A figure stood in front of the sea of azure mist, revealing a thoughtful expression as he swept his eyes across the meeting hall. Although his silhouette looked like humans, the blackened scales covering his body betrayed the notion.
"Master, please display your blazing power to the world. I have already confirmed the absence of Frost Ancestor." Behind the man was another person. Siprytas stood still with his head lowered, showing respect to his Master.
"Icy Scorpion Bloodline... To think that such a powerful lineage would fall from grace today. Even Frost Ancestor could never foresee it." The Master spoke calmly, making sure that every word of his was loud and clear. He wanted the figure inside the mist to hear it.
Seeing that his remark did not result in anything, the Master waved his hand and created sparks of flame around his fingers. They slowly orbited around him then gradually accelerated towards a higher speed. The particles moved faster until they blurred from the ordinary eyes, creating a ring of fire around him.
The heat waves radiated from the particles enveloped the room, pushing the azure mist into the walls and disintegrating most of them into vapours. This action caused the icy cold temperature to rise, making the bluish shade of the meeting room to lose its colour.
As the waves travelled across the room, muffled screams resounded as many figures struggled to retain their life. However, their flash of suffering only lasted for a moment before their movement subsided and their gaze ceased to move, forever descended into the darkness.
"Siprytas, you traitor!" Many curses and insults echoed inside his mind, reminding him of his shameful actions and its meaning. However, as he had already chosen this path, he had no way of backing away. Siprytas only closed his eyes and lowered his head even more.
"Mortemil, let us finish what we've started today." Inside the sea of fog, only one figure remained standing. The Sect Leader watched as his useless sect members died, not showing any deep emotions. His eyes only fixed on his old nemesis, the Sect Leader of the Fiery Tarantula Sect.
...
Although the smile on his face was almost unnoticeable, through the eyes of Florie, it was as wicked as a devil's and as deep as the endless abyss. She knew that she had fallen straight into Forus' trap.
With her experience, she only hesitated for an instant before trying to pull her crystal dagger away from his hands. However, to her surprise, it had implanted itself deep into the flesh, only stopping because of the white bones obstructing its path.
With the tight grip from the same hand, Florie found herself unable to withdraw her dagger. Many thoughts ran through her mind at that moment, and she gritted her in distress before she let go of her unique treasure.
She knew that her mentor had crafted it for her, and did not want to lose it. Nevertheless, she did not become dependent on it that she would disregard her life for a single piece of treasure. In the end, she managed to let go of her obsession, causing a subtle change in her mental state.
Knowing what she would do, Forus did not allow her to escape his grasp. He pulled his hand closer to himself, indirectly pulling Florie inwards. At the same time, Florie had just let go of the dagger, making her lost her balance and retreated for a few steps, landing onto the puddles formed by explosions of Ice and Wood Element.
If not for the continuous assault of the petals and leaves, Forus could have finished Floire at that moment of carelessness. However, with their presence, he would be killing himself if he tried to step towards her.
Before Florie could stabilize herself, she felt a sudden cold rushing through her body, as if a sharp blade was hovering just in front of her heart, waiting for the slightest of movement to completely shred it. She looked downwards to the source of her doom and saw the water puddle vibrating.
Because of the fear of death, Florie mind raced madly before forcing her to propel herself towards Forus. Although she knew that getting closer to her opponent was risky, it was better than getting killed by the trap he had set.
Just as she moved, the puddle quickly froze into ice and exploded into a violent burst. The water travelled upwards before getting frozen into icy spikes. Although she had escaped death with her quick reaction, the spikes managed to stab onto her legs and created a few wounds.
As she moved, the spikes stood in place, not leaving along with her. As a result, the previously small wounds expanded as the tips grazed her legs vertically, creating lines of crimson blood that cut deep into her skin.
As if he had already predicted her reaction, Forus flicked his dagger-stabbed hand, letting it fell out. His fingers moved and warped around the dagger, turning its tips away from him and towards Florie's direction.
Blood seeped out from Florie's lips as she tried to stop her scream, feeling numb from the pain radiating from her wounds. However, despite the distraction, she remained focused and channelled her last remaining sorcery energy, rearing the few floating petals and leaves to position themselves in front of her.
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Without any hesitation, Forus exerted his bloody arm to snap forwards, bringing the dagger with it. However, due to his injury, he had difficulty trying to move his legs any faster, risking getting his wounds ripping open even further.
Although he was the one who activated the trap, he also suffered from the strayed ice spikes that managed to stab onto his legs. After all, if there were no puddles in his surrounding, Florie and her mentor might detect the strange abnormality and be on guard.
However, as Forus gripped tightly onto the crystal dagger, its handle trembled as tiny transparent vines emerged from it. They crept onto his bloody hand and shot towards his flesh, drilling themselves onto his bone and started draining his blood and sorcery energy.
