Chapter 229: Bloodline Suppresion
Remedy moved at the last possible moment.
Her rapier snapped up, angled perfectly to intercept. The clash rang out sharply, metal meeting force with a crack that echoed across the entire floor. The impact didn’t stop there, it spread outward.
The ground beneath them trembled.
A shockwave burst from the point of contact, rattling the reception desk and sending a ripple through the polished floor. The controlled silence of the upper level shattered instantly, replaced by raw, violent pressure.
Ivy flinched in her seat as the force reached her, the air itself pushing against her chest.
And in the center of it all, Remedy didn’t move back.
The clash still rang in the air as the force settled, but the tension didn’t ease. The receptionist’s reptilian eyes widened, her pupils tightening as she stared at Remedy without blinking, disbelief flashing across her face.
She had felt it clearly. Remedy’s rank was nowhere near hers. At best, a Master. Someone like that shouldn’t have stopped her attack so cleanly, let alone without being pushed back even a single step.
That shouldn’t be possible.
Her thoughts raced in sharp bursts, connecting fragments faster than she could control. The precision of the block. The stability of her stance. The complete lack of recoil. Each detail only made the answer more unsettling.
Supreme Master...?
Only a master who could manifest a supreme spirit should be able to contend with her so directly. The idea settled in her mind like poison, spreading quickly, warping her initial confidence into something sharper and far more dangerous.
Did she come from the Core Region? Is that why she’s acting like this?
The receptionist’s lips curled back into a low, predatory snarl, the kind that made young boys shiver. Her voice followed, cold and edged with restrained fury.
"You have some strength," she said slowly, her gaze locking onto Remedy like a blade. "But that is all it is."
She stepped back, creating space, her heels clicking softly against the polished floor as the pressure around her began to rise again. The tremble beneath them hadn’t fully faded before something deeper started to build.
Remedy lowered her rapier slightly. Her eyes didn’t leave the receptionist for a second, as if she were already calculating the next exchange before it began.
"But can you handle this?"
The moment the words left her mouth, the air shifted violently.
A surge of power erupted from the receptionist’s body, raw and overwhelming, as something ancient and brutal awakened within her. Her skin seemed to tighten, faint scale-like patterns surfacing as her aura expanded outward in a crushing wave.
"Established Skarn Bloodline... activated."
The pressure spiked instantly, far heavier than before, flooding the entire floor. The ground cracked faintly beneath her feet, and the surrounding space warped under the sheer density of her presence.
The moment the receptionist activated her bloodline, the entire floor reacted violently. The reinforced structure groaned under the sudden pressure, beams creaking as cracks spread faintly across the polished surface, unable to fully contain the force now flooding the space.
The tremor didn’t stay contained.
Lower levels of the building shook in response, drawing startled reactions from those below. Conversations halted mid-sentence as people looked around, confused, some even bracing instinctively as the vibration rolled through like a contained earthquake.
At the center of it all, the receptionist stood taller, her presence expanding with each passing second. The Skarn Bloodline surged through her veins, fully awakened, its power layered and refined through years of mastery and repeated use.
Bloodlines weren’t equal. They followed a clear hierarchy, Established, Noble, Royal, Divine. Unlike physiques, they adapted, evolving with use, sharpening over time. And she had pushed hers to its peak, squeezing every ounce of strength from it.
The change was obvious.
Her frame grew slightly larger, muscle density increasing as faint scale patterns hardened across her skin. Her aura thickened, pressing outward in waves, heavy enough to distort the air itself around her.
"I suggest you turn back," she said, her voice dropping into a low, dangerous growl. Each word carried weight, backed by the overwhelming pressure flooding the area. "I will show you face for being from the Core Region."
Her eyes narrowed, locking onto Remedy with killing intent.
"But if you overstep your boundary... I will no longer show you mercy."
Remedy didn’t respond immediately.
She shifted her footing instead, her grip tightening slightly on her rapier as she settled into a clean battle stance. Her breathing remained steady, her gaze calm, as if the crushing pressure around her didn’t exist.
The receptionist’s lips pulled into a sharp grin.
"No mercy it is."
She moved.
The ground cracked beneath her as she launched forward, her speed exploding far beyond before. In a single step, she crossed the distance, her clawed hand cutting through the air with enough force to tear through steel.
This time, she was certain.
I have the advantage.
But the moment she entered striking range, everything stopped.
The air thickened. The pressure shifted. And something.heavier, descended without warning, cutting through her bloodline’s dominance like it didn’t exist.
Remedy’s eyes sharpened.
"Divine Spirit Bloodline... activated."
The world seemed to pause for a fraction of a second as a new presence flooded the space. It wasn’t just stronger, it was superior. A higher order. Something that naturally suppressed what stood beneath it.
The receptionist’s body faltered mid-motion.
"What...?"
Her voice cracked, disbelief breaking through for the first time as her momentum slowed, her power resisting against something it couldn’t overpower and a suppression pressed down, disrupting the flow of her own bloodline.
Behind Remedy, light gathered.
It condensed rapidly, forming shape and presence in a single, overwhelming manifestation. A towering figure emerged, radiant and absolute, its form stabilizing in an instant.
A twelve-winged angel.
Its wings spread wide, each one glowing with blinding intensity, its presence dominating the entire floor. The pressure flipped instantly, forcing everything beneath it into submission, including the Skarn Bloodline itself.
The receptionist’s pupils shrank.
That wasn’t just a higher bloodline.
That was absolute suppression.
But Remedy didn’t stop.
Her grip tightened further as energy surged again. The air trembled once more.
She was calling something else.
A second manifestation began to form behind her.