Chapter 212: Blood and void
"You can try!" Lady Slave shouted. She opened her mouth wide and spat out enough blood to make her fall down dead, but she still stood there with a defiant look on her face.
The blood that she spat out turned into a long sword.
The mere appearance of the sword made the surroundings glow with a bright red brilliance.
Vacuse felt danger coming from that sword and he quickly estimated her power. "...she should be around the same stage as me, but I can’t accurately say what level of power she is..."
He dropped the whip and instantly formed the familiar void umbrella.
Lady Slave grinned. "You’ve fought Magus, right? And no doubt you think they are weak. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Magus are not any weaker than you!
"We know our weaknesses, and given time, we know how to patch them up!"
As she spoke, red blood began to flow from the sword she was holding into her hand, seeping over her flesh and forming a rough armor that began to mold around her, fully enclosing her in seconds. "Magus are weak physically, at least at the level that I am. But don’t worry, red eyes slave, I would like you to beat it out of me now."
Vacuse looked at her and then at the umbrella he was holding. Then his face hardened as he dismissed the umbrella. "I will beat you with my hands."
Purple, destructive, draconic energy that looked like lightning appeared on his body, covering every inch of him.
He grinned, took a step forward, and exploded with a shockwave that rocked the room, cracking the ground beneath him. A trail of stone footsteps was left behind as he appeared in front of her shocked eyes.
His fist came up and down on her head like a warhammer, and Lady Slave was sent jetting sideways with a yelp, her shield crumbling under Vacuse’s brutal strike.
He didn’t let her rest as he was instantly on her again.
She whipped her sword vertically and a beam of light that reeked of blood blasted out at him.
Vacuse grunted, waved his hand, and an open umbrella appeared, easily taking the attack, which did nothing to slow down his speed at all as he approached like a battering ram.
She realized that there was no stopping him and that physical attacks weren’t working, so she switched strategies.
Instead of waiting for Vacuse to come to her, her blood armor changed, growing stronger around her legs. She pumped all her energy into them and then ran. She flew forward, appearing to be carried by the wind as she took to running around the room, her feet barely touching the ground.
At the same time, she began to whisper a chant.
Each word she spoke sounded like pain and despair to Vacuse’s ears. He didn’t know what she was doing, but he knew she had to be stopped immediately.
And instead of blindly running after her, Vacuse raised his hand and suddenly the room was filled with black threads.
She wasn’t expecting that and screamed in horror as she went down, tangled by the threads. Some of the threads cut ruthlessly into her armor and flesh, while others disappeared as they touched her head, making her face blank out.
Vacuse stood over her.
His void energy threads were cutting continuously on her head, the near-translucent energy slicing into her memories temporarily. And all she could do was stare at Vacuse blankly in confusion.
He frowned as he loomed over her, his expression complicated as he stared at her confused face.
But at the same time, he also studied himself. "I have gotten stronger."
It wasn’t that his void energy had grown bigger. It was his draconic self that had grown stronger. Right now, if he and Captain Amros fought, Vacuse didn’t know who would win, unlike before when the victory would have belonged to Amros with no doubt.
"You did something to me with that drop of blood. What was it?"
Vacuse waved his hand and the threads turned into spears that were aimed at her.
It didn’t take long for her expression to clear and return to normal. She stared up at Vacuse with a bitter expression. "What are you?"
"You did something with that drop of blood. What is it?"
Strangely, Lady Slave didn’t appear terrified even as numerous void spears were pointed at her head. She even smiled. "I was only trying to test out the strength of my protector, and I must say, you are not lacking in any way."
Vacuse narrowed his eyes. "What rubbish are you speaking?"
The void spears pressed closer to her, hovering just inches from her head, and this time she swallowed. "Wait! Wait! You really don’t want to make this mistake!
"What I did was use the life-saving technique that was given to me by my mentor. It is a soul-binding technique that links the two of us together. Extreme damages would be shared. As well as death!"
Vacuse stared at her. And stared.
He said, with slowness and danger, "What did you just say?"
She swallowed. "Easy, easy. It can be reversed by my mentor! It means, if you die then I die! If I die then you die!"
Vacuse stood there for a long time, his expression blank. "Rith?"
He ignored her confused expression as he called his dragon.
Rith didn’t appear, but he replied. "...I don’t know, but I think she’s right. I told you it’s some kind of binding..."
Vacuse’s eyes turned so cold that it affected the surroundings. And then, ever slowly, the ice was replaced by a burning anger that made his face turn ugly.
He gestured and the spear instantly pierced down, biting into her neck. Instantly, Vacuse felt a flashing heat around his own neck and an intense sense of danger.
She was speaking the truth.
He smiled, and Lady Slave felt terror the likes of which she had never felt before. "You said only extreme danger could be transferred, right?"