Chapter 64

“The one sitting up there is… is Sykes!”

Yu Tianming was so shocked that he forgot to use honorifics. The golden haired prince sat high atop the white remains. His emotionless golden pupils looked coldly down upon the people below.

Yu Tianming’s back stiffened.

He quickly realized something was wrong with Sykes. The way Sykes looked at them was the same as how he would look at strangers, at intruders.

“So lively. It has been a long time since it was this lively.”

The girl on the other side clapped her hands and leaped down from the height. Even for an ability user with an exceptional physique, that fall would have shattered both legs.

Just as the girl was about to hit the ground, pale red branches rose in silent coordination and caught her perfectly.

Sela stepped lightly down from them.

“The last time it was this lively was ten years ago.”

“Right?”

A slender branch brushed gently against her finger, as though responding. For an instant, the mad gleam in Sela’s red pupils dimmed.

Then it flared fiercely once more as she turned her gaze toward the group.

“You have never seen this place ten years ago, have you?”

She laughed wildly.

“It was so lively back then. Hundreds of people trapped inside. Everyone running, getting eaten. Blood and flesh everywhere. I was trampled over and over again. It hurt so much.”

The blond girl swayed as she walked.

She rubbed her stomach as though feeling phantom pain, pouting in dissatisfaction.

“Crazy bitch.”

Yu Tianming cursed under his breath.

The girl’s speech and posture were utterly deranged, yet the pressure she exuded was immense.

Perhaps it was because his ability had disappeared. He turned to look at Bai Muqing.

Her expression was clearly wrong. It seemed that her ability had been nullified as well.

Yu Tianming was about to check on the others when the boy, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly stepped forward. He approached the blond girl on his own initiative.

“Sela, what do you want? Revenge against the people from back then?”

“Revenge?”

Sela leaned in close to the boy’s face.

She was not tall.

Her blue uniform hung loosely from her thin frame, which appeared underdeveloped and frail.

This only made her red pupils appear even larger and more vivid, like those of an innocent yet cruel animal staring directly at its prey.

“The people from back then? Oh, you mean those knights who drove me into this place, and the few adults who stepped on us to escape?”

A trace of confusion crossed the black haired, green eyed boy’s face. From Sela’s tone, it sounded as though she did not particularly care about the true culprits from that time.

“You threw the mutilated corpses of Orin and those children into the palace, taking revenge on the imperial family and those adults.”

Sela suddenly covered her mouth dramatically.

Her red eyes blinked with exaggerated surprise.

“What? They were actually the children of those idiots from back then? How surprising.”

“That girl did not lie to me. She really did… mmph mmph.”

The boy suddenly covered Sela’s mouth, his expression unreadable.

Sela’s eyes widened. In the next instant, she kicked violently toward him. The long silent red forest erupted into motion.

Dense branches and roots surged forward like a nest of writhing snakes, encircling everyone present.

“My leg is tangled. Its sucking my blood.”

“Damn it. There are too many.”

“Watch your back.”

Ye Zheng leaped backward, escaping Sela’s immediate attack range. Her green eyes remained fixed on the girl. Amid the sky filled with lashing aberrant plants, Sela appeared exceptionally calm.

She even narrowed her eyes in enjoyment, savoring the panicked resistance of those around her.

At that moment, Ye Zheng finally understood.

Sela’s goal was not revenge against the people from back then. She simply wanted them all dead.

“Revenge? You are not entirely wrong.”

The blond girl made a casual gesture and stepped closer to the boy with evident interest.

Ye Zheng glanced around and noticed that the man eating trees were not attacking her at all.

Her heart skipped violently.

Could Sela actually control these aberrant plants?

“Sela, these past ten years… you have been trapped in this place the entire time, haven’t you?”

The words left Ye Zheng’s mouth before she could stop herself.

Even she found them hard to believe.

Ten years ago, Sela must have been around the same age as she was now.

A seven or eight year old child left alone inside this man eating aberrant realm for a full decade.

Sela laughed.

The sound was thick with mockery.

“Put away that pitying expression.”

“I am not pitiful. It is all of you outside who are pitiful. This is a man eating world too, but it is still pure and cute.”

A pale red branch gently wrapped around Sela’s arm and shook playfully, like two children holding hands. The boy’s brows furrowed slightly.

