Wah, that pesky lich!" I muttered under my breath. The echo of his absurd statement still rattled in my ears. "If you want to pass this palace, you'll have to do what we did and defeat us…" His voice was infuriatingly smug, as if he had rehearsed it for a thousand years. No, wait… that's exactly what he said!
"Kind of forgot, teehee~! My memories are hazy after a millennium!"
What kind of bullshit filler was that? I mean, seriously? It was like the guy gave up halfway through the explanation! He basically threw me a side quest without a damn waypoint! And now, here I am, flying around this godforsaken capital at the speed of sound for thirty minutes, looking for something that probably doesn't even exist.
"I should've known better," I muttered. Not a single signal, not even the tiniest flicker from my [Foresight]. Even [Avid] didn't seem to be of any use right now, and that only happened when… well, when the thing I was looking for didn't actually exist.
I bit my lip, frustration bubbling up like lava. "I'm wasting my time here!" I practically yelled at the clouds, which was totally productive, by the way. But hey, yelling at the sky was still less insane than following a lich's half-assed directions.
Hovering high above the old capital, the only thing greeting me was the calm blanket of stars and the moon shining bright and clear, looking all peaceful and beautiful like it had nothing to do with the mess I was in. "Beautiful? Yeah, sure. Real pretty," I scoffed.
Then, it hit me. Wait... why am I even stuck on finding that stupid mark? Like, why was my first instinct, when all this madness started, to try and bring things back to normal?
It wasn't normal for me.
"You're thinking like Yoo-ra," Trynda's words echoed in my mind, like an annoying pop-up ad I couldn't close. "Not Josephine."
I sighed. Was I really trying to make things right because it's what Josephine wanted? Or because I was still hung up on how things used to be? It was so obvious now that I'd been obsessed with that damn mark, thinking if I didn't find it, my whole plan would fall apart. That we'd both end up executed.
Idiot. I'm already strong enough to level half the world if I wanted. Even if the entire planet was against me — or Yoora or even Adele's damn fishery empire — we could crush them all.
[Xipe: Let's crush them all]
I couldn't help but smirk as I spread my arms wide, feeling the rush of power flood through me. "Oh, Xipe, your lamb is in great need of your blessings. Maybe something a little extra this time?" I said dramatically, looking up to the heavens.
Xipe probably rolled his eyes, but I could almost hear him chuckle.
That's when it happened. My body began to glow, lighting up the sky with rainbow colors. The clouds parted like they couldn't even handle the raw energy I was radiating. It felt amazing. Screw skills, techniques, or control. Who needed any of that when you were this strong?
Everything I had — divine power, mana, aura, ki, and even whatever the hell chi was — I gathered it all, fusing it into one colossal force. It didn't even matter if I didn't understand those fancy concepts. I was going to brute force my way through this. All of it.
Elaborate schemes? Overthinking the process? Hell no.
All you needed was raw, stupid, unfiltered power.
I condensed every ounce of energy I had into my right hand, and it started to hum with violent energy. The air around me distorted, rippling as though the sky itself was afraid of what I was about to do.
"Fuck the tear, and fuck you, lich, for dragging me into your mess!" I snarled, raising my fist into the air.
Because, even if I didn't need that dumb mark, I'd make an example out of every damn one of them.
The moon above flickered, taking on radiant hues of blue and violet, as my cloak fluttered wildly around me. The sheer pressure from the energy I was gathering caused the very ground below to tremble. Stars seemed to pulse in sync with my power.
[Warning! You are exceeding the limit you set for yourself!]
The system beeped.
"Oh, screw you system! Screw all of you!" I shouted, grinning like a madwoman.
My right arm buzzed with an overwhelming surge as I focused everything into this one punch. The power coursing through my veins was electric, intoxicating. It didn't matter if it was too much, or if it would backfire. All I needed was one hit.
"Galaxy Impact!"
My fist exploded forward with an unbelievable shockwave, tearing through the atmosphere. A massive rainbow flash of light erupted from my hand, the sheer force warping the very space around it. The shockwave looked less like a punch and more like an apocalyptic explosion, obliterating everything in its path. Buildings disintegrated, the ground cracked apart, and even the stars seemed to blink out for a moment, as if recoiling from the impact.
The force expanded in an enormous radius, the sky lighting up with a brilliant kaleidoscope of colors, spreading like wildfire across the entire horizon. Anything caught in that shockwave — well, let's just say it didn't stand a chance.
As the energy faded and the dust began to settle, the entire capital was left in stunned silence. And there I stood, hovering in the air, my cloak still billowing behind me. My fist was still raised, glowing with the remnants of rainbow light.
"That's how you deal with bullshit," I muttered with a smirk.