Chapter 127

 Zheng—

The two sharp, icy swords clashed fiercely once again. After a brief stalemate, they both retreated at the same time. Sykes tossed his ceremonial sword aside, along with the black glove that fell with it. Ye Zheng slid her golden sword back into its sheath.

She extended her hand and spread her five fingers in the mist. Pale blue threads flashed like lightning, drawing together the moisture within the white fog and forming a light-blue net in front of her.

Sykes’s golden eyes darkened. He remained rooted in place instead of advancing. He merely clenched his fist forward. A rapid surge of airflow blasted outward, whipping up dust and mist from all directions.

The pale blue water net shattered like a broken vase. Droplets sprayed outward and linked together into streaming water lines. Sykes pushed off with his back foot and lunged instantly toward Ye Zheng. His right hand nearly closed around her throat. Her face was right in front of him, yet there was no panic in her eyes. There was only displeasure as she tilted her head back.

His arm was suddenly seized by a powerful force. Sykes glanced sideways and saw countless water-colored threads wrapping tightly around his arm. He jerked sharply, snapping all the water lines. Just as he turned to mock her little trick, he realized she had vanished.

Thick white mist and chilling dampness surrounded him. He almost completely lost his vision and any sense of normal temperature.

Sykes understood at once. Ye Zheng was manipulating the water within the mist and controlling the surrounding environment. This dense fog was the perfect battlefield for her.

“You and Zhou Yun work well together.”

Sykes curled his lips without any hint of a smile and looked down at the moisture creeping over his body. It carried a suffocating chill and tried to drown every inch of his skin. His expression shifted slightly. At some point, even his eyelashes had been coated with a thin film of water. It lay there quietly, as if waiting for the right moment to gouge out his eyes.

“Your ability is called 【Stream】?”

For the first time, Sykes seriously acknowledged the Saintess’s power. He had long suspected that she possessed abilities beyond healing, but he had never been interested enough to learn more.

Within the deathly still white mist, no one answered him. Sykes fell silent. He closed his eyes and sensed the surging undercurrents hidden in the moisture.

Inside the mental landscape he constructed, he “saw” countless fine and densely packed water threads binding him in place. His body stiffened. He breathed steadily as the flowing water lines concealed themselves in the thick fog, seeming ready to tighten around his limbs and tear them apart at any moment.

Sykes abruptly opened his eyes. He couldn’t help taking several heavy breaths to steady himself. This was the first time he had ever felt hunted. It was infuriating, yet exhilarating.

At this moment, he had forgotten all about positions and betrayal. Whatever side Ye Zheng stood on no longer mattered. Right now, he only wanted to defeat her completely.

He curled the fingers of his right hand and pressed his fist against his chest. Dark emotions surged within his golden eyes as he spoke.

“You’ve shown me your Stream. I’ll return the courtesy—”

Before he could finish speaking, the slowly drifting mist froze instantly. Countless killing intents converged upon Sykes. The golden-haired youth stood motionless at the center. He suddenly lifted his gaze toward a point within the white expanse. The surrounding water mist exploded outward, and the fine water threads snapped all at once.

His vision cleared immediately. Sykes stood on open ground. The upper half of his clothing had been completely destroyed, and not even fragments remained. He lifted the corner of his mouth at first, but after hearing the youth’s voice, it flattened again.

“Thank you for the lesson, Crown Prince. So it turns out you usually only concentrate 【Destruction】 in your right hand.”

Ye Zheng, dressed in her sharp and upright attire, approached slowly with an expression of sudden realization.

Everyone said that Sykes unleashed 【Destruction】 with his right hand. However, from that brief exchange earlier, it was clear that he habitually concentrated 【Destruction】 in his right hand so he could better suppress and release its power.

In actual combat, he could spread 【Destruction】 across every inch of his body, just as he had done earlier. Anyone who approached too closely would suffer backlash from his ability.

Ye Zheng’s eyes darkened. She glanced sideways at the hand hanging by her side. Water droplets fell weakly from her fingertips like flowing blood.

The true body of 【Stream】 consisted of only one liter of water, yet it could merge with any place that contained moisture. The threads it formed could vary in thickness and stir up storms.

