Chapter 282: Chapter 278 – The Lord of Ti and the Gaze That Cuts Through Dinsions
Sylvia and her two sisters fought without pause. The silver mist that had once clouded their vision was now torn apart by wave after wave of exploding chains, fire, and colliding spells. Every ti one shadow creature fell, two more appeared elsewhere but this ti, they would not be given the chance to retreat.
"Don’t let them return to the ti stream!" Sylvia shouted.
Her black chains whipped through the air, forming a six-pointed pattern that pulsed with lethal energy.
Alicia raised her staff high, her magic glowing so intensely that the ground beneath her feet cracked.
"Soul Breaker Field!"
A deep-blue layer of magic enveloped the battlefield, sealing any temporal distortion that tried to escape.
Stacia’s hands moved swiftly through the air, symbols flaring like shooting stars.
"I’ll set a boundary so they can’t jump to another ti phase!"
The three moved in perfect rhythm chains, soul magic, and spatial runes weaving together into a vast, complex network that locked the entire battlefield like an intricate web. But even that wasn’t enough.
Sylvia scanned their surroundings; the space here didn’t obey logic. Ti flowed like water, layered and swirling in contradictory directions. Every strike risked slicing through the creature’s past instead of its body.
But amidst that chaos, sothing ca to mind about her rapier.
Her eyes fell to the weapon at her hip, the Rapier of Night, one she rarely used, preferring her more flexible chains. But this blade held one advantage: her chains did not have the elent of space.
She gripped its hilt, and the air around her shimred. Space itself seed to fold, collapsing inward toward the sword.
"Stacia, drop the western barrier," Sylvia ordered sharply.
Stacia frowned but complied. "Why?"
"Trust ."
Sylvia swung the rapier once, twice, three tis. Each stroke left behind faint violet fractures in the air, like dinsional cracks that refused to close.
Alicia’s eyes widened; she instinctively stepped back. "You’re... opening a dinsional snare?"
"Not exactly," Sylvia replied coolly, her eyes burning bright. "I’m borrowing spatial resonance from the blade to create a temporary dinsional trap."
Her black chains lashed out, wrapping around those fractures and twisting them into a spiraling vortex like a living, pulsating eye. The temporal energy in the air began to drain toward it. Shadow creatures trying to flee were dragged in, their bodies distorted, accelerating and freezing simultaneously, trapped between seconds and nothingness.
"Now!" Sylvia commanded.
She raised her hand. From her fingertips, purple-black fire ignited, blazing like a hellish aurora.
"Nether Fla – Eternal Collapse!"
The fire didn’t just burn, it devoured ti itself. Her chains coiled into a massive ring around the vortex, and in a single, thunderous instant...
BOOOOOOMMMMM!
The explosion shook the entire layer of the underworld. Waves of energy spun outward, consuming all light, burning every last creature until nothing remained but blue-glowing ash. Ti itself froze then slowly resud, as if surrendering to Sylvia’s will.
The three stood amidst the ruin. Alicia still gripped her staff, breathing heavily. "I... didn’t think you could manipulate space that well, Sylvia."
Sylvia looked down at her rapier, eyes sharp. "Just intuition. But it worked."
Before they could speak further...
Clap Clap Clap
The sound of slow, deliberate clapping echoed through the settling mist.
All three turned instantly, their battle instincts flaring. From the lingering violet haze, a woman stepped forth.
She looked impossibly out of place in the bleakness of the underworld. Her long, athyst hair shimred like liquid light, two elegant black horns curving backward from her head. Golden eyes glowed with a strange mix of admiration and dangerous curiosity. Each step she took left behind faint blue ripples, the resonance of pure ti.
She smiled faintly, clapping once more.
"Magnificent..." she said softly, her voice smooth but resonant with power.
"I sent twelve ti wardens... and you erased them as if they were dust."
Sylvia instantly stepped forward, chains hovering protectively around her sisters. Alicia raised her staff, Stacia’s grimoire flared open.
But the woman simply smiled.
"Oh, there’s no need for such hostility, Queen of Death. I’m not here to fight... not yet, anyway."
Sylvia narrowed her eyes. "You... Seere?"
The woman smiled wider, giving a graceful bow like a noble greeting royalty.
"Correct. Princess Seere, ruler of acceleration and the flow of ti."
She took a step forward not hurried, but each movent seed to fold distance, placing her only a few ters away in an instant.
Alicia moved to raise her staff again, but Sylvia stopped her with a small gesture. Seere’s aura was different, not wild or bloodthirsty, but calm, controlled... and far more dangerous for it.
"Seere," Sylvia said quietly. "If you’ve co to fight, stop wasting ti."
"Fight?" Seere tilted her head, smirking then vanished.
Alicia and Stacia tensed. In less than a heartbeat, Seere was standing directly before Sylvia. Her slender hand lifted Sylvia’s chin gently, almost affectionately.
Her golden eyes locked with Sylvia’s crimson ones intense, curious, unblinking.
"So close..." she whispered, voice trembling like a musical note. "You’re beautiful."
Sylvia said nothing. No movent, no retreat, just a cold, wary stare.
Seere’s lips curved into a teasing smile.
"Be my wife."
The world froze.
Even ti seed to hesitate.
"...What?" Alicia blinked, utterly speechless.
