Chapter 233: Absolute Nullification
Adira paused, her tiny, ethereal form hovering amidst the chaotic storm of corrupted energy. She raised her head towards the sky, her eyes staring blankly at the thousands of demonic swords slowly descending from the black vortex.
"What a Headache."
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a weight that vibrated through the very code of the space around them. She finally turned around to face Jessica, whose four eyes were burning with abyssal madness, and slowly raised one hand. With a single snap of her fingers, the laws of the surrounding physics were rewritten. In an instant, the rampant spirit and demonic energies saturating the space all vanished, completely drained away as if a plug had been pulled on reality.
"This?"
Jessica, Cupcake, and the towering World Bosses were all dumbfounded. The sudden vacuum of energy left them momentarily breathless.
CRACK!!
Without the demonic energy sustaining them, the descending swords cracked mid-air, and the next moment, they shattered into harmless, rusted pieces. The terrifying vortex above trembled for a few seconds, losing its structural integrity, and also shattered into fading dark lights, dispersing like morning mist.
Adira stared at Jessica, who was still hovering in the air on sheer momentum alone, and lowered her hand.
"I am not that proficient in manipulating demonic energy, but I can still deal with you."
BOOOOM!!!
Dark, semi-translucent spiritual chains shot out from the bedrock. They were forged of condensed, high-tier spirit energy that bypassed physical defense. The chains aggressively wrapped around Jessica, completely binding her, and with one full-force yank, they smashed her violently into the ground.
BAM!!!!
PFFFT!!
Jessica vomited a massive mouthful of dark blood, the impact cratering the earth beneath her. Her face, no longer masked by demonic fury, was filled with pure disbelief at the overwhelming disparity in power.
’This Divine Fairy? Now I know why even Luigi is scared of her,’ Cupcake thought in absolute awe, instinctively reducing her massive, fifty-meter size until she was only ten meters tall, making herself a smaller target in the presence of such casual devastation.
"That will hold her down for now."
Adira turned her back on the broken girl and faced the roaring golden fire. After two precise minutes of intense, high-temperature refinement, the colossal corpse of the Wyvern was completely distilled. Its bones, flesh, and residual energy were compressed into a single, glowing red gem.
’She is still alive because Master instructed us not to kill her. I would have taken care of her by now,’ Adira thought coldly. She stared at the two-foot-tall, spiky red gem, a priceless crafting material pulsating with vitality, and lightly placed her palm on it.
WHOOSH!
The surrounding space shifted, bending around the item, and the gem vanished. It was instantly teleported through the spatial link, safely entering Mirabella’s vast soul sea.
"Let’s go, there are people heading this way," Adira stated flatly. With that warning, her form dissolved into motes of light, and she vanished completely.
Cupcake moved her predatory gaze around the devastated canyon, staring as the spiritual chains binding Jessica slowly lost their integrity and shattered into glowing particles.
"Due to the low energy in the air, you reverted to your normal appearance. Anyway, we will surely meet again, Human," Cupcake said, her deep voice echoing off the canyon walls before she, too, vanished into the void.
Jessica sat up, clutching her shattered ribs, her teeth gritted in absolute rage. ’I still failed my mission! And... Who the hell was speaking?!! I could hear the voice of a human, but I couldn’t see who it was.’ She slowly forced herself to stand up, her body screaming in protest, and moved her gaze to the horizon where several high-level auras were rapidly approaching.
’I should go. It won’t be good to be spotted here.’ She closed her eyes, forcefully activating an emergency skill, and vanished from the canyon just before the authorities arrived.
____
[Five minutes Later.]
The elite Masters representing the continent’s major powers finally arrived, descending upon the ruined canyon like avenging angels.
The Dragon Empire’s master turned to the Sword Empire’s masters, then looked at the lone master from the Eagle Empire.
"So what do you think happened here?" he asked, hovering in the air above the massive craters and bisected earth.
The Sword Empire’s old master raised her wrinkled hand, closing her eyes as she cast a high-level sensory spell to feel the residual energies in the air.
"There is a mixture of both spirit and Demonic energies... What we felt was pure demonic energy, but how... How did it get depleted this fast?" she asked, her voice laced with deep concern. An eruption of that scale should have irradiated the region for months.
"Maybe the Caster absorbed all the energy back," the man behind her muttered, holding his jaw as he surveyed the impossible destruction.
"That’s impossible. Once you use your energy, you can’t absorb it back... The only way to do that is to stay put and cultivate..." A Master from the Dragon Empire vehemently disagreed, his brow furrowed. He added grimly: "As for demonic energy, you can’t simply absorb it back. Don’t forget this isn’t the Abyss."
The Dragon Empire’s old master before him nodded his head, slowly stroking his long white beard as his mind raced through the possibilities.
"There is only one explanation to this. The battle was settled in a draw, and the two sides escaped, maybe heavily injured." He slowly descended from the sky, his boots touching the scorched earth as he stared at the pool of dark blood Jessica had left behind.
"Remember, this news mustn’t reach the arena. The Competition should continue... We will stay back and investigate some more," he instructed with the heavy authority of his station.
"Alright," the old woman from the Sword Empire agreed, though her eyes remained troubled.
Listening to the two strongest individuals in the group, the rest of the masters nodded their heads in silent agreement, completely unaware that the "draw" they were imagining was actually a one-sided slaughter halted only by a summoner’s mercy.
__
[Tower - 30 Minutes Later.]
Mirabella sat perfectly still on the polished obsidian floor at one of the corners in the tower hall. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady as she passively circulated her monstrous reserves of spirit energy.
Standing before her was Carl, who was completely absorbed in checking out the epic-tier loot he had gathered from the hill massacre, swiping through his system interface with practiced efficiency.
WHOOSH!!
A sudden, blinding white light shone before them, courtesy of the tower’s teleportation matrix. The flash stunned Carl, who reacted with assassin-like reflexes, quickly drawing his twin daggers. He dropped into a combat stance, staring intensely as the light dimmed, revealing the figure within.
It was Jessica.
She was unbelievably clean. Not a single bloodstain, tear, or speck of canyon dirt could be seen on her uniform. Even her energy signature was completely calm—placid and regulated. There was absolutely nothing connecting her to the maddened, demonic Jessica who had just fought a desperate battle half an hour ago. Something had somehow reset her physical state completely.
She stared blankly at Carl, and then her eyes drifted to Mirabella. After several long seconds of unblinking staring, she turned and walked towards the glowing gateway leading to the second round, completely ignoring the two of them.
"Soon... Soon you will get back your freedom."
Mirabella’s soft murmur barely carried across the quiet hall. Jessica paused right at the edge of the gateway, her foot hovering over the threshold. She looked over her shoulder at Mirabella. For ten agonizing seconds, the two locked eyes—one a sovereign in the making, the other a trapped soul.
Then, without a single word or change in expression, Jessica turned back and stepped into the light, entering the gateway and disappearing from the Tower.
Carl stared at the empty gateway, then lowered his weapons, looking back at Mirabella with a heavy sigh.
"So many strange things just keep happening," he said, shaking his head as he sheathed his daggers, entirely unaware that Mirabella’s true consciousness was already deep within her soul sea, inspecting the newly acquired Wyvern gem.