking down the bustling, carefree streets of Galaxy Town, Jessica was completely isolated, busy training in her apartment’s enclosed, magically-fortified garden. The sheer trauma and lessons of the Earth raid demanded absolute perfection from her technique.
WHOOSH!!
She swung her blade with a terrifying, calculated force, cutting off the fragile flowers of the enchanted roses around her without disturbing their stems. The sword moved faster than the wind itself. She then paused, standing upright, controlling her breathing to synchronize with the ambient energy of the garden.
She sheathed her sword, holding it close to her chest, feeling the resonance of the blade, then slowly closed her eyes. Her energy condensed, pooling rapidly towards her brow.
"Mythic Eye."
Her forehead split opened with a sickening, wet sound, as the Mythic eye—violently appeared from the fissure. The golden pupil rapidly analyzed the microscopic spatial vectors around her. Jessica then raised one foot, channeling her aura into her leg, and smashed it on the stone ground.
BAM!!
Due to the immense, localized gravitational force of the stomp, all the severed roses in the garden rapidly rose into the air, suspended in a momentary state of zero gravity.
Jessica gripped the intricately wrapped handle of her sword. Her concentration reached its absolute zenith, and in one fraction of a second, she pulled half of the blade out of its scabbard, letting the unsheathed aura flare, and flawlessly sheathed it back.
BOOOOM!!
The release was devastating. The next moment, the delayed spatial slash caught up to reality. All the floating roses in the air instantly divided into perfect, symmetrical halves, falling to the ground in a shower of shredded crimson petals.
"It seems you’re getting better with your sword."
The sudden voice bypassed all of Jessica’s perimeter wards. Jessica immediately opened her natural eyes. The Mythic eye swiftly retreated back into her skull, as her forehead seamlessly closed shut, the flesh joining together perfectly, leaving no scar behind.
"Master!" She turned around on pure instinct, recognizing the overwhelming, oppressive aura, and dropped respectfully on one knee, bowing her head in absolute submission.
"No need to be so formal." Nadia said, her tone casually dismissing the etiquette of the Sword Empire. The high-ranking royal was completely relaxing on the elegant wrought-iron tea table, resting her chin on her hand, her calculating eyes staring at her disciple.
"So what’s your plan about tomorrow competition?" She asked, probing the psychological state of her sharpest weapon.
Jessica looked up at her, her expression disciplined and utterly devoid of arrogance: "I don’t know what the round will be about, so I can’t say." She said, adhering strictly to the facts she knew.
"Well, I will just reveal it. Due to Mirabella’s outrageous score, it’s now a team battle... I shouldn’t reveal anything to you. If it’s discovered, you guys will get disqualified instantly." She said, her lips curling into a sly, rebellious smirk. She reached out with graceful fingers and picked up a glowing, spirit-infused grape from the crystal bowl on the tea table, and placed it in her mouth.
"Hmm... Not bad." She muttered, savoring the burst of rich energy on her tongue, and continued, her gaze turning chillingly serious: "You are my favorite, Jessica... Everything I did to you in the past, that’s to show how much I love and care about you. I don’t want you to die in this competition, so if you know you can’t win, surrender." She said.
The words twisted in Jessica’s mind. Nadia’s version of "love" was built on brutal, life-threatening trials and psychological conditioning, yet the command to surrender contradicted the very foundation of the Sword Academy’s ideology.
"What about my main mission?" Jessica asked in genuine surprised, staring at her master. To abandon the objective was unthinkable.
"Forget that, you already completed it, and thanks to this, we now know the strongest geniuses... This is very good for our plan. I need more strength." She said, slowly turning her palm upward, looking intensely at her own hand as if envisioning a cosmic throne.
"To acquire this strength, We have to work with the demons for now... After everything is settled, we can get rid of them, and rule the second world." She said, casually detailing a treasonous, catastrophic geopolitical betrayal that could plunge the entire dimension into an apocalyptic war.