Stacia’s mouth fell open, then she glanced at Sylvia, expression torn between disbelief and amusent.
"Did she just... propose to you?"
Sylvia didn’t answer. Her face shifted from shock, then wariness. Her eyes sharpened, and she swiftly slapped Seere’s hand away.
"Don’t touch ," she said coldly.
In an instant, her black chains surged, spiraling through the air and launching directly at Seere.
CLANG! WHAM!
They hit sothing and vanished. Not blocked, not deflected, gone, as if swallowed by nothingness.
Sylvia’s eyes narrowed. She attacked again, three strikes from different angles with the sa result. The attacks disappeared before even reaching her.
Seere hadn’t moved an inch. She stood there, smiling calmly. She hadn’t even tried to dodge.
Her gaze softened, though it carried unfathomable depth like soone who already knew every move before it happened.
"How amusing," she said quietly, watching Sylvia’s growing frustration. "Your anger is like sparks falling into water, beautiful, but useless."
Sylvia tensed, ready to strike again. But Seere raised one finger, shaking her head lightly.
"No need for that. I told you I’m not here to fight."
Alicia snapped, "Then why approach us like this?! You think we’ll just believe you?"
Stacia added, "Or is this so kind of ti trap?!"
Seere laughed softly, a sound both gentle and haunting, echoing from every direction at once.
"Oh, no, no. I’m not that cruel."
Her eyes glead, catching Sylvia’s once more.
"Consider this... a morable introduction."
"Proposing to soone isn’t a morable introduction!" Stacia barked, her face red with frustration and embarrassnt.
Seere chuckled, turning her golden gaze toward her. "You’re adorable, little Miss Logic. The underworld could use more honest souls like you."
Then, looking back at Sylvia, she stepped closer though the space between them barely existed to begin with.
"I know you won’t accept now," she said softly. "So think of this as... a small promise. You can ponder it as you continue your descent."
Her tone was playful, but her eyes glowed with genuine intent.
Sylvia exhaled through her nose. "Don’t bother. I’m not interested in a demon who toys with ti."
"Oh, I don’t toy with ti," Seere replied calmly, her lips curving. "I am ti.
And ti has a way of waiting... for things it finds fascinating."
She raised her hand; the air rippled like twisted glass.
"...or people."
Sylvia took a cautious step back, eyes sharp. "Enough riddles. Speak your purpose."
Seere smiled faintly, lowering her hand.
"Very well, since you insist. It’s simple."
She turned slightly, her violet hair gliding like silk. Her aura shifted no longer hostile, but unnervingly serene.
"You’ll et my father on the sixty-eighth floor.
And when you do... we’ll see each other again."
Alicia frowned. "Your father?"
"Yes." Seere’s eyes glead as she looked at each of them in turn.
"Oh and if you wish to keep descending, go right ahead. I won’t stop you."
She took a step back, smiling that sa enchanting, dangerous smile.
"Fufu... until next ti, Queen of Death."
And in an instant, her body shimred then vanished. Not by teleportation, but as if ti itself erased her from the mont.
Silence returned. A faint breeze drifted through the wreckage.
Alicia was still staring at where Seere had stood. "...That’s the first ti a demon’s ever proposed to you."
Stacia shut her book with a loud snap. "Not just proposed, she flirted like it was a casual chat."
Sylvia sighed quietly. "I’m not sure what’s worse, her power, or her nerves."
They stood there for a mont before Sylvia turned to the next gate, the entrance to the sixty-ninth floor, glowing faintly ahead.
"Whatever her goal is, we keep moving."
Alicia nodded. "Agreed." Stacia added softly, "But I won’t forget her face. Soone like that isn’t to be underestimated."
Cautiously, the three approached the gate. Their mana subsided, but their alertness remained razor-sharp. The gate opened with a soft rumble, inviting them into the calm darkness beyond.
As the trio vanished into the light...
...far below, on the sixty-eighth floor, a vast hall glimred like a galaxy made of crystal ti.
At its center, Seere appeared, brushing a strand of violet hair behind her ear, smiling faintly.
"I’ve found soone... truly fascinating," she whispered, almost like a song.
From the crystalline throne at the heart of the room, a man sat in silence. Tall and regal, his hair black with golden tips, twin demon horns curving like a crown. His red-golden eyes radiated both ancient wisdom and overwhelming power.
He regarded his daughter for a mont, sighing softly.
"Seere..." he said in a tired yet gentle tone. "Another little disturbance?"
Seere only smiled, clasping her hands behind her back like a mischievous child.
"Not a disturbance, Father. Just... curiosity."
Belial, one of the eldest Demon Kings of the underworld, shook his head with a faint smile.
"That temperant of yours... far too much like a man’s."
"Fufu~" Seere chuckled lightly, spinning on her heel.
Belial exhaled in quiet resignation.
"Let’s hope, this ti, you haven’t chosen soone who’ll destroy the world."
But Seere only smiled wider, her golden eyes lifting toward the crystal sky, where hues of violet and blue shimred endlessly.
"No, Father. The world doesn’t need destruction."
Her voice softened into a whisper.
"It just needs... a little change."
The two of them laughed softly, quietly, knowing laughter shared by beings whose power had long since surpassed even the gods themselves.
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