Chapter 165: Facing Another Ascendant Realm
Chapter 165
Nyx looked him real deep in the eyes, her expression a complicated mix of emotions. Just as she opened her mouth, about to say something to him, Alex’s ears twitched all of a sudden.
He was picking up the sound of a woman’s footsteps since they were much lighter than a man’s own, and the sound of the said person’s heartbeat pounding strongly with what must have been either anger, fear, or shock... he couldn’t really tell. All he knew was that it was coming from the mansion and it was getting closer and closer very fast.
Just then, the massive front door of the mansion suddenly flew clean off its hinges, exploding outward into a shower of splintered wood and broken glass. The loud noise echoed across the courtyard, causing everyone to quickly look toward that direction.
Through the settling dust of the entrance, a tall, stunningly beautiful woman took a slow, deliberate step out onto the terrace. She possessed this incredibly fierce aura that could not be hidden, even though she was wearing a casual black T-shirt and grey joggers.
And then, printed clearly on her pale cheek was a striking, bright red star tattoo. Great! The other thing he had dreaded happening was this. It was Annie.
Annie stood on the terrace, with the evening wind blowing her long dark hair as her sharp eyes slowly scanned the entire area that looked really totaled.
When her gaze finally settled on Alex, a very complicated kind of emotion that he couldn’t name flickered in her beautiful light blue eyes. But the very next second her eyes shifted to the person standing beside him, Nyx, her expression changed.
In an instant, all the complicated emotions vanished from Annie’s face and her light blue eyes became filled with a burning hatred. Her delicate face twisted, but then she suddenly let out a sharp, mocking smirk.
Slowly walking down the terrace steps, her eyes remained completely fixed onto one of the people responsible for injuring her and putting her inside that accursed prison cell.
"I guess you never would have expected this, would you, Nyx?" Annie said, her voice dripping with venomous satisfaction. "You never thought I would actually get out of that miserable shit hole you call an underground prison."
Even facing a clearly angry Awakened, Nyx didn’t move an inch. All she did was to stand her ground, with her face as calm as always, though her amber eyes remained sharp.
Annie stopped a few meters away, her chest rising and falling as she savored the fresh air of freedom.
"But here I am. And this night, I am going to fulfill the promise I made to myself after you shot me repeatedly in the leg. I am going to kill you slowly Nyx. And enjoy every single moment of doing so."
As she spoke, Annie’s eyes drifted back to Alex. She paused, and then softened her fierce expression just a tiny bit as she looked at his handsome face.
It’s not like she was beginning to like him or anything, but the reason she hesitated for a moment was because she remembered the intense moment they had shared this morning. How he had treated her wound. And then how he had covered her body with a new set of clothes, instead of leaving her like that after the mind blowing sex they had.
So, she didn’t want to kill him, but at the same time she couldn’t let him go scott free, especially when he was also the main culprit responsible for what happened to her. Just then, an idea came to her mind and she pointed a finger at him.
"As for you, pretty boy.... I’ll spare your life," she said, a playful but dangerous smile returning to her plump juicy lips. "I won’t kill you. Instead I’ve decided that I am going to take you with me to Heukryeon and make you my personal boy toy. You are far too good to just throw away."
Despite the gravity of the situation, Nyx didn’t show a single trace of fear. She looked at Annie with cold, emotionless eyes, with her voice completely steady and laced with an icy, chilling tone.
"You should have just stayed in your cell. If you think a few sentences and a loud entrance are enough to make you a god, you are welcome to try and take my life. But remember... We have defeated you once, and we can still do it tonight."
Annie only let out a dark, amused chuckle.
"We’ll all see about that, Bitch."
Without another word, Annie began to move. She walked slowly toward Nyx, taking light, deliberate steps. She was purposely taking her time, wanting to savour every single second of her sweet, sweet revenge.
She wanted to see all her enemies sweat, to see her, most especially the damn woman, panic. To see Nyx realizing that her reign of terror was finally coming to an end.
Doris and Jade watched in panic, their bodies still too weak to intercept from the previous battle with senior Jefferson. Luckily it wouldn’t take too long for them to fully recover, but for now they just had to endure it.
Just as Annie was almost close to Nyx, ready to strike, a shadow suddenly crossed the space between them. Alex stepped right in front of Nyx, shielding her curvy figure completely behind his own broad shoulders.
He didn’t say a single word, but his posture was as firm as it could be, and his forest green eyes locked onto Annie with an immovable, protective gaze. Even if Annie was now his woman, that didn’t mean he would just stand there and watch her kill Nyx.
Annie stopped her advances, and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at him. A flash of irritation crossed her face, and she let out a dry sigh.
"Do you really think you can stop me, pretty boy?" Annie asked, her voice turning serious. She crossed her arms, looking down at him with a proud expression. "I don’t think you understand what has changed. While I was locked down in that shit hole, I finally broke through to the next Realm."
"I am not the same girl you fought with before. Now, I am an Ascendant Realm Awakened. And you? You are still only a Vanguard Realm Awakened."
She stepped a bit closer, with her aura flaring a bit and continued.
"Move out of my way, pretty boy. I really don’t want to hurt you. I told you I’d spare you, but if you push me too far, I will be forced to attack you.*
"Sorry, beautiful, but no can do," Alex replied, his voice smooth and entirely calm. "As long as I am standing around her, nothing bad is going to happen to Nyx. So I advise you to give up since I won’t let you touch even a strand of her hair."
Annie’s confident smile froze instantly on her beautiful face. Her expression then immediately turned cold, as her siren shaped, light blue eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
"I wanted to spare you because of what happened earlier," Annie said, with her voice dropping into a low, deadly hiss. "But since you are so hell bent on protecting this heartless bitch, then I guess I’ll just have to teach you a painful lesson first. But don’t worry, I won’t kill you, after all that would be too wasteful, instead I’m just going to make sure you can’t stand up for a while."
Without warning, Annie’s body moved so quickly it looked like she had vanished. Using her newly acquired Ascendant Realm speed, she instantly closed the remaining distance between them.
Then she threw out a lightning fast, powerful punch directly toward his abdomen. Though she didn’t use her full strength because she didn’t want to accidentally tear a hole through him, the punch still carried more than enough power to knock every single drop of air out of his lungs and drop him to his knees.
She wanted to demonstrate the massive, insurmountable gap in power that she believed existed between a Vanguard Realm and Ascendant Realm Awakened.
But just as her fist flew through the air, carrying a heavy gust of wind, Alex smiled. With a movement so fast it was completely invisible to the naked eyes, Alex casually raised his hand and caught her driving fist right by the wrist.
The impact of her fist meeting his palm created a sharp cracking sound and made the ground beneath them crack just a bit, but Alex’s body didn’t budge even a single millimeter. He stood there like an immovable mountain, with his grip closing around her wrist like an iron clamp, completely halting her forward momentum.
Annie’s light blue eyes instantly widened in pure shock, and she even tried to pull her hand back, but her arm felt as if it had been cemented directly into a solid stone wall. No matter how much essence she channelled, she couldn’t remove her hand out of his grip.
Alex looked down at her stunned face and curled his lips up into a highly amused, confident smirk.
"Sorry, beautiful. But you’re not the only one around here who is also an Ascendant Realm Awakened."