Chapter 1073: Toying With Food
When it comes to Alice, Nyer wasn’t quite sure of the feelings in his heart.
Did he feel proud like a parent seeing their child do well? Did he feel joy? Or perhaps was this feeling better known as fulfilment?
For someone who had lived as long as he had, the workings of the heart still escaped his grasp.
He understood the function. Certainly.
But these... emotions eluded him.
Though what he could say for certain was that, in this moment, he was feeling intrigue and satisfaction.
He was satisfied with how far Alice had come. Satisfied with the hands-off experiment that he had committed to seeing through to the end.
Not only that, but he was intrigued by just how much could change from such a small adjustment.
After all, the only variable that changed when it came to the ’method’ of the experiments leading up to the creation of a suitable vessel was his own involvement.
Alice was the ’hands off’ experiment where he simply let nature take its course. To allow the world to shape her however it wished.
And as a result, this weapon of war could now bestow Sigils upon allies much like Velouria in her prime.
Of course, with a few more restrictions and drawbacks, but...
In his eyes, it could be considered a success. A grand achievement like no other.
In all these years, no one had gotten close to Velouria’s prowess as a Goddess, as a ruler.
Not even when he created the most optimal environment and scenario to artificially create one.
They always self-destructed.
But not Alice.
She lasted the longest from the old batch, even outliving some of the new batch.
She was the culmination of his old research before he went in a new direction.
And he had to admit, he hadn’t felt such excitement in years.
To see the fruits of his old research in the form of a hands-off experiment, and the masterpiece of his current experiments where everything was carefully modified to the absolute limit.
With these two side by side, he wanted to see which was the ’right’ choice all along.
All for the purpose of creating a perfect vessel to bring back a fallen god.
Nyer rarely put effort into anything that didn’t directly benefit his goals. But on this occasion, with the satisfaction of seeing more of what Alice was capable of pumping through his heart, Nyer decided to play with the new Lords of the current era.
To see what they were capable of and whether or not humanity had improved with time.
And when paired with this... environment...
The ever so nostalgic streets of Ayr...
Nyer felt his old habits as an instructor come back.
Two fingers pushed against Gin’s scythe as Gin widened his eyes.
It looked effortless on Nyer’s part, but there was a clear gap in physical strength between them.
"Put some back into it. Or are you telling me you can’t beat this old man even after reverting to your prime state?" Nyer asked with a light chuckle.
Without hesitation, he spun his body around and kicked Gin in the stomach.
*BANG!!!
His eyes widened, blood burst through his lips, and Gin folded in half before being flung away.
Even after reinforcing his own defences once he realised that Nyer was going to attack, he hadn’t expected his physical power to rival that of Allura.
From everything he’d done, Gin had half expected Nyer to be a full caster, and clearly he was wrong.
With the meteors quickly approaching, Nyer clenched his fist and punched towards the air.
For a moment, it felt as though the world had halted in its movements.
Alice’s second resonance trembled from the impact as space shattered inwardly. The meteors were swallowed by a sudden rift that tore itself across the sky.
There were a few that somehow managed to slip through, but they were easy enough to either simply dodge or swat away.
They hardly posed any danger to him, even if they were powerful in nature.
As long as one had the right foundational knowledge, even an attack of this scale could be blocked.
But with his attention focused on the meteors, Karya made her move.
*BANG!!!
A fist connected with his face as Nyer raised an eyebrow.
He should’ve been extremely keenly aware of the intent to harm, so why was Karya’s presence so... small?
But more than that, what was with the damage behind her fist?
Sliding back, Nyer held his cheek for a moment and glanced back at Karya.
There was an ever-shifting glow around her fist.
Like the previous pillar of healing light, she had used Duality to transform her healing into raw damage.
And with her being the Lord of Life, this conversion made her attacks something to be wary of.
"Alright, let’s see how you handle this. I helped train Lua in hand-to-hand combat after all." Nyer licked the blood from the corner of his lips.
Entering an offensive stance, he shifted his foot slightly as his figure shot forward.
"!!!" Karya quickly parried an attack to the side of her face, but Nyer wasn’t done.
That was simply a taster of everything that was to come.
Left hook into another quick hook towards the ribs.
With her defences focused on the left, Nyer leaned into her guard and snuck an uppercut through her arms, breaking her stance.