Upon noticing the anomaly, Forus tried to let go of the dagger, causing its momentum to lessen. Despite his effort, the vines gripped onto his flesh and refused to break away. To avoid the counter-attack, Forus could only allow Florie to retreat away from his strike.
Although the dagger was powerful, it could only break through the ball of petal and lightly graze Florie. She quickly fell back as the leaves moved around her, piecing onto the spikes behind her, opening a pathway for her to retreat safely.
As the two disengaged, the crimson shades submerged most colours within the surrounding with their ominous fragrance. With their body littered with cuts and wounds, they remained still, wary about the next move of the other.
While Florie frowned as the anticipated strikes did not follow suit, Forus remained expressionless as his body began to move once again. He had already got rid of the ice spikes around him and could freely move about without much obstruction.
Forus flicked his right hand, and a copper coin manifested above it. He grabbed it and tossed it onto the dagger, causing the coin to tremble and release a small amount of yellowish gas. With its descend, a depressing aura seeped into the atmosphere.
The Underworld Copper Coin fell onto the dagger, sealing it with its underworld power. Without any resistance, the dagger struggled to resist but could only fall onto the ground, its roots decayed.
Florie did not have any time to contemplate Forus' action as she watched his figure flashed in bluish light. She could only tremble as she understood that her sorcery energy had already depleted. With her only treasure stolen, she only had her last ball of leaves and some useless pollens.
The fight flowed like water, from one motion to another, without any moment to stop and ponder. She felt lost under the storm of stress and life-threatening moments. In her moment of carelessness, she could only keep watch of her heavy usage of sorcery energy.
As the scent of blood overwhelmed her sense of smell, she began to hear her heart beating at a strange rhythm. Its beat resonated with her body as she shivered under its constraint, heightening her sense of perception under the threat of death.
At the moment where time slowed down for her, Florie saw the expressionless Forus charging towards her, aiming the stolen dagger at her heart. The strange, timeless scene became more vivid and clear as she continued to stare at it, creating a ripple of calmness that cooled her trembling body down.
Florie soon became in trance, discarding her fear and hatred she had towards Forus. Her body relaxed as she beckoned the ball of leaves to close in on her. Without any wasteful movement, she stabbed her bloody hand toward it, sinking deep into the thorns and letting it absorbed her blood.
Once she pulled a blade of leaf out, the ball exploded towards Forus, tainting the sky blood-red as they concealed Florie in crimson dust for a moment. Once Forus passed through the leaves, he found that Florie had also moved in towards him.
With an air of carefreeness around her, Florie positioned the tip of her blade towards Forus. As she did so, she revealed a lovely smile that exposed her current relaxed mood. The previous panic and fear had vanished within a single moment of concealment.
Along with the winds, Forus and Florie clashed repeatedly. Their exchange would slowly chip away their strength, but none of them had any intention to back down. The scene of their bloody fighting, although seemed chaotic, gave off a feeling of grandeur.
The movement of their clothing matched with the rhythm of their strikes, resembling the scenery within a dancing hall. The bloody shades enhanced the mystical atmosphere as if the two were treading upon the mystical realm.
However, as their rhythm intensified, a soft noise echoed forth as the play abruptly stopped. Although her body was extraordinary, Florie could not compete with the physique of the Taboo Existence.
As her last blade of leaf broke into pieces, Forus quickly took the opportunity to stab the dagger towards her heart. However, just as he was about to end her life, a soft sigh resounded within his mind as a heavy pressure suddenly descended onto him.
Due to the sudden intervention, Forus missed the marked and stabbed onto her abdomen instead. This mistake allowed Florie to giggle in her lovely voice before she grabbed his blade and pulled him closer.
With his momentum, Forus could not dodge the incoming attack, allowing Florie to piece her hand onto his chest. Her last remaining sorcery energy empowered her hand, allowing it to break his bones and grasped onto his beating heart.
"I understand now, mentor." Feeling the rhythm of his heartbeat, Florie gazed towards the dark abysses on Forus' face. Although his entire body got covered in blood and gore, he still released a certain otherworldly aura that captivated her.
"Falsus, thank you." With her characteristic as the Nature Fairy, she beckoned all remnants of the spiritual seeds inside Forus to gather at her fingertip. In an only mere moment, Forus could feel the looming sense of threat inside his body fading away.
As he felt her hand caressing his heart, Forus vaguely reminded himself of a strange feeling of familiarity. Although faint, he felt his soul stirred up as if something he wished was finally upon him.
Once Florie absorbed all of the spiritual seeds, she reluctantly pulled her hand out and stared at the black substance on her fingertips. Forus did not notice anything as he froze in his thoughts, savouring the long-forgotten sense of purpose.
"So, what's your request?" It was only after a while before Florie asked him lightly. In the last remaining moment of the fight, she had undergone so much change that her current temperament was world-apart from before.
Florie's voice managed to snap Forus out from his trance. He revealed a sudden smile that caused a look of surprise to appear on her face. She had never seen such a genuine display of emotions from that expressionless man before.