When she had controlled the moisture to attack Sykes earlier, a sliver of 【Stream】’s true body had approached him as well. In that instant, Sykes’s ability had inflicted severe damage upon that fragment.

Fortunately, when 【Destruction】 was dispersed across his body, its power dispersed as well. Ye Zheng suspected that if she faced the full force of 【Destruction】, her 【Stream】 might be completely destroyed.

Sykes’s ability could destroy not only physical bodies but also abilities, and even more abstract things.

Ye Zheng suddenly lifted her eyes and stared at Sykes’s head. Speaking of which, what exactly had caused Sykes to lose his memories?

“Continue, Ye Zheng.”

Sykes stared at her with gloomy golden eyes. He raised both arms as if welcoming the next round of battle.

“Show me everything. Your ability, your righteousness, and your choices.”

Ye Zheng’s gaze slid downward from his face. When it reached his bare body, she immediately withdrew her eyes.

The youth’s fingertips twitched slightly. The white mist encircling them began to flow again. Sykes let out a satisfied laugh. The fighting spirit in his eyes burned even brighter, and his blood surged with excitement as intense heat gathered toward his right hand.

“Your Highness, are you alright? Where are your clothes?”

“Hurry and bring clothes for His Highness!”

Sykes’s face stiffened. He turned and saw that the white mist had not surged forward again. Instead, it receded like an ebbing tide, revealing the clear outline of the street and the group of people who had just caught up.

The red-haired youth immediately pulled a fresh set of clothing from his luggage. Ryan remembered that the Crown Prince had recently preferred to dress more conservatively. How could he tolerate appearing so indecent in public? He quickened his pace and handed the clothes to Sykes.

It wasn’t only Ryan. A hundred knights had arrived, along with Pei Xi and the other commoner boys. Their gazes shifted between the Crown Prince and the Saintess, sensing the strange tension between them.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Sykes quickly put on the clothes. His face was so dark that it seemed as though water might drip from it.

He looked toward Ye Zheng. She innocently shrugged and said, “I’m sorry. You were so generously willing to show me everything. That kindness is truly touching. But I’ve already seen more than enough today. Please take care of your health and don’t catch a cold, Sykes Your Highness.”

Ye Zheng spoke with deliberate implication. Her black eyes held a faint smile as she brushed past him.

Learning today that 【Destruction】 could spread across his entire body was enough. She had more urgent matters to deal with.

Sykes turned and glared at her retreating figure, unconsciously grinding his teeth. His dutiful subordinate Ryan stole a quick glance before immediately looking away.

What generosity? What seeing more than enough? Was this really something he was allowed to hear?

Pei Xi let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Ye Zheng was unharmed. It seemed Sykes hadn’t had the chance to strike a killing blow yet. Perhaps he had even suffered a setback at her hands. Judging from their earlier postures alone, Ye Zheng had clearly been the more composed one.

He turned his head and noticed Sykes pushing Ryan aside, heading straight toward Ye Zheng as if intending to start another fight. Pei Xi stepped forward to block him and advised, “Your Highness Sykes, our top priority right now is to catch up to that black dragon. Please don’t act on impulse again.”

Pei Xi had originally come looking for Zhou Yun. They had already located her position, but halfway there they encountered the bizarre and shocking black dragon. His instincts told him that the black dragon was the true danger.

While Sykes had been rushing after Ye Zheng earlier, Pei Xi had entered the villa and made an unexpected discovery.

“We’ve just confirmed Zhou Yun’s death.”

Pei Xi spoke gravely.

“I don’t think Ye Zheng is Zhou Yun’s accomplice. After all, she is…”

“Saintess!”

A loud shout rang out nearby. Pei Xi paused mid-sentence and turned toward the source of the voice.

A group of white-clad knights advanced toward them in orderly formation. A trace of surprise crossed Pei Xi’s face. He recognized the unit at once. In the entire empire, there was only one knight order composed entirely of women.

The white-clad knights took their positions behind Ye Zheng. They were generally not very tall, yet their presence was in no way inferior to the knights Sykes had brought. Their mental state even seemed stronger. Dressed in crisp white uniforms, they stood firm and solemn.

