"You've noticed it, haven't you?" the Cobra Empress asked as she gracefully tapped against the ground before taking short strides toward the ordinary house's front door. "An Aura-Concealing Formation—one of the Sky-rank. It's very useful for keeping away unwanted visitors, such as that insufferable Emperor Yin Tiger. Even after all these years, he still can't catch the hint. I don't sleep with just anyone, you know?"
"F…Frankly, lady," Knox began with a dry, hoarse voice. "I don't give a flying f*ck!"
The Cobra Empress mysteriously smiled.
"Oh, but I believe you will," she said. "Over ti, you will grow to learn that, in this world, you only have to rely on. And as my newest precious toy, I'll be sure to spoil you. Shower you with all my affection."
After forcefully dispersing Knox's Earth-rank Appearance-Altering Technique, the Cobra Empress obsessively smiled before pushing him through a door. That sa door closed shut behind him—and since it was magically enhanced, escape beca impossible.
If the walls weren't also enhanced to resist the full-power strikes of an Early Soul Formation Realm powerhouse, he might've had a chance of escape. But unfortunately, that was not the case.
Then again, Knox thought as he appraised his dark surroundings, I wouldn't have rashly confronted the Cobra Empress head-on if I hadn't had a goal in mind.
As for why he made such a brash and dangerous move, there was sothing about the Cobra Empress that ca off as peculiar to him. For one, from her partially locked description, he was able to learn that her obsession with torturing pretty people didn't stem from nowhere.
In her mind, what she was doing was her own sick, twisted form of what she believed to be morally right. This was because what she did… was the sa thing that her very own mother had subjected her to in her youth.
"Be pretty," she said. "Be skinny," she said. "Be perfect," she said.
Cobra Empress—otherwise known as Valia Serpentine—beca so twisted due to the ntal and physical abuse dished out by her mother. A mother who presided over Serpent's Basin as the previous Monarch. It was also because of her unique status and hold over the Region that Valia was secretly happy that everything left of her mother had been torn down.
Now, she finally had the opportunity to rebuild. To recreate things not in the image of her mother but in the legacy that she herself would leave behind for future generations.
"Feel free to get nice and cozy in there, human. You'll not be leaving anyti soon."
Valia's voice—still lingering in the air—reached Knox's attentive ears. However, he quickly discarded what she said, his attention wholly focused on the environnt he found himself in.
At first, the ordinary house may have appeared very simple. But on the inside, particularly in the basent, there existed sothing akin to an entirely different dinsion. Old, stone stairs led down to a wide, lush green forest. A pond was situated at the very center of this incomprehensible forest, and sitting beside that pond was a young girl under a red, fluorescent gazebo.
"This girl," Knox said as he approached her, simultaneously pulling up her System Interface. "So the cycle repeated itself, huh? From generation to generation…"
*Ding!*
{[Lily Serpentine]}
[Cultivation: Peak Core Formation Realm]
[Battle Power: Early Golden Core Realm]
[Age: 5]
[Main Technique: Poisonous Annihilation (Peak-Sky)]
[Bloodline: Soaring Serpent (Early-Heaven)]
[Secret Prospect: Ti Cheat (Saint)]
[Mood: Neutral]
—[As the sole daughter and heir of Valia Serpentine, Lily is also the inheritor of everything that made the Cobra Empress as powerful as she was. On top of that, she also experienced a very similar childhood as her mother before her and her mother's mother before her.]
"The process repeats again," Knox muttered as he sauntered up to and sat beside the young girl on the bench. "Can this be considered a curse by the Heavens?"
"...Who are you...?"
His body was covered in blood from head to toe. Furthermore, two of his limbs were bent in multiple different directions. However, the cute, doe-eyed young girl didn't seem to have any visible reaction to his appearance.
Rather, she just seed… genuinely curious.
Knox locked eyes with her, a hidden part of him seemingly mirroring the emptiness inside her. Much like himself before the System, she too had only ever known what it was like to be alone—to feel alone in a tiny bubble world—unable to escape.
"Who am I?" Knox parroted, a fond smile forming. "You could say that I'm a ssenger of Fate."
"A ssenger of Fate?"
"Yes," Knox nodded, looking ahead. "And eting you was the fate I ca to deliver. So I'll ask you a question—one that I'll ask only once."
The long-haired, dead-eyed young girl stared at him for a few monts before seemingly giving him the go-ahead to fire away. He did just that, prompting his question:
"Do you want out of here?"
"Want out of here…?"
What did he an by that?
How could one get out of here? Her mother wouldn't permit it…
Shaking her head, Lily said, "Not possible…"
"It's very much possible," Knox chuckled. "So is that a yes or a no? Because if you don't want out of here, then I won't force you to leave."
Lily's expression turned complex—her surging emotions even more so. Her purple eyes shifted down to the feet she let dangle off the bench. Looking a bit forward, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the tranquil pond water.
Yet, what she saw… It was so very bleak.
Like an empty, emotionless shell. One without purpose. One without aning—without drive.
A question ford in the young, sheltered girl's mind as she contemplated his words:
"Who am I…?"
*Pat, Pat*
"???"
With his hand softly rubbing her hair and his eyes still fixated on the artificially picturesque scenery ahead, Knox answered her question. "You can be whoever you want to be, can you not?"
"...Anybody I want to be…?" the lifeless girl mumbled, her voice trailing off.
"Haiz… You must not even understand what I'm saying," Knox said apologetically. "But in due ti, I'm sure you will. So how about it? Wanna go on a little adventure with until you figure out who it is you wanna be?"
After a brief pause. "...Yes…"
Knox bead. "Good, good, then let's get going, shall we? This dwelling of yours is really quite depressing when you can see things as I do."
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