Chapter 1364 (2/2)

Oddly, Vye simply felt numb. Her image stayed in the sky, the yellow lines and dotes slowly shifting into a vast, new pictogram. Without the tent in the way, it could spread out and fill the area above the central portion of the Blighted Paragon’s camp. At this point in a spar against Naffur of Helen, the opposition would have already expanded their own image, threatening to tamper down Vye’s influence in the surrounding area. Then the fight would enter a second stage where there was a mental wrestling match going on between the two fighter’s Willpower even as they fought physically with Skills.

Yet these people really had no answer to Skills. If anything, Vye’s influence in the area was only deepening. A quick scan determined that aside from the suddenly reptilian Blighted Paragon, there were about thirty guards rushing forward. Some were dropping their weapons and mutating like the hulk into raging slabs of muscle. Others raised their hands and began casting Skills. It all seemed so… pointless.

Even now, Vye couldn’t detect any hint of something that could threaten her. It was… strange. Almost boring. Somewhat lonely. And in a way that was hard to describe, it was exhausting.

Was this what the Ghosthound felt when he returned to Earth and the people here thought they were strong…?

“Golden Dragon!” A man at the back of the guards yelled. After blinking, Vye recognized him as the foreign minister who she had met previously. But at his words, his hands erupted in golden flames and a swimming dragon of fire shot forward toward Vye.

The projectile moved quickly over the other guards’ heads, reaching Vye a few seconds before the mutating guards could. Even as her left hand continued to throb painfully, she threw up a large Mirror Ritual in front of her. And despite the fact that the golden flames of the dragon were obviously very destructive, Vye barely felt anything as the dragon reached the edge of her Ritual and disappeared.

Without an image, there was barely any weight to the attack.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ritual: Mirror (R) has grown to Level 198!

The surrounding guards were clearly shocked to see the dragon of fire disappear. But they were even more shocked a second later when the air rippled and another dragon appeared, this one a true dragon with shining golden scales. Its eyes were balls of flame, but otherwise, it physically appeared to be a sinuous dragon whose body was one meter in diameter. It was a Chinese style dragon, and its long whiskers shook as it opened its mouth and roared. Whistling geysers of smoke exploded from its nostrils.

Then it blasted forward, moving with such violence that flames born of friction skittered across its scales. The nearest guard had been about to reach Vye, but the dragon bowled him over, burning away the swollen muscles of the man’s left arm in the process. The man screeched in agony and collapsed, unable to withstand even a brush of that golden dragon. Vye could see, almost in slow motion, the revealed bones of his arm baking before her eyes.

The other guards behind him collapsed like bowling pins, various portions of their body scorched away. Although the guards wouldn’t ever know it, Vye strained to control the reflected Skill so it wouldn’t kill any of them. She pushed it upward and away from the camp so that it shot up into the sky. But not before it had passed close enough to some of the surrounding tents that they were ignited.

There would be damage, but Vye didn’t let it bother her. That was what the modern world was under the System. As long as lives weren’t lost, the Order Ducis was willing to teach some harsh lessons to groups that wouldn’t respect the status quo.

While Vye had turned her attention to the guards, the Blighted Paragon had made his move. His head had almost completely transformed into a lizard at this point and he opened his mouth and belched out a cloud of green smoke around dozens of sharp teeth.

Vye’s eyes flashed. Her image projected a Cleanse over the area and extinguished the smoke.

But it seemed that the lizardman leader had been aiming for that opening. While Vye flexed her image, he stepped forward with remarkable speed and shot a scaled hand forward to grab her throat.

Narrowing her eyes, Vye instinctively activated another Ritual. This was her strongest, the one branded onto her body. Her left hand twitched as the throbbing pain numbed almost her entire arm with its persistent agony. Reject.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ritual: Reject has grown to Level 219!

Crack!

Vye could hear the sounds of Howard Boltmer’s fingers, strengthened as they were by this lizard transformation, being forced back away from her body until they shattered and the joints were torn apart. Even his wrist snapped, mangled by the sudden and unexpected resistance. Hissing between his teeth, the Blighted Paragon stumbled backward.

For a second, no one moved. The only sound was the low whimpers of the guards who had their flesh burned away by the golden dragon.

Then Vye smiled. “Such a pleasure to meet you all. But I must be on my way. Another agent from the Order Ducis will make contact with you soon and iron out the details of our future relationship. I hope you are anticipating that moment as much as I am.”