"I completed the mission?" Jessica asked in deep confusion, trying to process the sheer scale of the manipulation, and Nadia simply nodded her head with finality:
"Don’t overthink this... Just focus on the competition, and don’t die." With those parting words, she smoothly took another grape, and instantly vanished from the Garden.
Jessica slowly got back to her feet, the weight of the coming battle and the empire’s dark secrets settling heavily on her shoulders: "I understand, Master." She said to the empty air, giving a small bow.
____
[Abyss.]
Far beyond the borders of the three empires, in a dimension suffocating under the weight of thick, corrosive miasma and eternal darkness, a complex, blood-red ritual was taking place.
"When will this your summoning formation get ready!! It’s already three days??!!" The Pope snapped impatiently at Dracula, his holy vestments severely clashing with the oppressive, demonic atmosphere.
"Don’t yell, to summon a powerful being, I will need seven days... Four more days to go!" Dracula snapped back at him, her crimson eyes glowing with irritation. She was sitting cross-legged right before the very edge of the massive, intricately drawn summoning line, her absolute focus required to maintain the volatile runic geometry.
BOOOOM!
The heavy, corrupted sky above them violently tore opened. The dimensional fabric shrieked as the Demon Emperor Vassago confidently walked out from the rift. The sheer density of his dark aura caused the ground to wither. Shadowing closely behind him were his five top elite demon guards, each radiating terrifying, city-ending power.
"Why are you here, Demon Emperor?" Dracula asked coldly, not even bothering looking up at him, her intense focus entirely fixed on the delicate summoning ritual before her.
"I want to know your progress on removing this seal and setting me free! What’s your plan?" Vassago asked, his booming voice vibrating through the wasteland, staring down at her with ancient, burning impatience.
"You know Mirabella’s origin, and getting her blood isn’t easy. That is one of the reason I am summoning this creature, it will help us get her blood." Dracula answered methodically. Without breaking her concentration, she was stretching a pale finger directly at the beating, grotesque heart which was currently floating at the dead center of the ritual, as dense, red energy flew rapidly towards it, seamlessly merging with the heart’s tissues.
Vassago stared at her for a silent, heavy second, calculating the variables, then turned his gaze at the pulsating Ritual: "So I will have to wait another four days?" He asked, his tone darkening, staring intensely at her.
"Vassago... You have been sealed here for centuries, can’t you wait another four days?" Sagittarius asked, looking up at the towering demon emperor, his completely blank, faceless head fixed eerily on them.
"How dare a servant speak before the Demon Emperor!!" A guard with white hair snapped aggressively. Immense, suffocating killing intent violently burst out from him, condensing into a lethal physical pressure heading directly towards Sagittarius to crush him for his insolence.
"Presumptuous!!"
Suddenly, the fabric of the Abyss shuddered. A single, terrifyingly profound white eye appeared right on Sagittarius’s previously faceless head. It didn’t just look; it perceived the fundamental structure of the guard’s existence. Instantly, all the descending killing intent shattered like fragile glass, and an invisible, completely unknown conceptual force violently smashed right into the guy’s chest.
PUFF!!
The elite guard vomited a massive mouthful of black blood, falling heavily to the cracked ground, desperately gripping his chest as his core fractured: "You actually attacked my soul?" He muttered in absolute disbelief, his physical defenses completely bypassed.
Vassago stared at the fallen guy, then slowly turned his gaze at Sagittarius: ’This is my first Elite guard, he couldn’t even last a round against the opponent?’ It thought in deep, unsettling confusion.
"Vassago."
Everyone present turned their heads to Dracula, whose tone was dead serious and laced with a lethal warning:
"Sagittarius isn’t my slave... He might carry the title as the second Lord, but he is actually my right-hand man; and he has the same authority as me."
".....?!"
The elite guards, the Pope, his Saints, and the Emperor froze in stunned silence, completely reassessing the terrifying, faceless entity standing quietly beside the ritual.