'This could only mean one thing…' Yue thought, her sharp mind piecing together the implications of the mana and DNA traces.
She abruptly stopped healing Brianna, her priorities shifting. Though Brianna's injuries weren't fully mended, at least she was out of immediate danger.
Yue figured she could deal with the rest later—particularly the matter of Brianna's eyes, which required a more advanced and detailed spell.
A basic regeneration spell could patch up injuries, but restoring something as delicate as vision? That would take time, precision, and quite frankly, effort Yue wasn't ready to waste here on the street.
With a flick of her fingers, Yue activated her telekinesis again, lifting the still-unconscious Brianna into the air.
"I'm not about to leave her lying on the ground like yesterday's trash," Yue muttered to herself as she turned her attention to Octavian.
Her voice, though soft, carried a mocking edge, as if to underline the sheer absurdity of the situation.
She gave Octavian a hard, assessing look as he stood at the far end of the street, brushing dust off himself after his less-than-graceful landing.
Despite the cold glare he sent her way, Yue's lips curled into a sly smile—a smile so smug, so full of ancient wisdom and untold sass, it practically screamed, 'Dinosaurs were my pets back in the day.'
And though Yue appeared to be in her twenties at most, that smile betrayed the old hag she truly was beneath the youthful facade.
{A/N: Bruh… Yue really out here catfishing simps.}
Meanwhile, Octavian finally steadied himself. The pain in his body still lingered, an annoying reminder of Yue's earlier show of dominance.
He stood there, staring her down with an icy calmness, as if daring her to try something again.
But Yue's smug expression didn't waver.
"You still standing, huh?" Yue remarked, her voice carrying that infuriatingly casual tone of someone who wasn't taking the situation nearly as seriously as they should. "Good. Now… let's deal with you, shall we?"
Her words only seemed to irritate Octavian further, though he didn't let it show. His gaze flicked past Yue for a moment, locking onto a random woman at the far end of the street.
Without hesitation, Octavian extended his threads in her direction.
At first, he considered using the same tactic on Yue, hoping to catch her off guard and maybe—just maybe—overwhelm her. But after a moment's consideration, he dismissed the idea.
'No way. She's got way more life energy than me, and it's probably of better quality too. Trying to drain her would be suicide.'
So, for now, he settled on the next best thing: siphoning atoms and energy from some random peasant to repair his disintegrating hand and patch up his crumbling body.
The threads snaked toward the unsuspecting woman, glowing faintly as they prepared to extract what he needed.
But… but…
This wasn't going to turn out like Octavian expected.
Just as his threads snaked closer to the unsuspecting peasant, he heard it. Her. The bitch he despised with every fiber of his being right now—Yue.
And to make matters worse, she wasn't yelling, cursing, or threatening him. Oh no. She just smiled at him, her lips curling in that aggravating, condescending way, and muttered two simple words:
"How cute."
Her voice was soft—barely a whisper. And yet, somehow, Octavian heard her clear as day. Crystal clear. It echoed in his mind, grating on his nerves and sparking curiosity all at once.
'How the hell…? We're dozens of meters apart! That doesn't even make sense!' he thought, his frustration bubbling over.
"How did you do th—"
BANG!
He didn't get to finish.
Before the words could fully escape his mouth, a bolt of lightning struck him dead-on, slamming into his right shoulder. For a brief moment, the world lit up like it was hosting a fireworks show.
And Octavian? Oh, poor Octavian. He stood there, frozen, as a current of electricity coursed through him. The sheer force of the impact left him twitching like Thor after Grandmaster zapped him in Ragnarok.
He barely had time to register what had happened before his legs buckled, and his body crumpled to the ground like a discarded puppet. Unconscious.
For the first time in his very long, illustrious life of… uh… three minutes and fifty-six seconds, Octavian had been one-shot.
And to make matters worse? He didn't even see it coming. Yue's spell had been so fast, so precise, he hadn't even registered her casting it.
Now, had he been given some prep time, this wouldn't have happened. Obviously.
I mean, c'mon! Anyone could deal with such a puny spell with prep time! Right? RIGHT?"
{A/N: Whoever just said no… Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards. 😔}
As Yue watched Octavian collapse onto the muddy road like the insignificant ant he was in her eyes, her smile vanished instantly.
Her face turned cold and serious, the playful air around her dissolving into one of icy determination.
'Let's see... who you truly are!' she thought, her inner voice laced with excitement and a hint of loud anticipation, almost as if she were narrating her own moment of triumph.
If her suspicions were correct, then this would make her entire trip to Europe worth it. And that wasn't even considering the secret treasure she planned to unearth from this place.
With those thoughts fueling her curiosity, Yue extended her right hand toward Octavian's unconscious body.
A subtle glow flickered around her fingers as she summoned her telekinesis to pull him toward her. His limp form lurched forward, dragged through the air like a broken doll.
As his face raced toward her with alarming speed, Yue remained unfazed, standing completely still. His right hand dangled pathetically, while his left arm seemed to crumble even further, the decay spreading.
Just as Octavian's body was about to slam into her, it stopped—mere Ten inches from her face, hovering in the air like a grotesque puppet.
{A/N: Mere…😔}
After that, Yue extended her hand toward Octavian once again. This time, her fingertips made contact with his forehead, her expression calm but determined.
The moment her hand touched his skin, a wave of her mana surged forward, seeping into his mind like an unstoppable tide.
However, the process was anything but smooth. To her surprise, the cells in Octavian's brain displayed a bizarre reaction.
