Chapter 824 - An Asshole vs. the Imitation

There is no following explosion, and the orb that shot towards Envy stops before returning to Lissandra to circle around her. There, it splits into six smaller orbs, all taking on the colors of the explosions or attacks Envy shot at her previously.

“That was insane,” Marble mutters. “The precision, skill, and control it takes to separate an attack of that scale with as little mana as she did.”

“Shh, Marble, look at what she is doing with the one winged wyvern’s domain,” Sparkle interrupts him.

“Wyvern’s domain?" I ask.

The fake sky of this floor, which has now changed color to a mix of dozens of shades of gold, continues to waver. I cannot feel the pressure it makes through the record, but I can tell it is something Envy has activated to defend himself. Meanwhile, underneath that golden domain, a transparent white light shimmers weakly.

Spark buzzes around me, bouncing against my cheek before stopping next to my ear. “The Ruler of Envy has activated Beyond’s main defensive array. He was given access to it, and unlike his predecessor, he did not hesitate to use it.”

I watch as Envy, now calmed down, chuckles at his previous reaction. Sweat beads on his face, and the golden light is at its densest around him. I can even see faint outlines of a myriad of thin lines all over.

“The Absolute’s imitation is very smart. She must have expected for someone to go against her with Beyond’s main defensive array, so she defeated the one winged wyvern and took over its array to defend herself! So smart!”

As Spark talks, the battle continues. A mantle made of mana forms behind the Ruler of Envy, and over his head, three crowns grow. All are in the same height, floating over his head in an orbiting motion. One of the crowns is filled with mana. Another one has flames fighting to get out, and the last one is transparent with a green color.

While Beyond’s main defensive array continues to push against the wyvern’s domain, Lissandra took control over, Envy lowers himself and bursts into a dash. I cannot track him anymore, but the place where he launched from explodes in a way that seems like a meteor has hit an enormous peak behind him and blasted it into pieces that fly far away.

His voice begins to be heard from all over the place again as he teases Lissandra, calling her an imitation, a fake, and a replica, threatening to kill her disciple and her as well, for everyone to see.

Meanwhile, Lissandra does not even bother to move, she just stands where she is. Her hair rises up, its silver color seemingly as bright as white neon under the domain she controls. It creates a striking contrast against her brown eyes.

Once in a while, she flicks her hand, and far in the distance, an explosion bursts. They grow bigger and bigger to a scale that begins to be difficult to grasp. From behind one of the mountains, a barrage of thousands of projectiles shoots out, tearing through the stone and heading towards Lissandra. One of the orbs floating around her, the pink one, moves in front of her and pulses once before disappearing.

With that, all of the projectiles are gone. From where they came, a spherical pink orb eats into the area and the mountains just once before disappearing. In the middle of where it was, the Ruler of Envy floats, surrounded by a golden light. The mantle made of mana behind him flickers, stretching like wings, and the three crowns begin to spin faster.

The golden light of Beyond’s defensive array intensifies, drowning a continent sized area in a blinding light. The air screams and reality tears, dissolving the world into a shimmering haze.

Even as I do not sense anything, I feel myself shudder.

All that immense pressure pushes against Lissandra and Myrra, who are now surrounded by a transparent white domain that crackles like lightning around them as she faces that attack. Another explosion thuds, and for a moment, my sight is entirely blocked. It is as if reality itself disappeared before it returns, and all three people within the record are still there.

For dozens of miles around Lissandra and Myrra, the earth is pressed deep, perfectly level, and smooth, appearing almost as reflective as a mirror.

In the distance, enormous figures move, gargantuan lizards made of rock, moving to attack Envy. He does not even pay them any attention, and just a fire from one of his crowns flashes, with the colossus disappearing entirely without being able to put up a defense. These very same attacks hammer towards Lissandra, who, since the start of the fight, has not even taken a step, and even the ground below her and Myrra is entirely undamaged.

He follows with more attacks, using items that break upon use to launch exotic projectiles at her. Shadows reach from tears in space and turn everything dark as if they absorb light. Oceans of fire burn that seem impossible to extinguish.

Finally, Envy snorts and reaches into his inner pocket, from where he pulls out a long spear made entirely of white lightning. I notice it damages his hands, and one of the rings he is wearing cracks and breaks off, but he does not seem to mind.

Golden light and dense lines in the air surround him furiously as he lands on the ground and, with all his force, throws the white spear. That throw creates ripples through the ground around him, making it seem like it has turned into liquid.

Just a few seconds have passed since the start of the fight. Maybe ten, maybe fifteen, I have a hard time saying. But I can tell that the record is slowed down for me, likely by Marble. Even then, I have been accelerating my thoughts since the start, just so I can observe this insanity. I’m also sure I can only grasp a small part of the fight. Maybe a tenth of it, maybe a bit more.

Not like it matters. There are parts of this fight I cannot even perceive at the moment, but I can watch Myrra moving as if in slow motion while Lissandra and the Ruler of Envy face each other.

In that moment, as the white spear flies at her, the record slows even further as Marble says, “Watch.”

Lissandra, for the first time, takes a black dagger from her waist and throws it at the ground below her feet. It stabs itself there by the blade, and in that same movement, she weakens the domain around her. A pulse from the dagger stabbing into the ground blows away the golden defensive array and clears out the area.

