Chapter 603 Final Struggle
Acting exactly to my expectation, the woman threw her fist against me as soon as her shackles were removed. She relied solely on her physical capabilities, intending to hurt me at least.
I dodged it effortlessly.
The woman didn't give up on that. Her fiery eyes filled with fury wouldn't simply give up on exacting her revenge on me.
A second later, she kicked in my direction, sweeping from the side as she targeted my calf. She's probably thinking of tripping me. That way, she could mount me and attack me with her fists from above.
But it was all futile.
I grabbed that leg and hauled her to the side.
She rolled a few times before standing back up with her own two feet.
Maybe thinking that I was a fool who gave her a chance to get away, she immediately dashed away in search of an exit.
However, she didn't even take a few steps before she crashed against an invisible wall.
This place must've looked like it was without boundary, however, it's merely an illusion created by the World's Will and the inherent Source Energy of the world.
One can exit this place by burrowing through the currently invisible ceiling or maybe the ground depending on where this place was located.
If she had time, she could think about that but it's enough that I let her run wild like this.
Using Aether Steps that I had upgraded to a 9-node Aether Elemental Spell, I immediately arrived before her. Looking down at her trembling figure that was still not bereft of hope, I opened my mouth.
"There's no running away from here. You can only succumb to your fate."
"You wish!" With her voice hissing in fury, she turned her eyes on me. A familiar sensation crept through my body.
Once again, the ability of her mystical eyes once again made its presence known.
"I told you… Even if I die, I'll take you down with me—huh?"
A blank look immediately replaced her expression when she noticed what just happened.
Crack!
Her ability shattered before her eyes. It failed to set in my body like before.
[A mystical force is attempting to freeze your Source Energy!]
[Adaptability negated the effect due to the previous exposure and the latent energy used by the mystical force being exhausted!]
Those two system messages by Tem were late by a second but that's exactly what happened. That's why I didn't even attempt to dodge.
I've thought about it a lot after being hit by it and observing what happened to Yuko when she also got subjected to it. Since I held the girl back then, my Adaptability worked wonders in analyzing it.
Still, this was only possible because she was weakened. If she was at her peak, I'd have to be careful not to be hit again.
Moments later, the woman's eyes started bleeding. Possibly a backlash from drawing out the ability of her eyes when she's in her current state.
She was forced to close it and before trying jumped back a few meters away from me.
"No. No. No. I can't accept this!"
With tears of blood flowing on her flawless face, indignation occupied the woman's expression. But without any hint of giving up on her fate, she started crazily absorbing the Source Energy around her.
Pa!
Unfortunately for her, a simple flick of a finger and the ground she was standing on became isolated. The Level 3 Earth Energy hurriedly evacuated the place as if it was being chased away, leaving her attempt to recover some energy dry.
Her eyes trembled and attempted to chase after the energy. However, no matter how desperate she became, it continued to elude her.
Who's responsible for that?
I'd like to say 'It's me' but that's not the case this time.
The World's Will in the form of the young me maliciously controlled the surrounding Earth Energy as he smilingly watched her struggle.
Yuko and Fleur frowned at it even though they had just been preparing to move to restrain the woman.
I thought of giving the woman one last chance to attack me, no matter how disadvantageous it was for her but this hateful brat spoiled it for me.
"Heh. Aren't you going to say something? Like 'release her'?"
He tried to taunt me with a smirk. And to see him doing that using my own face, I couldn't help but clench my fist to straighten up his mug.
But well, it wouldn't be fulfilling at all.
"What for? To entertain you? Let's get this over with."
I replied before picking up the woman and bringing her back to where she was kneeling earlier.
Acting like he got his lollipop stolen from him, the World's Will pouted and crossed his arms.
"Tsk. You're too uptight. Are you trying to show off to your women?"
"What do you know about showing off?" I threw a dismissive glance at it before focusing on keeping the woman in my hold.
She's pretty much already hopeless at this point but her rage was still making her move in order to inflict some damage to me.
There's no point conversing with her anymore. After this, she'd be a different person altogether. Even if her rage lingered, she wouldn't know where to turn that on.
Understanding that I'm done playing games with him, the World's Will dropped his act and started moving. He turned to the three women I brought with me and instructed them.
"A lot but you're no fun. I better just be done with this and sleep again. You three, especially you with the Eye of Destiny, step forward and create a circle around them."
Upon saying that, another wave of his hand created a cage made of Source Energy. At four points on the ground, a glowing stone popped up. He's used a sealing formation. Through that, the cage appeared more solid than the illusion of the scenery around.
And since we're in the middle of it, I understood its function. This sealing cage was going to become like a tank that would be filled up with the condensed, liquid form of Source Energy.
Using that to submerge the woman, she'd be subjected to a complete erasure of her memory and… current attainment in her Transcendent Pathway.
The same as that Rank 3 Transcendent we caught back then, her connection to her homeworld would also be severed here.
Following the emergence of the cage, Yuko, Fleur, and Yse stepped near those formation stones that were emitting a terrific wave of Source Energy. If it's not being used by the formation, it's probably equivalent to a few containers of Source Energy that we're using inside the Kingfisher.
Upon seeing them at their place, the World's Will stepped closer to the last formation stone but instead of only maintaining it, he clapped his hand and a cloud seemingly riddled by azure lightning appeared out of nowhere.
Yuko and the other two had no idea what it was but I could easily tell…
It's the Earth's Source Energy Core. That's where the purest form of Earth Energy was being stored. Of course, it's not its physical form. It was still buried somewhere around here but that cloud was certainly connected to it.
If that was uprooted, Earth would crumble just like that World of Inferno.
"I'll be granting the three of you a temporary Authority. Maintain this formation and you… I'm only lending a hand. You have to do the rest by yourself."
Upon saying that, the World's Will produced an ancient medallion that was preserved from the previous era and threw it to me.
I carefully caught it in my hand. Almost instantly, my Adaptability informed me of what kind of item it was…
An Imbued Tool used for sealing something. And in this case, it would be the catalyst for extracting the woman's memory and her Pathway's Essence.
However, it wasn't the type of seal that if destroyed, what was taken would be returned to the owner. Nope. It would basically sever everything from her.
Did he foresee this happening? No. Maybe it's Hajime, that sly old man who had long seen this through his Clairvoyance.
Even after having my memory restored, it looks like he's still a step ahead of me.
Yep. Let's not dream of becoming his enemy. It'll be troublesome.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