“…After all, she is the empire’s Saintess.”

Pei Xi paused briefly before continuing.

“And the three of us do share some kind of fate, don’t we?”

Kieran had told them that Ye Zheng was also a product of the Hope Project. Like them, she was one of the tragic experimental subjects. Now that the remnants of the Hope Project threatened the entire empire, they should unite their strength to stop it.

Sykes ignored the voices around him. He stared at the Saintess not far away, who was now surrounded by her group. It seemed the fight wouldn’t continue today.

He had never met anyone more cunning than Ye Zheng. She had even secretly brought her own team here. Just how many tricks was she hiding?

A long and piercing screech tore through the sky. Everyone instinctively looked upward, their faces filled with shock as though they had heard the cry of an ancient deity. Soon they realized it was only a group of dragon-bodied monsters wailing.

At the center of the crowd, Sykes pressed a hand against his forehead. His head throbbed as if fragments were churning within his mind. Fleeting memories surfaced briefly before shattering and disappearing piece by piece.

Damn it! What exactly had he forgotten? The longer he remained in this place, the more irritable he became.

Sykes lifted his eyes and looked at Ye Zheng, who was speaking with her subordinates not far away. He closed his eyes again and forced himself to suppress the turmoil.

No matter what happened, he would never seek treatment from Ye Zheng again.

Perhaps she was the one behind it.

In this world, even the father who was supposed to be closest to him had betrayed him. How could he possibly entrust his body to someone else? Especially someone like Ye Zheng. She was cunning, strange, and completely impossible to read.

✧✧✧✧✧

Ye Zheng exchanged a few words with Wende. When she had entered Zhou Yun's villa earlier, Wende and the others had been reorganizing the team.

While they spoke calmly, Ye Zheng shifted her step slightly. Her gaze drifted casually toward the back of the group.

Messy golden hair hid beneath a hat. Sela was small in stature and blended inconspicuously among the older sisters.

Sela kept craning her neck to look around. Ye Zheng quietly shot her a glance, signaling her to stay quiet and behave.

Ye Zheng had mixed Sela in with the female ability users she had brought. She dressed them in the uniform of the Order of Sacred Conduct and positioned them at the very rear of the formation.

Otherwise, if Sykes spotted Sela, the violent criminal who had once manipulated him completely and was still at large, he would likely lose control and go berserk. The imperial royal family still had an enormous bounty on Sela's head. It was said the Crown Prince had even added several times more from his personal treasury.

Using the corner of her eye, Ye Zheng glanced at Sykes. His anger hadn't yet subsided, and she thought he might have gotten angry too soon.

Gazing at the massive black shadow that gradually receded into the distance on the horizon, Ye Zheng already had a plan in mind. She intended to regain control of the situation and stop the dragon-bodied humans without bloodshed.

Sela's primary ability could control dragon-bone creations like Sykes as well as blood flowers. Although controlling more than a hundred ferocious dragon-bodied humans might pose a slight challenge for Sela...

A colossal dragon spine, mountain-like in size, might make up for the shortcomings in Sela's ability.

『Even if you temporarily control the Fallen... them, what will you do afterward? They truly are mindless monsters.』

"In the original work, Lu Qi also became a Fallen One and was temporarily written off. You told me that meant there was a way to turn her back."

The smile at the corner of Ye Zheng's mouth deepened. "I suspect the key to reversing it is 【Mother of All Things】."

"The 【Mother of All Things】 that is currently residing within Wen Jian."

It was also the most important legacy left behind by the Hope Project when it was first initiated.

『!』

The system could only express all its emotions with a single exclamation mark.

In the original work, Lu Qi's brief transformation into a Fallen One and her subsequent disappearance from the story had been intended to add new challenges for Pei Xi and the others. Otherwise, having only the competition storyline would've felt too thin.

When Ye Zheng said the word "residing," her tone carried a subtle nuance. The system had a premonition that Wen Jian's time holding 【Mother of All Things】 would not last much longer.

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Authors Note  

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Sykes will die in a way that proves very useful to Zheng...

[T/N- My god author herself is giving spoiler (oh and Sykes ain't dying anytime soon (atleast upto ch180- I read till now)]