NOVEL NEXT Chapter 109: Escalation
He stared at Alstera's stunning visage, his heart heavy…
He wasn't a fool. He could already make out that her disappearance and everything that occurred after wasn't her fault.
But knowing and feeling were different. Deep down in his heart he held resentment towards her, though he knew it wasn't fair.
He shook his head and made his stance clear with a simple explanation:
"I can't. I'm sorry, but it can't work… See, I'm the Bearer of the Order of Justice… And with you and a few members of your crew, I can't just relate with.
The only relationship we can be permitted to have is as enemies, and being each other's Nemesis."
Alstera's gaze trembled, her amethyst eyes dimming, as though something fragile she had been protecting all these years just died.
Sinister dark smoke started billowing around her frame as a night-black tear streamed from one of her eyes.
"So you're saying we can only be enemies?!" she voiced, her tone chaotic.
Her allies, the Lords with her, saw this state she was in and took steady, cautious steps backwards.
Evidently wary of this state she was in…
Roy's stare remained steady, his expression betraying a hint of pain, but he replied firmly:
"Yes…"
At the response, Alstera's head recoiled backwards in a deranged laughter, her eyes swallowed with bitterness as she spoke, her voice mixed with chuckles:
"Funny… You see, I promised that the only world I would live in where I couldn't be with you was one where you were dead!"
At those last words, billowing smoke of abyssal darkness towered the heavens, as clouds slowly blotted out the sun, thunderstorms brewing in their depths like it was suddenly about to rain.
Roy felt a chill run down his spine. Previously he was feeling somewhat content with his strength — after all, he had been in slumber for two months and could still kick arse.
Well, it turns out he was wrong… drastically so.
The Lords had only started showing their true might, and he was just about to witness the power of a Lord that had way more time to develop.
The moment Alstera's aura blazed against the heavens, another ignited.
Lana now stood, her eyes deadly red as crimson flames of anger poured from her body, her aura taking the skies.
She was the Lord of the Amazons, the First-Class Order Bearer of Matriarchy!
A level 74 Lord who had awakened an awesome trait that granted her unimaginable power-ups each time she was defeated by a man.
And today? She had lost in plenty, and her buff came proportionally in plenties.
The Captains — the two watching from the ground and those watching from the peak of Aegis — could already tell things were getting out of hand and they had to intervene.
"Do we need to step in?" Lord Aella from the Nine Allied Lords spoke with a rare eagerness to help.
Richard shook his head.
"No, we got this…"
And with that, he, Dio, and Alpha leaped through the broken screen of the room.
Each controlling their path of landing…
Merkan grinned dreadfully as he glanced at the snow-furred wolf before him, his tongue pale blue as he licked his poison-dripping stiletto. He chuckled:
"You dare try to face me? I'll have to finish this quick — after all, it is your boss I want to pump full of venom."
Alpha's crimson gaze shone as he bared his teeth, snarling at his opponent.
As for Dio, he landed before Haron…
The Lord's hands combed through his hair as he sniffed at the atmosphere, gazing at Dio in interest. He pointed.
"You… We are quite similar… Interesting. I will be claiming you as mine."
The Lord seemed sensitive to the similarities in Orders they shared. His was Slaughter, and Dio's was Predatory…
Dio stared coldly at the Lord as his figure slowly hulked, morphing into a golden-scaled humanoid figure, with visible simmering veins pulsing across his body.
Each breath that was exhaled came with a golden mist, as his now golden slits gazed at the Lord, his jagged teeth parting to speak:
"I would like to see you try…"
On the other side, facing Lux's domineering figure was Richard, now clad in gold armor, with a matching glowing gold hammer resting on his shoulder.
Lux stared at Richard, his expression clouded with fury. His head swung back as he laughed, his cackle reverberating through the heavens.
"Have I been looked down on so much? So much that a bunch of mere hunters dare face me repeatedly?"
His hands ran through his hair, his eyes glowing ominously, as he smiled and added:
"I guess it's my fault for playing it safe from the start."
Nearer to the Aegis, Ashley ordered the guards to head back into the territory for their safety, because she knew very well that what came next would be the actual true battle.
After this, her figure blitzed forward, intercepting one of the Lords heading for Roy — Lana.
The Amazon Lord paused and glanced at the Captain, her eyes still covered with crimson.
"Move. I don't like killing my sisters… But that doesn't mean I can't!"
The threat thundered through space, as her fury-filled gaze rested on Ashley, waiting for her choice.
The Captain smiled, her tender lips curving beautifully.
"I don't like killing bitter hags either."
Rage pulsed through the Amazon Lord's figure as she grasped the empty air before her, and a glistening bronze hammer took form.
"Death it is…"
On Lionel's side, he stared at the Lord before him, then to his empty hands.
"Tch… My master borrowed my weapon… What do I do now?"
"Well, good thing I have backup…" he mused, as a pair of current-filled gauntlets braced into his hands.
Punching his fists together, he glanced at Lord Larry.
"Are you ready to go?"
Larry, with a bow in hand, gazed disdainfully as he spoke:
"More like… are you ready to meet death?"
Meanwhile, while all this confrontation was happening, Roy stared at all his captains pairing with foes and felt bad.
"Sigh… And I promised to handle it all on my own."
He shook his head, resigning to the reality that he couldn't do as said. Staring at the raging Lord before him, his heart raced.
This battle was one that would be difficult to win, mostly because he glanced at his fists.
His eyes hesitated a bit. When it came down to it, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her.
The reason he had tried to grab her several times was so that he could disarm her without much violence. But now…
He shook his head wearily.
"I'm starting to think I should have slept longer…"
Space warped as a void-tremoring shotgun appeared in his grasp, and he aimed at Alstera.
His heart was heavy, and his trigger finger faltered…
And that mistake he would regret. Before he could understand what was going on, his hands suddenly felt light.
He glanced down — and now there was nothing. His gun? Gone!
By the time he raised his gaze back up, the same barrel that he had aimed at her was now aimed at him. Only difference was that her trigger finger didn't hesitate!
Bang!!!