Clenching her teeth, Karya tried to counter with a kick only for it to be grabbed.
With a smirk on his face, Nyer went in with an elbow to break her leg. But before he could, Gin rejoined the fight and lunged in with killing intent written all over his face.
Nyer wasn’t bothered. Keeping his calm, he twisted his body while grabbing Karya by the ankles.
*BANG!!!
Swinging her over his head like a bat, Nyer sent both Karya and Gin flying as the two tumbled across the floor, with Gin holding tight onto Karya.
*CRACK!!!
Beneath him, a pair of hands burst out from the ground as Lab gave up on fighting at long range.
With Nyer’s expertise, trying to find an opportunity from afar was close to impossible!
Grabbing Nyer’s ankles, she dragged him into the ground while jumping out herself.
With their positions swapped, she condensed her flames into a single orb and shot it down, turning the hole into a furnace.
"Mnm... certainly hot. Hotter than most but... still weak compared to Lua’s prime." Nyer’s voice echoed out calmly as his silhouette could be seen inside the flames. He was completely unbothered as he pulled himself out without a care.
Backhanding Lab with a fist, he swatted her away to rejoin Gin and Karya.
Massaging his neck, Nyer was rather satisfied with the calibre of Lords in these recent years.
Their powers were certainly nothing to scoff at, but...
Just because they were a little stronger than the rabble he’d seen in recent years didn’t mean they could compare to the golden age of Lords.
Allura and Kaden were strong. No doubt about it.
Their strength was one of the reasons they could become Velouria’s apostles after all.
However, their technique and finesse weren’t above average as much as some might believe.
There were aspects where both Apostles struggled deeply.
And overall, despite being geniuses, in battles of pure technique and trickery, both had lost many battles in the past.
So when compared to the ’baseline’ of Ayr, even these Lords, who were some of the best of the modern age, were nothing but children in Nyer’s eyes.
Sorely lacking.
Gravity Well.
Opening his hand, an invisible force started to suck everything in as Karya, Gin, and Lab felt their bodies lift into the air. They tried to anchor themselves against the ground, but it was far too late.
*BANG!!!
The sudden pull dragged everything towards Nyer.
One hand handled the pull. The other created a node of destruction that started to erase anything and everything it touched.
And as they were about to reach Nyer...
*Clap-
The sound of a clap echoed out as the world turned on its head. Realms shifted, abilities cancelled out momentarily.
Nyer quickly caught himself and glanced around at the burning hellscape that was the inverse side of Alice’s domain.
He turned his gaze towards the three Lords who had received her help.
’Did she kill the Doctor?’ he questioned, but immediately shot the thought down.
Had she killed the Doctor, she would’ve made herself known by now and joined in on the fight.
But the fact that she hadn’t could only mean that she was only keeping an eye on the battle rather than having the time needed to step in.
The Doctor wasn’t someone who could be killed easily after all.
The necessary requirements had yet to be met.
’So she’s watching things right now.’ He concluded.
She was keeping an eye on things to ensure that her allies didn’t die while stalling him.
He’d lost interest in fighting the three Lords. Even with Alice giving them a boost to their natural abilities, it was clear they didn’t pose a significant threat to him.
And since he had lost interest in them, his attention was now turned to Alice.
When it came to... ’inspiring’ Alice, he had to be careful.
Too much stimulation could cause her to develop in the wrong direction, causing his plans to go awry.
However... if carefully controlled and directed towards the path he desired for her, this could turn into a rather fruitful endeavour instead.
"I don’t suppose you know a certain Lord who was poking her nose around the Void not long ago. With how much she knew about what had happened and how careful she was, you must’ve given her some tips, right?" Nyer spoke loudly.
Gin felt a bad feeling rise in his heart and moved to stop Nyer, but it was too late.
Stomping down, the Nightmare Realm tore its way through Alice’s domain, separating him from the three Lords.
Nyer could feel the Realm fluctuate momentarily. She was bothered.
And since that was the case...
He reached out with his hand and pulled an object out of the Void.
With a lazy throw, he tossed it onto the ground.
Blood-stained golden hair came into view as the strands immediately caught fire from the surroundings.
A pair of lifeless eyes reflected the world as Renna’s severed head was on full display.
And in that moment, the entire realm trembled.
A dark miasma erupted, coating the landscape in an instant, and within that miasma...
Malice like no other.
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