They twisted and contorted as if trying to adapt to her mana, greedily attempting to absorb it like some twisted Mahoraga.
But their efforts were futile. Brave as those cells were, Yue's mana was far too powerful, and they crumbled under its force.
Some cells, however, exhibited an eerie cunning, evading her mana's grasp entirely. Others went so far as to self-destruct, sacrificing themselves to prevent her intrusion.
Because they're anything but rats.
"Let's see your memories, shall we?" she murmured, her voice low and dripping with curiosity as she activated a memory-reading spell. Her mana spread like an intricate web, piercing deeper into Octavian's mind.
At first, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Yue was in complete control, her confidence unwavering.
After all, she was dealing with an anomaly—a being that wasn't even five minutes old. How complex could its memories possibly be?
But as her consciousness delved further, Yue's confidence began to waver.
The world around her shifted.
'W-What is this?' Yue's thoughts stuttered as she found herself in the space where Octavian's memories should have been.
The surroundings were unlike anything she'd ever encountered in all her years of performing this spell.
Complete and utter darkness enveloped her. There was no light, no sound, no sensation—just an infinite, oppressive void.
It wasn't the kind of darkness that brought calm or solitude; this was a suffocating abyss that seemed to claw at her sanity with every passing second.
The sheer weight of it bore down on her, and for the first time, Yue felt a twinge of fear. 'This… this darkness… I'll lose my mind if I stay here for even a second longer!'
Her breath hitched, her body trembling as the silence stretched endlessly. But then, as if in answer to her growing panic, a scene abruptly flashed before her.
The darkness parted like a curtain, revealing an image that was vivid and surreal. Yue squinted, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
It was a battlefield, vast and chaotic, filled with beings that defied logic. Twisted figures with grotesque forms clashed with one another in a frenzy of violence.
The ground was littered with corpses, and the sky burned with unnatural hues.
At the center of it all stood a single figure—Octavian. Or rather, something that resembled him. His form was far more monstrous, a terrifying blend of flesh and threads that pulsated with a life of its own.
His glowing eyes burned with a malevolent intelligence as he stood atop a mountain of bodies.
'What… what is this place? Is this a memory? Or… something else?' Yue's thoughts raced as the scene shifted once more.
Now, she was inside a dimly lit laboratory. Rows upon rows of glass containers lined the walls, each one filled with a grotesque creation suspended in liquid.
Voices echoed in the background, indistinct but filled with urgency.
Before she could process it, the darkness surged back, swallowing her whole. And this time, it felt alive—hungry. Yue's mana flickered, struggling to hold its ground against the overwhelming force.
The void seemed to laugh at her, a low, guttural sound that sent chills down her spine.
...
Suddenly, Yue's vision was flooded with a vivid, chaotic scene.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The maniacal laughter echoed in her mind, sending shivers down her spine. Her surroundings crystallized into a grotesque tableau—a blood-soaked battlefield littered with corpses and shattered weapons. The air was thick with the metallic stench of death.
At the center of the carnage stood a young man, no older than eighteen. His disheveled appearance gave him an almost feral aura, but it was his eyes—burning with a mix of insanity and glee—that held Yue's attention.
In his hand, he gripped a woman by her hair, her lifeless body dangling like a broken doll.
"Did you really think being Death made you worthy of having me?" the young man sneered, his voice laced with mockery. He threw his head back and laughed again, the sound unhinged and chilling. "LOL!"
Yue's breath caught as she realized who she was looking at—Octavian. Or rather, a version of him that was far more terrifying than the one lying unconscious before her.
Without hesitation, the young man plunged his hand into the woman's chest, shattering her form into a cascade of ash and light.
"Death herself… unworthy," he muttered, almost bored now as he surveyed the mess he had created.
But then, something shifted. Octavian's head tilted, and his fiery gaze locked onto something beyond the scene—a point Yue couldn't quite identify.
A smirk crept onto his blood-streaked face, and his voice rang out, sharp and mocking.
"Little bitch, remember me?"
Before Yue could process what was happening, the scene fractured, shattering into countless shards. The darkness returned, swirling like a vortex, but this time it wasn't still—it was alive, pulsating with raw, malevolent energy.
And then Yue felt it.
A hand, unseen but unmistakably real, gripped her consciousness and yanked her out of the space she was in. It wasn't gentle—it was violent, as though the very fabric of reality had been torn apart to pull her through.
She gasped as her vision returned to reality, but it wasn't her reality anymore.
Yue found herself standing on a barren, unfamiliar plane. The air was thick with tension, and time itself seemed distorted. In front of her, Octavian stood tall, exuding an aura that was far more menacing than anything she had encountered before.
This wasn't the half-formed anomaly she had knocked unconscious. This was something else—something fully realized.
And he knew it.
"You've been peeking where you don't belong," Octavian said, his voice dripping with smug amusement. His figure crackled with power, threads of energy spiraling around him as if the world itself was bending to his will.
Before Yue could speak, he continued, "Oh, don't look so shocked. Did you think I'd just sit back and let you rummage through my memories like a thief?"
His grin widened, showing far too many teeth.
"You're not the first to try," he said, "but I have to admit… you've got guts."
With a snap of his fingers, the space around them began to twist and distort, fragments of past, present, and future colliding in a kaleidoscope of chaos. Yue's heart raced as she realized she was no longer in control—not even close.
Octavian stepped closer, his presence overwhelming. "Now," he said, leaning in slightly, "let's see how you handle playing by my rules."
{A/N: Time for a rematch!
Sorry for being gone for three days... I was busy drawing some stuff.
Here it is!}