“It has killed so many people. Even if it appears tamed by you now, it is ultimately an existence opposed to humanity.”

Mid sentence, Ye Zheng suddenly halted.

As though realizing something, she fell silent.

“It was humans who threw me in here.”

Sela’s smile vanished. For the first time, she revealed an expression that could be called calm.

But it did not last.

Her face twisted once more.

“No one wanted to save me. They could have saved me. I saw the priest pick up that girl. Why did he not pick me up too? Am I not worthy of salvation?”

“If I cannot live equally, then let everyone die.”

The red pupils at such close range burned with manic flames, nearly igniting the boy’s green eyes as well.

Looking at Sela’s distorted face, Ye Zheng’s breathing faltered. At last, she understood why Sela hated her. Even more terrifying was that, in that instant, Ye Zheng completely agreed with her.

Ye Zheng parted her lips slightly, as if about to speak. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something landing lightly.

A surge of dread rose in her heart.

Her gaze shifted past Sela.

The golden haired prince had somehow leaped down from the skull.

His expressionless face bore a coldness utterly unfamiliar as he stepped toward the group.

Noticing the increasingly grave expression on the boy’s face, Sela giggled.

“You are a little stronger than the people before.”

“But what if your enemy is him?”

She stepped back until her hand rested on Sykes’s shoulder.

“Go on. Kill them all.”

Pei Xi, who had been watching Sela’s every movement, reacted almost instantly.

Sela seemed capable of controlling others.

He had to eliminate her immediately and prevent her from manipulating Sykes.

Pei Xi’s hands transformed into blades.

Without hesitation, he burst from cover and charged toward Sela. In an instant, the blades pressed against her neck, drawing blood.

He did not pause.

Even though he had never killed before, he understood that this was not a moment for hesitation.

“Do not continue attacking.”

Zhao Mei’s voice came from behind.

Pei Xi froze for an instant.

Then he felt his hands grow light.

Sela did not even turn to look at her attacker.

She merely shifted her red pupils and glanced sideways at him.

Pei Xi looked down. One of his hands lay harmlessly across the girl’s neck.

His ability had vanished.

In the next second, his temple throbbed violently, as though foreseeing an unimaginably brutal future.

Pei Xi immediately turned his head.

All he caught was a blur of flying golden hair.

A tearing pain exploded in his abdomen and spread through his entire body.

Ye Zheng’s eyes widened as she watched Sykes appear behind Pei Xi and activate 【Destruction】.

【Destruction】 could annihilate anything in existence. Once activated, it offered no mercy, only total obliteration.

Was Pei Xi going to die?

The black haired, blue eyed boy’s body began to fracture inch by inch from the torso outward, like an irreparably shattered vase. Ye Zheng unconsciously took several steps forward.

Suddenly, the chaotic battlefield around her froze.

The wind brushing her hair stopped.

Even her own body could not move.

Only her thoughts continued to churn hazily.

When Ye Zheng blinked again, the sounds of combat erupted from behind her.

Not far away, Sela’s mocking smile bloomed once more.

And Pei Xi was standing several meters away.

Aside from an unnaturally pale face, he appeared completely unharmed. Ye Zheng immediately understood.

This was Pei Xi’s second ability that readers on the forum had discussed.

“As expected of the protagonist. He was hiding such an incredible ability.”

『This is Pei Xi’s second ability, Death Rewind.』

The system, which had been holding back for a long time, finally revealed relevant information now that Pei Xi had used it.

『Extremely broken. It activates automatically upon death, though it has a cooldown.』

Ye Zheng watched calmly as the Cloud Soarers rushed forward to protect the temporarily ability less Pei Xi.

Kyle raised defensive walls of earth.

Yet before Sykes’s ability, they were as fragile as children’s sandcastles.

“I think I have figured out Sela’s ability as well.”

Pei Xi’s 【Metal Aberration】 had been nullified, but 【Death Rewind】 clearly remained intact.

Ye Zheng recalled the moment outside the aberrant realm when she had fired at Sela.

Even bullets had failed to harm her.

Sela’s ability was not simple nullification.

More precisely, Sela’s ability nullified all harm directed at her.

Whether it was abilities or weapons, anything intended to damage her would be rendered ineffective.

