Chapter 290-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

The sudden turn of events made Bai Yi's expression shift. Tree-trunk-thick vines caught him off guard, halting his assault and snuffing out his flames.

"So you were hiding your true strength all along... Not bad battle instincts."

Based on their earlier exchanges, this woman had A-rank ability at best. She was a tenacious support-type ability user who, in concert with those moderately skilled knights outside, had tied him down this entire time—wasting a great deal of his time before he'd finally managed to separate them.

But picking them off one by one wasn't supposed to be difficult.

The fire had scorched the ground black. Bai Yi's face showed a flash of irritation and urgency. He kept one ear on the situation outside—something seismic was happening out there. He'd already guessed the worst, the very outcome he least wanted to see.

Bai Yi felt a frustration he'd never experienced before. He'd wasted so much time here. In a sense, he'd already lost—they had achieved their goal of pinning him down.

The fire-wall crept inward, shrinking the space and driving the temperature higher. Surprise still lingered on Shu Wan's face—her ability level had actually recovered?

"Even if your true level is that of an S-rank warrior, the gap between us isn't as simple as S-rank versus double S-rank."

Rank, experience, stamina, reaction speed... she was outclassed in every category!

Bai Yi let out a roar. His clothes ignited and crumbled to ash in an instant; his entire body became a column of living flame. The fire-wall contracted with his every step, forcing Shu Wan back. The distance between them shrank.

The heat was unbearable. Shu Wan was practically standing inside an inferno, with no capacity left to puzzle over the question of her ability. Her pinned-up hair was completely soaked through, her body drenched as though she'd rolled in a puddle. She couldn't tell if it was the heat-sweat or the cold sweat of terror. At a time like this, if only there really were water...

Suddenly, she crumpled to the ground in a fit of coughing—as though too weak to stand.

"Unless Ye Zheng shows up in person." Only two steps separated them now. Bai Yi loomed over her, killing intent blazing behind the curtain of flame. He stared at the ashen-faced Shu Wan and spoke with chilling clarity: "You have no way out."

In the entire Empire, only Ye Zheng could pose a lethal threat to him. Her [Stream] was the perfect counter to his ability, effortlessly extinguishing his flames and leaving a shadow he'd never shaken.

Besides Ye Zheng, only his daughter Bai Muqing and his apprentice Percy could threaten him. This Madam Shu before him didn't even make the list.

In this sea of fire, not a trace of green could survive.

Bai Yi's sword had been forged into a red-hot branding iron. He held it with ease—enough to make anyone tremble with fear. Just staring at the glowing blade, one could almost hear the phantom sizzle of flesh being seared. And now this sword hung directly above Shu Wan's head.

"You are Ye Zheng's mother. I'll give you two choices: end it yourself, or I'll do it for you."

He didn't want another charge on his conscience—the killing of Ye Zheng's mother—but she'd given him no choice by pressing the fight.

Perhaps Ye Zheng had already taken the badge he'd given Roy and assembled the Dragon Bones. But as long as they didn't give up, there was still a chance. Sooner or later, he would reclaim his title of Grand Duke. His wife and children would return to the estate, and the family would live happily as they once had...

Exhausted eyes blazed bright in the firelight, sparking with fierce determination.

But in the next instant, the fire in his eyes was extinguished by a single cold drop of water.

Bai Yi's composure shattered. He slowly raised his head, staring in disbelief at the sky—rain, falling from above. This was Ye Zheng's trick!

"Ye Zheng..." the woman's murmur came through clearly.

"She's my daughter, you know."

The sound of Shu Wan's quiet wonder filled his ears. Water droplets struck Bai Yi's body and evaporated on contact, yet he tensed as though facing a mortal enemy. His sword-hand faltered for just an instant.

Shu Wan seized that split-second opening. She exploded forward with astonishing speed, throwing herself at him with reckless abandon!

Bai Yi crashed to the ground. The flames wreathing his body seared Shu Wan with agonizing pain. She screamed and howled, but her hands channeled every cry into savage, driving force. A specially made blade found his throat and plunged through the wall of fire into the body within.

The pinned man glared with bulging eyes, limbs thrashing and kicking. He'd realized it now—those water droplets hadn't fallen from the sky at all. They'd been sprayed up from underground.

This woman had used the water stored in subterranean plants to fake the illusion of Ye Zheng's intervention and throw him off!

His throat punctured, Bai Yi couldn't even gasp out a final word. Regret, rage, and terror commandeered every fiber of his being. The flames on his body blazed ever more ferociously, determined to incinerate everything.

Her body was burning. Shu Wan had all but lost her five senses. She could no longer feel pain, couldn't smell the stench of scorched flesh. She wrenched the blade from Bai Yi's throat and stabbed it into his body in a frenzy—again and again and again!

Ye Zheng was the daughter she had brought into this world. Did he think she was someone to be trifled with?

Shu Wan's voice was scorched away. Her lips moved, producing sounds so hoarse they were barely recognizable.

"Shu Wan... the person who killed you is called Shu Wan..."

The fire dwindled. At some point, the man's body had gone still. Shu Wan, too, collapsed beside him, her body charred black.

"Madam Shu!"

The knights outside finally breached the dying flames and rushed to her side, frantically calling for a healer.

*

With the eruption of the flood, the aristocrat army was routed for good. The Holy Journey Knights Order, clearly prepared in advance, raised their defenses and held the floodwaters at bay.

The only ones who held their ground were Sierra's Disciples. Even as the waters raged, they didn't waver from their purpose, pressing their assault on the Holy Journey Knights Order base from within.

