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Chapter 231: The Spider and the Empress (8)
Imperial Underground Space.
Fierce flas burned brightly, casting an orange glow throughout the area.
The suffocating heat made even breathing difficult.
I tightened my grip on my sword as I stared at the woman before —black hair, thick-rimd glasses.
“Let ask you just one thing.”
“Oh? That’s convenient. I actually have a few questions for you too.”
lina tilted the mace in her hand as if telling to go first.
“Why did you betray the Empress?”
I recall Callia talking about lina.
The Empress, who always looked down on the world with an arrogant expression, had smiled that day.
It wasn’t hard to tell how much she cherished lina, her personal maid.
“With the Empress’s trust, you must have held quite a position in the Empire.”
“Why did I betray Lady Callia, you ask…? That’s a misleading question.”
lina adjusted her thick-rimd glasses before continuing.
“I never served that bitch in the first place.”
A cruel smirk twisted her lips.
“…But she was the one who saved you when you were kidnapped by the Demons.”
“Saved ? Saved ?”
lina burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.
“You must be mistaken. I wasn’t kidnapped by the Demons.”
A sly smile crept onto her face.
“I was ‘sold’—by humans, just like you.”
“……”
“It’s been a long ti, but I still rember it vividly.”
A worn-down building.
My mother, holding my hand, telling she’d buy sweets.
The rough-looking n waiting inside.
The pouch full of gold exchanged for .
The bright, satisfied smile on my mother’s face.
“But I was fine with it.”
“…You were fine?”
“Yes. Because I gained a new family.”
A hazy look crosses lina’s face, as if lost in a dream.
“Unlike my father, who was always drowning in alcohol… Unlike my mother, who beat whenever she was bored… My new family treated kindly. They were warm.”
“And that family… don’t tell …”
“That’s right. The Demons.”
“……”
So that’s how it happened.
“I was happy. I truly believed I could finally live in peace.”
But then—
“That wretched woman…! She took everything from …!”
I rember.
The seven-colored radiance that suddenly filled the sky one day.
The blessings of the seven hated gods.
—Aaaaargh!
—P-Please, spare !!!
In the blink of an eye, the light swept through the city, devouring everything.
Including her second parents.
—Hmm. You’re not a demon, are you?
Descending leisurely upon the ruins was a platinum-haired girl.
With a power that seed almost divine, she approached lina, who lay crushed beneath the rubble, on the brink of death.
—Were you being held captive here?
—…Yes. Y-Yes, I was.
Terrified, lina nodded dumbly, too shocked to even mourn her parents.
And then—
—Co with .
That was how she beca the servant of the one who had trampled over her happiness.
“I lived without even daring to think of revenge… until that person ca to .”
The Archbishop of Destruction, Amon.
Through him, she could dream of vengeance once again.
“So? Does that answer your question?”
“More or less.”
Just as phisto once betrayed the Demons to side with humanity—
She, too, had betrayed humanity to stand with the Demons.
“Then it’s my turn to ask.”
lina gripped her mace, smiling.
“Why do you think I was so kind as to tell you my story?”
Whoosh!
Before I could answer, her body seed to vanish into thin air.
—No.
She hadn’t disappeared.
She was just moving so fast it looked like she had.
Boom!
The impact of my sword and her mace colliding sent a numbing shock up my arms.
My body lifted off the ground, my vision flipping upside down.
“Candidate Dale!”
Professor Elisha spun a web into a net and caught my airborne body.
“Tch.”
I gritted my teeth, enduring the ache in my arms as I got back on my feet.
lina adjusted her glasses, watching struggle to stand.
“Now do you understand why I told you my story?”
“…Damn, you’ve got one hell of a temper.”
I clicked my tongue and tightened my grip on my sword.
“If you’re gonna ask a question, at least give ti to answer.”
Fwoooosh!
Dark gray flas flared up along the blade.
“…Huh?”
lina narrowed her eyes at the ashen fire.
She stared at it, as if trying to comprehend sothing, then shook her head.
“Why does he have that energy…? No, that’s impossible. There’s no way.”
“What the hell are you mumbling about?”
“Hmph. It’s none of your concern.”
She replied coldly, raising her spiked mace.
Fwoosh!
Black flas engulfed the weapon—
The sa power used by the Apostles of Destruction earlier.
No—
This was much darker, much more violent.
‘She’s at least at bishop level.’
The Apostles of Destruction were just short of a Archbishop’s power.
If she was a bishop, that ant she was nearly as strong as a Archbishop.
“Now, let’s finally smash that skull of yours!”
lina grinned wildly, pushing off the ground.