No wonder Bai Muqing and Yu Tianming’s abilities were the first to be eliminated. Probably, for Sela, their powers threatened her control over this forest, making them a fatal danger as well.

Ye Zheng looked back. The Cloud Soarers were struggling to hold off Sykes, while the knights brought by Yu Tianming, together with Bai Mulin, were surrounding the now powerless Yu Tianming and Bai Muqing, resisting the ferocious onslaught of aberrant plants.

Perhaps because Sela had been interested in her earlier and had not let the plants attack her, she now appeared somewhat idle.

The boy patted the black bag he had been carrying the whole time, then turned to gaze at the massive skull surging with immense power. Silently, he slipped into a corner.

This was a good opportunity for both Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng.

✧✧✧✧✧

Pei Xi bit his lip tightly. Having lost his ability, he could only helplessly hide behind his teammates.

He regretted his earlier impulsiveness immensely. He should have figured out the blond girl’s ability before acting. Now all he could do was pray desperately for his ability to return soon.

Sykes stared at them with golden pupils devoid of any emotion. His hands tore through Kyle’s defenses, Luqi’s butterflies, and Roy’s flames as easily as ripping paper, advancing step by step.

Roy gritted his teeth. Using Kyle and Luqi as cover, he charged to the front, trying to catch Sykes off guard. But in the blink of an eye, Sykes destroyed Kyle and Luqi’s attacks. Noticing the movement, he flashed in front of Roy and raised one hand, almost touching the blond boy’s neck!

Roy stared fixedly at Sykes before him, his expression complex with unwillingness. He thought he was surely dead. The Cloud Soarers watched in shock. Luqi screamed Roy’s name in disbelief, while Pei Xi, who had been observing the situation and following behind Roy, rushed forward.

Pei Xi tried to stop those hands that could destroy everything. Just as he was about to reach Sykes, the controlled Crown Prince suddenly lifted his head and halted the hand that was about to crush the boy’s neck. He looked toward the sky.

Only then did Pei Xi belatedly feel the cool droplets on his face. He also looked up—

It was raining in this aberrant realm!

He was not sure if it was an illusion, but Pei Xi felt this rain was unusually comforting, as though it washed away all the restless, bloody, death-filled aura. In this battlefield fraught with danger, it suddenly brought a sense of peace.

After losing her ability and falling into complete blindness, Bai Muqing touched the water droplets sliding down her face. Her other senses were exceptionally sharp at this moment. The aberrant plants that had been madly attacking them seemed to have quieted, at least temporarily making no sound.

Sela, who had been reveling in the chaos, narrowed her red eyes. The pleasure vanished from her face as she looked up at the sudden rain.

This aberrant realm did not rain. She had not seen rain in ten years.

Sela tilted her head back. Gentle fine rain fell onto her cold face. Through the continuous curtain of rain, she saw a girl in a white dress sitting high atop the massive white skull.

A pair of clear black eyes happened to look downward. The two silently met each other’s gaze.

“…You?”

Sela was puzzled for a moment, then suddenly recognized the face. Wasn’t this the girl who had helped her bring things into the palace from outside the aberrant realm that day?

So she happily waved upward. “You came too! Let’s play together!”

She felt the girl was also interesting and could be saved for killing later.

“You’re the second person I’ve kept in mind.”

Sela’s voice even carried a hint of sweetness.

“The first one? Was that chubby little girl who was lifted up by her family and handed to the priest?”

The girl in white sat too high. Sela listened to her voice drifting in the rain, as ethereal and insubstantial as her face. Sela slowly tilted her raised head. Ye Zheng looked down at her movement, almost able to hear the other’s stiff bones creaking.

『A total of 100 action points deducted.』

『Pei Xi’s ability hasn’t recovered yet. Why did you expose yourself like that!』

Amid the system’s near-collapse voice, Sela leaped upward, stepping on one pale-red branch after another. Her red pupils shone like ominous red moons in the rain curtain.

“Hahahaha… it’s actually you!”

Sela laughed wildly, yet the sound only felt shrill and wretched.

Ye Zheng gazed at the blond girl leaping into midair. Her palm rubbed against the majestic white remains beneath her—the skull that once belonged to the Demonic dragon that had nearly destroyed the empire.

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Authors Note

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Playing two roles in one scene—such a hardworking baby.