The person locked in a grapple with Sierra was a young girl with a high ponytail. She wasn't particularly strong, yet somehow she'd become the only person on the field capable of keeping Sierra in check.

Iridescent butterflies fluttered around her. Sierra, her face bruised and swollen, gaped at Lucy in disbelief. "Shorty, what the hell kind of trick are you pulling!"

"I—I don't know either."

Lucy said, then charged in for another punch. Sierra dodged; the swing missed, and Lucy's own momentum sent her sprawling.

"This is impossible. My [Nullification] can cancel out any ability..."

Not only had Lucy's ability not been nullified, but the butterflies' toxins were actively affecting Sierra, shrinking her ability's range. If not for Lucy's sudden appearance, these lackeys of Ye Zheng's would never have stood a chance against her people!

Sierra stared at Lucy on the ground. An inconceivable possibility surfaced in her mind, freezing her in place for a heartbeat.

Her ability, to be precise, was called [Damage Nullification].

In truth, she'd never been entirely clear on what counted as "damage." To Sierra, the very existence of others was a threat—was damage.

She'd sparred with Lucy plenty of times back in the West District, and back then she could cancel Lucy's ability with ease.

So what had changed?

After a moment of hard thinking, Sierra burst out laughing. "I get it now, Lucy."

"You're too weak. You can't inflict any damage on me whatsoever, so my ability allows those messy little butterflies to exist."

Lucy dusted herself off and climbed to her feet. She stared at Sierra's bruised and battered face and thought what she'd said was pretty funny.

But Lucy's smile lasted barely a few seconds before Sierra seized her in a lightning-fast hold.

Sierra stood behind her, one arm snaking forward to lock around her throat, the other hand resting almost affectionately on her shoulder. A chill shot through Lucy's entire body. She felt a tangible, real killing intent.

In the time she'd spent idling at home, Sierra had improved at a terrifying pace, her bearing sharper and more ruthless than ever.

"If I were as pathetic as you, I wouldn't go running around sticking my neck out for other people."

"The one thing that makes you special is that you don't carry an ounce of killing intent. You think I'm complimenting your kindness?"

"Lucy, you don't belong in our world. Why did you have to barge in? I can't even be bothered to find killing you interesting."

Sierra felt the girl's fierce struggling. Butterflies swarmed in. She let go just in time.

"I came to help Ye Zheng. Sierra, Ye Zheng saved you too. Why can't we be on the same side?"

"...Because I'm not you—forever playing house, waiting for someone else to come save the day."

Sierra's crimson eyes regarded Lucy with cold indifference. A few seconds later, the smirk at her lips suddenly widened.

"You just said you came to help Ye Zheng. Do you actually know what kind of being you're helping?"

Sierra suddenly shouted "Stop!" The fighters on all sides turned to look at her. She strode forward, grabbed Lucy's hand, and dragged her forcefully in a certain direction.

Her Disciples fell in around her, clearing a path. Lucy sensed no killing intent from Sierra, and she shook her head at the base's knights.

Sierra stormed up a tower. The knights at the top assumed she'd taken Lucy hostage and grudgingly stood aside.

Lucy was shoved against the railing. Sierra grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced her to look outward.

Floodwaters had swallowed the entire city. From the tower's height, the roofs of low buildings barely peeked above the surface, while a handful of taller structures stood forlorn in the water.

But the most arresting sight was the dark silhouette in the distance. Even at this range, a visceral shock and an instinctive dread of the unknown welled up inside her. She stared, transfixed, at the colossal dragon standing at the city's center.

This was nothing like the Dragon-Bodied Humans she'd encountered before. It dwarfed them by orders of magnitude, its scales gleaming jet-black.

It simply stood there in silence, like a dormant volcano brimming with immense energy, ready to erupt at any moment.

"Congratulations, Lucy. You've done your tiny, insignificant part in helping her resurrect the Demon Dragon."

Sierra said with biting sarcasm, though her expression was far from the lightness her tone suggested. She glared at the dark silhouette in the city center with a ferocity that could bore holes through it.

Sierra didn't want to admit it, but she wasn't the least bit surprised.

The moment she'd discovered Ye Zheng had played her like a fiddle, Sierra had sensed it—Ye Zheng had come today with absolute resolve to win. Nothing could stop her.

"Cat got your tongue? Go on, share your feelings."

Sierra's expression was grim, but there was no trace of defeat. Everyone had been swept into the chaos Ye Zheng had engineered, which irked her competitive streak—but it also created opportunity.

Her Dragon-Bodied Humans had probably already flown out of the lower district by now, heading for that distant, safe haven.

She'd catch up soon. While the Empire reeled from Ye Zheng's shockwave, she'd strike at the upper district with stunning speed!

But Sierra's smugness lasted only a moment before her expression transformed. The familiar dark shapes—her Dragon-Bodied Humans—were flying back in formation, heading toward the city center.

Like birds returning to the nest. Or some kind of pilgrimage.

Sierra stared at the scene in stunned disbelief. While she stood frozen, Lucy suddenly surged with strength, grabbed Sierra by the collar, and flung her over the tower's edge.

The golden-haired girl plunged into the floodwaters, eyes wide with shock.

Lucy had had enough of Sierra's grating voice. She gazed at the entity that resembled the legendary Demon Dragon, and Percy's words suddenly echoed in her mind.

He'd said Ye Zheng was the one prophesied to destroy the world.

She stared for a long time, her mind having lost all capacity for nimble thought. Then, suddenly, she blinked in confusion—

The massive dark silhouette dominating the city center vanished in the blink of an eye.

Lucy looked down. The floodwaters, too, seemed to be slowly receding.

← Previous Chapter Next Chapter →