Once again, her body vanished into the air, reappearing before in an instant.
Whoosh!
Her mace, wreathed in black fire, howled toward like a teor.
Boom!
A deafening crash erupted as our weapons collided once more—
Like a thunderclap splitting the heavens.
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Intertwining flas.
Gray flas and black flas bared their fangs, fiercely trying to consu each other.
“Kh…!”
The impact was enough to make both arms go numb.
lina’s prowess, wrapped in black flas, was beyond what he had imagined.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The mace swung relentlessly, like a storm.
Crack!
Each ti I blocked an attack, it felt like a nail being hamred in, my feet sinking into the floor of the passageway.
‘At this rate, I’ll be pushed back.’
If that’s the case—
“Hah…”
I took a deep breath, drawing upon the power of the Primordial Fla even further.
“Burn.”
Ashen flas flared violently, wrapping around my body.
Sizzle!
The sound of burning flesh filled the air, accompanied by thick gray smoke.
Ashen flas that consud life as they burned.
The rapidly diminishing mana surged explosively.
Boom! Rumble!
And then, we clashed again.
My sword, engulfed in ashen flas, violently knocked back the mace.
“Ugh?!”
lina staggered backward, her face montarily filled with shock.
I lunged at her with a clenched fist.
Berald’s Martial Arts.
Mountain Crusher.
Rumble—!
A deafening explosion rocked the underground space as if a bomb had detonated.
The walls of the imperial palace’s underground, which had remained unscathed for hundreds of years due to special magical treatnt, shattered like a glass window struck by a hamr.
“Guh…!”
lina gritted her teeth as she was pushed back by the impact.
“…Ha. Are you really just a candidate?”
She furrowed her brows in disbelief.
She knew that Dale Han, a candidate, possessed an extraordinary level of strength—enough to catch Callia’s attention.
But she never expected him to be able to fight her on equal footing, even when she was drawing upon the full power of Destruction.
“Why? Want to show you my candidate badge?”
“Hah…”
lina let out a sigh, shaking her head.
“I’ll admit, you’re much stronger than I expected.”
But—
“You’re out of luck.”
“…Out of luck?”
“Yes.”
lina shrugged and turned her gaze toward the burning Primordial Ember.
“Because of all places, you ran into where the Fla of Destruction is burning.”
With that, she reached toward the Primordial Ember.
“O Destruction! O Terminus of Eternity!”
She spoke in reverence, like a priest in prayer.
“Devour my flesh, burn my soul, and grant the power to smite Your enemies!”
And as if her voice had truly reached the ember—
Fwoosh!
A fist-sized ember detached from the Primordial Ember and flowed into her body.
“Guh…!”
lina clutched her body, groaning in pain.
The aura radiating from her surged to an incomparably greater magnitude than before.
“…Heh.”
Wrapped in black flas, lina smirked as she raised her mace.
“Well then, shall we start again?”
“Aha. So that’s how it works.”
“Hm?”
“No, I just think it’s a good thod.”
Dale turned to look at the Primordial Ember.
Although lina had absorbed a portion of its power, the fla itself still burned fiercely, unchanged.
Fwoosh!
He reached out toward it.
“Co.”
Unlike lina, who had spoken reverently as if in prayer, he issued a command—like a master calling a servant.
“Hah.”
lina scoffed in disbelief.
“What are you doing?”
Did he seriously think that just because he also wielded fire, he could absorb part of the fla like she had?
“Pfft!”
The sheer absurdity of the thought made her burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! You really have no idea what that fla is, do you?”
The Fla of Destruction.
A power said to be the very flesh and soul of the Demon God.
Only Amon, the Archbishop of Destruction, could wield it—a power far beyond the Seven-Star Blessing that Callia possessed.
Yes.
It was, quite literally, divinity itself.
“No matter what you do, that fla will never move for you!”
As lina laughed mockingly behind him—
Dale spoke again.
“Tch. Acting like it can ignore ?”
Frowning, he glared at the raging fire.
“Hey.”
Fwoosh!
The fla, which had been burning fiercely, trembled as if startled.
“Hurry up and get over here.”
His eyes burned with intensity as he issued another command.
“……”
lina sighed deeply, her laughter fading.
“…I see now why you’re just a fringe candidate.”
She clicked her tongue.
“I’ll say it again—no matter what you do, that fla isn’t going to—”
Fwoosh!
The Primordial Ember, which had been trembling, began slithering toward him.
“…Huh?”
Fwoosh—!
Unlike lina, who had only absorbed a single ember, the entire ember surged into Dale’s body.
lina’s jaw dropped as she watched.
“…What the hell?”
Why was it moving?
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