And Lissandra moves.

The record slows further just to catch her, yet I can barely see as she runs past the white spear. She snatches it from the air, twists it around her body, and hurls it back at Envy. He begins to move to dodge, but before he can, Lissandra stands in front of him. His eyes widen as she delivers a blow to his belly, grabs the [Mana Crown] from over his head, and squeezes it until it breaks, letting all that mana flood into her body.

Her speed increases further as she moves around and behind him, grabbing him by the back of his neck with one hand and lifting him into the air just in time as the white spear reaches him and stabs through his chest.

The lumoran coughs blood and smirks. The green crown flashes and his body explodes, but before any of it can damage Lissandra, a burst of mana from her cancels it out. The shockwave and pressure that I am sure would erase a continent or two turn into a short gust of powerful wind that presses against Myrra, who covers her head while still in that slow motion.

Standing there with the white spear that does not damage her at all, Lissandra looks around. She moves again, reaching Myrra, and as she passes by, she lowers herself and flicks the handle of the dagger, which lets out a clear, beautiful noise. Another pulse is sent from it, pressuring Beyond’s main defensive array back again, which had already begun spreading.

Lissandra runs over the broken landscape, avoiding dozens of attacks and erasing or canceling out all of them, as each and every one of them carries power that almost no Absolute can hope to face.

The Ruler of Envy is already back again. This time, he has just a green crown over his head and his mana mantle spread behind his back, forming two additional muscular limbs.

He even uses the defensive array to surround himself in brilliant golden armor, from which the white spear just bounces off. The spear continues to fly into the distance, its blade cutting through everything as if it were no denser than air, and leaving rifts in space as if it cuts and scars the fabric of reality.

After dodging under his attack, Lissandra grabs his arm and throws him off balance against the ground. He rolls, stands up, and punches at her, which she redirects with a calm face. She uses his momentum to throw him off balance again and kicks against him, causing him to slide back without taking any damage.

He moves again at that incredible speed, and the place he launched from explodes into a mile wide crater from the sheer force he contains. When Lissandra runs to follow him, not a single speck of dust is sent into the air.

She reaches him in mid leap, grabbing his feet just before he reaches Myrra. His fingers pass just barely in front of the lynthari’s face as Lissandra pulls him back and throws him into the distance. There, Envy stops, breathing heavily with his fingertips shaking, but he is still smiling as he takes a deep breath.

But that smile disappears entirely when Lissandra speaks.

“I have the feel of it now.”

Envy’s face turns to horror as the white domain she controls spreads further. It starts devouring and taking control of pieces of the golden arrays. Piece by piece, it pierces through.

“It’s a loud and flashy array, certainly, but an incredibly clumsy one,” Lissandra says as she takes a calm step. “ There are so many openings and pointless gaps that it was actually confusing to find the center because I couldn't believe someone would actually build something this poorly. Watching it try to function is almost embarrassing.”

With each step she takes, the white domain becomes less transparent and more of the sky loses its golden shine.

The Ruler of Envy chuckles, and at the same moment, Lissandra’s attack almost reaches him, he disappears. Only the cracked green crown falls to the ground, along with the golden armor, and a rapidly closing tear stays in space behind him.

Even though he is gone, his voice sounds once more, followed by a laugh. “That was fun. Maybe next time, cute little imitation.”

Then the record stops as if frozen, with the last scene being Lissandra standing there as her domain takes over.

We are moved again, this time standing right in front of Lissandra with Marble and Sparkle circling around her. “How scary! You saw that, Nathaniel? I watched it like ten times already, and it is still so scary! One day, I have to thank the Ruler of Envy for showing this record live. Even if he seems a bit…”

“An asshole.”

“You cannot say that about the Ruler, Marble!”

“I obviously can,” Marble snorts and flies to me. “The imitation of The Absolute killed the one winged wyvern, which is set on the 12th floor as a test for everyone wanting to head to the 13th floor. The one winged wyvern is at this point rumored to be nearing the level of a dragon, and the floor is entirely within its domain. Domains are what wyverns are truly famous for, and this one is especially powerful.”

I watch Spark touch Lissandra and then run away as if scared, while Marble continues to explain. “That poor wyvern is bound to defend the entrance to the 13th floor, reviving stronger after every death. The imitation killed it and took over its domain, all in preparation to face Beyond’s defensive array, which she started to analyze and began to take control over during the fight.”

“I bet she would be even stronger if she did not have to analyze the array. Or do you think she did not go all out, so she would not kill the Ruler of Envy right away?”

“That sounds like her,” I agree with Spark and turn back to Marble. “What happened next? If you cannot tell me, I can leave behind some Earth food for you, just like last time.”

“Deal,” Marble says immediately. “Before the Absolute’s imitation took over the Beyond's main defensive array entirely, the Ruler of Diligence reacted. With the help of the Ruler of Greed, they forcefully sped up the one winged wyvern’s revival ceremony. The wyvern then started to fight the imitation while they used the distraction to take back control over Beyond’s defensive array. Yet, the imitation got what she wanted. The main defensive array is now entirely shut off and set to go through inspection in case she made some unforeseen changes to it. It cannot be used against her again anytime soon.”